World

Bulgaria has refused to approve the European Union's negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking the official start of accession talks with its smaller Balkan neighbour, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Putin also proposed that the creation of a vaccine research centre for BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - be sped up.

Police raided apartments across Berlin early on Tuesday and detained three people suspected of involvement in a jewel heist at a museum housing one of Europe's greatest collections of treasures, officers said.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said on Monday that a statewide vote recount would cost an estimated $7.9 million, money that President Donald Trump's campaign would have to pay in advance should it request one.

President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Avi Berkowitz, will lead a U.S. delegation to Bahrain and Israel this week to discuss expanded economic cooperation between the two countries, a senior White House official said on Monday.

There were 51 hate crime murders in 2019, which includes 22 people who were killed in a shooting that targeted Mexicans at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso, Texas, an FBI report said.

Moderna Inc said on Monday its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID19 based on interim data from a latestage clinical trial, becoming the second U.S. company in a week to report results that far exceed expectations.

Iran on Monday reported a record 13,053 new coronavirus infections and 486 deaths over the past 24 hours as the government planned tougher restrictions to curb the pandemic in the Middle East's worstaffected country.

As Brexit talks were due to resume, Britain said on Monday its red lines remained unchanged but that it wanted to reach a trade deal with the European Union if the bloc chose to make progress.

President Donald Trumps campaign is withdrawing a central part of its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to capture the state and help win the White House.

Oil prices climbed on Monday, recouping some losses from the previous session as hopes that OPEC+ will hold current output curbs offset concerns about weaker fuel demand due to rising COVID19 cases and higher production from Libya.

Bulgaria plans to voice its opposition on Tuesday to starting European Union accession talks with neighbouring North Macedonia as the two countries have yet to settle disputes over history and language, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said.

Police in Belarus on Sunday arrested dozens of people in Minsk demonstrating against Alexander Lukashenko, leader of the exSoviet country, a witness said and several media outlets reported.

Brexit talks must make progress this week ahead of the endofyear expiry of Britain's transition deal with the European Union, the country's environment secretary George Eustice said.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov said on Saturday he had stepped down as acting president of the Central Asian nation as he applied to run in a Jan. 10 presidential election.

Still wearing the camouflage fatigues in which he had fought against Azeri forces a week earlier, Arsen, an ethnic Armenian, lit a fire on Saturday under his sister's dining room table in the small village of Charektar.