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Updated: 2 hours 23 min ago

Call for 'tobacco-style' health warnings on fossil-fuel ads

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:03
Environmental lawyers have called for "tobacco-style" health warnings on fossil fuel ads, after an analysis showing how energy giants use advertising to "greenwash" their contribution to climate change.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Greece opens for some tourists without quarantine

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:02
Greece formally re-opens on May 14, but from Monday (19 April), tourists from the EU, US, UK, Serbia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will not have to quarantine if vaccinated or testing negative for Covid-19, Reuters reports. Tourism, which generates a fifth of Greece's GDP and one-in-five jobs, is vital for an economy which had climbed out of a decade-long slump only to slip back into recession last year.
Categories: European Union

Israel risks derailing EU election mission to Palestine

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:02
Palestine is holding its first general legislative election in 15 years on 22 May. Its president has requested an EU mission to observe the elections but Israel has yet to respond - meaning the mission may not happen.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] German Greens put forward first-ever chancellor candidate

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:02
The co-leader of Germany's Greens, Annalena Baerbock, announced Monday she would run for chancellor in September's elections, the first time the party has sought the top job in its 40-year history, Reuters reports. Baerbock said she would offer a "new start" and focus on investing in education, digital and green technologies. A poll last week put support for the Greens on 23 percent, behind 27 percent for Angela Merkel's conservatives.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Hunger-striking Navlany transferred to prison hospital

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:02
Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was transferred to a prison hospital, his lawyer said on Monday, 20 days into a hunger strike that has brought international warnings of consequences should he die in jail, Reuters writes. Allies of Navalny, who have had no access to him since last week, said they were braced for bad news about his health. They are planning countrywide demonstrations later this week.
Categories: European Union

[Opinion] How May election could see an independent Scotland by 2023

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 07:02
Between June 2020 and February 2021, 22 consecutive opinion polls indicated majorities in favour of Scottish independence. That kind of sustained support for statehood is unprecedented in modern Scottish history.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Swiss drug-maker puts EU vaccine deliveries before UK

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:29
Swiss firm Moderna has said it will miss second-quarter delivery deadlines for the UK and Canada, but not the EU or Switzerland, Reuters reports. "Vaccine manufacturing is a highly complex process and a number of elements, including human and material resources have factored into this volatility," Patricia Gauthier, a Moderna Canada executive said. The announcement comes amid an ongoing row between the UK and Europe on vaccine shortfalls and exports.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] EU might not order any more AstraZeneca vaccines

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:29
Thierry Breton, the EU's internal markets commissioner, said Sunday that "nothing is decided" concerning the bloc's plans to open further contracts with vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, Deutsche Welle writes. AstraZeneca has delivered fewer than a quarter of the doses it initially promised to the EU. "We're pragmatic. My priority, as far as the vaccines are concerned, is to ensure that the firms we have contracts with deliver them punctually," Breton said.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Spanish police raid factory making 3D-printed weapons

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:28
Spanish officers raided an illegal 3D-printing weapons workshop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands and arrested the owner, who has been charged with illegal possession of weapons and explosives, Reuters writes. A replica assault rifle, small arms, several gun barrels, two tasers and a machete were among the arsenal seized from a Spanish factory discovered to be producing 3D-printed weapons, police said on Sunday.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Russia expels 20 Czech diplomats

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:27
Russia has ordered 20 Czech diplomats to leave the country by the end of Monday following a similar move by Prague, the foreign ministry in Moscow announced, Deutsche Welle reports. The Czech ambassador was summoned to the ministry on Sunday evening and told that 20 employees of the Czech embassy had been declared "persona non grata." Czech authorities expelled 18 Russian diplomats on Saturday, accusing them of being secret agents.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Slovenia leader denies drafting Bosnia break-up plan

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:23
Slovenian prime minister Janez Janša reportedly told a senior Bosnian politician, Šefik Džaferović, on Friday that "there was no non-paper that could be linked to the government of Slovenia, which would include redrawing [Bosnia's] borders", according to Džaferović's readout of their call. The informal paper, allegedly sent to EU officials by Slovenia in February, has caused a diplomatic storm, with Germany joining the US in saying that partition was unacceptable.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Report: Italy risks fumbling EU economic recovery plan

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:19
Italy could overshoot an EU deadline on 30 April for member states to say how they plan to spend their share of the bloc's €750bn post-pandemic loan and grant scheme, according to sources quoted by Reuters Sunday. "The plan will be presented on April 30," the Italian economy ministry said, denying the report. Italy is eligible for €200bn, the largest chunk, with a delay potentially embarrassing its new government.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Report: Hungary vetoes EU statement on China

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:18
Hungary, on Friday, blocked the EU from issuing a statement criticising China for jailing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, according to diplomatic sources quoted by Reuters. "Hungary's argument was that the EU already has too many issues with China," one EU diplomat said, referring to recent European sanctions over China's abuses of its Uighur Muslim minority. China is a major investor in Hungary, where it is building a new university.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] UK soccer clubs to join European 'Super League'

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:08
Five of the UK's biggest soccer clubs - Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City - are to join three top teams from Spain and three from Italy to create a European 'Super League', The Times has reported. But the move, which threatens existing tournaments organised by European football federation UEFA, came under fire from the British and French governments, as a money-grab which threatened fans' interests.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Russia says US dual citizen behind Lukashenko murder plot

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:08
A dual US-Belarusian citizen, Yuri Zenkovich, and a Belarusian dissident, Alexander Feduta, were behind plans to assassinate Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko in a putsch on 9 May, Russia's main spy service, the FSB, said Sunday after arresting the two men. Lukashenko, this weekend, said the US was behind a speared plot to kill or kidnap his children. But the US state department said this was "absolutely untrue".
Categories: European Union

EU ministers seized by Navalny health crisis

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:07
The risk of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dying in prison, as well as Russian aggression in Ukraine and in EU states, is to dominate foreign ministers' talks on Monday.
Categories: European Union

'Shocking' disparities bolster vaccine patent-waiver call

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:02
The unbalanced distribution of vaccines globally has triggered calls to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines. But an analysis of lobbying by watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory revealed how Big Pharma has influenced the EU Commission's position.
Categories: European Union

Frontex guilty of inflating legal fees against activists

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:02
A lawyer for Frontex billed too many hours in a case against transparency activists, the General Court of the European Union ruled. The agency had demanded a €23,700 legal bill from the activists - now reduced by over half.
Categories: European Union

[Agenda] Online 'Future EU Conference' and AI strategy This WEEK

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:02
As tensions heat up at the border of Ukraine and Russia, EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the Russian military build-up and will talk with their Ukrainian colleague, Dmytro Kuleba.
Categories: European Union

[Opinion] Why EU needs to be wary that AI will increase racial profiling

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:01
This week the EU announces new regulations on artificial intelligence. It needs to set clear limits on the most harmful uses of AI, including predictive policing, biometric mass surveillance, and applications that exacerbate historic patterns of racist policing.
Categories: European Union

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