Europe

LONDON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States could rebrand itself by helping overcome the global COVID-19 vaccine shortage, the Financial Times said recently in an opinion article.

"The U.S. could show itself capable of giving the world's poor what they need, as opposed to lecturing from a distance," it said.

According to the World Bank's Multilateral Data Dashboard, though the U.S. has promised 1 billion doses of vaccines to the world's poorer countries, "just 111 million have been shipped, which is enough to give 5 percent of Africa one dose," the article said.

MILAN (AP) — Italy is making life more uncomfortable for unvaccinated people as the holidays draw near, excluding them from indoor restaurants, theaters and museums to reduce the spread of coronavirus and encourage vaccine skeptics to get their shots.

WARSAW, December 5. /TASS/: Polish border guards detained Russia’s freighter Ruslana in the Gulf of Gdansk in the Baltic Sea on Saturday, the specialized portalmorski.pl portal reported.

According to its information, the vessel belonging to a St. Petersburg transportation company was "traveling at a speed of 11 knots directly in the direction of a beach on Sobieszewo Island outside of the allocated waterway."

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: A military base belonging to the US and the Western coalition located near Syria’s Al-Tanf was attacked on Sunday, Al Arabiya news channel reports.

According to the TV channel, several strikes were launched on the area near the coalition base in Al-Tanf in Homs Province near the border with Iraq.

According to Syria’s television, several explosions were heard inside the base.

There were no reports on possible damages or injuries as a result of the incident.

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: Russia has registered 32,602 new confirmed COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 9,801,613 cases, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

According to the crisis center, in absolute terms, the increase is the lowest since October 15. The relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.33%.

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he supports the initiatives geared to promote the development of the volunteer movement, including on insuring volunteers.

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: Russia’s authorities are opting for persuasion rather than compulsion in what concerns vaccination against the novel coronavirus infection, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"Indeed, the most important task is to vaccinate the population," he said during his video link with Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). "And we are trying to follow a path of persuasion rather than of compulsion. We are trying to combat biased views and prejudices against vaccination as such."

BELGRADE, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of people blocked roads across Serbia in an anti-government protest against two new laws that environmentalists say will let foreign companies exploit local resources.

Serbia’s government has offered mineral resources to companies including China’s Zijin copper miner and Rio Tinto. Green activists say the projects will pollute land and water in the Balkan nation.

The protest is a headache for the ruling Peoples’ Progressive Party led by the President Aleksandar Vucic ahead of parliamentary and presidential election next year.

  VIENNA, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An avalanche in the Salzburg region killed three people and injured two while they were skiing off-piste, Austria’s Red Cross said Saturday.

  The accident happened Saturday about 2,400 metres up in the Lungau district, soon after 1:45 pm local time, Red Cross spokesman Anton Schilcher told the APA agency.

  The snow buried eight of the group up to 4.5 metres deep, local emergency response official Christoph Wiedl told local media.

LISBON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa decreed the dissolution of parliament on Sunday in the remaining formal step ahead of a previously announced snap general election set for Jan. 30, his office said.

The decree came on the last possible day for parliament's dissolution, which has has to occur at least 55 days before an election.