Euobserver.com

The 10 costliest weather disasters of 2021 exceeded €150bn in total damage, an increase from the previous year, which reflects the growing impact of global warming, Christian Aid's report said on Monday. The 10 extreme weather events also killed at least 1,075 people and displaced more than 1.3 million. The costliest disaster was storm Ida which caused flooding in New York estimated to have incurred an economic cost of €57.5bn.

The spread of the more transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus has triggered a flurry of flight cancellations, hampering Christmas plans for millions of people.

Poland's de facto ruler has accused Germany of trying to create a "Fourth Reich" in the EU, in the Polish ruling party's latest Germanophobe slur.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has sought a meeting of the Nato-Russia council for 12 January, but so far has not received a positive answer from Moscow.

Preliminary data published by Britain's public health agency suggests that people with the omicron variant of coronavirus are between 50 percent and 70 percent less likely to end up in hospital than those with the delta variant, Deutsche Welle writes. However, the UK Health Security Agency cautioned that its analysis was "preliminary and highly uncertain" due to the small number of omicron patients in hospitals.

Bulgarian pensioners who get their first or second vaccine dose in the next six months will get a one-off payment of some €40 Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov said Thursday. Those who already had three shots can also benefit, he added. "Our government's priority is ... to ease the pressure on hospitals and mainly to protect our elderly," Petkov said, amid a national vaccination-rate of just 27 percent.

People who subscribed to US online news agency Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Belarus could face up to six years in prison after authorities listed it as an "extremist" organisation Thursday, Reuters reports. Belarus already holds more than 850 political prisoners since a crackdown began on pro-democracy protesters last year. Some EU states "might not survive" Belarus counter-sanctions being readied in response to EU measures, Belarus also said this week.

The EU should put defence-industry spending on its new list of green-friendly investments in order to stimulate the sector, Italian aerospace firm Leonardo has said. "If the defence industry is put on the naughty list ... the money will go elsewhere," Leonardo's chief financial officer Alessandra Genco said. "This is particularly true for thousands of small and medium enterprises in Europe, which have less bargaining power with banks," she added.

Russia has underlined Europe's dependence on its gas, while keeping EU powers guessing over its next move on Ukraine.

An Italian court dropped investigations related to charges of aiding illegal migration against Carola Rackete, the former captain of German rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3, according to DPA. On June 29, 2019, the Sea-Watch 3 entered the port of the Italian island of Lampedusa despite being banned from doing so. Italy's interior minister at the time was far-right politician Matteo Salvini. The ship still carries out migrant rescues in the Mediterranean.

Germany recorded its first death from the omicron variant of the coronavirus on Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) health agency announced, Deutsche Welle writes. The RKI said the person was between the ages of 60 and 79. So far 3,198 omicron cases have been detected in Germany — with an increase in cases of 25 percent from Wednesday to Thursday. Of these, 48 people were treated in the hospital.

French president Emmanuel Macron and Italian prime minister Mario Draghi called on Thursday for reforming the EU's fiscal rules to allow greater investment spending. "Just as the rules could not be allowed to stand in the way of our response to the pandemic, so they should not prevent us from making all necessary investments," they wrote in a column in the Financial Times. Berlin has been more reluctant.

Belgium will shut down all seven of its nuclear reactors by 2025 but will not close the door on new-generation nuclear technology, AFP reported. The government agreed on "investments of around €100m on small modular reactors". Phasing-out nuclear power has been enshrined in law since 2003. The French-speaking liberal MR party argued against completely abandoning nuclear power, a strategy proposed by Flemish green energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten.

Humanitarian rescue ship Geo Barents, run by Doctors Without Borders, has 458 people onboard. The German-based charity Sea-Eye-4 has 216, while SOS Mediterranee's the Ocean Viking is carrying 114.

The European Union is a step closer to restricting some uses of so-called "forever chemicals" next year, despite industry opposition.

Ukrainian gas giant Naftogaz has filed a complaint against Gazprom alleging market abuse and has asked the European Commission to order it to increase sales.

Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday demanded life sentences for three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with murder over the shooting down a passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014, Reuters reported. They said the defendants helped supply a missile system and used it to fire a rocket at the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The four, named as Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko, are all at large.

The UK announced on Wednesday that Covid-19 self-isolation will be reduced from 10 to seven days for those who test negative two days in a row with rapid lateral flow tests, Reuters reported. These self-tests, provided free by the UK's National Health Service, can provide a result in 15 to 30 minutes. "We want to reduce the disruption from Covid-19 to people's everyday lives," British health minister Sajid Javid said.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed on Wednesday that a first round of talks with the US and Nato have been agreed for the beginning of 2020, as he said Russia "doesn't want to take the path of confrontation," Deutsche Welle writes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that the dialogue should aim for "concrete results and not become drawn out." Russia wants guarantees over the expansion of Nato.

The Belgian governments have decided to take new measures against the spreading of the Omicron variant, despite the decreasing total number of infections and hospitalisations, De Standaard writes. Until 14 January, cinemas, theatres and concerts will be closed, and no public will be allowed at indoor and outdoor sport activities. Shopping will only be possible by a maximum of two people.