Euobserver.com

Dutch primary and secondary schools will reopen next week, despite rising infections rates, the government announced on Monday, Reuters reports. Schools had closed a week early before Christmas, due to the rising numbers, although the government said hospital admissions were down since the reintroduction of a lockdown in the Netherlands on 19 December. Universities will not reopen, but instead have online classes until at least 17 January.

Covid-19 infections in the US surpassed one million cases in one day for the first time on Monday, The Guardian reported. In total, 1.06 million new positive tests were recorded, according to the Johns Hopkins University database. The figure is almost double the previous record of about 590,000 set just four days ago in the US - itself a doubling from the week before.

MEPs are taking the EU-lead to hold Denmark to account for stripping Syrians of residency rights. Although aware of the problem, the European Commission has other priorities while the issue has not been raised at the Council, representing member states.

I dread evenings. This is when all bad things happen. When your house is raided by militants, when you are physically or sexually assaulted, when your daughter's very life is threatened.

The European Commission sent a proposal on 31 December to the 27 member states in which it suggests labelling gas and nuclear energy 'green', De Standaard writes. France asked for this in the so-called taxonomy debate on ruling what is green energy. Germany and Austria reacted negatively to the proposal. "Gas and nuclear energy have no place in the taxonomy," Austrian minister for climate, Leonore Gewessler said.

Germany health minister Karl Lauterbach said at the weekend that 2022 will see "light at the end of the tunnel" and a possible return to normal life from the Covid pandemic. Lauterbach, from the SPD in the governing coalition and a doctor, said :"I do believe that we can live with the coronavirus. That we can get our normal life back completely. And next year will be decisive for this."

It is "very likely" that Russia will invade Ukraine and it can only be stopped by "enormous sanctions", Adam Schiff, the chair of the US House intelligence committee said.

Schools in England returning this week after the Christmas holidays will see students wearing face masks until the end of the month, it was announced on Sunday. The department for education said the advice was "short-term only to support pupils and teachers as they return to schools this term" and would remain in place until 26 January. Rules for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set by the devolved governments.

Belgium's concertation committee, where all its governments are represented, will meet on Thursday to evaluate the Covid situation as the infections have doubled in one week, De Standaard writes. Ministers will assess the restrictions, decided in December, on culture, sports and nightlife. In December the country's highest administrative court ruled that closing theatres was a disproportional measure, while cinemas decided not to follow the restrictions.

Sudan's civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok announced on Sunday that he was stepping down from his role, Deutsche Welle reports. His resignation comes six weeks after he was reinstated, as part of an agreement with the military that overthrew the government in October. Hours before the announcement, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the capital Khartoum, calling on the military to stop interfering in the transition.

Over 4,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday due to Omicron-related causes, Reuters reports, with more than half of them US flights. The Christmas and New Year holidays are usually a peak time for air travel, but the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections, forcing airlines to cancel flights as pilots and cabin crew quarantine.

France on Sunday removed the EU flag from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where it had been hung to mark the beginning of the six-month French presidency of the EU, after a backlash from rightwing presidential candidates. The flag had been hung from the memorial to the war dead on New Year's Eve, before being removed on Sunday. Officials told AFP the flag had only intended to be temporary.

The European Union adopted its access regulation at the turn of this century. But as work went digital, the rules have failed to keep pace. A lot still goes unrecorded or unregistered, and cannot be accessed easily, if at all.

The report shows that due to Covid-19, Romanians and Bulgarian now die even younger than before. Life expectancy in both Bulgaria and Romania fell by 1.5 and 1.4 years respectively in 2020.

Since hostilities between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara resumed in November 2020, the EU has been reluctant to play an active role in the conflict.

Coronavirus deaths in eastern Europe exceeded 1 million on Thursday, according to Reuters data. The death toll in eastern Europe reached 1,045,454 on Thursday, compared to 1,873,253 across Europe. The region includes Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. In contrast to Western Europe, where daily cases continue to break records, a relatively small number of Omicron cases have been detected in eastern Europe.

Wearing masks even outdoors will be mandatory in Paris starting on Friday, French authorities have announced, as the country struggles to come to grips with an Omicron surge. France is leading Europe in new infections, with a record 208,000 new cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours on Wednesday. That figure was preceded by a previous daily record of 180,000 new cases on Tuesday.

France, on Thursday, said it would show "tolerance" for Britons hoping to transit the country to reach homes elsewhere in the European Union, after a surprise clampdown caused dismay for thousands of travellers, France24 writes. Under tougher Covid rules that began to be applied this week, Britons with an EU residency outside France were no longer allowed to drive through France.

The EU is ready to impose new sanctions, including an arms embargo, against the military regime in Myanmar, the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Thursday, Reuters writes. 
"In view of the escalating violence in Myanmar, increased international preventive action is required, including an arms embargo", Josep Borrell wrote in a statement, adding that the EU stood "ready to impose further sanctions against the military regime."


Europe is currently facing the worst bird-flu outbreak ever, according to data from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), Germany's leading animal-disease centre. In Europe, 675 outbreaks in wild birds and 534 in poultry have been reported between the beginning of October and 29 December. Additional cases have also been detected in mammals, such as foxes in the Netherlands and Finland, grey seals in Sweden, and otters in Finland.