Europe

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium must tighten its coronavirus restrictions another notch as the latest surge in cases weighs heavily on health services and deprives people with other life-threatening diseases like cancer of necessary treatment, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday.

Kindergartens and primary schools will now close for the holiday season a week early, on Dec. 20, and children must wear masks from the age of 6. The government capped attendance at indoor events at 200 people.

BERLIN (AP) — Diplomats negotiating in Vienna to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have paused after five days of talks to consult with their governments and will reconvene next week, officials said Friday.

The European Union official chairing the meeting said there had been some progress, but further “convergence” was necessary.

“We have identified the challenges ahead. Now it is time to consult with capitals,” EU diplomat Enrique Mora told reporters. “We will be resuming here in Vienna next week.”

02 Dec 2021; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Thursday, discussed bilateral relations and regional challenges with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Stockholm, Sweden's capital, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Cavusoglu tweeted that he "discussed bilateral relations & regional issues including Syria, Libya, Ukraine & Caucasus" with Lavrov on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council meeting.

03 Dec 2021; MEMO: The United States and Iran are not very optimistic about the talks currently taking place in the Austrian capital, Vienna, which aim to revive the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Tehran and world powers, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting in Stockholm that Russia would resort to reciprocal measures in case Moscow’s interests were ignored in regard to NATO’s further deployment of forces, the Russian ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: The West will have regrets if it once again misses the opportunity to negotiate with Moscow over guarantees to halt NATO’s expansion eastward, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Russia’s Channel One on Thursday.

"We can’t bank on Brussels’ assurances, we witness what happens with vociferous promises. Everything turns upside down over the years. In the end, we get a radically worsened situation in Europe as a result of NATO expansion led by the United States, of territories directly adjacent to the Russian borders," he added.

MOSCOW, December 2./TASS/: Russia has imposed a 14-day quarantine for those who arrive from South Africa and the countries bordering it, sanitary watchdog chief Anna Popova said on Thursday.

"Today, Russia has imposed a two-week quarantine, but only for those who are returning from South Africa and the countries sharing the border with South Africa, and that’s all. This affects just a few people, according to Rostourism (Federal Agency for Tourism) and our Foreign Ministry, it’s several hundred people staying in South Africa," she told Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: December talks of OPEC+ countries ended and the OPEC Secretariat confirmed in its communique that OPEC+ member-states will continue increasing oil production by 400,000 barrels per day.

All the countries agreed to proceed with oil production recovery in January 2022 by 400,000 barrels per day, according to the communique posted on the OPEC’s website. The plan to compensate overproduction of oil is extended until June of the next year.

The next meeting of OPEC+ countries will be on January 4, 2022.

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) that has seized power in Afghanistan is unlikely to be recognized soon, including by Russia, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Moscow Said Tayeb Jawad said in an interview with TASS on Thursday.

GENEVA, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World Health Organization member states agreed to start building a new international accord on how to handle future pandemics and ensure there can be no repeat of Covid-19.

   The economic turmoil and millions of lives lost during the coronavirus crisis triggered calls for new international defences strong enough to prevent a future such disaster.