Europe

ZAGREB, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Croatia and France signed here Thursday a Strategic Partnership Agreement and a deal for Croatia to purchase 12 French Rafale fighter jets.

"All the talks we have represent the beginning of a new phase in the relations between Croatia and France," Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a press conference after his talks with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron.

LONDON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 10 million coronavirus cases have been recorded in Britain since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country reported another 47,240 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,021,497.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said on Friday that it will ease its restrictions on exporting COVID-19 vaccines.

The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said that as of January it will no longer require vaccine producers to request special authorization to export outside the 27-nation bloc.

Earlier this year when vaccines were still in short supply, the EU introduced a mechanism to keep some of the jabs it secured from AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish drug company, from being diverted elsewhere.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi said that a bilateral treaty signed on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen bilateral cooperation would in turn strengthen the European Union, including such areas as defense, aerospace and technology.

The treaty deepens cooperation “in crucial sectors, from security to justice, from research to industry,” Draghi told a press conference.

That includes spending to create “a true European defense” that Draghi said “obviously is complementary to NATO” and doesn’t substitute the alliance.

CALAIS, France (AP) — France reacted with anger and dismay on Friday to Britain’s latest proposals for dealing with the deadly flow of migrants between their shores, ramping up a battle of wills over dangerous crossings of the English Channel that killed 27 people in a sinking this week.

MOSCOW (AP) — Rescuers have found a survivor in a Siberian coal mine where dozens of miners are presumed dead after a devastating methane explosion, a top local official announced Friday.

Sergei Tsivilyov, governor of the Kemerovo region where the mine is located, said on the messaging app Telegram that the survivor was found in the Listvyazhnaya mine in southwestern Siberia, and “he is being taken to the hospital.”

Acting Emergency Minister Alexander Chupriyan said the man found in the mine was a rescuer who had been presumed dead.

LONDON (AP) — The bars are shut in Vienna, and the Christmas market is empty in Munich, as several European nations tighten up or even lock down to combat a spike in coronavirus infections.

Meanwhile in London, couples sip mulled wine at a seasonal market near the River Thames, full-capacity audiences fill the seats at the nearby National Theatre, and friends huddle over pints in pubs throughout the city.

Not for the first time in the pandemic, Britain is out of step with many of its neighbors. But this time, it’s happy to be different.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A slew of nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa on Friday, and stocks plunged in Asia and Europe in reaction to news of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant.

“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn, amid a massive spike in cases in the 27-nation European Union, which is recommending a ban on flights from southern African nations.

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: Lilla Swierblewska, a minority Muslim Tatar from Eastern Poland, always wanted migrants to feel at home in her country. Now, having mobilised the kitchen of a restaurant she opened in Bialystok a year ago, she is cooking to support the cause.

That means dinners of turkey meatballs in carrot sauce and chicken with green beans, pasteurised and sealed in jars, then shipped to charities going to the forests of Poland to help migrants who have crossed from Belarus, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/: Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has shown an 85.7% efficacy against COVID infection and a 98% protection against COVID related mortality, according to an independent study conducted in Hungary, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reported on Thursday.