Новости за 15.12.2020

Saudi Arabia projected its 2020 budget deficit will soar to around $79 billion, the finance ministry said Tuesday, as the world's top crude exporter reels from a coronavirus-led economic downturn. "It is expected that the budget deficit will increase at the end of 2020 to about 298 billion riyals, and we aim to reduce it by the end of 2021 to 141 billion riyals ($37.6 billion)," the finance ministry said in its annual budget. Late last year, the kingdom projected an annual budget deficit of $50 billion for 2020, up $15 billion on 2019. Читать дальше...

The famous beaches of Australia's Gold Coast were in places rendered almost invisible by vast quantities of thick sea foam for a second day on Tuesday. The foam is a naturally occurring phenomenon but has appeared in larger than usual quantities amid another bout of extreme weather in the country.

Guinean President Alpha Conde appealed for national unity on Tuesday after taking the oath of office following violently disputed elections.

More than 570,000 Uighurs have been pressed into forced labour in Chinese cotton fields, according to a report published on Monday. These revelations are a “game-changer” and any person or business involved in these supply chains has to “divest”, Adrian Zenz, the researcher behind the report, told FRANCE 24.

Hungarian MPs approved Tuesday a package of new measures targeting the country's beleaguered LGBT community, in the government's latest salvo in defence of "traditional" values.

Somalia cut diplomatic relations with neighbouring Kenya on Tuesday, accusing it ofmeddling in politics as protests and gunfire erupted in the capital Mogadishu over delayed elections.

European Union countries could begin coronavirus inoculations as soon as this year, the head of the European Commission said on Tuesday.

The Netherlands will go into a tough second lockdown, with the closure of all schools and shops for at least five weeks, in a government-led push to fight the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Just five days before they were due to perform before a live audience for the first time in almost two months, the singers of the Paris Opera learned they could not re-open before January as France's coronavirus cases remained stubbornly high.

Former Yorkshire captain Azeem Rafiq has filed a legal complaint against the English team after claiming direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race. Rafiq, who played for Yorkshire in two spells between 2008 and 2018, is also claiming victimisation and detriment as a result of his efforts to address racism at the club. The 29-year-old, once the youngest captain in the county's history, initially spoke out in August about the racist abuse and has now taken legal action. "Those who have... Читать дальше...

Former France centre Jean-Pierre Lux, who went on to oversee the management of the European Cups for 15 years, has died at the age of 74, the president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) Bernard Laporte said on Tuesday. "I learned of the death of Jean-Pierre Lux. A man of commitment, he wore the France jersey 47 times," Laporte tweeted. "President of the European Rugby Cup, member of the management committee of the LNR (French league), he was also a great leader. My condolences to his family and loved ones." Originally from Tyrosse... Читать дальше...

Former Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim apologised to a teammate Tuesday after an angry confrontation during a Twenty20 tournament. The 33-year-old wicketkeeper turned on Nasum Ahmed after the two nearly collided while going for a catch. Mushfiqur made the catch, but then shied as if to throw the ball at Nasum, or land a blow. He faced a storm of social media criticism for his behaviour during the Bangabandhu Twenty20 Cup game between his Beximco Dhaka side and Fortune Barishal. Bangladesh's... Читать дальше...

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish was given a nine-month driving ban on Tuesday after crashing his Range Rover during the coronavirus lockdown in March. Grealish was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates' Court after previously pleading guilty to two charges. The 25-year-old's vehicle hit two parked vehicles in Dickens Heath, Solihull, West Midlands. As well as the driving ban, England midfielder Grealish was also fined £82,499 ($110,271). A judge was told that a witness said Grealish smelled of... Читать дальше...

Most European nations have kept ski resorts shut over fears that crowds and apres-ski revelry could fuel the spread of Covid-19. In the Pyrenees, only ski resorts in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region have opened. FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reports.

French government announced on Thursday it would lift the six-week-long partial lockdown on December 15 and impose a night-time #curfew instead. But in a severe blow for the cultural sector, it said that museums, theatres, concert venues and cinemas would remain closed for three more weeks. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Philip Turle tells us more.

Thomas Ruyant is the new leader of the solo round-the-world Vendee Globe race on Tuesday after Charlie Dalin, who has been in front since November 23, set about repairing damage to the port foil of his boat Apivia. "Since 1800hrs UTC yesterday, Charlie Dalin’s race has been on hold," his team said in a statement. "After hearing a loud noise, the boat that was leading the fleet slowed right down. "He carried out an appraisal during the night and saw that the port foil was damaged, but that there was no ingress of water." Dalin... Читать дальше...

Starting on Tuesday, the French will no longer need to fill out forms justifying their reason for leaving home. They will, however, be subject to a new 8pm-6am curfew as the country battles to avoid a third wave of coronavirus infections that could require an economically devastating third national lockdown.

The first international aid convoy arrived Saturday in the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region since fighting broke out more than a month ago, triggering a refugee crisis and humanitarian disaster.

One of the world's largest nativity scenes lights up the hilltop town of Manarola in Italy's famed Cinque Terre, joined this year by a statue honouring medics who battle coronavirus. More than 150 figures depict shepherds and fishermen, sheep, camels and angels gathered around Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. Lit up with eight kilometres of electricity cables, they are visible from the sea as well. A new addition this year is a statue of a nurse with a heart next to it, a tribute to the medics working in the Covid-19 pandemic. Читать дальше...

Australia's Byron Bay usually conjures images of bathers lounging on sunkissed shores, or blissed-out longboarders cruising along cyan-blue waves -- but coastal erosion and lashing storms have reduced its seashore to a debris-strewn slither. The tourist hotspot's main beach has been reduced to a thin strip by a sand-shifting phenomenon known as "headland bypassing". Recent wild storms have then eroded it further. For more than six months, residents have watched helplessly as the beach has slowly... Читать дальше...

French schoolchildren will be allowed to skip classes and stay at home on Thursday and Friday if their families wish to self-isolate ahead of Christmas, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Tuesday.

Iranian Instagram influencer Soheil Taghavi posed with skulls, bones and pieces of pottery at the unexplored Tasuki archeological site in southeast Iran in a video that he hoped would go viral. But many people across Iran were shocked by the video, especially lovers of history and archeology. Our Observer explains that even moving the smallest object in this kind of site can jeopardise future digs and ruin important discoveries about the past.

A Senegalese court has sentenced three fathers to jail after it found that the fathers had pushed their sons to migrate. They were found guilty of "endangering the lives of others".

Iran on Monday faced a growing international backlash over its execution of the France-based dissident Ruhollah Zam, with Western governments accusing Tehran of abducting him abroad to be put on trial.

France emerges from its second Covid-19 lockdown on Tuesday. But with new daily coronavirus infections still high above the government's 5,000-a-day objective, the easing will not look like it did in May. An 8pm-to-6am curfew goes into effect, except for Christmas Eve, and cultural venues remain closed, sparking anger in the sector.