Euobserver.com

China and Russia are using the pandemic to increase their authority in new ways at home and abroad, Lithuanian intelligence services have warned.

The United States has agreed to a four-month suspension of retaliatory tariffs imposed on British goods such as Scotch whisky over a long-running aircraft subsidy row, with both sides pledging to use the time to resolve the dispute, Reuters reports. Former president Donald Trump imposed tariffs on whisky and other European Union foods, wine, and spirits, in a dispute on subsidies for plane-makers Airbus and Boeing which predated Brexit.

The Kremlin urged France and Germany to use their influence with the Ukrainian government to make sure that events in the part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed rebels did not "cross a dangerous line", Reuters reports. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was seriously concerned by a rise in violence on the contact line between the rebels and Ukrainian government forces.

Sweden and Germany extended on Thursday their recommendation for the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine to cover people aged over 65, The Guardian reported. Berlin previously said available data was insufficient to approve the jab for the elderly, but it changed its position following recent studies. "New data shows the vaccine is even more effective when the first and second jabs are administered 12 weeks apart," said German health minister, Jens Spahn.

The World Health Organization warned of a surge in new coronavirus infections across Europe, pointing out healthcare systems should not be under pressure in some countries. Meanwhile, the European Medical Agency is reviewing Russia's Sputnik vaccine.

In the EU, women earn 14.1 percent less than men across the bloc - even though they have had the right to equal pay since 1957. The gender pension gap is at 30 percent.

MEPs probing the EU's border agency Frontex cross-examined the agency's director. They also spoke to EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson, who made it clear she had little sway over the agency.

Aside from the EPP, Hungary was also protected - at a member states' level - by key bilateral partners; and not only illiberal countries like Poland, Bulgaria or recently Slovenia - but most importantly also by Germany.

The European Parliament is going to vote on its report on corporate due diligence next week, calling on the EU Commission to propose a mandatory code-of-conduct for businesses.

The EU Court of Justice ruled on Thursday the UK has failed to adopt timely measures to tackle air pollution, shortly after officials found that the country's illegal levels of air pollution contributed to the death of 9-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. The court concluded the UK had "systematically and persistently" exceeded legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) since 2010. NO2 is a dangerous pollutant resulting from fossil-fuel combustion and other processes.

The European Parliament approved on Thursday the joint declaration launching Conference on the Future of Europe. The text establishes the structure, scope and timing of the event. "The European Parliament endorses the joint declaration because we want the Conference on the Future of Europe to start its work as soon as possible," the parliament's leaders said. The Portuguese presidency wants the conference to start on Europe Day (9 May).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has begun a rolling review of data from studies of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, it announced on Thursday. The process is aimed at speeding up regulatory approval, if the vaccine-producers apply for conditional marketing authorisation in the EU. Sputnik V has already been in use in one EU member state, Hungary, with Slovakia and the Czech Republic also considering administering it.

The Loyalist Communities Council, which represents Northern Ireland's unionist paramilitary groups, has "temporarily" withdrawn its backing for the 1998 'Good Friday' peace accord in order to pressure the UK and EU to change the Brexit deal, which left Northern Ireland in the EU customs' zone. It called for "peaceful and democratic" opposition. But its intervention showed the fragility of the security situation some two decades after sectarian fighting ended.

A man armed with an axe has attacked and injured eight people in a southern Swedish town in what authorities called a suspected terrorist crime, The Guardian writes. The attack happened in the small town of Vetlanda, about 190 km southeast of Göteborg, Sweden's second largest city, on Wednesday afternoon. His motive was not immediately known. The man was taken into custody after being shot in the leg by police.

France has outlawed a far-right group called Génération Identitaire, for "promoting hate speech inciting discrimination or violence against individuals because of their origin, race, or religion". The group, which trained members in martial arts and conducted vigilante border-control operations, had also received financial donations from Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in a mosque in New Zealand in 2019.

The EU has condemned Belarus' jailing, for two years, of a doctor, Artsiom Sarokin, who disclosed the true cause of death of a Belarusian protester, Raman Bandarenka, last year. Bandarenka "was shamefully beaten to death" by plain clothes police, the EU said in a statement Wednesday. Sarokin was jailed Tuesday in a behind-closed-doors trial. A Belarusian journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich, from tut.by, was jailed for six months in the same case.

Austria's ex-foreign minister Karin Kneissl has joined an ever-expanding list of senior Austrian and German politicians working as Kremlin lobbyists.

A management board at Frontex is tasked to make sure its operations stick to the rules. An internal probe, known as the working group, will soon deliver its final report on the Warsaw-based agency.

The European Commission presented on Wednesday a strategy to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities for the period 2021-2030. Brussels will propose a EU disability card to ensure the mutual recognition of disability status between member states by the end of 2023. Additionally, the EU executive will launch an initiative to improve social services for people with disabilities, including their participation in electoral processes.

Germany, Poland, and Switzerland offered help with treating Covid-19 patients in the Czech Republic, after a surge in infections. Czech interior minister Jan Hamacek said Germany has offered dozens of beds in its hospitals. Poland is to provide around 200 beds, Switzerland was ready to help with 20 beds. The day-to-day increase in new cases reached 16,642 on Tuesday, with a record over 8,000 Covid-19 patients needing hospitalisation.