Europe

08 Dec 2021; MEMO: Senior Hamas delegation discussed, on Wednesday, the latest developments concerning the Palestinian cause with Russian officials in Moscow.

In a statement, Hamas said that its delegation consisted of members of political bureau, Dr Musa Abu Marzouq and Ezzat El-Rishq, in addition to the Hamas representative in Russia.

BRUSSELS (Belgium), Dec 8 (APP): Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell has said that European Union (EU) is closely following the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir and stressed resolution of the dispute through dialogue.

Borrell underscored the need for restraint, de-escalation of tensions and called for constructive political and diplomatic engagement.

This was stated as Josep Borrell co-chaired the sixth round of EU-Pak Strategic Dialogue along with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Brussels on Tuesday.

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Moscow will draft its proposals on security issues in several days, and then will hand them to the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference on Wednesday after his talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Russian president said that he had touched upon security issues in his video call with US counterpart Joe Biden.

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO is conducting a clearly confrontational policy towards Russia.

"As far as NATO is concerned, it is a military alliance. Regrettably, this bloc is conducting a clearly confrontational policy towards Russia," Putin told a news conference following Russian-Greek talks.

He stressed that the expulsion of diplomats, which resulted in the closure of NATO’s liaison office in Moscow, indicated that the alliance was "unfriendly towards Russia, to put it mildly."

ISS, December 8. /TASS/: The TASS news agency became the first world media organization to operate aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by establishing a news office in orbit. The agency will report on the life and work of the station. News, photos and videos will be available across TASS websites.

Russian cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, Alexander Misurkin became the first TASS special reporter in space. He arrived at the station aboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, together with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his associate Yozo Hirano.

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Russia advocates peace but has the right to ensure its security in the medium to long term, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"It’s a loaded question," he said at a news conference following a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, when asked by reporters if Russia was going to invade Ukraine.

 GENEVA, Dec 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Omicron variant appears to be no worse than other coronavirus strains, top scientists from the WHO and the United States said, while cautioning that more research is needed to judge its
severity.

  The hopeful assessments came as global concern grew over the heavilymutated variant, which has forced dozens of nations to re-impose borderrestrictions and raised the possibility of a return of economically punishing lockdowns.

PARIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - France on Wednesday released a Saudi national arrested at a Paris airport over suspected links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after officials concluded it was a case of mistaken identity.

French law enforcement sources had identified the man in detention as Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, the same name as a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard listed in U.S. and British sanctions documents and a U.N.-commissioned report as having been involved in Khashoggi's killing in Turkey.

PRAGUE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Czech government on Wednesday approved the deployment of up to 150 soldiers to help Poland stop the flow of migrants seeking entry from Belarus, a crisis the European Union has accused Minsk of engineering.

The plan, subject to approval by parliament, would make the Czech Republic the third outside country to send personnel to the Poland-Belarus border, after fellow NATO members Estonia and Britain.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s government decided Wednesday to ease the country’s current lockdown for vaccinated people and those who have recovered from COVID-19 but the restrictions for the unvaccinated.

Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said starting on Friday, all shops will reopen for vaccinated or recovered people including services such as hairdressers. Also, ski resorts and fitness centers will be open for a limited number of customers while religious services will be available for those groups in the Roman Catholic stronghold in Central and Eastern Europe.