Europe

WARSAW, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Poland's parliament met for the first time on Monday since an election in which an alliance of pro-European Union parties won a majority, heralding a new start for Polish politics.

President Andrzej Duda has asked Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a new government, but he has almost no chance of doing so. His nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) lost its majority in last month's election and all other parties have ruled out working with it.

MADRID, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people protested across Spain on Sunday against acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez's plans to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for support for another term in office.

The government secured a deal with Catalan separatist party Junts on Thursday which includes passing a contentious law granting amnesty to those convicted over Catalonia's attempt to secede from Spain in 2017.

GENEVA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - United Nations workers observed a minute's silence on Monday to honour the more than 100 employees killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began last month, the largest toll of humanitarian workers in the organisation's 78-year history.

Staff at U.N. offices in Geneva bowed their heads as a candle was lit in memory of the 101 employees of U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza. U.N. flags across the world flew at half mast.

Nov 12 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Ukrainians on Sunday to prepare for new waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure as winter approached and said troops were anticipating an onslaught in the eastern theatre of the war.

A military spokesman said Russian attacks on the shattered eastern town of Avdiivka had eased in the past day, but were likely to intensify in the coming days.

COPENHAGEN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Some 900 earthquakes hit southern Iceland on Monday, authorities said, adding to tens of thousands of tremors that rattled the region in recent weeks as the country braces for what could become a significant volcanic eruption.

Almost 4,000 people were evacuated over the weekend as authorities feared that molten rock would rise to the surface of the earth and potentially hit a coastal town and a geothermal power station.

LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - British environment secretary Therese Coffey resigned on Monday as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his top team of ministers.

"I consider it is now the right time to step back from government," Coffey said in a letter to Sunak which was published by his office.

Coffey has held several ministerial jobs including health minister and work and pensions minister, and also served as deputy prime minister under Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss.

In a letter responding to Coffey, Sunak thanked her for "dedicated service".

LONDON, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Former British Prime Minister David Cameron was appointed as Britain's new foreign secretary on Monday amid Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle.

Cameron succeeds James Cleverly, who has replaced Suella Braverman as the new home secretary. Braverman came under fire over her immigration policies and her criticism of police actions at recent demonstrations.

The British government said Cameron will be appointed to the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the Parliament.

London, Nov 13 (PTI) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday sacked his Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, days after it emerged that a controversial newspaper article attacking the Metropolitan Police was published without clearance from her boss, according to reports coming out from Downing Street.

11 November 2023; MEMO: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) spokesperson, Jens Laerke, stated: “If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza.”

His remarks were made at a press conference held by Laerke on Friday at the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland.

12 November 2023; MEMO: German police temporarily detained a Jewish Israeli woman who held up a sign condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid an increased crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices in the country.