Новости за 01.04.2021

British society is a "model for other white-majority countries", according to a report by 'the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities', a government body, ordered in the wake of last year's 'Black Lives Matter' protests. "We no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities," the commission said. But the report was "another total [government] whitewash", the opposition Labour Party said.

President Emmanuel Macron ordered France into its third national lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a third wave of Covid-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals, Reuters writes. With the death toll nearing 100,000, and intensive-care units in the hardest-hit regions at breaking point, Macron was forced to abandon his goal of keeping the country open to protect the economy.

The leaders of France, Germany, and Russia have held a conference call on rolling out purchases, supplies, and production of Russia's 'Sputnik V' vaccine in the EU, according to the Kremlin. The conversation, on Tuesday, came after The Lancet, a leading medical journal, said the Russian jab was safe and effective. But the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam, is still carrying out tests prior to approval.

The EU is set to sanction eight Iranian leaders of the Basij militia and the police and three entities for human rights abuses, the first such measures since 2013, Reuters writes. The EU will impose travel bans and asset freezes, diplomats said, and their names will be published next week, when the sanctions take effect. "Those responsible for serious rights violations must know there are consequences," an EU diplomat said.

Austria is likely to order a million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine next week, Reuters reported. "We are in the final metres and a Sputnik order can probably be placed next week," Kurz said in a statement published on Wednesday, after his meeting with Russia's ambassador to Austria. The agreement would involve 300,000 doses to be delivered in April, 500,000 in May and 200,000 in early June.

A French air strike in January killed 19 civilians and three armed men at a wedding in the remote desert of central Mali, United Nations investigators said - contradicting France's account that only Islamist militants were hit, Reuters reports. France immediately rejected the findings. France has more than 5,000 troops in Mali and neighbouring countries to battle groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

An Italian captain of a frigate, plus a Russian who was accredited at their embassy, have been accused of "serious crimes tied to spying and state security", according to Reuters. Ansa news agency said Nato documents were among the files that the Italian had handed over, raising potential security worries for other members of the Western military alliance. The Italian captain was arrested, while two Russian diplomats were expelled.

The European Medicine Agency insisted on Wednesday that the AstraZeneca vaccine's benefits outweigh the risks, but acknowledged that people should be aware of the "remote possibility" of rare blood clots occurring, Reuters reported. "A causal link with the vaccine is not proven, but is possible and further analysis is continuing," the EU drug agency said. The statement comes after several countries limited the jab use for certain vulnerable groups.

EU institutions have put forward a first-ever, controversial entry into the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the Netherlands, in May.

The Slovenian prime minister recently lashed out against both journalists and MEPs. His country will soon take over the presidency. In Brussels, there is concern - but also faith that Janez Janša cannot have much impact on the EU machinery.

The European Parliament's plans to replace the current paper-based MEPs attendance control system with a digital register, based on a fingerprint scanner, raises "critical concerns", the EU data protection watchdog has warned.

Rights defenders say Montenegro's treatment of an investigative journalist amounts to a "politically-motivated judicial persecution".

European leaders always fail to mention the Turkish military intervention that led to the end of Khalifa Haftar's infamous military operation initiated in April 2019, and the end of the warlord's ambition to become Libya's 'new Gadaffi'.