Euobserver.com

An average global temperature rise above 1.5 or 2°C creates risks society cannot handle. This dwarfs the fallout of Covid-19.

Germany will over the weekend take in 50 minors seeking asylum from the overcrowded refugee camps on the Greek islands. Luxembourg earlier this week received 12. Their removals is part of a larger EU-led programme to relocate 1,600 unaccompanied minors from the Greek islands. Ten EU states, plus Switzerland, have pledged spaces for the minors.

Chinese authorities have revised upward by 50 percent the death toll in Wuhan, the hardest hit city where the virus first emerged, from 2,579 to 3,869, the Guardian reports. The numbers now included patients who had died at home before reaching hospital, as well as late and inaccurate reporting, the city's task force on virus prevention and control said. China's economy shrank 6.8% in the three months of 2020.

Sales of electric cars in Europe would be much lower than expected in 2020 due to coronavirus supply chain disruptions and low oil prices, a US credit rating agency, Fitch has said. Consumers might also shun the cars as pandemic-impoverished governments lag on installing electric charging stations and other infrastructure. EU car firms would miss CO2 targets due to the factors and risked incurring fines unless laws were changed.

Failure to agree an EU fund with joint debt could be the end of the eurozone and "also of the European idea," French president Emmanuel Macron told the FT in an interview Thursday. The EU was "a political project, [where] the human factor is the priority and there are notions of solidarity that come into play," he said. Germany has opposed joint bonds to fight the coronavirus slump.

Member states agreed on Thursday that Covid-19 mobile applications used for contact-tracing should not process location data of individuals, amid rising concerns over privacy.

A Dutch far-right politician behind a 2016 referendum on Ukraine and the EU had fishy ties to Russia, according to new revelations.

Even though some countries in Europe are considering to ease lockdowns and restrictive measures, the European branch of the World Health Organization warns that the number of infections and death for coronavirus keeps growing in the region.

A coronavirus outbreak in Gaza would be a "nightmare", a UN official has warned, but the pandemic's economic cost alone could be too much to bear.

The EU is backing looser capital rules for banks to help them keep lending to households and small businesses in the coronavirus crisis, according to a statement by EU finance ministers Thursday. "Making full use of the flexibility provided for in the prudential and accounting framework is essential," they said at a virtual meeting, Reuters reported. EU states would "give banks the necessary flexibility", German finance minister Olaf Scholz said.

The EU ought to have "strategic autonomy" on production of essential items, its trade chief, Irish EU commissioner Phil Hogan, has said amid concern about over-reliance on China and India. "We need ... resilient supply chains," he told trade ministers in a virtual meeting Thursday, Reuters reported. "How much do you want to start producing again within the internal market?", Dutch trade minister Sigrid Kaag also asked, hypothetically, on Thursday.

Jarosław Kaczyński, the powerful chairman of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, got an anti-virus face-mask with a cat on it as a gift from parliament deputy speaker Małgorzata Gosiewska Thursday. He received it during a debate on a proposed abortion ban on deformed foetuses. Kaczynski, a 70-year old bachelor, adores cats. Amid the levity inside, protesters outside stood in long lines, each separated by two metres, due to social-distancing.

The UK would refuse to extend the Brexit transition period, when EU laws still applied there, if Brussels asked for it as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised. "If the EU asks we will say: 'No'," a Downing Street spokesman said Thursday. Extending the period, which ends on 31 December, might alleviate industry uncertainty generated by coronavirus, the IMF said. Talks on post-transition trade have slowed in the lockdown.

France has ordered an inquiry into how one-third of sailors on its flagship aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, have become infected with coronavirus. Some 668 out of 1,767 crew tested positive and 30 percent of test results were outstanding on Thursday. Italy and Spain are the only other EU states with aircraft carriers after Brexit. The French ship was anchored in Brest, western France, when the outbreak struck.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday acknowledged that "too many were not there on time when Italy a needed a helping hand at the very beginning", adding that nobody was really prepared for a pandemic. "And yes, for that, it is right that Europe as a whole offers a heartfelt apology," she told MEPs, adding that it did not take long before member states started showing solidarity.

US social media giant Facebook announced new measures to tackle the 'infodemic' triggered by bogus content on the coronavirus. The move coincides with a study by activists showing how Facebook had so far failed to curtail virus-related disinformation.

The UK and the EU would be "wise not to add more" to the uncertainty from the coronavirus pandemic by not extending the Brexit trade deal negotiations, the International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva told BBC. "It is tough as it is," she said, adding "let's not make it any tougher." The UK has so far refused to ask for an extension to the current December 2020 deadline.

The EU Commission plans to ban paying executive bonuses at companies that have been rescued by a state share-buying program during the coronavirus crisis, the Guardian reports. The restrictions, which would include a ban on dividend payments and share buybacks, could be imposed on companies where the government has bought a stake in order to keep the business afloat. The planned proposal will have to be backed by the EU-27.

Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, already the world's richest man, earned an extra €22bn on the value of his 11% stake in home delivery retailer Amazon so far in the pandemic, The Guardian reports. A French court ordered Amazon to shut four warehouses Thursday pending a coronavirus safety review. The firm has said it has a 2m distancing rule for staff and provides sanitary equipment and temperature tests for workers.

Belgium's prime minister Sophie Wilmès announced on Wednesday the country's lockdown will remain in place until 3 May. After that date, the measures to fight the coronavirus will be eased gradually. She also said that large events will not be allowed until 31 August. This means that music festivals like Tomorrowland, attracting 400,000 people from all over the world every year, need to be cancelled.