Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset will ask cabinet colleagues on Friday to close restaurants for a month to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus, Reuters reported citing two local newspapers.

Pope Francis urged world leaders on Thursday to divert funds used for armaments to confront the pandemic and ensure vaccines reach the poor nations, news wires reported. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace he also repeated a call for the establishment of a global fund with money slated for weapons to be used instead to help eradicate poverty.

Norway should not try to renegotiate the terms of its membership of the European single market as some opposition parties argue, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Wednesday, citing Britain’s difficulties in negotiating its departure from the bloc.

London and parts of eastern England have been placed into the toughest level of anti-coronavirus restrictions by the British government, news wires reported. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told parliament on Monday that from 0001 GMT on Wednesday the city of London, the Greater London area, the south and west of eastern county of Essex and southern parts of the south-western county of Hertfordshire would enter Tier 3, which means very high alert.

Security forces in Belarus cracked down on demonstrators on Sunday during widespread protests against embattled authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, dpa reported.

Switzerland has frozen the financial assets of the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, following the violent aftermath of the elections in the east European country.

UK regulators said Wednesday that people who have a “significant history” of allergic reactions shouldn’t receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine while they investigate two adverse reactions that occurred on the first day of the country’s mass vaccination programme.

Switzerland is planning new restrictions as coronavirus situation across the country is worsening, news wires reported. Instead of calming down the pandemic was taking an exponential turn for the worse, having stabilised at a high level despite restrictions to counter it.

Norway's intelligence agency (PST) on Tuesday blamed a Russian hacker group linked to Moscow's military intelligence for a cyberattack on the Norwegian parliament earlier this year, AFP reported.

Britain, Norway and Iceland have signed a trade continuity agreement as an interim before the countries complete negotiations over a comprehensive free trade agreement due to come into force in 2021, said the UK in a statement.