EVENTS TO FOLLOW ON DECEMBER 8

EVENTS TO FOLLOW ON DECEMBER 8

The 5+5 commission (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2021) he 5+5 commission, made up of senior officers from the UN-backed caretaker government and rebel forces, will be hosted by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the country's envoy for Libya told Sputnik.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush complained in October about slow progress in the pullout of foreign forces and mercenaries despite the three-month deadline set in the October 2020 ceasefire deal.

CONTACT GROUP ON UKRAINE TO HOLD VIDEO CALL

A contact group of Ukrainian, Russian and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe envoys will hold a video call to gauge progress in implementing the Minsk accord on Ukrainian peace.

The fresh round of negotiations comes amid a rapid rise in ceasefire violations along a line of contact separating Ukrainian government troops from forces of the eastern self-proclaimed republics.

A member of the militia-controlled Luhansk administration said they wanted negotiators to press Ukraine to free its liaison officer, kidnapped in October. Ukraine accuses him of spying.

BALTIC PRIME MINISTERS TO CONVENE IN VILNIUS

Prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will meet in Vilnius to discuss regional security and their common response to the pandemic.

Lithuania, the host nation of the high-level Baltic cooperation forum, will hand the chairmanship over to Latvia, which will present its list of priorities.

RUSSIA TO LAUNCH JAPANESE SPACE TOURISTS TO ORBITAL OUTPOST

A Russian Soyuz MS-20 space capsule will blast off to space at 07:38 GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 8.

The spaceship will carry Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, his assistant, Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.

This will be the first tourist trip to the International Space Station in more than a decade. The trio will join the orbiting lab's seven-crew mission for 12 days before returning to earth on December 20.

GERMAN PARLIAMENT TO SWEAR IN MERKEL'S SUCCESSOR

The Bundestag will officially vote on Angela Merkel's successor Olaf Scholz and swear him in as the next chancellor at 11:00 GMT.

The inauguration will close the curtain on Merkel's 16-year rule after her conservatives lost September's elections to the center-left Social Democrats. Scholz will govern Germany in coalition with the Greens and pro-business liberals.

SWISS PARLIAMENT TO PICK NEXT PRESIDENT

The Swiss parliament will vote on the next president to replace Guy Parmelin, who doubles as the country's foreign minister.

The parliament picks a new president every December from among seven Federal councilors. A president in Switzerland does not head the state. They are considered to be first among equals and play a mediatory and representative role.

FORMER MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER TO FACE VERDICT IN GRAFT TRIAL

Malaysia's Court of Appeal will deliver the final verdict in the corruption trial of the Southeast Asian nation's former prime minister, Najib Razak.

The trial will go ahead after Razak's defense team unsuccessfully tried to postpone the hearing in an appeal of his conviction on Tuesday.