Europe

France posts daily record 464,000 Covid cases

PARIS, France (AFP) — France’s daily reported new coronavirus cases broke a new record on Tuesday with an average of over 300,000 a day in the past week, with the headline figure approaching half a million. The latest data issued by Public Health France showed that there were 464,769 new cases in the last 24-hour period as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread unabated. A day earlier, 102,144 people had tested positive for the virus. […]

North Macedonia gets new prime minister

SKOPJE, Republic of North Macedonia (AFP) — The North Macedonia’s parliament late Sunday elected Social Democrat technocrat Dimitar Kovacevski as prime minister after more than two months of political turmoil in the country. Kovacevski, a former deputy finance minister, succeeds Zoran Zaev who stepped down last month following his party’s heavy defeat in municipal elections. The new coalition cabinet, led by Kovacevski’s Social Democrats (SDSM), was backed by 62 MPs of those present in the […]

UK’s Johnson faces fresh scandal over lockdown party breach

by Joe JACKSON LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was embroiled Tuesday in another scandal over his government’s alleged lockdown breaches as police said they were investigating a Downing Street gathering attended by dozens of top officials. In the latest in a string of such allegations, Johnson and others allegedly held a drinks gathering in the garden of his official residence in May 2020 when any in-person socialising was outlawed. An […]

Italy tightens restrictions on Covid unvaccinated

ROME, Italy (AFP) — People in Italy who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 are barred from restaurants or taking domestic flights under new rules which came into force Monday as schools reopened nationwide. Only those who have recently recovered from a coronavirus infection are exempt from the regulations, which represent a further tightening of restrictions in the face of rising infections. The majority of schools opened Monday for a new term under government orders, despite […]

More than 5,000 arrested since riots in Kazakhstan erupted a week ago

More than 5,000 people have been arrested in Kazakhstan over the riots that have shaken Central Asia’s largest country in the last week, Kazakh authorities were quoted as saying Sunday. In total, 5,135 people have been detained for questioning as part of 125 separate investigations into the unrest, according to the interior ministry quoted by local media. The energy-rich country of around 19 million people has been rocked by a week of riots with dozens […]

Russia rules out any concession at Ukraine, security talks with US

by Nina Larson with Shaun Tandon in Washington Russia ruled out Sunday any concession at talks with the United States on soaring tensions over Ukraine as Moscow seeks a wide-ranging new security arrangement with the West but faces strong pressure to pull back troops. Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies ahead of his talks in Geneva the Kremlin was also “disappointed” with signals coming from both Washington and Brussels, where NATO […]

PM mourns ‘terrible toll’ as UK tops 150,000 virus deaths

More than 150,000 people have died after catching coronavirus in the United Kingdom, the government said Saturday, in a tragic milestone for one of the worst affected countries in Europe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson posted a message on Twitter saying: “Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll on our country and today the number of deaths recorded has reached 150,000.” The government reported that deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test had reached 150,057 […]

‘Old man out!’: Anger in Kazakhstan focuses on ex-leader

by Christopher RICKLETON As protesters armed with sticks and discarded police shields prepared to storm the mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, they marched to chants of “old man out!” They were not referring to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 68, but Nursultan Nazarbayev, the octogenarian who after more than a quarter-century in office picked career diplomat Tokayev as his loyalist successor in 2019. Since Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Nazarbayev has been […]

Britain faces hospital crisis as Covid cases top 200,000

by Jitendra JOSHI / James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British hospitals have switched to a “war footing” due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, the government said Tuesday, as the country’s daily Covid caseload breached 200,000 for the first time. The 24-hour tally, after chalking up multiple records in the run-up to New Year, hit 218,724 and another 48 deaths were reported in the latest government data. Hospital admissions […]

‘Dozens’ of protesters killed in Kazakhstan unrest

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AFP) – Police in Kazakhstan killed “dozens” of protesters who tried to storm administrative buildings overnight in the country’s biggest city Almaty, police told local media on Thursday. “Last night, extremist forces tried to assault administrative buildings, the Almaty city police department, as well as local police commissariats,” police spokesman Saltanat Azirbek was quoted as saying by Interfax-Kazakhstan, TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. “Dozens of assailants were eliminated,” he said, adding that police […]

Italy to introduce mandatory Covid vaccination for over 50s

ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s government said Wednesday that it would make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory from February 15 for everyone over the age of 50, in a bid to battle surging infections. “We want to slow down the curve of contagion and encourage Italians who have not yet been vaccinated to do so,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said during a cabinet meeting at which the measure was adopted, according to a statement. “We are […]

Britons warned of hospital crisis over Omicron surge

by James PHEBY LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Tuesday faced warnings of an impending hospital crisis due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, as the country returned to work after holiday Daily case numbers chalked up multiple records in the run-up to New Year, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson promising action to plug staffing gaps in the worst-hit areas. Hospital admissions have not hit anything like the peaks of […]