Europe

GENEVA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat on Monday urged some Western countries to immediately stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of human rights, and work truly for the protection of human rights.

"The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and some EU countries, abusing the platform of the Human Rights Council, spread misinformation and made groundless accusations against China," said Ambassador Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: Researchers from Russia’s Skoltech hi-tech hub and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered the optimal module design for delivering astronauts from a lunar orbiter to the Moon’s surface and back. The research paper was published in the journal Acta Astronautica, the Skoltech press office reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Grom (Thunder) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be capable of controlling a swarm of 10 Molniya (Lightning) small-size drones in their reconnaissance and strike configurations with the option of altering their flight assignments, a representative of Kronshtadt Company (the Grom developer) told TASS on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: The Russian economic recession has ended, according to the Higher School of Economics (HSE).

"The growth of main macroeconomic indicators during two consecutive quarters at the end of 2020 technically makes it safe to say that the recession in Russia ended as early as by the beginning of 2021," according to the bulletin dubbed ‘Commentary on state and business’ provided by HSE.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: Russian blogger Alexey Navalny is currently in custody in Penal Colony number 2 (PC-2), located in the Vladimir Region, the 235th garrison military court told TASS in a letter Monday. The court will review a lawsuit filed by Navalny’s representative over the investigators’ inaction regarding blogger’s hospitalization in Omsk.

BRUSSELS, March 15. /TASS/: No talks are underway between the European Commission and Russian coronavirus vaccine producers, the commission’s Spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters on Monday.

"No talks are ongoing between an EU team and the Russian vaccine producer," he said in response to a question. "The member states and the commission may decide at any time together to expand the existing vaccine portfolio," the European Commission spokesperson pointed out.

15 Mar 2021; MEMO: The head of Russia's parliamentary group for relations with its Syrian counterparts, Dmitry Sablin MP, has criticised the British authorities for launching a preliminary investigation into the wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The Sunday Times reported that British police are investigating Asma Al-Assad, which could result in her being stripped of her British citizenship if she is found to be guilty of "incitement to commit terrorism".

PARIS (Reuters) - The United States should act quickly to revive Iran’s nuclear deal, because once Iran’s presidential election period kicks off it is unlikely much will happen until later this year, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Monday.

Speaking at the European Policy Centre think tank, Zarif repeated Tehran’s longstanding demand that Washington return first to compliance by lifting sanctions.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways’s new boss said vaccinated people should be allowed to travel without restriction and non-vaccinated people with a negative COVID-19 test, as he set out his ideas for a travel restart a month before the UK government finalises its plans.

Holidays will not be allowed until May 17 at the earliest, the government has said, but before that, on April 12, Britain will announce how and when non-essential travel into and out of the country can resume.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday, with Brent reaching $70 a barrel, as data showed China’s economic recovery accelerated at the start of 2021, boosting the energy demand outlook at the world’s largest oil importer.

Brent crude futures for May was up 10 cents, or 0.1%, at $69.32 a barrel by 0947 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April was at $65.73 a barrel, up 12 cents, or 0.2%.