Euobserver.com

Reeling from the blockage in the Suez Canal, shipping rates for oil-product tankers have nearly doubled this week, and several vessels were diverted away from the vital waterway as a giant container ship remained blocked, Reuters writes. The suspension of traffic through the narrow channel linking Europe and Asia has deepened problems for shipping lines that were already facing disruption and delays in supplying retail goods to consumers.

China sanctioned organisations and individuals in the United Kingdom over what it called "lies and disinformation" about Xinjiang, days after Britain imposed sanctions for human rights abuses in the western Chinese region, Reuters reports. The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement it sanctioned four entities and nine individuals, including lawmakers such as former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.

Some 53 percent of Scottish people would vote for independence, but only if Scotland was guaranteed to join the EU afterward, according to a survey by pollster Survation for the Press and Journal newspaper. Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has called for a second vote in the wake of Brexit. But EU countries have in the past been wary of encouraging separatism, for instance in the Spanish region of Catalonia.

EU commission chief said that despite the bumpy start, the first benefits of vaccinations are being felt, amid lower mortality rates.

EU leaders have offered more refugee aid and customs perks to Turkey at a video-summit also attended by US president Joe Biden.

Organic framing should cover 25 percent of EU arable land by 2030, up from nine percent today, the European Commission has said, while unveiling a €49m plan to promote the more green option this year. Organic farming reduces CO2 emissions by curbing synthetic fertiliser and protects biodiversity, including bees, by not using chemical pesticides. The commission has also allocated up to €38bn for farming eco-schemes between 2023-2027.

The European Parliament has called for accession talks to start with Albania and North Macedonia, putting pressure on member states to go ahead.

Former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has castigated the way Britain and the EU have handled their vaccine-export dispute. "Nobody in Britain, nobody in Europe understands why we are witnessing, according to the news, a stupid vaccine war ... we are allies," he told the BBC Thursday. EU export bans "could create major reputation damage to the European Union, who used to be the world's free-trade champion," he added.

Denmark is not lifting its temporary ban on using AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, the national health authority said on Thursday. Health officials said they await further data, DPA reported. Denmark stopped using the vaccine on 11 March after a woman died of blood clots after having the jab. Several other countries also suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine, but reinstated use after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) confirmed that it is safe.

Germany will require everyone entering the country by plane to have already taken a Covid-19 test, starting from Sunday. Previously, only travellers from high-risk areas were required to present a negative test, Deutsche Welle reported. Travellers will be required to take a Covid-19 test before departure, regardless of infection rates in their country of origin. Airlines will only be allowed to let passengers onboard with proof of a negative test.

A multilingual digital platform will be launched next month) so citizens can start contributing to the conference "without delay".

Behind the convoluted procedural bickering lies a fierce battle for the efficacy of the new rule-of-law tool agreed by legislators last November.

The EU's good intention behind endorsing the IHRA definition has been to introduce one clear and uniform standard for data about antisemitic incidents. In practice, however, the IHRA definition has turned into a source of confusion and contention.

Alexei Navalny has complained of a "sharp deterioration" in his health in prison and has been blocked from meeting lawyers, a senior aide to the Russian opposition leader has said, The Guardian writes. Navalny has reported "serious back pain" and numbness in one of his legs that has left him unable to stand on it, Leonid Volkov said.

"This is not just about putting things right, it is about apologising in profound shame," German interior minister Horst Seehofer said Wednesday after easing rules for descendants of Nazi victims to claim citizenship. "It is a huge fortune for our country if people want to become German, despite the fact that we took everything from their ancestors," Seehofer added. Jewish groups called the move a "gesture of decency".

The Council of Europe, a multilateral club in Strasbourg, has said "further efforts are necessary for Portugal to come to terms with past human-rights violations to tackle racist biases against people of African descent inherited from a colonial past and historical slave trade". Its annual report comes amid a toxic political debate in Lisbon on how the country, which currently holds the symbolic EU presidency, should memorialise its colonial history.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with Russia and the investment agreement with China are bad for Europe and for transatlantic ties, the US has indicated.

MEPs in the European Parliament are set to vote on a report on North Macedonia. Some MEPs are demanding Bulgaria stop issuing "provocative statements" against the Balkan state.

Sweden announced on Wednesday that its travel ban for people coming from Norway and Denmark will end on 31 March. People will need a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, however, Reuters reported. "This means, among other things, that Norwegians and Danes can travel to their holiday homes in Sweden and that families and friends across borders can meet each other," said minister of the interior, Mikael Damberg.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Andy Li has been charged with "conspiracy to commit collusion" with a foreign country to endanger national security, Deutsche Welle writes. The charges come two days after the 30-year-old was released from a prison in China. Li, along with 11 other activists, had been detained after trying to flee to Taiwan by speedboat in August 2020. All had faced charges over the pro-democracy protest movement.