Europe

SKOPJE, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the Skopje International Airport on Sunday, Health Minister Venko Filipce said.

Filipce, who welcomed the shipment at the airport together with representatives of foreign embassies in the country, declared that around 20,000 elderly people over the age of 70 who suffer from chronic diseases will be inoculated first.

LONDON (AP) — Agnes Callamard, who led a United Nations’ investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been appointed the new leader of Amnesty International.

The international human rights group said Callamard’s four-year term as secretary general begins Monday.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The European Union’s home affairs commissioner is visiting asylum-seeker facilities on the eastern Greek islands of Samos and Lesbos amid continuing accusations against Greece of illegal summary deportations.

EU commissioner Ylva Johansson and Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi were to hold meetings with local officials on the two islands Monday, and to visit a new camp being constructed on Samos, and a camp on Lesbos in which thousands of asylum-seekers have been living since the notoriously overcrowded Moria camp on the island burned down last year.

29 Mar 2021; MEMO: The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, has criticised the recent crackdown on protests by British police in Bristol and called for a serious investigation by human rights groups.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed her country’s difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic — from the slow vaccine rollout to the back-and-forth over lockdown rules — on “a tendency toward perfectionism” and called for greater flexibility to tackle the latest surge in cases.

In a lengthy television interview with public broadcaster ARD late Sunday, Merkel acknowledged that mistakes were made by her government, including on plans for an Easter lockdown.

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 vaccines are the best in terms of three key indicators, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Moscow. Kremlin. Putin on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"Our vaccines, I can confidently say this, are the best in terms of all three key indicators," Putin said.

KIEV, March 28. /TASS/: The security subgroup of the Contact Group on eastern Ukrainian settlement will convene on Monday or Tuesday to address the escalation of tensions in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian president and Kiev’s chief negotiator in the Group said on Saturday.

"Our security subgroup has made its mind and suggested a meeting. We wanted to meet today, but it all depends on OSCE envoys. Possibly, it [the meeting] will take place on Monday or Tuesday," he told the Ukraine-24 TV channel.

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/: Russia’s Embassy in Indonesia urged Russian citizens to refrain from visiting crowded places after a suicide bombing near a Catholic church in Indonesia’s Makassar city, the South Sulawesi province’s capital.

"Dear compatriots, in the wake of the terrorist attack near the Christian church in Makassar, we ask the Russian citizens on the [island] of Sulawesi (as well as everyone else) to remain calm, not to visit crowded places and to follow the police’s instructions," the Russian diplomatic mission stated on its Facebook page on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 9,088 COVID-19 cases in the past day, bringing the total case tally to 4,519,832, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

In relative terms, the growth rate stood at 0.2%.

The lowest growth rates were registered in the Nenets Autonomous Region (0%), the Tuva Republic and the Magadan Region (0.01%), and the Altai Republic (0.05%).

YEREVAN, March 28. /TASS/: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced plans to resign in April in order to hold early elections.

On Sunday, Pashinyan met with the citizens of southwestern Armenia’s Armavir Region. "In April I will tender resignation so that we could hold early elections. I will remain acting prime minister until the elections," Pashinyan said.