Europe

PARIS, Dec 25 (Reuters) - France recorded a record high of 104,611 COVID-19 infections on Saturday, breaking the 100,000 threshold for the first time since the pandemic began as the omicron variant continued its rapid spread.

Health authorities said the number of COVID patients in intensive care went up by 28 to 3,282.

VATICAN CITY, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Pope Francis bemoaned Italy's plunging birthrate on Sunday, warning that the decline represented a threat to the future of the country.

Births in Italy last year hit their lowest level since the unification of the nation in 1861, the national statistics office said this month, with the figure falling for a 12th consecutive year. 

"The demographic winter is a real worry, at least here in Italy," the pope said in his weekly address in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), the Pentagon's program to counter China, is doomed to fail before it even gets started, Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, has said.

U.S. Congress has authorized 7 billion U.S. dollars for the PDI, which continues Washington's "flawed practice of throwing money at the military to solve problems created by bad policy," Ritter said in an article recently published by the Russian broadcaster RT.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he would ponder a slew of options if the West fails to meet his push for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Moscow submitted draft security documents demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

26 Dec 2021; MEMO: Belarus has reportedly forced Syrian refugees to return to Syria despite being wanted by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, in an effort to rid itself of the thousands of asylum seekers trafficked to the country in recent months.

BELGRADE, December 25. /TASS/: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Serbian presidential press office announced Saturday. During the call, Vucic thanked Putin for Kornet anti-tank missile systems and raised the issue of additional gas supplies for Serbia.

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/: The newest Russian MC-21 passenger plane with a domestically-designed composite wing carried out its first flight, Rostec press office announced Saturday.

"Today, the MC-21-300 plane with a wing produced from Russian-made polymer composite materials has performed its first flight. The plane took off from the Irkutsk Aviation Plant airstrip. The flight proceeded as planned," the company said.

STOCKHOLM, December 25. /TASS/: Swedish Armed Forces Supreme Commander Micael Buden considers the crisis caused by the situation around Ukraine to be an exceptionally serious one. Amid the general tensions, Sweden increased its combat readiness level, he said in an interview for Dagens Nyheter.

"We've brought our readiness in a accordance with the current situation. It is serious and it is concerning. Naturally, we are doing more now and are ready for faster action than usual. We are ready to various developments, including in direct proximity of our border," Byden said.

PARIS, December 25. /TASS/: The payload part of the Ariane 5 rocket carrying the James Webb orbital telescope has separated from the rocket, according to the Arianespace online livestream.

The James Webb orbital telescope has separated from the Ariane 5 carrier rocket, it delivered the telescope into orbit. The telescope will travel to its destination at the second Lagrange point for four weeks, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). This point is located four times further from the Earth than the Moon on the opposite side of the Sun.

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/: Russia would like to receive a reply from the US and NATO on its proposals regarding security guarantees as soon as possible, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS, adding that there is no deadline.

"No deadlines can be here. We would like it to occur as soon as possible," he noted.