Europe

Covid subvariants cast shadow over European summer

PARIS, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – by Isabelle Tourne, Isabelle Cortes and AFP European bureaus A resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Europe, this time driven by new, fast-spreading Omicron subvariants, is once again threatening to disrupt people’s summer plans. Several Western European nations have recently recorded their highest daily case numbers in months, due in part to Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5. The increase in cases has spurred calls for increased vigilance across a continent […]

Denmark offers fourth Covid vaccine dose to over-50s

COPENHAGEN, June 22, 2022 (AFP) –  Denmark’s government said Wednesday the country will begin offering a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to risk groups next week and all over-50s after the summer, amid the emergence of a new variant. “Authorities believe the new variant is more infectious than the previous one, which is why we are acting now… to protect the most vulnerable and the elderly”, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters. She said […]

Russian oil refinery says hit by Ukraine drone strike

MOSCOW, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – An oil refinery in southern Russia said Wednesday it was struck by a drone attack from Ukraine, starting a fire at the plant and forcing it to suspend operations. The Novoshakhtinsk refinery is located in Russia’s Rostov region, a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine’s separatist region of Lugansk. “As a result of terrorist actions from the western border of the Rostov region, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) […]

Key Ukrainian city under ‘massive’ Russian bombardment

KYIV, Ukraine, June 22, 2022 (AFP) –  by Benoit Finck, with Anna Malpas in the Donbas Ukrainian forces are facing “massive” and relentless artillery attacks in a battleground eastern city, Kyiv warned, as Russian troops gained ground throughout the Donbas region. Moscow’s troops have been pummelling eastern Ukraine for weeks and are slowly advancing, despite fierce resistance from the outgunned Ukrainian military. With President Vladimir Putin’s forces tightening their grip on the strategically important city […]

US calls Russia’s threat against captured Americans ‘appalling’

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2022 (AFP) – by Sebastian Smith The United States on Tuesday called it “appalling” for the Kremlin to suggest that two US citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invasion could face execution. “It’s appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, told reporters after the Kremlin spokesman said the two […]

US embassy in Moscow gets new address, named after Ukraine separatists

MOSCOW, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – Authorities in Moscow said on Wednesday that they have changed the official address of the US embassy building in the Russian capital to one named after pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine. “The United States embassy in Russia has a new official address,” Moscow city hall said in a statement, saying it had named a previously unnamed open area in front of the embassy’s main entrance. It said the embassy is […]

France monkeypox count rises to 277, one woman infected

  PARIS, France (AFP) — France has detected 277 cases of monkeypox, health authorities said Tuesday, including the first case in the country of a woman contracting the virus. The case numbers have risen steeply since the last official figure of 183 cases five days earlier. But there have been no deaths in France attributed to monkeypox. The normal initial symptoms of monkeypox include a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a blistery chickenpox-like rash. […]

UK hit by biggest rail strike in over 30 years

  by Ben PERRY Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Rush-hour commuters in the UK faced chaos on Tuesday as railway workers launched the network’s biggest strike in more than three decades, forcing people to trek to work on foot, by bike, bus — or simply not bother at all. The RMT rail union argues the strikes are necessary as wages have failed to keep pace with UK inflation, which has hit a […]

Hopes fade for swift NATO accession for Finland, Sweden

by Alma COHEN Finland and Sweden are to discuss their stalled NATO bids with Turkey in Brussels on Monday, but hopes are fading they will be able resolve their dispute before an alliance summit next week, experts say. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was to meet with representatives from the three countries to try to make progress on the Nordic nations’ membership applications, which have been blocked by Ankara. “I think it is possible but […]

Russia to ‘intensify’ fighting, Zelensky warns as EU decision looms

  by Benoit Finck with Anna Malpas in the Donbas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was likely to intensify its “hostile activity” this week, as Kyiv awaits a historic decision from the European Union on its bid for candidate status. Nearly three months after Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Zelensky said there had been “few such fateful decisions for Ukraine” as the one it expects from the EU this week. “Only […]

‘Huge uncertainty’ for EU firms over China’s Covid curbs, chamber warns

by Beiyi SEOW Many European firms are rethinking their investments in China because of its strict Covid controls, a top business group said Monday, warning that disruptions had pummelled operations. While the rest of the world has steadily removed coronavirus curbs, China has remained committed to its zero-Covid strategy, using lockdowns and mass testing to stamp out all infections. But this strategy has hammered businesses and snarled supply chains — 60 percent of respondents in […]

Ukraine says lost control of Severodonetsk village

Ukraine said Monday it had lost control of a village adjacent to the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, the centre of weeks of fierce fighting with invading Russian troops. “Unfortunately, we do not control Metyolkine anymore. And the enemy continues to build up its reserves,” the Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a statement on social media. Russia’s capture of the hamlet with a pre-war population of around 1,000 people, is the latest  around […]