Euobserver.com

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has claimed the right to hold a second independence referendum by the end of 2024, should the SNP win a majority in the Scottish elections this week. She told Sky TV that Boris Johnson was "not entitled to stand in the way of the democratic choices of the people of Scotland" and would have to go to court to stop the referendum.

Algeria has detected its first cases of the coronavirus variant first discovered in India according to the state research centre the Pasteur Institute, the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports. Six cases of the variant have been confirmed in the coastal province of Tipaza, some 70km west of the capital, Algiers.

US drugmaker Pfizer expects to see €22bn in revenues from sales of its Covid-19 vaccine this year, with the product accounting for more than a third of the company's annual income, The Guardian reports. The jab is priced at €32 for two doses in the US and about €25 in the EU. The company said takings from the jab would boost profits.

The number of crimes committed by far-right extremists in Germany jumped to the highest-level ever recorded last year, including 13 attempted murders and 11 killings.

The European Commission declined to comment on the latest tax scandal revelation, where Amazon managed to pay no corporate sales tax in Europe - despite declaring €44bn in sales income.

With the Biden administration and EU leaders both pressing the reset button on relations with Turkey, could press freedom begin to be restored? Ankara is currently one of the world's biggest jailers of journalists.

Sexism may have played a role, but the deeper meaning of Ursula von der Leyen's humiliation in the palace of Turkish president Erdoğan is political and geopolitical.

There is a is a clear security threat for the European Parliament that needs to be urgently addressed.

The European Medicine Agency (EMA) has begun reviewing China's Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, based upon preliminary results from laboratory and clinical studies. "EMA will assess the compliance of [the vaccine] with the usual EU standards for effectiveness, safety and quality," the agency said on Tuesday. The vaccine has shown efficacy rates of between 50 to 90 percent, and has so far been authorised in China, Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil

Najla al-Manqoush, the foreign minister of Libya's interim government, urged Turkey to implement UN Security Council resolutions demanding the repatriation of more than 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya, Ekathimerini reports. "We call on [Turkey] to take steps to implement all the provisions of … the Security Council resolutions and to cooperate together to expel all foreign forces and mercenaries from the Libyan territories," she said.

A 27-metre long and 21-tonne heavy chunk of Chinese rocket flew 260km over southern Spain and Italy at 27,000 km/hour at about 6AM Brussels time, amid scientists' concern that its uncontrolled orbital descent could see it hit a populated area in the end. The Chinese module, part of a rocket launch on 29 April, will pass over Europe again shortly before 8AM, according to a website tracking its path.

Russia's military occupied two new sites in the south of Armenia near the Azeri border as an "additional security guarantee" following last year's conflict, Russian news agencies and Reuters reported, citing Armenia's acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan. The move gives Moscow a bigger footprint in a region, where it sent extra troops last year to keep the peace, under an agreement that ended a six-week war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The EU and Russia gave two differing accounts of what happened on Monday, when Russia's ambassador was ordered in for a reprimand over anti-EU sanctions.

Novavax has told the EU it plans to begin delivering its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc towards the end of this year, under new guidance that could lead to a formal contract being signed as early as this week, Reuters writes. Novavax reached a preliminary deal with the bloc in December, but a final agreement has been delayed because the US company has struggled to source some raw materials.

Authorities in Germany have taken down one of the world's biggest child sex-abuse platforms, following a large-scale investigation which led to several arrests in mid-April, Deutsche Welle reports. The platform "Boystown" was active since at least June 2019 and had a membership of over 400,000. It was only accessible via the so-called darknet. Four German citizens were detained in relation to the case.

Former EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini has commented on 'sofagate', saying she was "angry with the protocol services of the EU" as "they could have avoided this", in Belgian newspaper De Zondag. However, she blamed Turkey the most. Asked what she would have done in the place of Ursula von der Leyen, Mogherini responded: "It is difficult. Probably, I would have asked Michel to join me on the sofa."

Denmark on Monday decided to exclude Johnson & Johnson's jab from its vaccination programme, AFP reported. "The Danish Health Authority has concluded that the benefits of using the Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson do not outweigh the risk of causing the possible adverse effect... in those who receive the vaccine," the authority said in a statement. The World Health Organization and EU drug regulator have both authorised the vaccine.

Latest polls suggest the conservative CDU/CSU coalition, which has governed Germany for the past 16 years, could be ousted as the strongest party in the Bundestag on 26 September, The Guardian reports. Six-out-of-10 polls over the last two weeks show an advantage for the Greens, who were only fifth at the 2017 elections. A survey by Bild am Sonntag gave the Greens a three-point lead, at 27 percent.

Brussels has recommended member states lift restrictions for all non-EU travellers who are fully vaccinated, and to expand the list of countries with a "good epidemiological situation" - in a bid to boost summer tourism.

A model camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos is being shut down by the Greek authorities as residents are being taken to 'Moria 2.0', a lead-contaminated sprawling ghetto perched on the edge of the island.