Europe

GENEVA, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World nations will gather Monday to thrash out whether to pursue a pandemic treaty setting out how to handle the next crisis — which experts fear is only a matter of time.

  The three-day meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva comes with the planet still besieged by Covid-19, nearly two years on from the first recorded cases.

  The economic turmoil and millions of lives lost have triggered calls for new international defences strong enough to prevent a repeat disaster.

COPENHAGEN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Iceland's current government coalition, consisting of three parties from the left to the right, has agreed to continue for another term after they bolstered their majority in a Sept 25 general election.

Katrin Jakobsdottir of the Left-Green Movement will stay on as Prime Minister of the government, which has provided a period of stability since 2017 after years of political scandals and distrust of politicians following the 2008 financial crisis.

VILNIUS, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday that the NATO military alliance needed to adjust its stance towards Belarus, whose military, he said, was becoming more integrated with Russian armed forces.

Nauseda told a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Vilnius that he was worried by the "total military integration" of Belarus into Russian military structures.

ROME, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been identified in a citizen from Italy's southern Campania region, who returned to Milan from Mozambique "some days ago," Italian news agency ANSA reported Sunday.

The patient, an employee at an international company, "had been vaccinated with two doses," ANSA reported.

MOSCOW, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The St. Louis Federal Reserve recommended U.S. citizens to choose a vegan Thanksgiving dinner amid soaring food prices, according to a recent article published by Russian broadcaster RT.

The article published on Monday explained that industries are raising their prices amid increasing costs as a result of "supply chain issues and worker shortages," which have all led to a surge in inflation levels in the country.

PRAGUE, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19.

In a tweet, the minister said he was not feeling well "from Friday to Saturday," and went for a PCR test on Saturday.

The test result was positive, he said, adding he would start a 14-day isolation.

"Thanks to the vaccination, I have a mild course and will work from home," Vojtech tweeted.

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters were having their say in a referendum Sunday on legislation which imposed the use of a special COVID-19 certificate that lets only people who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested negative attend public events and gatherings.

The vote offers a relatively rare bellwether of public opinion specifically on the issue of government policy to fight the coronavirus in Europe, currently the global epicenter of the pandemic.

CALAIS, France (AP) — At the makeshift camps in France near Calais and Dunkirk, migrants are digging in, waiting for their chance to make a dash across the English Channel despite the deaths of at least 27 people this week when their boat sank a few miles (kilometers) from the French coast.

Police have stepped up patrols in recent days and the weather has worsened, making this a bad time to attempt a crossing. But most migrants say the tragedy won’t prevent them from climbing into a flimsy inflatable boat packed with up to 50 people in hopes of reaching Britain.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus on Sunday and Australia found two as the countries half a world apart became the latest to detect it in travelers arriving from southern Africa.

Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming air travel from around the world for two weeks starting Monday — the most drastic of a growing raft of travel curbs being imposed by nations around the world as they scramble to slow the variant’s spread.

MOSCOW (AP) — Voters in Kyrgyzstan cast ballots in a parliamentary election Sunday that comes just over a year after a forceful change of government in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation.

President Sadyr Zhaparov, who was elected in January following protests that ousted his predecessor, expects the ballot to further cement his grip on power.

Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 6.5 million that borders China, is a member of Russia-dominated economic and security alliances. It hosts a Russian air base and depends on Moscow’s financial support.