Euobserver.com

Nato and Russia are in talks to reopen their embassies in Brussels and Moscow amid Western efforts to dial down tension on Ukraine.

The European Commission is getting ready to withhold funds to Poland for refusing to pay a €500,000-per-day fine for failing to comply with an EU ruling to shut down its Turow lignite mine due to cross-border pollution, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The EU executive has sent three requests for payments. But Poland hopes to reach a deal with the Czech Republic that would end current procedures. 

A range of new studies has confirmed that dogs can detect Covid by smell, according to The Guardian. While sniffer dogs had already been trialled in places such as Finland, three new peer-reviewed studies found the accuracy of the trained dogs' detection rate at between 82 and 97.5 percent. The three studies were done in Florida, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Germany.

The record numbers reflect those registered by health authorities, and does not include self-tests or infected people who develop no symptoms, and are not aware of their contagiousness.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said British prime minister Boris Johnson should resign for attending an illegal "bring your own booze" party at his office, The Guardian reports. Johnson admitted attending a gathering in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown and apologised to the nation while arguing it was a work event and "technically" broke no rules. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, called Johnson "a man without shame."

The Danish government on Wednesday proposed easing coronavirus restrictions at the end of the week despite record-high infection numbers, Reuters reports. However, even as infection rates remain above 20,000 a day, hospital admissions and deaths have stabilised at levels below those seen a year ago. The government proposals include the reopening of theatres, cinemas, museums, as well as allowing spectators at outdoor sports events.

The European Environment Agency warned current projections indicate emissions-reductions in member states covered by the EU's cap-and-trade carbon market are insufficient to meet the bloc's new climate targets for 2030 and 2050.

The EU does not need to become a counter-propaganda machine - but finding and providing the right facts will be the only way for Europe to stop falling into ISIS' polarisation trap.

This election is marked by the untimely passing of David Sassoli, who steered the parliament through an extremely complex and challenging period. He showed that it was possible to reach agreements through much-needed dialogue, and away from dogmas.

Hungarian president János Áder has set 3 April as the day for parliamentary elections that will see a coalition of six opposition parties led by Péter Márki-Zay try to unseat right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has held power for 12 years and tried to transform the country into an "illiberal democracy". Orbán is also keen to hold a referendum on LGBTI measures the same day.

Taiwan has granted Lithuania a $1bn (€0.9bn) credit line to help Lithuanian firms invest in microchip production in the Asian country and to offset economic losses caused by an informal China trade embargo. The move comes shortly after Taipei unveiled a $200m investment fund for inside Lithuania. And the aid "can be stepped up further," it said, after Lithuania braved China's ire to let Taiwan open a quasi-embassy in Vilnius.

A marble fragment of the Parthenon temple has been returned to Athens from a museum in Sicily, Reuters reports. Officials hope this move will advance efforts to have the British Museum send back ancient sculptures from Greece's most renowned ancient landmark. "It is marvellous that Sicilian and Italian friends thought to bring it back where it was born," Acropolis Museum director Nikolaos Stampolidis said of the fragment.

Russia staged live-fire military drills using tanks and some 3,000 soldiers on Ukraine's border Tuesday, while the Kremlin said it was ready to walk away from talks with the West if there was no quick outcome. Meanwhile, US negotiator Wendy Sherman flew to Brussels to brief EU and Nato ambassadors, ahead of discussions in the Nato-Russia Council, and Ukraine urged Germany to show more leadership on the crisis.

Data suggests that vaccines remain effective against severe disease and hospitalisation caused by the Omicron variant, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday. It adds that those with a booster dose are better protected. EMA also said hospitalisations linked to Omicron appeared to be lower than with previous variants, since "the risk is currently estimated to be between a third and half of the risk with the Delta variant".

German economy minister Robert Habeck, from the Greens, said on Tuesday that greater immigration will be essential to prevent labour shortages in the future, which could lead to "real productivity problems". "We have 300,000 job openings today and expect that to climb to a million," Habeck told reporters, according to Reuters. The number of people employed in Germany grew to almost 45 million in 2021, despite the pandemic.

In 2020, 13 member states produced nearly 25 percent of the EU's total electricity production with nuclear energy, according to new figures released on Tuesday by Eurostat. The largest producer was France, followed by Germany, Spain and Sweden. There were 109 nuclear reactors operating in the EU in 2020, but three reactors permanently shut down that year. Only France and Slovakia generate over half of their electricity in nuclear plants.

Nearly half of Russians predict a political and economic decline in their country this year, with little faith in the government's ability to improve the situation, according to an independent poll, The Moscow Times write. Less than 20 percent said they expected Russia's political and economic life to improve in 2022. More than half of the respondents expressed scepticism toward the Russian government's ability to improve the overall domestic situation.

The unexpected death of David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, on Tuesday shocked the EU institutions, whose leaders spoke of a "passionate European, a sincere democrat and a good man".

France has launched an EU debate on the "extremely sensitive" issue of blasphemy and jihadist violence, in a move that risks further alienating European Muslims.

The World Health Organization said Omicron is likely to infect more than half of the population in Europe within the next two months, threatening healthcare systems. It warned that it is too early to consider Covid as an endemic virus.