Europe

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: About 2,200,000 people in Russia have received the first dose of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Deputy Research Director at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology Dmitry Logunov said at a roundtable hosted by the Moscow City Council on Wednesday.

"In total, about 2.2 mln people have received the first dose of the vaccine," he pointed out. "More than 1.7 million people have been given both doses. Among them, only about 300 people got infected," Logunov added.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: Moscow expects that the United States’ Joe Biden-led administration will make up its mind regarding its policy on the Russian track within a month’s time, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Ekho Moskvy radio station in an interview on Wednesday.

"I believe that the priorities are to be identified within the current month. Also, they are to begin to implement them," she said.

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 14,494 COVID-19 cases over the past day and the total case tally reached 4,012,710, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

For the first time since October 17 the daily case tally was below 15,000. In relative terms the growth rate in new cases stood at 0.36%.

BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Commission chief prepared to defend its stumbling vaccine rollout before the EU parliament on Wednesday as the pandemic’s grip on the continent forced Greece into tightening a lockdown around its capital.

Europe has logged a third of the more than 2.3 million lives lost globally to the virus, which is spreading rapidly despite the start of vaccinations in many nations and forcing the reimposition of unpopular and economically punishing restrictions.

LONDON, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain will require passengers arriving from countries where worrying coronavirus variants are spreading to pay for 10 days of quarantine in hotels, while rule-breakers will face heavy fines or jail terms, under tighter restrictions from next week.

The new travel rules add to restrictions that already ban travel abroad for holidays. The government said the stronger measures were needed to prevent new variants of the virus from thwarting Britain’s rapid vaccination programme.

10 Feb 2021; MEMO: Amnesty International yesterday welcomed the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s recent declaration that it has jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories.

10 Feb 2021; MEMO: A group of UK lawmakers on Tuesday appealed to the British government to increase pressure on Israel to stop its forced evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reported.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to extend restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus until March 14, a draft agreement for talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of the 16 federal states on Wednesday showed.

The number of new daily infections in Germany has been falling, leading some regional leaders to push for a timetable to ease the lockdown, but concerns are growing about the impact of more infectious strains of the virus on case numbers.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil extended its rally for a ninth day on Wednesday, supported by producer supply cuts and hopes that vaccine rollouts will drive a recovery in demand.

The American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday crude inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels, versus expectations for a 985,000-barrel build. The Energy Information Administration’s offfcial stocks report is due at 1530 GMT. [API/S]

Brent crude was up by 28 cents at $61.37 by 0933 GMT after touching a 13-month high of $61.49 earlier in the session. U.S. crude was up 21 cents to $58.57.

MADRID, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Spain and Portugal on Tuesday extended police checks along their internal land border until March 1 in a bid to control the spread of new coronavirus variants.

According to Tuesday's edition of Spain's Official State Gazette (BOE), border crossings are only allowed at authorized posts, and exceptions are made for those crossing the border for work or study purposes, as well as for accredited residents returning home from another country in the Schengen travel area and for diplomatic personnel.