Europe

PARIS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The French Public Health Agency reported on Wednesday 332,252 new COVID-19 cases detected in the last 24 hours, breaking the daily record set on Tuesday.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said that the fight against the pandemic in France is "far from over."

"In two weeks, the incidence rate has tripled and has exceeded 1,800 cases per 100,000 inhabitants," he said.

Hospitals are overcrowded, and the majority of coronavirus-infected patients in intensive care are unvaccinated, he added.

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Thursday a record 9.5 million cases of COVID-19 were tallied around the world over the last week, noting a 71% surge in the weekly count of infections amounting to a “tsunami” as the new omicron variant sweeps worldwide.

However, the number of recorded deaths fell, with 41,178 recorded last week compared to 44 680 in the week before that.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe’s sky is filling up with near-empty polluting planes that serve little other purpose than safeguarding airlines’ valuable time slots at some of the world’s most important airports.

MOSCOW (AP) — Dozens of protesters and 12 police died during extraordinarily violent demonstrations in Kazakhstan that saw government buildings stormed and set ablaze, authorities said Thursday. One police officer was found beheaded in escalating unrest that poses a growing challenge to authoritarian rule in the Central Asian nation.

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 cases surged by 15,772 in the past 24 hours to 10,585,084, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Wednesday.

In relative terms, the COVID-19 incidence increased by 0.15% over the past day.

Over the past day, some 1,273 COVID-19 cases were registered in St. Petersburg, 775 cases of the infection were confirmed in the Moscow Region, some 415 cases were recorded in the Krasnodar Region, 400 cases were disclosed in the Chelyabinsk Region, some 395 cases were reported in the Sverdlovsk Region.

MOSCOW, January 5. / TASS /: The Russian COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be authorized by international regulators, including the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2022, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev told TASS.

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/: The price of Brent crude oil futures contract with March delivery on London’s ICE rose by 1.31% and reached $81.05 per barrel. The last time the price of Brent exceeded $81 per barrel was on November 26, 2021.

By 17:11 Moscow time, the price of Brent crude oil reached $80.68 per barrel (+0.85%).

The price of WTI crude oil futures contract with February delivery increased by 0.99% to $77.75 per barrel.

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/: Moscow is closely monitoring the developments in Kazakhstan, no casualties have been reported on the Russian side so far, the Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday.

"We are closely following the developments in Kazakhstan. There is no data relating to any casualties on the Russian side," the statement reads.

MINSK, January 5. /TASS/: The crews of Belarusian and Russian Su-30SM fighters conducted their first joint air patrol of the Union State's borders this year, the Defense Ministry of Belarus reported on Wednesday.

"The Belarusian and Russian pilots flying Su-30SM multirole fighters conducted their first joint air patrol of the Union State’s borders this year. The pilots spent 120 minutes in the air, covering a distance of over 1,150 km during their patrol," the ministry said in a statement.

PARIS, Jan 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French prosecutors said they have opened a terror probe over a Dec 30 blast in Saudi Arabia targeting a car participating in the Dakar rally that badly wounded its French driver.

“A preliminary investigation has been opened into multiple attempted killings in connection with a terrorist group,” national anti-terror prosecutors said in a statement.

The statement added that all five occupants of the car including the driver were French.