European Union

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to hire more people from racial minorities after meeting anti-racist MEPs on Tuesday

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to hire more people from racial minorities after meeting anti-racist MEPs on Tuesday

Maltese health authorities said 65 migrants from a group of 94 brought to Malta this week have tested positive for coronavirus and been placed in isolation, the Times of Malta reported on Tuesday. This cluster represents the biggest outbreak in Malta since the beginning of the pandemic.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who is running for a sixth presidential term, told military officials on Tuesday that he recovered from Covid-19, Reuters reported. "Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. Doctors came to such a conclusion yesterday: asymptomatic," he said. Lukashenko avoided strict lockdowns and, instead, suggested remedies such as drinking vodka. Belarus has registered 67,366 coronavirus cases and 543 deaths.

The European Court of Auditors on Tuesday launched a probe to assess whether the European Commission improved cooperation with priority third countries after 2015 - when an action plan on returns was in place. EU auditors found less than 40 percent of irregular migrants ordered to leave the EU return to their home country, or a third country.

The head of the Robert Koch Institute for health, Lothar Wieler, said on Tuesday that he was "very concerned" by the surge of new coronavirus infections in Germany, the BBC reported. "We don't know yet if this is the beginning of a second wave, but of course it could be," Wieler said. Last week, Germany recorded 3,611 new infections.

EU states have agreed to curb exports of "sensitive equipment and technologies for end-use in Hong Kong" repression, including for "interception of internal communications or cyber-surveillance" in reaction to China's security crackdown in the semi-autonomous former British colony. They also agreed, on Tuesday, to help Hong Kong citizens resettle and study in Europe and to increase support for pro-democracy NGOs trying to oppose the new measures, risking China's wrath.

British businesses are to be hit by the "simultaneous impact" of anti-coronavirus lockdowns and Brexit in autumn, according to a new study by the London School of Economics out Wednesday. The net downturn in business due to coronavirus in April and June ranged from -124 percent for the rubber and plastics sector to -41 percent for retail. But Brexit would subtract a further 15 percent from the chemicals sector.

The new spike in Covid-19 infections in Europe is due to the general public having become "negligent" on hygiene rules, Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany's Robert Koch Institute, told press Tuesday, the BBC reports. "We are in the middle of a rapidly-developing pandemic," he noted, while urging people to wear masks and respect social distancing. The recent increase in infections made him "very concerned".

People ought to break anti-coronavirus lockdowns for the sake of their psychological and other health needs, Andrea Bocelli, an Italian opera singer known for a recent Easter performance outside an empty cathedral in Milan, said in a speech at the country's senate Tuesday. "I am a certain age and I need sun and vitamin D," he said. "Let's refuse to follow this rule ... move around," he said.

According to a spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights, the draft law "would give the state powerful tools for asserting even more control over the media landscape".

Previous claims that migrants bring communicable diseases to host countries have been debunked by a review of the existing evidence carried out earlier this year. In fact, migrants are currently more at risk of contracting Covid-19 from Europeans.

A European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut will be part of a crew bound for the International Space Station in spring 2021 aboard a SpaceX rocket. It will be the first time a European has accessed space via a non-Russian mission since 2011.

The European Union on Tuesday (28 July) agreed to limit exports to Hong Kong of equipment that could be used for surveillance and repression after Beijing imposed a controversial new security law.

Fourteen years after receiving the official go-ahead, scientists began to assemble a machine in southern France on Tuesday (28 July) that will seek to prove whether nuclear fusion, the process which powers the Sun, can be a safe and viable energy source for Earth.

Ten members of a banned Turkish communist party were sentenced to several years in jail by a court in Munich Tuesday (28 July) after a four-year trial over their role in what Ankara considers to be a terrorist organisation.

The European Commission has rejected applications from six Polish towns to take part in a subsidised twinning programme because of their official attitude to the LGBT community.

The EU's upcoming strategy for equality and inclusion of Romani people risks being ineffective unless it introduces mandatory objectives and includes targeted funding, say civil society groups.

Protests in Bulgaria are a genuine civil protest against the party-state and in favour of basic democratic rights such as media freedom, writes Maria Stoyanova.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched a £2 billion package on Monday (27 July) aimed at incentivising walking and cycling as the UK lockdown eases. EURACTIV’s partner edie.net reports. The package will fund a string of initiatives, including improvements to cycling...