Euobserver.com

The tragedy in Lebanon must spark a deeper European Union rethink of its engagement in the Mediterranean.

The Privacy Collective, a Dutch-based organisation, is launching what it says is the largest-ever class action suit against major tech firms for breaches against the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Privacy Collective says data processing firms Oracle and Salesforce violated the EU-wide rules by processing and sharing of data of millions. The firms are being sued in the Netherlands and England and Wales.

Belarus is banking on its EU ally Hungary to prevent sanctions, despite deaths and serious allegations of torture of pro-democracy protestors.

Native people in the Amazon region have urged EU banks to stop funding oil development. "How can they [bank executives] sleep peacefully knowing their money leaves thousands of indigenous peoples and communities without water, without food and in devastating health conditions due to pollution?", Marlon Vargas, the head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, said. EU banks have lent billions to Amazon oil firms, NGOs revealed.

Russia's new coronavirus vaccine could be "dangerous", Germany has warned, in what Russia called part of "groundless" international criticism. "The problem is we know very little, because Russian authorities aren't very transparent," German health minister Jens Spahn told German radio Wednesday. "There haven't been any ... clinical trials with thousands of volunteers, and it can be dangerous to start vaccinating millions, if not billions, of people too early," he said.

Police viciously attacked protesters in Minsk for a fourth night in a row on Wednesday, as EU ministers confirmed sanctions talks.

France announced it will be sending military reinforcements into the Eastern Mediterranean following an escalation with Turkey over Greece.

EU states have urged foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell to call emergency foreign ministers talks on potential Belarus and Turkey sanctions.

The European Commission said some 23 new research projects into Covid-19 will receive €128m in EU funding. The 23 projects shortlisted for funding involve 347 research teams from 40 countries, including 34 participants from 16 countries outside of the EU. The new projects include new ways to quickly produce medical supplies to the behavioural and socio-economic of government responses in areas like mental health.

The European Commission said Croatia will get some €88.9m in aid to help recover from an earthquake that hit Zagreb and nearby areas in late March. "Croatia and its capital city have suffered one of the most severe natural disasters in more than a century, causing heavy damage and disruption," said Elisa Ferreira, EU commissioner for cohesion and reforms. The money is sourced from the EU Solidarity Fund.

Regional authorities have mandated that facemasks must now be worn throughout all of Brussels' 19 districts in an effort to stem the rise of Covid-19 infections, reports Belgian newspaper Le Soir. The decision was made after the threshold of infections per 100,000 inhabitants reached 50. The mask must cover both the nose and the mouth and is required for anyone over the age of 12.

The European Union is demanding Mexico delay upcoming health warnings on processed food and drinks, reports Reuters. Mexico wants to slap labels on junk food packages that warn of health risks, starting in October. But the European Union is seeking a two-year delay on those labels, according to a World Trade Organization document. The EU is home to some of the world's largest food producers.

Just a few weeks ago, as Europeans in several countries put their furious debates about masks and corona appsinto higher gear, Turkey and Greece almost came to blows in the Aegean Sea.

Turkey's decision to send ships to disputed waters near Cyprus was a "serious escalation" which showed Turkey's "destabilising role" in the region, the Greek foreign ministry said Monday, after Turkish vessel Oruc Reis and two auxiliary ships set sail to look for oil and gas near Greece's island of Kastellorizo. The move violated a new Greek-Egyptian deal on maritime boundaries, but Turkey and Libya also have a new maritime deal.

Slovakia has expelled three Russian officials linked to the assassination, in broad daylight in Berlin last August, of a Russian exile by a Russian suspect. "There had been an abuse of visas issued at the Slovak general consulate in St Petersburg, and in this connection a serious crime was committed on the territory of another EU and Nato member state," the Slovak foreign ministry said.

Poland and Lithuania, Belarus' neighbours, have tried to lead the EU reaction to ongoing violence in Minsk, which so far claimed two lives.

A number of Italian MPs have pocketed Covid-19 relief funds that were meant to help the self-employed, reported Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday. The paper says at least five MPs spread out across the parties, including the far-right League party, the Five Star Movement, the Democratic party, and the Italia Viva, had taken the funds. The same MPs earn some €13,000 a month.

The European Union and the United States have started talks to revamp a data-sharing pact known as Privacy Shield. The agreement was recently invalidated by the European Court of Justice. It was supposed to protect the personal data of EU citizens when transferred to US-based firms, but has been proven a failure. The European Commission had, for years, defended the agreement, despite numerous warnings and US enforcement failures.

Germany, France, and Italy are pressing ahead with EU sanctions for Libya to prevent the flow of weapons to the warn-torn country. The German press agency DPA reports the three EU states have agreed on a blacklist of companies and individuals providing ships, aircraft, or other logistics for the transport of weapons to Libya. EU sources told DPA that some of the companies are from Kazakhstan, Jordan, and Turkey.

The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is recommending EU states imposes new restrictions to stem the transmission of Covid-19.