Euobserver.com

The Spanish parliament approved on Wednesday a government decree ending the obligation of mask-wearing outdoors when a social distance of 1.5 meters can be observed, Spanish news agency EFE reported. The measure has been criticised, since the country has entered a fifth wave of infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant, reporting over 30,000 cases per day. Some regional governments are still recommending citizens use face masks.

China has rejected the proposal from the World Health Organization to carry out the second phase of the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, which would include inspections of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, Reuters reported on Thursday. Theories include a possible laboratory leak, fuelled by the lack of raw data corresponding to the 2019 gene sequence from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that low-income countries could have added €32.2bn to their GDP forecast for 2021 if they had similar vaccination rates as high-income countries. It also warns that the unequal distribution of vaccines globally will have "a lasting and profound impact on socio-economic recovery" in low-income countries. "Vaccine inequity is the world's biggest obstacle to ending this pandemic," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

A new report on Wednesday by the British branch of NGO WWF and UK supermarket giant Tesco, shows that 1.2bn tonnes (over 15 percent) of food produced globally is lost during harvest or slaughter procedures. The research states that 58 percent of farm-related food waste takes place in middle- and high-income regions. WWF is calling on Brussels to address food waste through EU policies.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has announced a referendum on his country's controversial new anti-LGBTIQ law - in response to criticism from the European Union which called the new legislation discriminatory.

The US says a deal has been reached with Germany to prevent Russian gas from being used as political leverage by Moscow over Europe in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. The deal sees Ukraine get $50m (€42.3m) in green energy technology credits and a guarantee of repayment for gas transit fees it will lose by being bypassed by the pipeline through 2024, reports the Associated Press.

The EU deploys thousands of advisers to its missions abroad. Without addressing reform as a profoundly political struggle, however, the EU will remain successful only in operational advisory and trainings.

The UK is pressing to rewrite the Brexit protocol for Northern Ireland, describing it as a flawed concept. But the European Commission is not interested in re-opening talks. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU vice-president in charge of EU-UK relations said Brussels "will not agree to a renegotiation of the protocol," noting it had been ratified by the UK parliament.

The survey was carried out in seven member states that have not yet adopted the single currency: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Denmark has decided not to join, having negotiated an opt-out.

Slovenian foot-dragging on the appointment of prosecutors to a new EU anti-graft office may trigger a decision by the European Commission to take it to court. Slovenia's prime minister Janez Janša said they would be appointed by autumn.

The European Commission proposed on Tuesday rules that would see companies transferring cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, collect details of senders and recipients, in order to help authorities detect money laundering or terrorism financing, Reuters reported. This will ensure "full traceability of crypto-asset transfers," the commission said. Anonymous crypto-asset wallets will be banned since anonymous bank accounts are already forbidden under EU anti-money laundering rules.

Moroccan intelligence agencies targeted French president Emmanuel Macron with the Israeli-made spyware software Pegasus, according to Le Monde newspaper. Although targeted, it remains unclear if his phone was compromised by the software. They also reportedly went after EU Council president Charles Michel, when he was prime minister of Belgium.

The UK will pay France €62.7m to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel, in a deal hammered out on Tuesday. The plan includes doubling the number of French officers deployed along the coast. The deal comes a day after a record 430 people crossed the Channel on small boats.

Greece has launched an investigation into four NGOs, accusing them of facilitating illegal entry of foreigners and espionage. Among those targeted is Aegean Boat Report, which details pushbacks of migrants and refugees. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi last December accused it of helping migrant smugglers, a charge denied by the NGO.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a new set of anti-money laundering and countering terrorism-financing rules. The legislative package includes the creation of a new EU-level Anti-Money Laundering Authority, which will seek to coordinate with national authorities to ensure the rules are applied consistently throughout the private sector. The package has been described a major step forward by the Greens.

A recent study shows that gun homicide has increased in Sweden - as opposed to the rest of Europe, where it's been in decline for years.

The concern of Germany's Constitutional Court was that the European Court of Justice did not sufficiently check the action of other EU branches of power. The Polish situation is the exact reverse: the government is taking control of the courts.

The rule-of-law report comes in a crucial moment as Brussels is currently approving member states' recovery plans, conditional on having a robust justice system and anti-corruption framework.

The governing body of the Conference on the Future of Europe agreed on Monday to allocate six more seats in the conference plenary to both regional and local representatives, and four more seats to social partners. This means that the current 534 plenary would become a body with 550 representatives. The first European Citizens Panels will take place in September, when some 200 people will discuss about the way forward.

in a fit of desperation, a young man from Tunisia threw himself over board. He was quickly rescued. But others have made similar threats, if no solution is found, including a 38-year old pregnant woman from Libya.