Europe

09 Jan 2022; MEMO: Former Tunisian President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki affirmed that the French authorities have refused to extradite him to Tunisia, after a Tunisian court issued an international arrest warrant against him.

In response to constitutional law Professor Rabeh Al-Kharaifi, who accused Marzouki of being a French citizen, the former president said: "How many times should I repeat that I have no other citizenship except the Tunisian one? How many times will they keep repeating the same lie and others?"

MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan’s health ministry said Sunday that 164 people have been killed in protests that have rocked the country over the past week.

The figures reported on the state news channel Khabar-24 are a significant rise from previous tallies. It is not clear if the deaths refer only to civilians or if law-enforcement deaths are included. Kazakh authorities said earlier Sunday that 16 police or national guard had been killed. Authorities previously gave the civilian death toll as 26.

MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/: President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in a lengthy telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, spoke in detail about the situation in the country, noting the shift towards stabilization, the Kremlin press service announced on Saturday.

MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia increased by 16,568 per day to 10,634,603, the federal operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus told reporters on Saturday.

In relative terms, the increase in the number of cases was 0.16%.

In particular, 3,072 cases were detected in Moscow per day, 1,376 in St. Petersburg, 1,246 in the Moscow region, 380 in the Sverdlovsk region, 370 in the Krasnodar region, 321 in the Chelyabinsk region, and 318 in Rostov.

ROME, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Global food prices reached a 10-year high in 2021, rising by an average of 28 percent compared to the previous year, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization said.
 
   The FAO’s Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, dipped slightly in December.
 
   However, at 133.7 points, it remained close to the record of 137.6 points it set in February 2011. The index stood at 125.7 points for the year as a whole, also the highest in a decade.
 

PARIS, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The total number of COVID-19 cases registered worldwide passed 300 million on Friday, with the Omicron variant’s rapid spread setting new infection records in dozens of countries over the last week.

In the past seven days, 34 countries have recorded their highest number of weekly cases since the start of the pandemic, including 18 nations in Europe and seven in Africa, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

TIRANA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas and water cannon in Tirana on Saturday as stone-throwing protesters stormed into the headquarters of Albania's opposition Democratic Party in a deepening power struggle between party rivals.

At least one police officer and one protester were injured and dozens of protesters were arrested, police said. The protests were dispersed in the afternoon.

MOSCOW, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Russia responded angrily on Saturday to a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops, saying he should reflect instead on U.S. military meddling around the world.

Blinken on Friday challenged Russia's justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country.

"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken said. 

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Tighter pandemic measures came into force in Romania on Saturday as authorities hoped to quell sharply rising coronavirus cases amid concerns that the next virus wave could overstretch the country’s health care system.

In mid-December, Romania was reporting fewer than a thousand COVID-19 infections a day, but over the past week, daily cases have surged to around 6,000. It is the highest number of infections since early November when cases were on the decline following a vicious fourth virus wave.

ROME (AP) — A Swiss federal court has upheld a freeze on a reported 50 million euros in assets belonging to one of the suspects in a big Holy See fraud trial, rejecting among other things his argument that he can’t get a fair trial in the Vatican.

In a decision published this week, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court said a recent ruling by the Vatican court that threw out some of the charges on procedural grounds showed that “the guarantees for a fair trial are fully respected by the Vatican justice system.”