Europe

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: It is always the right choice to act in the nation’s interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for a documentary entitled "Russia: Its Recent History" aired on Rossiya-1 TV on Tuesday.

"Even when you take very difficult and risky decisions, if you are convinced deep down that you are right, that you are acting solely in the interests of the Russian people, then it eventually turns out to be the right choice," the head of state emphasized.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry expects that the World Health Organization (WHO) will approve the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in first half of the next year, Director of the ministry’s Economic Cooperation Department, Dmitry Birichevsky said on Tuesday.

LONDON, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain will in due course consider whether or not to impose a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday.

U.S. government officials will boycott the Olympics in Beijing because of China’s human rights “atrocities”, the White House said on Monday. Beijing says Washington is plotting to disrupt the Games.

“I was asked whether I will go, I will not go and we’ll consider that (the level of wider representation) in due course,” Raab said.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Early indications suggest that the Omicron coronavirus variant is more transmissible than the earlier Delta variant, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his top team of cabinet ministers on Tuesday.

"The prime minister said it was too early to draw conclusions on the characteristics of Omicron but that early indications were that it was more transmissible than Delta," Johnson's spokesman told reporters.

THE HAGUE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Judges at the International Court of Justice examining Armenian allegations that Azerbaijan breached a convention against racial discrimination on Tuesday ordered Azerbaijan to prevent incitement of racial hatred against Armenians and protect Armenian prisoners of war.

The court has yet to rule on a similar case from Azerbaijan's side, who filed a countersuit alleging violations of the same U.N. anti-discrimination treaty.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Britain's handling of the evacuation of vulnerable Afghans from Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August was dysfunctional and chaotic, a Foreign Office whistleblower said in evidence disputed by former foreign secretary Dominic Raab.

The government has repeatedly defended its airlift from Kabul against criticism that Britain potentially left thousands of eligible Afghans behind in the country after being caught out by how quickly the Afghan government fell.

PARIS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - One of the suspected killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was arrested at the Roissy airport near Paris on Tuesday as he was about to board a flight to Riyadh, French RTL radio reported.

RTL said the person arrested was a former Royal Guard of Saudi Arabia who is believed to have been involved in the killing of Kashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Britain has found a further 101 confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the UK Health Security Agency said on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 437.

BERLIN, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) signed the coalition agreement of the country's next government on Tuesday.

"This should be a morning for a new start," Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz told a press conference.

"We have a heavy task to accomplish, namely to fight the coronavirus crisis, and that will demand all our strength and energy," he said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A gunman opened fire in a Moscow government services center and killed two people Tuesday, reportedly after being told to put on a face mask, authorities and Russia media said. Four other people were wounded.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Twitter that a suspect was detained. Sobyanin didn’t offer any details about the assailant or his possible motive, saying only that the incident took place in the southeast of the city.

“Doctors are doing all they can to help those wounded,” the mayor said.