Europe

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: Russian troops will get first Very Short-Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) Gibka-S systems next year, Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ tactical air defense Lieutenant General Alexander Leonov said.

"For the first time, air defense units will get sets of Gibka-S combat vehicles next year," he said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, published on Friday.

KIEV, December 24. /TASS/: A court in Kiev ruled to detain Ukraine’s former President Pyotr Poroshenko, Ukrainskie Novosti reported on Friday, citing sources.

The detention would be on suspicion of treason in a case pursued by Ukraine’s National Bureau of Investigations, the news outlet said on Telegram.

Another Ukrainian news publication, Glavkom, said earlier on Friday that the country’s prosecutors are seeking Poroshenko’s arrest, with a possible bail of 1 billion hryvnas ($37 million).

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: The flight certification program for the MC-21 has been completed, the aircraft will receive a type certificate in the near future, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Friday.

"We have completed the MCS-21 flight certification program and expect to receive a type certificate in the near future," he said.

Manturov recalled that commercial deliveries of the aircraft should begin next year.

KEMEROVO, December 24. /TASS/: A court in Kemerovo on Friday pronounced its verdict in the second case over a fire at the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall in Kemerovo on March 25, 2018, when some 60 people, including 37 children, were killed. Four defendants were sentenced to prison terms from seven to 18 years on charges of bribe-taking, money laundry, and office abuse.

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: The claims by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai about Russia’s import substitution in the IT sector and its alleged general non-compliance with the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are unfounded and beyond absurdity, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Friday.

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russian mercenaries have deployed to separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine in recent weeks to bolster defences against Ukrainian government forces as tensions between Moscow and the West rise, four sources have told Reuters.

In recent weeks, Russia has moved tens of thousands of regular troops to staging posts closer to Ukraine and followed up by demanding urgent security guarantees from the West designed, Moscow says, to prevent Ukraine and other neighbouring countries being used as a base to attack it.

LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Britain reported another day of record COVID-19 cases on Friday, with new estimates showing swathes of London's population are carrying the virus, underlining the relentless advance of the Omicron variant.

Omicron's rapid spread has driven a surge in cases over the last seven days, especially in the capital.

Around 1 in 20 Londoners likely had COVID-19 on Dec. 16 and early estimates - which could yet be revised - suggest this may have risen to 1 in 10 on Sunday, models from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Friday.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - New satellite images captured by a private U.S. company show that Russia has continued to build up its forces in annexed Crimea and near Ukraine in recent weeks while pressing the United States for talks over security guarantees it is seeking.

Reuters could not independently verify the latest images from U.S.-based Maxar Technologies. The Kremlin reiterated on Friday that it reserves the right to move its own forces on Russian territory as it sees fit and that Western countries were carrying out provocative military manoeuvres near its borders.

LONDON, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- People with Omicron are significantly less likely to develop severe symptoms, according to new analysis by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) released Thursday.

Early results suggest people are 30-45 percent less likely to go to A&E if they are infected with Omicron than with Delta. They are also 50-70 percent less likely to need to be admitted to hospital, according to the UKHSA.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister said Friday that the proportion of coronavirus infections with the new omicron variant will increase sharply in the days ahead, and he appealed to people to take steps to avoid infection during Christmas festivities.

German authorities are anticipating another wave of COVID-19 cases as a result of omicron, though so far the delta variant remains dominant in the country and case numbers have drifted downward after spiking last month.