Europe

ZAGREB, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's Minister of Construction Darko Horvat was arrested on Saturday for suspected abuse of power when he was minister of economy in 2018.

Following the arrest, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic held an impromptu news conference and called on the Office of the State Attorney General (DORH) to explain the case in greater detail.

"I expect the DORH to inform the public why it is so urgent to arrest the minister," Plenkovic said, urging the DORH to provide supporting evidence for its unusual move.

LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- There have been more than 1 millon excess deaths in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Guardian said in a recent report.

The deaths are mainly attributable to COVID-19, as well as conditions that may have resulted from delayed medical care and overwhelmed health systems, the report quoted figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as saying.

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Voters in Malta will elect a new Parliament in a few weeks in balloting that will also decide the island nation’s next government.

During a political event on Sunday, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that the election will be held on March 26 in the European Union nation. He said he will advise the Maltese president to dissolve Parliament to clear the way for the election.

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and is experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, Buckingham Palace said, adding that she still plans to carry on working. The diagnosis prompted concern and get-well wishes from across Britain’s political spectrum for the famously stoic 95-year-old.

Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a fixture in the life of the nation, the queen reached the milestone of 70 years on the throne on Feb. 6, the anniversary of the 1952 death of her father, King George VI. She will turn 96 on April 21.

MEDYKA, Poland (AP) — As tensions soar in Ukraine’s east and Western leaders issue dire warnings that a wider war could be coming, calm persists along Ukraine’s western border with European Union nation Poland.

A sports center painted with the Olympic rings in a small Polish community directly on the border stands ready to house Ukrainian refugees. For now, the center in Medyka is empty. At the nearby border crossing, there is no sign of Ukrainians fleeing.

MUNICH (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Sunday that he’s deeply concerned about tensions in Bosnia and has appealed to leaders there to avoid the breakup of the Balkan country.

“The situation in Bosnia is more worrying than ever. It was never easy, but now the centrifugal tendencies are really very worrying,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, said at an annual security conference in Munich.

MUNICH (AP) — Moscow would have its access to financial markets and high-tech goods limited under Western sanctions being prepared in case Russia attacks Ukraine, a top European Union official said Saturday.

The comments from Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s Executive Commission, came as tensions over Russia’s intentions toward Ukraine intensified. U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday he was convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade the neighboring country.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A survivor has been rescued Sunday morning from the stern of a still burning passenger ferry, Greece’s coast guard said. There are 11 people still missing.

A coast guard spokesman told The Associated Press the man, a Belarussian, was found on the left rear side of the Euroferry Olympia in apparently good condition.

“The fact that this man succeeded, despite adverse conditions, to exit into the deck and alert the coast guard ... gives us hope that there may be other (survivors),” coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state broadcaster ERT.

LONDON (AP) — People with COVID-19 won’t be legally required to self-isolate in England starting in the coming week, the U.K. government has announced, as part of a plan for “living with COVID” that is also likely to see testing for the coronavirus scaled back.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ending all of the legal restrictions brought in to curb the spread of the virus will let people in the U.K. “protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.” He is expected to lay out details of the plan in Parliament on Monday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The defense minister of Belarus says his country’s joint exercises with Russian troops will continue because of rising tensions in Ukraine.

The exercises, which were to end Sunday, brought a sizable contingent of Russian forces to Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the north. The presence of the Russian troops raised concern that they could be used to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Russia and Belarus have tight cooperation under an alliance referred to as the Union State, which stops short of the countries’ actual integration.