Europe

(Reuters) --- European Union lawyers on Wednesday demanded AstraZeneca (AZN.L) immediately deliver COVID-19 vaccines from its factories in Britain, in a move that risks reigniting a spat with London over scarce vaccine supplies.

The call came in the opening hearing of the European Commission's legal case in Brussels against the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker over supply delays.

SARAJEVO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can learn a great deal from China, said members of BiH's Parliamentary Assembly after a video meeting with Chinese legislators on Monday.

"It was impressive what four of us heard during the presentation of our colleagues from China. Not only about the economy, but also about the timely and efficient response of the Chinese authorities to the pandemic," said Lazar Prodanovic, a member of the BiH Parliament's Friendship Group for Asia.

SARAJEVO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can learn a great deal from China, said members of BiH's Parliamentary Assembly after a video meeting with Chinese legislators on Monday.

"It was impressive what four of us heard during the presentation of our colleagues from China. Not only about the economy, but also about the timely and efficient response of the Chinese authorities to the pandemic," said Lazar Prodanovic, a member of the BiH Parliament's Friendship Group for Asia.

SARAJEVO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can learn a great deal from China, said members of BiH's Parliamentary Assembly after a video meeting with Chinese legislators on Monday.

"It was impressive what four of us heard during the presentation of our colleagues from China. Not only about the economy, but also about the timely and efficient response of the Chinese authorities to the pandemic," said Lazar Prodanovic, a member of the BiH Parliament's Friendship Group for Asia.

MOSCOW, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The novel coronavirus could be associated with a leak from a U.S. biological laboratory, said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia's lower parliament house the State Duma, on Tuesday.

"There was a leak from one of those laboratories that they have opened around the world. It would be right if the government of the Russian Federation raises the issue (of responsibility for the COVID-19 outbreak)," Volodin told a session of the Council of Legislators.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed China’s prime minister Wednesday for broader discussions on human rights issues, telling him that the relationship between their countries “means that we can address difficult issues and put everything on the table.”

The comments came after Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang led broad-ranging governmental consultations on issues like the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, economic cooperation and other topics. The talks were held virtually due to the pandemic.

BERLIN (AP) — Europe can achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus within the next four months, the head of German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved COVID-19 vaccine with U.S. partner Pfizer, said Wednesday.

While the exact threshold required to reach that critical level of immunization remains a matter of debate, experts say a level above 70% would significantly disrupt transmission of the coronavirus within a population.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European lawmakers have approved the final ratification of the post-Brexit trade deal between the European Union and the United Kingdom, nearly five years after Britain decided to leave the bloc.

The deal, which was finalized on Christmas Eve, had already been ratified by the U.K. Parliament and conditionally came into force pending the European Parliament’s approval, which marks the final legal hurdle.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine gives enough antibodies to combat the virus’ Indian strain, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Center, the vaccine developer, told TASS on Tuesday.

"If necessary, we will combat the Indian strain by high titers of antibodies triggered by the Sputnik V vaccine. As a rule, it generates antibodies 20, 30, 80 times as much as necessary to neutralize the biggest amount of the virus in an infected organism. Sputnik V will be effective against the Indian strain," he said.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: Experts of the European drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), have finished stage one of their review of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Russia and are about to be inspecting production facilities, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Tuesday.

"Stage one is over, we are waiting for reports and are getting prepared for inspections of production facilities. We are working actively on this matter," he said.