Europe

A brief recovery in the summer turned out to be more fragile than it looked, while the emergence of the more transmissible Omicron variant has made people realise that the pandemic may be far from over. Despite rising infections and inequity in vaccine access, however, people across the continent hope that more stringent measures, new drugs and vaccines would eventually rein in the raging pandemic, which has threatened to stifle an early economic recovery, Xinhua news agency reported.

The presidents noted that the two sides have organised work to ensure stable supplies of heat and energy to Serbian households and industries, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by the Kremlin. The promise of sufficient gas supplies was made amid a natural gas shortage and rising energy prices in Europe, the statement said.

Two bodies have been retrieved as a rescue operation was underway Friday night near the Aegean Sea island of Paros, after the sinking of a vessel carrying refugees and migrants, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Greek media reports. So far, 57 passengers have been rescued, with survivors stating that about 80 people were on board, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

The action is an escalation of a rule-of-law wrangle between Brussels and Warsaw over rulings made by Poland's top court, which this year found key elements of EU law to be incompatible with the country's constitution, Xinhua news agency reported. These rulings "expressly" challenged the primacy of EU law, the Commission said, adding that Poland now has two months to respond to the complaint.

Detected barely a month ago, the fast spreading strain of Covid has so far spread to 106 countries, according to the WHO. It has already become dominant in several countries, including in Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom, where its numbers are doubling every one and a half to 3 days, generating previously unseen transmission rates.

Seven people with burns were saved and rushed to an emergency hospital in the capital, Xinhua news agency quoted the BTA report as saying. Among the victims were children. The accident took place at about 2 a.m. on a highway about 40 km south of Sofia.

An estimated 35,000 people gathered in central Brussels on Sunday to protest against the reinforced measures, which include the mandatory use of the 'COVID Safe Ticket' (CST) and the obligation to wear face masks in areas where a CST is required, reports Xinhua news agency. The demonstration took place near the Brussels North Station, with protesters brandishing banners saying "Together for Freedom" and "Resistance".

Referring to Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani's tour to European countries for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Amir Abdollahian said that Iran is engaged in successful talks in Europe these days. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a 2015 nuclear deal involving Iran and other countries. The Vienna talks are set to resume on November 29, after a pause following six rounds of negotiations between April and June as reported by Xinhua news

According to the latest update by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the highest numbers of new cases were reported from the UK (283,756 new cases; a 14 per cent increase) and Russia (217,322 new cases; a 15 per cent increase) The European Region showed a 7 per cent increase of new weekly cases as well highest weekly incidence in deaths.

As of Monday, 10,151 people were hospitalized with Covid-19, according to French health authorities. The last time over 10,000 people were hospitalized with the virus in France was on June 22, xinhua news agency reported. A significant number of these hospitalizations were concentrated in Bouches-du-Rhone in the south of the country, in the Paris region and in French overseas territories including Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Reunion.