EUROPA
Brussels: "It was worth fighting for this deal. We now have a fair and balanced agreement with the UK. It will protect our EU interests, ensure fair competition and predictability for our fishing communities, "said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that "an agreement will require efforts."
Western Europe
United Kingdom: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised what he called "a good deal for the whole of Europe," which gives "new stability and new certainty" to the relationship between Britain and the EU. Former prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May called the deal "very welcome." May said it "provides business confidence and helps keep trade flowing."
France: "Europe's unity and firmness have paid off," President Macron tweeted, adding that "the agreement with the United Kingdom is essential to protect our citizens, our fishermen, our producers" and concluding that "Europe is developing and can look forward united to a future sovereign and strong ".
Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "convinced" that the UK deal represented a "good outcome" that Germany would be able to support.
Spain: Pfizer postponed the delivery of another part of the coronavirus vaccine to Spain by one day to Tuesday because of logistical obstacles, Health Minister Salvador Illa said Monday.
Belgium: Vaccination for COVID-19 has begun, with priority given to people over 65 and medical professionals.
Visegrad Group
Hungary: 609 Hungarian citizens have been diagnosed with the corona virus infection and 114 have died, according to data Monday. This increased the number of infected people identified in Hungary to 316,669, the number of deaths to 9,161 and the number of recoveries to 134,344. The number of actively infected people was 173,164.
WORLD
USA: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 18,909,910 new cases of coronavirus, an increase of 179,104 cases from the previous count, and the number of deaths rose by 1,309 to 330,901.
Russia: Russia said late on Sunday that it had sent additional troops to an area in northern Syria where Turkish-backed militants have clashed with Kurdish forces near a strategic highway patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops. On Tuesday, December 29, talks will be held in southern Russia between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
China: A Chinese court handed down a four-year prison sentence Monday to a journalist who reported from downtown Wuhan, at the height of last year's coronavirus outbreak, for "provoking trouble," his lawyer said. Zhang Zhan, 37, the first such person known to have been tried, was among a handful of people whose first-hand accounts from crowded hospitals and empty streets presented a more dire picture of the epicenter of the pandemic than the official narrative.
South Korea: South Korean officials are promising to accelerate efforts to launch a public vaccination program against coronavirus, as the country announced Monday that it has detected the first cases of the virus variant linked to a rapid rise in infections in the United Kingdom.
