EUROPE

AstraZeneca Plc may have provided an incomplete view of efficacy data on its COVID-19 vaccine from a large scale trial in the United States, a U.S. health agency said Tuesday, in a fresh setback for the shot.

The eastern Indian state of Odisha might have to stop its coronavirus immunisation drive for four days starting at the end of March because of a shortage of vaccine doses, according to a letter to the federal government reviewed by Reuters.

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The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the first such coordinated Western action against Beijing under new U.S. President Joe Biden.

Germany is extending its lockdown until April 18 and calling on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Tuesday.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in received AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday ahead of an overseas trip, as the country began inoculating more senior citizens and health workers in an effort to accelerate its vaccination drive.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded with its own sanctions on Europeans.

(Removes paragraph 7 after the Budapest Semmelweis University said its statement had been dated March 2020.)

Amazon workers in Italy went on a 24-hour strike on Monday in the first such action by the U.S. company's entire logistics operation in the country, including third-party delivery service providers.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine performed better than expected in a major late-stage trial, paving the way for its potential emergency authorization in the United States and boosting confidence in the shot after setbacks in Europe.

Britain will reduce the size of the army from 76,500 to 72,500 by 2025, defence minister Ben Wallace said on Monday, unveiling plans for what he described as a more active force to better tackle the "threats of the future".

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was cleared on Monday of breaking a ministerial code of conduct in the way she handled sexual harassment complaints against her predecessor, a ruling likely to save her career and her party's electoral prospects.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the third wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping across Europe could be heading towards Britain.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed with her British counterpart her ongoing review of previous U.S.-UK trade negotiations during the Trump administration and cooperating to jointly address unfair trade practices of China and other non-market economies, USTR said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) -The United Kingdom's daily death toll from COVID-19 fell to 17 on Monday, the lowest figure in about six months, official data showed.

Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic approved Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, an agency spokesman said on Monday, the third shot to be approved by the country with vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and from Moderna

China on Monday blacklisted 10 EU individuals and four entities in response to Brussels' sanctions against Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

Britain on Monday demanded the European Union allow the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines it has ordered as tensions over a possible export ban on EU-manufactured shots mounted and Brussels pointed an accusing finger at drugmaker AstraZeneca.

Mark Branson, the head of Switzerland's financial markets regulator, is to become president of Germany's finance watchdog BaFin, the finance ministry said on Monday, as part of a shake-up at the regulator after the Wirecard fraud.