All major indices in Europe closed in negative territory on Monday, retreating from their gains last week.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 2.35 points, or 0.5%, to close at 467.04 after the index rose 2.64% last week.

London's FTSE 100 decreased 30 points, or 0.42%, to 7,203, while Germany's DAX 30 lost 112 points, or 0.72%, to 15,474. Last week, the indices added 1.95% and 2.5%, respectively.

France's CAC 40 fell 54 points, or 0.81%, to close at 6,673 points, while it was up 2.55% last week.

Italy's FTSE MIB 30 showed the largest decline of the day by plummeting 220 points, or 0.83%, to 26,268. Borsa Italiana rose 1.68% last week.

Spain's IBEX 35 lost 61, or 0.68%, to end at 8,936. Last week, the index increased 0.46%./agencies

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday began hearing a suit filed by Azerbaijan against Armenia for racial discrimination.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which both states are signatories.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the hearing was held in a "mixed format," which will continue on Tuesday. Some members of the court attended the hearing in person and others via video.

The claims that Armenia breached the international convention on the prevention of racial discrimination were presented by an Azerbaijani team led by Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov.

Azerbaijan also requested the court to adjudicate interim measures to put an immediate end to Armenia's violations.

Last week, hearings on Armenia's claim against Azerbaijan for violating the same convention were held.

Azerbaijan-Armenia relations

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27 last year, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10, 2020 to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

The cease-fire was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.

Prior to this, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory had been under illegal occupation for nearly 30 years.

On Jan. 11 this year, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region. It included the establishment of a trilateral working group on Karabakh./agencies

Basque separatist politicians on Monday expressed “sorrow and pain” over the violence perpetrated by the ETA terror group in its quest for independence from Spain.

From 1968 to 2010, ETA killed 829 people and injured thousands more in its fight for an independent Basque Country.

“It never should have happened … nobody could be satisfied with everything that occurred, nor with it going on for so long. We should have managed to reach Aiete (the 2011 peace conference) earlier,” said a statement, which was read in Spanish by Arnaldo Otegi and in Basque by Arkaitz Rodríguez, marking the 10th anniversary of the official end of ETA’s violence.

Both politicians were imprisoned in Spain for their roles in ETA, although the European Court of Human Rights later ruled that the trial that put them behind bars for years was neither fair nor impartial.

Otegi is currently the leader of the Basque separatist party EH Bildu, while Rodríguez heads the once-outlawed Sortu party.

“Unfortunately, the past cannot be remedied, nothing we say can undo the damage. But we are convinced that it is at least possible to alleviate it through respect, consideration and remembrance. We want to tell you from our heart that we deeply regret your suffering and we commit to trying to mitigate it to the best of our ability,” the statement added.

On Oct. 20, 2011, ETA announced the "definitive cessation of its armed activity" after the Donostia-San Sebastián International Peace Conference. In 2018, it announced its full political dissolution.

Monday's statement said that the decision to end ETA’s violence is “an immovable decision and forever” and that it has fully been complied with over the last 10 years.


They also called on Spanish authorities to bring ETA prisoners, many of whom have been sent to prisons hundreds of kilometers away from home, back to the Basque Country.

While some consider this statement a step forward for reconciliation in the Basque Country, which is still divided by ETA’s legacy, others slammed it for its tepidity.

“Otegi is not a man of peace, he’s a terrorist. ETA was defeated by Spanish police and the judiciary, not by a Socialist-led peace process,” Pablo Casado, leader of Spain’s Popular Party, told Spanish broadcaster Cadena Ser.

In a Twitter thread, Spain’s Association for Victims of Terrorism said the speeches did not go far enough.

“They should ask for forgiveness for representing murderers, they should get ETA members to collaborate with the justice system to solve unsolved crimes… there’s still a lot of work to do before we can say this is over.”/agencies

The European Medicine Agency (EMA) started on Monday to evaluate if BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine can be given to children aged 5 to 11 years old.

“EMA’s human medicines committee will review the data on the vaccine, including results from an ongoing clinical study involving children aged 5 to 11, in order to decide whether to recommend extending its use,” the EU agency wrote in a press statement.

According to the current recommendation of the EU regulator, children aged 12 and above can receive BioNTech jabs.

The EMA expects to publish the results in a few months.

BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine was the first COVID-19 jabs authorized by the bloc in December 2020.

The EU financially contributed to the development of the vaccine under an advanced purchased agreement.

To provide booster jabs, the European Commission agreed in May with Pfizer/BioNTech to purchase another 1.8 billion doses for the years 2022 and 2023, in addition to the 600 million doses received this year.

The jab uses an innovative technique, messenger RNA, or mRNA, with instructions to produce a protein from the virus that causes COVID-19 to prepare the body to fight the disease.

Contrary to traditional vaccines, BioNTech/Pfizer does not contain the virus itself./aa

The governor of the Bank of England has reiterated past signals that the central bank was gearing up to raise interest rates amid rising prices.

The Bank of England must act to contain inflation -- especially possible medium-term inflation -- regardless of monetary policy not being able to solve supply-side problems, said Andrew Bailey on Sunday while speaking at an online panel held by the Washington-based G30 Group.

Warning that rising energy prices would mean high inflation lasting longer, Bailey said: "That's why we, at the Bank of England, have signaled, and this is another such signal, that we will have to act," Bailey said. “But of course that action comes in our monetary policy meetings."

Noting that demand for labor in the country was gradually increasing, he voiced "concerns about the growth of labor supply."

The bank, which has an inflation target level of 2%, expects this figure to exceed 4% by the end of the year.

It may become the first among advanced economy central banks to increase interest rates, taking action this year or at the beginning of 2022.

The Bank of England is currently holding the policy rate at 0.1%./agencies

Turkey’s Maarif Foundation is providing education to over 17,500 students through its 175 institutions in 25 countries in Africa.

With Turkey's Ministry of National Education, the foundation is the state's sole entity authorized to provide educational services abroad.

It has significantly increased the number of educational institutions in Africa in the last five years – from 18 in 2016 to 175 now.

Besides, it also operates 18 dormitories in the continent to meet the accommodation needs of the students.

According to the foundation, it has 45,000 students in 378 schools, one university, and 14 education centers in 47 countries around the world.

The foundation was established on June 17, 2016, but is moving beyond its original mission of running schools obtained from FETO, the group behind the defeated coup of July 2016 in Turkey, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary./aa​​​​​​​

Pro-nuclear European Union (EU) countries want nuclear energy to be classified as "green energy" to pave the way for investments and reduce foreign dependency on energy that would be unaffected by fluctuations in fossil fuel prices while ensuring a climate-friendly transformation.

The EU's green investments list is a classification system for companies, investors and policymakers that provides appropriate definitions of economic activities that can be considered environmentally sustainable.

The EU, which aims to transform Europe into a climate-friendly continent by 2050, is evaluating the steps that can be taken against the recent rapidly increasing energy prices.

The European Commission is expected to announce its final list of green investments in a few months. Considering the many EU countries with nuclear power plants, there is an expectation that nuclear could be considered for classification as a green investment.

Renewable energy sources play an important role in the environmentally-friendly and climate-friendly economic transformation, but as electricity generation from wind, solar and hydro depend on certain weather conditions, these sources are not consistent and fluctuate periodically, necessitating more stable and complementary resources to plug the supply gap.

In recent months, lower power production from hydroelectric power plants in Europe due to drought, and a fall in electricity generation from wind due to climatic conditions have optimized the pivot towards fossil fuel generation.

However, sharp increases in natural gas, coal and oil have been felt as economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

European countries, which meet 90% of their natural gas needs and 97% of oil through imports, were caught unprepared for these price increases.

The decrease in the EU's natural gas reserves made the situation more difficult with colder than normal winter conditions last year.

Gas supplies to Europe from pipelines did not meet expectations at a time when the world experienced higher gas demand and supply shortages. Technical and capacity together with high prices limited the transmission of liquefied natural gas (LNG), preventing demand from being fully met.

European consumers were angered when higher energy prices were passed onto them when natural gas prices and similarly wholesale electricity prices rose to record levels last month, increasing by more than 150% in September compared to the beginning of the year.

The EU’s rationale for these price hikes was down to higher imported fossil fuel costs.

Europe, which wants to lower foreign dependency on energy, foresees the necessity to accelerate investment in renewable energy in the long term in the face of increasing energy prices.

As EU member states determine the energy sources they will use in electricity production, EU member countries with nuclear power plants argue that these power plants emit low carbon, are effective, safe and competitive in the fight against climate change, all the while reducing foreign energy dependency.

France, along with Hungary, Poland, Finland, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia contend that modern reactors can be built in the near future if cooperation between member states increases.

The 10 countries in question relayed their demands to the EU by signing a joint letter this week.

EU countries and nuclear

France meets 70% of its electricity production from 56 nuclear reactors in the country.

In a bid to increase nuclear energy in the country, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a plan covering an additional investment of €30 billion until 2030 in industry, technology and nuclear.

Six nuclear power plants currently operate in Germany, producing around 12% of the country's electricity. However, the country plans to phase out electricity generation from nuclear power plants by the end of 2022.

Last week, 25 leading foreign and German environmentalists, journalists and academics published a joint letter stating that nuclear reactors in Germany should continue their activities, and adding that abandoning nuclear energy would increase carbon emissions.

The share of nuclear energy in the total electricity production of EU countries is approximately 25%. Out of the 27 EU member countries, 13 use nuclear power plants for electricity generation.

According to the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG), there are 106 operable nuclear reactors in total in the EU.

In Spain, seven reactors in five nuclear facilities produce nearly 22% of the country's electricity.

The Netherlands has one nuclear reactor that generates 3% of the country’s electricity.

A total of seven reactors operate in Belgium's two nuclear power plants, producing about half of the country's needs.

Six reactors operating in three nuclear power plants in Sweden provide 40% of its electricity, and six nuclear reactors operating in two facilities in the Czech Republic generate approximately one-third of its electricity.

Finland's four reactors in two power plants meet 30% of the country's electricity, and four reactors in Slovakia meet almost half of its electricity needs while two reactors in Bulgaria meet one-third of the country's electricity.

Currently, four nuclear reactors in Hungary produce about half of the country's electricity but preparations are afoot to install two new nuclear power units.

Two nuclear reactors in Romania produce 20% of the country's electricity, and one reactor in Slovenia produces 35% of the country’s power./agencies

Five cases and three deaths have now been confirmed in the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

Infection prevention and control teams are making intense efforts to limit the spread of the deadly virus in the northeastern North Kivu province, the WHO office in DR Congo said on Twitter.

They are disinfecting health facilities, houses, public places, and other spots where confirmed or suspected patients might have been present, it added.

According to the WHO Regional Office for Africa, 369 contacts of the confirmed Ebola patients have been identified and 308 are being monitored.

The latest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo was confirmed on Oct. 8, two days after a child died in North Kivu’s Butsili area.

Local authorities, backed by the WHO, launched a vaccination campaign in the region last week, but officials acknowledged that the number of contacts and infections are likely to keep growing.

Earlier this year, a three-month outbreak in and around the city of Butembo in North Kivu ended in May after 11 cases and six deaths.

DR Congo’s 10th Ebola outbreak, which started in North Kivu in August 2018 and lasted for nearly two years, was the second largest in the world, with 3,481 cases, 2,299 deaths and 1,162 survivors, according to WHO data./aa​​​​​​​

Health workers in Afghanistan will begin an anti-polio vaccination drive next month after the Taliban leadership agreed to provide security to health workers during the campaign, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

In a statement issued by the UNICEF country's office in Afghanistan, WHO and UNICEF welcomed the decision by the Taliban leadership to support the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across the country.

The vaccination campaign, which will begin on Nov. 8, will be the first in over three years to reach all children in Afghanistan, including more than 3.3 million children in some parts of the country who have previously remained inaccessible to vaccination campaigns.

A second nationwide polio vaccination campaign has also been agreed upon and will be synchronized with Pakistan’s own polio campaign planned in December, according to the statement.

“This is an extremely important step in the right direction,” said Dapeng Luo, WHO representative in Afghanistan.

“We know that multiple doses of oral polio vaccine offer the best protection, so we are pleased to see that there is another campaign planned before the end of this year. Sustained access to all children is essential to end polio for good. This must remain a top priority,” he said.

Afghanistan has reported only one case of wild poliovirus so far in 2021, while last year the country registered 56 cases.

The country has currently 43 type 2 cases that were 308 last year, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Preparations started

Pakistan has so far reported one wild poliovirus case and eight type 2 cases in 2021.

“To eliminate polio completely, every child in every household across Afghanistan must be vaccinated, and with our partners, this is what we are setting out to do,” said Herve Ludovic De Lys, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan.

A supplementary dose of vitamin A will also be provided to children aged 6 to 59 months during the upcoming campaign.

Preparations are being made to rapidly implement the nationwide vaccination campaign, which came as a result of ongoing high-level dialogue between the UN and Taliban leadership to swiftly and urgently meet the health needs of the people in Afghanistan, the statement said.

“This is not only a win for Afghanistan but also a win for the region as it opens a real path to achieve wild poliovirus eradication,” said Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

“The urgency with which the Taliban leadership wants the polio campaign to proceed demonstrates a joint commitment to maintain the health system and restart essential immunizations to avert further outbreaks of preventable diseases,” he said.

The overall health system in Afghanistan remains vulnerable. To mitigate against the risk of a rise in diseases and deaths, all parties have also agreed on the need to immediately start measles and COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

The Taliban leadership has also expressed their commitment to the inclusion of female frontline workers and for providing security to polio teams, said UNICEF./agencies