‘US may face other action if it fails to explain Biden’s remark’

A senior Russian lawmaker warned on Thursday that Moscow would follow up on its move to recall its ambassador in Washington with other moves if the United States US fails to offer an explanation and apology for President Joe Bidenrsquos remarksIn a television interview aired on Wednesday Biden was asked whether he thought Putin is a killer and said ldquoI dordquo Konstantin Kosachev a deputy speaker of the upper house of Russian parliament said Bidenrsquos ldquoboorish statementrdquo marks a watershed ldquoSuch assessments are inadmissible for a statesman of his rankrdquo Kosachev saidldquoSuch statements are unacceptable under any circumstances They inevitably lead to a sharp exacerbation of our bilateral tiesrdquo Russia announced on Wednesday it is recalling its ambassador to the US for consultations Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the US for bringing bilateral ties to a ldquodead endrdquo adding that ldquowe are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation if the Americans are aware of the associated risksrdquo she addedA Russian flag flies next to the US embassy building in Moscow on Thursday PicAFPCommenting on the Russian move on Wednesday White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphasised that ldquowe will be direct we will speak out on areas where we have concerns and it will certainly be as the president said last night ndash certainly the Russians will be held accountable for the actions that they have takenrdquoThe exchange of tough statements comes on the heels of a declassified report from the US national intelligence directorrsquos office that finds President Vladimir Putin authorised influence operations to help Donald Trump in last Novemberrsquos presidential election ldquoPutin will pay a pricerdquo Biden said in the interview asked about the declassified report In Moscow Kosachev warned on Thursday that Russiarsquos response wouldnrsquot be limited to recalling the Russian ambassador ldquoif the American side fails to offer explanation and excuserdquo He wouldnrsquot elaborate on what other action the Kremlin may takeAstraZeneca jabrsquos benefits outweigh risks WHOThe World Health Organization WHO said that it still recommends using the AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine as the benefits outweigh its risks ldquoVaccination against COVID19 will not reduce illness or deaths from other causes Thromboembolic events are known to occur frequently Venous thromboembolism is the third most common cardiovascular disease globallyrdquo the WHO saidMore Pak hotspots put under lockdownPakistani authorities on Thursday placed more Coronavirus hotspots under lockdown and warned people to take caution as the country witnessed the highest number of new daily infections this year amid a poor response to the vaccination drivelsquoEU might restrict vaccine exportsrsquoEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned that the European Union EU might restrict vaccine exports to countries who have higher inoculation rates stressing the necessity to ensure reciprocity and proportionality of the vaccine exportsCOVID variants spread in CanadaCOVID19 variants are spreading quickly across Canada as some provinces have eased restrictions after cases began to fall last month according to health authorities A total of 4086 ldquovariants of concernrdquo cases have been reported across the country as of WednesdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever