Europe

08 Mar 2021; MEMO: Iran has started enriching uranium with a third set of advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its underground plant at Natanz, the UN nuclear watchdog told its member states on Monday, a further breach of Tehran's 2015 deal with major powers, Reuters reported.

The move is part of a recent acceleration by Iran of its violations of restrictions under that deal, which granted Iran relief from financial sanctions in return for curbs to its nuclear activities.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates, a magnet for the globe’s ultra-rich, has also emerged as one of the fastest-growing corporate tax havens, according to a study released on Tuesday that highlighted a $200 billion-plus money flow to the country.

The index by the Tax Justice Network, which highlights countries that attract companies to shrink their tax bills, added the United Arab Emirates to its top-10 ranking that includes Switzerland and Bermuda.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The Hungarian and Czech prime ministers will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss policies to fight COVID-19 as a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic sweeps central Europe.

“The main topic of the meeting will be the effort to curb the pandemic,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s press chief said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Meghan’s father Thomas Markle said on Tuesday that he did not think the British royal family was racist, and hoped that an alleged remark from a family member about the darkness of the skin of Meghan’s son was just a “dumb question”.

Meghan said that her son Archie, now aged one, had been denied the title of prince because there were concerns within the royal family about “about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose towards $69 a barrel on Tuesday as investors focused on prospects for tighter supply due to extended OPEC+ output curbs and amid growing hopes of a recovery in demand.

Crude it its highest level since the start of the pandemic on Monday after Yemen’s Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at Saudi oil sites on Sunday. Saudi Arabia said it thwarted the strike and prices slipped as supply fears eased.

ROME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Italy raised the age limit for use of the coronavirus vaccine from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Monday, following similar moves from France and Germany in recent days.

When it was first released, research showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine -- unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or the vaccine from Moderna, the other two vaccines approved for use in Italy and other European Union states -- was recommended only for those under the age of 65.

LONDON, March 8 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that the increased risk of coronavirus transmission is "inevitable" as schools reopened and millions of children returned to classrooms across England.

"We do accept, of course, there will be increased risk of transmission, that's inevitable," Johnson said at a press briefing at Downing Street. But he added that "the greater risk is keeping children out of school longer."

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police launched an operation of unprecedented scale against organized crime on Tuesday, according to the country’s federal prosecutor’s office.

About 200 searches mobilizing more than 1,200 police officers were carried out simultaneously throughout the country of 11.5 million people, the office told The Associated Press.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament on Tuesday voted to lift the immunity of the former president of Spain’s Catalonia region, Carles Puigdemont, and two of his associates, a move that could pave the way for their extradition and reopen the scars of separatism in Spain.

The Spanish government immediately welcome the decision by the European Union’s legislature as a victory for the rule of law and against those who sought to break the rich northeastern region away from the rest of Spain.

GENEVA, March 7. /TASS/: Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed Russia’s investment in science.

"I had a constructive call with Mihail Murashko, Russia's Health Minister, about the COVID19 response globally & in Russia, as well as about the Sputnik V vaccine & the WHO Emergency Use Listing process for vaccines. I appreciate Russia's investment in science," he wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.