Europe

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden's remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin can be described as "very bad," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"I would refrain from giving a wordy comment on that. I will say one thing: these are very bad remarks on the part of the US president," Peskov said, when asked about the Kremlin's reaction to Biden's remark.

Peskov characterized relations between Russia and the US as "very bad."

"These are very bad relations," he told journalists Thursday, answering a corresponding question.

ROME, March 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy will produce the Russian Sputnik V vaccine for countries that have already authorized its use, but will be ready to manufacture doses for internal consumption once the shot is greenlighted on its soil, Vincenzo Trani, the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (CCIR), told Sputnik.

On Monday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that it had struck agreements with companies from Italy, Spain, France and Germany to start joint production of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish goods imports from Britain fell by 65% in January from the same month last year as traders grappled with new customs requirements, COVID-19 restrictions and pre-Brexit stockpiling, Ireland’s statistics service said on Thursday.

The value of imports from Britain, not including the British region of Northern Ireland, fell to 497 million euros ($593 million) in January from 1.403 billion euros in January 2020, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for a fifth day running on Thursday on a stronger dollar, a further increase in U.S. crude and fuel inventories and the weight of the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude fell $1.47, or 2.16%, to $66.53 a barrel by 1341 GMT. U.S. oil was down $1.50, or 2.32%, at $63.10 after shedding 0.3% in the previous session. Both contracts are down more than 4% over the past five days.

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union must respect the law around COVID-19 vaccine supply contracts and there will be consequences for the bloc if it breaks it, health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday.

“There is of course a need for all countries to respect contract law... and I’m sure that the European Union will live up to the commitments and statements that it has made,” Hancock told lawmakers, after the EU threatened to bloc vaccine exports to Britain.

LONDON (AP) — British health authorities say COVID-19 vaccinations for people under age 50 may be delayed for up to a month amid a shortfall in supply, partly due to reduced deliveries from the Serum Institute of India.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks about him reflect U.S. own past and current problems.

Biden was asked in an interview whether he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer and said “I do.” Russia on Wednesday announced it’s recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations.

Asked about Biden’s remarks during a video call with residents of Crimea marking the anniversary of its 2014 annexation from Ukraine, Putin charged that they reflect the United States’ own troubled past.

LONDON (AP) — The world awaited the results Thursday of an initial European investigation into whether there is any evidence that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is linked to blood clots reported in small numbers of recipients of the shot.

Concerns over the clotting led more than a dozen European countries to suspend use of the vaccine over the past week, even though the company and international health agencies said there was no indication the vaccine caused the clotting and recommended continuing inoculations.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch voters pushed Prime Minister Mark Rutte toward a fourth term in office in Wednesday’s general election that bolstered his conservative party’s position as the biggest in parliament and boosted a key ally into second place, an exit poll suggested.

With Rutte’s bloc and other mainstream parties thriving, the far-right failed again to make a major breakthrough despite its hopes of appealing to populist sentiments and capitalizing on the severe economic downturn and pandemic that has killed more than 16,000 people in the Netherlands.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Wednesday to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses, two diplomats said, the first sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following the Tianamen Square crackdown.

EU ambassadors approved the travel bans and asset freezes on four Chinese individuals and one entity, whose names will not be made public until formal approval by EU foreign ministers on March 22, as part of a new and wider rights sanctions list.