Новости за 05.01.2021

A Norwegian firm that was meant to have provided technical and safety certificates for Russia's gas pipeline to Germany has abandoned the project due to US sanctions.

More than a dozen UK nationals have been refused entry to the Netherlands because Britain is no longer exempt from Covid-related restrictions on non-essential travel from outside the EU since it left the bloc, the Guardian reports. British citizens living in Spain were also barred from boarding flights in the UK because the airline said their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were refused entry to Germany.

As case numbers continue to climb, UK prime minister Boris Johnson declared on Monday a lockdown for England until mid-February. All non-essential shops will be closed, along with schools and universities. On the same day, the German government and the majority of Germany's 16 federal states agreed to extend lockdown measures until 31 January to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday.

The EU Commission says the perceived slow roll-out of vaccines is due to production capacity, not the number of doses the EU has secured.

The European Commission is providing an additional €3.5m of humanitarian aid to help migrants made homeless in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to political infighting.

The Danish government has committed to reducing Denmark's CO2 emissions by 70 percent by 2030. These are not figures made up for the occasion. They are the targets that scientists believe are the bare necessity.

British ex-security chiefs have rubbished a claim by interior minister Priti Patel that Brexit would improve UK security. Lord Ricketts, a former national-security adviser, told the BBC Monday "small print" in the Brexit deal meant it could take 20 days for British police to get information from EU colleagues on suspects. Lord Blair, a former police chief, said the country's police believed Brexit "is going to make us less safe".

Shares in the world's largest holiday company, Germany's Tui, jumped 8.3 percent in the first trading day of 2021, after its president said he expected "a largely normal summer" due to the roll-out of vaccinations in Europe. Shares in the so-called STOXX 600 pan-European index also recovered to levels last seen in February 2020, before the pandemic struck, Reuters reports. British, French, and German stock exchanges also reported smaller rebounds.

The European Commission said on Monday that it is examining the preliminary agreement reached by the UK and Spain regarding Gibraltar. The deal would allow the British Overseas Territory to join the Schengen area - with Spain "ultimately responsible" for controls at Gibraltar's port and airport, Spainish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said. The Gibraltar deal will be part of the UK-EU treaty that should be ready within six months.

The Polish health ministry ordered the hospital of Warsaw medical university to clarify why some well-known actors and politicians received Covid-19 vaccines before they were eligible, The Guardian reported on Monday. Some of those vaccinated claimed that they were chosen as "ambassadors" in a vaccine-promotion campaign. Until now, only medical personal were supposed to receive the jabs - due to be followed by people aged over 60.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Monday that the country will be placed in lockdown until February. Scots will be required to stay home and telework where is possible, while schools will remain closed, the BBC reported. The move follows an increase in the number of cases, with 15 percent of tests returning a positive result - what "illustrates the severity and urgency of the situation," according to Sturgeon.

Trading in EU-listed shares is shifting smoothly from London to Amsterdam and Paris in the wake of Brexit, according to trading platforms Cboe Europe, the London Stock Exchange's new Dutch outpost, and Aquis Exchange, speaking to Reuters. "All our systems are operating normally, and as expected the majority of activity in EEA-symbols [mainly EU-listed shares] is now taking place on our Dutch venue," Cboe Europe president David Howson said.