Europe

VIENNA, April 9. /TASS/: A contract to ship the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to Austria is almost ready but "dirty games" are being played around the topic of supplies of the Russian vaccine to Europe, Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky said on Friday.

"There are problems with supplies of other vaccines and we are ready to help Austria. But dirty games are being played around this topic. Interests of giant pharmaceutical concerns are involved. Millions and billions are at stake," he said in an interview with Salzburger Nachrichten.

MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has cautioned the United States not to contrive any illegitimate obstacles hindering the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"It would be a good idea for the US to set an example by complying with the relevant norms of international law and eventually stop putting up illegal hurdles to the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project," she told a briefing on Friday.

GENEVA, April 9 (NNN-TASS) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has exceeded 132.73 million across the globe, growing by more than 667,000 cases in the past 24 hours, the World Health Organization reported.

This is the highest single-day figure since Jan 17, the WHO said, reporting 132,730,691 coronavirus cases and 2,880,726 fatalities

As many as 667,026 new coronavirus infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, and 13,043 deaths.

WHO’s data takes into account only officially confirmed information about infections and deaths supplied by the states.

LONDON, April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain said it is willing to offer shelter to Myanmar’s ambassador to London after he was ousted from his embassy by pro-junta diplomats.

Kyaw Zwar Minn met with Nigel Adams, Britain’s Foreign Office minister for Asia, after his hosts said they could no longer recognise him as ambassador in line with the junta’s decision to terminate his posting.

BELFAST (Reuters) -Pro-British loyalist militants in Northern Ireland said on Friday there had been a “spectacular collective failure” to understand their fears and anger over Brexit and other issues as police braced for more street clashes following a week of riots.

New border arrangements with EU-member Ireland must be negotiated, the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) said in a statement.

ANKARA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States will send two warships to the Black Sea next week, Turkey said on Friday as Russia, which has beefed up its military forces near Ukraine, accused non-coastal NATO powers of increasing naval activity in the region.

Washington says Russia has amassed more troops on Ukraine’s eastern border than at any time since 2014, when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine and backed pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine.

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia’s new prime minister sought to defuse a row with Russia over a COVID-19 vaccine shipment on Friday, saying it was in Slovakia’s interest to secure the Russian Sputnik V vaccine after Moscow angrily accused it of contract violations.

Slovakia ordered 2 million doses of Sputnik V from Russia, of which 200,000 arrived on March 1. The deal caused an uproar, having been brokered by the then Prime Minister Igor Matovic without informing his coalition partners, who opposed using Sputnik V in Slovakia for lacking EU regulator approval.

LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband who helped modernise the monarchy and steer the British royal family through repeated crises during seven decades of service, died on Friday at Windsor Castle. He was 99.

The Duke of Edinburgh, as he was officially known, had been by his wife’s side throughout her 69-year reign, the longest in British history. During that time he earned a reputation for a tough, no-nonsense attitude and a propensity for occasional gaffes.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission is seeking EU governments’ approval to launch talks with Pfizer and BioNTech for the purchase of up to 1.8 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, an EU official told Reuters.

Earlier on Friday, German daily Die Welt reported that the Commission was shortly to sign contracts to buy up to 1.8 billion doses, but did not say with which company.

VIENNA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran nuclear deal, resumed talks here again on Friday, with the lifting of sanctions on Iran and nuclear implementation measures on top of the agenda.