Europe

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca’s repeated missteps in reporting vaccine data coupled with a blood clot scare could do lasting damage to the credibility of a shot that is the linchpin in the global strategy to stop the coronavirus pandemic, potentially even undermining vaccine confidence more broadly, experts say.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Russia can respond in a mirror-like fashion to the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Bulgaria, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said in a statement Tuesday.

"In accordance with the diplomatic practice, Russia reserves the right to respond in a mirror-like fashion," she noted.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Three crewmembers died after a Tu-22 bomber’s ejection system suddenly went off at an airfield near Kaluga in central Russia, the Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"Today, during planned preparations of a Tu-22M3 aircraft on the ground for a flight at an airfield in the Kaluga Region, the ejection system was suddenly activated," the ministry said.

"Due to the insufficient altitude for parachute opening, three crewmembers received fatal injuries upon landing," it said.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Twitter has removed only a third of content prohibited in Russia, Russia’s mass media watchdog said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to get vaccinated by the end of the day, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

According to him, Putin is currently holding "working meetings." "We expect that he will get a vaccine shot by the end of the day," Peskov said.

The Kremlin will not disclose which COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to Russian President Vladimir Putin because all three Russian jabs are reliable and effective, the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, March 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday carrying 38 foreign satellites after takeoff was twice postponed due to technical issues, Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

Video published by Roscosmos showed the Soyuz blaster launching against grey and cloudy skies at 0607 GMT.

“The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 38 spacecraft from 18 countries took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome,” Roscosmos said on its Twitter account.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has defended the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran in 2015, saying without the deal, Iran would have developed its nuclear arsenal at a faster pace than it has now.

GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 15 people have been killed in a massive fire that ripped through a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, while 400 remain missing, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

“It is massive, it is devastating,” said the UNHCR’s Johannes van der Klaauw, who joined a Geneva briefing virtually from Dhaka, Bangladesh. “We still have 400 people unaccounted for, maybe somewhere in the rubble,” he said.

He added that the UNHCR has reports of 560 people injured and 45,000 people displaced.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built from Russia to Germany ran counter to the European Union’s own interests and could undermine Ukraine.

Germany is pushing for the pipeline’s completion, despite sustained U.S. opposition over more than a decade. Speaking on his first visit to NATO, Blinken said he was due to meet his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, to discuss the issue.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ministers agreed on Tuesday to extend to the end of July the bloc’s catch limits for fish stocks shared with Britain, to ensure fishing can continue uninterrupted while Brussels and London seek a full-year deal.

In their post-Brexit trade deal, the EU and Britain agreed to jointly set limits each year for fishing their shared stocks after Britain completed its exit from the 27-country bloc on Dec. 31.

They had hoped to negotiate this month a full-year agreement on fishing opportunities for 2021.