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World News in Brief: February 19

 
World News in Brief: February 19

Canada has passed the peak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and is now in a good shape to handle the pandemic in the future without needing to impose tougher restrictions, chief public health officer Theresa Tam said.   

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday called the Minsk Agreement the "only way out" for resolving the Ukraine situation, and said Ukraine should not be a frontline for competition among major powers.


* Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered the start of strategic nuclear exercises involving launches of ballistic missiles, the RIA news agency cited the Kremlin as saying. The exercises are Moscow's latest show of strength at a time of acute tension with the West over Ukraine.

* Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit Brussels and the United States next week to coordinate with Western partners efforts to deter Russia, Interfax Ukraine reported on Saturday.

* The Kremlin confirmed on Saturday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron will speak by phone on Sunday, the TASS news agency reported, amid soaring tensions over Ukraine.

* NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday he had sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offering more talks to defuse a possible conflict in Ukraine but warned Moscow of the dangers of making impossible security demands.

* Greece and Turkey will hold a new round of exploratory talks on Feb. 22 in Athens, the Greek Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, as the two NATO-allies seek to address their differences in the Mediterranean.

* China's state planner issued rules to promote a faster recovery from the pandemic in the services sector, including providing tax incentives to the catering, retail, tourism and aviation industries.

* A Japanese health panel approved a plan for more targeted curbs across much of the nation, as new infections decline but deaths rise to a record level.

* Thailand's property market may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 due to a slower-than-expected economic recovery amid a new outbreak and higher inflation, the research unit of a state home loan lender said.

* British retail sales grew faster than expected in January, recovering about half the losses suffered when a wave of infections caused many shoppers to stay at home during December.

* President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. national emergency declared in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be extended beyond March 1 due to the ongoing risk to public health posed by the coronavirus.

* Australia recorded 43 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, as it readies to welcome international tourists on Monday for the first time in nearly two years.

* Scrapping COVID-19 tests and isolation periods in England could lead to rapid epidemic growth as people's behaviour changes more swiftly than at previous times in the pandemic, government advisers said in a document.

* Germany still expects to receive 1.4 million doses of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine on Feb. 21, the country's health minister said.

* Poland has made progress in talks with the European Commission on unblocking COVID-19 recovery funds, its prime minister said, adding that he believed an agreement could be reached.

* Police began towing trucks from central Ottawa and stepped up arrests of protesters in a bid to end a trucker-led movement that has blockaded Canada's capital for three weeks.

* More than 200,000 British homes were still without power early on Saturday, after Storm Eunice knocked over 1 million households off the grid on Friday, a body representing electricity networks said.

* Twelve people are still missing after a blaze swept through a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy early on Friday, Greek authorities said on Saturday, as firefighters battled to control the flames.

* Eight Malian soldiers were killed, 14 others injured and four are missing following a clash with armed Islamist militants in the northeast of the West African nation on Friday, the defence ministry said.


Reuters

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