Europe

KYIV, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday.

Ukraine, which seeks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has since 2018 received a series of consignments of U.S. ammunition and Javelin missiles, prompting criticism from Moscow.

MADRID, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Spain will make it compulsory to wear a face mask outdoors again as part of a package aimed at containing the fast spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told regional leaders on Wednesday.

With nearly 80% of its population vaccinated and a booster programme gathering pace, Spain was largely spared the rampant wave of infections that led several northern European countries to toughen curbs in the autumn.

BERLIN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Omicron variant will become the dominant coronavirus strain in Germany within three weeks and the country has ordered 80 million doses of Omicron-specific vaccine for delivery in April or May, health officials said on Wednesday.

"An offensive booster campaign is our most important building block in the fight against Omicron," German health minister Karl Lauterbach told a news conference on Wednesday.

"The level of protection against severe COVID-19 symptoms after a booster shot is very high. I would estimate it goes well over 90%," he said.

PARIS/MILAN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - France has cancelled its order for Merck & Co's (MRK.N) COVID-19 antiviral drug following disappointing trial data and hopes instead to receive Pfizer's (PFE.N) competing drug before the end of January, the health minister said on Wednesday.

Dec 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had no room to retreat in a standoff with the United States over Ukraine and would be forced into a tough response unless the West dropped its "aggressive line".

Putin addressed his remarks to military officials as Russia pressed for an urgent U.S. and NATO reply to proposals it made last week for a binding set of security guarantees from the West.

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday demanded life sentences for four suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, saying they caused “deep and irreversible suffering” to relatives of the 298 people killed.

Prosecutors said the four recklessly used a Russian missile to bring down the passenger jet, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

Public prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks made the sentence demand on the third day of a presentation of evidence supporting the indictment. The suspects are being tried in absentia.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian and U.S. negotiators will sit down for talks early next year to discuss Moscow’s demand for Western guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, Russia’s top diplomat said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia in January will also start separate talks with NATO to discuss the issue, adding that separate negotiations under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will also be held.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Japanese space tourist said Wednesday that he felt his 12-day mission to the International Space Station was too short and he would love to stay a week more.

Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin blasted off to the station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Dec. 8 and returned to Earth on Monday.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm proposed measures Wednesday to better detect shell companies that do not carry out any real economic activities to prevent them from receiving tax advantages and crack down on their tax abuse.

The European Commission said the directive, which needs to be approved by the bloc’s 27 member nations, would help national authorities identify shell companies through a filtering system, analyzing criteria such as income, transactions and management.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi said Wednesday his government has accomplished most of what it set out do to in fighting the pandemic and restoring economic growth — signaling for the first time that he may be ready to run for the Italian presidency and return the running of the government back to political parties.