EU mulls legal action against AstraZeneca over shortfalls - by Elena Sánchez Nicolás

aThe European Commission said on Thursday (22 April) it has not yet decided whether to take legal action against AstraZeneca for failing to meet its contractual obligations - but repeated that all options are still on the table.

"What matters is that we ensure the delivery of a sufficient number of doses, in line with the company's earlier commitments," a commission spokesperson said.

Read moreat: EU mulls legal action against AstraZeneca over shortfalls

NATO:- are Eastern Europeans and Baltic States Serving two Masters? and why is NATO catering to them?

Have they outlived their purpose ?

The NATO's chief on Monday said the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland as part of its response to Russian meddling in Ukraine and a series of alleged provocations by Russian military.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the troop surge in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was meant to “send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally”.

“We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multi-national battalions in the Baltic states and Poland," he told a news conference ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Baltic states and Poland have expressed concern over perceived threats by Moscow, especially following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and covert Russian military interventions on the side of Ukrainian separatists.

The announcement also comes after a series of risky military encounters between Russian and US military personnel.

In April, the US Navy vehemently protested what it described as a “simulated attack” by a Russian fighter jet, which flew within nine metres of a US destroyer that was conducting exercises in the Baltic Sea.

The Donald Cook was in international waters off the coast of Poland. Those waters are also close to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Note EU-Digest: why is the US military  leadership of  NATO  playing with fire (and endangering the EU) to please Eastern European members of the EU. 

Whenever these same Eastern European members of the EU are asked to support EU programs related to the refugee crises or other important programs, they are usually un-supportive and take a very nationalistic and self-centered position. 

Hopefully Brussels and other EU member states will remind these Eastern European EU member states that they can not serve two masters. 

As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too ! 

The EU,  as a whole, needs to be reviewing the actual need for and value of NATO, a cold war creation, which has outlived its time and purpose within the context of the European Union.

Read more: NATO to deploy four battalions in bid to reassure Poland, Baltic allies - France 24

Italy: Catholic Church and Equal Rights - Anti-Gay Pope Francis Meets Sweden's Antje Jackelén Female Head Of Lutheran Church

The Vatican made history Monday when Pope Francis welcomed a woman archbishop to an official audience at the Apostolic Palace for the first time, according to Vatican Radio.

Archbishop Antje Jackelén, the first female head of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, tweeted her gratitude for the meeting to the pope, with a photograph of the two religious leaders chatting.

The pontiff has staunchly opposed ordination for women in the Catholic Church. “The Church has spoken and says no... That door is closed," he said in a July 2013 press conference.

The topic on Monday's agenda was not, however, women's role in the church, but rather the need for Christian unity across denominations and for better care for the poor. Francis addressed the archbishop as "esteemed Mrs. Jackelén, esteemed sister" in his call for charity.

“The call to unity as followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ includes an urgent call for a common effort on the charity front," Francis said, according to Vatican Insider. "The testimony of our brothers and sisters especially, pushes us to grow in fraternal communion."

Note EU-Digest:  in the meantime it was reported that the Pope - who in some eyes is a "wolf in sheep's clothing", has personally met with France’s proposed Gay ambassador to the Vatican – to tell him his appointment will be blocked because he is gay.

Read more: Pope Francis Meets With Female Head Of Church Of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelén

EU-US trade pact to miss 2015 deadline - "Europe should not sell its soul to the devil" - by Benjamin Fox

A 2015 deadline to agree a landmark trade deal with the United States is likely to be missed, EU trade officials have conceded.

"We cannot exclude that it may take longer," Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters following a meeting of EU trade ministers on Wednesday (25 March).

“We have to do our best to get an agreement but we don’t want to reach an agreement just for the sake of it,” he added. “The political will is there but there is an acceptance that it may take longer”.

“We are aiming to conclude this under the Obama administration … but I cannot give you a date,” said EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who added that ratification of TTIP could get caught up in the next US presidential election cycle.

The race to replace Barack Obama will begin in earnest in autumn, when the Democratic and Republican parties begin their nomination process ahead of the presidential election in November 2016.

Trade negotiators have now concluded eight rounds of talks with a view to agreeing a transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), but were given a provisional deadline of December 2015 by EU leaders to agree a draft text.

The most thorny issue for ministers remains the investor protection mechanism known as ISDS, which allows firms to take governments to court if they discriminate against them or introduce new laws which threaten their investments.

“ISDS is a hot potato,” conceded Rinkevics. He said there are “differences in opinion” amongst ministers, but added there is no indication that member states want to open up the EU-Canada trade agreement, which includes the controversial regime.

Note EU-Digest: A European Parliamentarian when asked about the TTIP and the ISDS controversy said. "The EU must not sell  its soul to the devil by agreeing to the non-transparent TTIP - regardless of the 'fantastic' stories we hear about the economic benefits of the TTIP, we only need to look at the results achieved following the NAFTA agreement between Canada, Mexico,  and the US."

 "That  agreement, which has now been in effect 20 years, still shows little improvement in the overall economic conditions of ordinary citizens in the participating countries." 

"NAFTA has, however, certainly been a bonanza for the free-wheeling, uncontrolled, multi-national corporations - we must not repeat that in these negotiations with the US."

Read more: EU-US trade pact to miss 2015 deadline