Europe

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/: In the past 24 hours, 981 patients died from Covid, which is the lowest daily fatality increase since October 12, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center announced Saturday.

One day earlier, 998 deaths were reported. The relative lethality is 2.92%, according to the statistics.

In particular, 55 deaths were registered in the Moscow Region, 52 - in St. Petersburg, 35 - in the Krasnoyarsk Region, 32 - in the Voronezh Region, and 29 - in the Sverdlovsk Region.

PARIS, Dec 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France and its 15 allies in Europe and Canada have condemned what they say is the deployment of Russian mercenaries to Mali.

They said it could “further deteriorate the security situation in West Africa”, which is battling Jihadist groups.

The Western nations accused the Russian government of providing material support in the deployment of mercenaries from the Wagner group.

Russia denies any government links with the shadowy private military company.

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 10,000 Russian troops have been returning to their permanent bases after month-long drills near Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday (Dec 25), citing the Russian military.

Interfax said that the drills were held in several regions near Ukraine, including in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, as well as in the southern Russian regions of Rostov and Kuban.

PARIS, Dec 24 (Reuters) - France hit another COVID-19 infection record on Friday, with the daily figure getting close to 100,000, a trend that prompted the government to convene a special meeting on the pandemic on Monday which could trigger new restrictions on movement.

Health authorities reported 94,124 new daily COVID-19 cases on Friday while the number of people hospitalised for the disease reached a seven-month high at close to 16,200, according to official data.

24 Dec 2021; MEMO: British Labour MP Alex Sobel has called on Samuel Hayek, the chairman the Jewish National Fund (JNF UK), to resign or be removed from office for offensive anti-Muslim remarks.

25 Dec 2021; MEMO: A majority of 125 countries in the UN General Assembly backed on Thursday an unprecedented open-ended war crimes probe against Israel, news agencies reported.

The probe was initially approved in May by UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in the aftermath of the Israeli aggression on Gaza that took place in May 2021.

LONDON, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported another 122,186 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, exceeding 120,000 daily cases for the first time since of the start of the pandemic, according to official figures released Friday.

It brought the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 11,891,292.

The country also reported a further 137 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 147,857, with 8,240 COVID-19 patients still in hospital.

MOSCOW, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday Russia conducted a successful salvo launch of Tsirkon hypersonic missiles early Friday morning.

"A salvo launch of the Tsirkon hypersonic system was carried out last night, more precisely this morning," RIA Novosti news agency reported citing the president at a joint meeting of the State Council and the Council on Science and Education.

"This is our latest missile, which can hit both naval and ground targets," he added.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — At least 16 people died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday, bringing the three-day death toll from such shipwrecks in Greek waters to at least 30.

The deadly accidents came as smugglers who arrange sea crossings for Europe-bound asylum-seekers increasingly favor a perilous route from Turkey to Italy, avoiding Greece’s heavily patrolled eastern Aegean islands that were a prime destination for years.

MOSCOW (AP) — People strolling across Moscow’s snowy Red Square on the evening of Dec. 25, 1991 were surprised to witness one of the 20th century’s most pivotal moments — the Soviet red flag over the Kremlin pulled down and replaced with the Russian Federation’s tricolor.

Just minutes earlier, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation in a live televised address to the nation, concluding 74 years of Soviet history.