European Union

India's coronavirus cases passed 18 million after another world record number of daily infections and deaths, Deutsche Welle writes. Health ministry data showed there were 379,257 new Covid-19 cases and 3,645 new deaths on Thursday, making it the deadliest day so far for the country in the pandemic. The pandemic has killed 3.1 million people around the world, with more than 200,000 fatalities in India alone.

The Czech Republic has stalled on plans to import Russia's coronavirus vaccine due to insufficient data. "We received so little material, we couldn't say if we'd recommend its use or not ... It was only a fraction of the documentation submitted by default for the registration or assessment of a drug," Irena Storová, a spokeswoman for the Czech regulator, told Radiožurnál Thursday, amid a separate row on Russian espionage.

EU countries and EU lawmakers agreed late Thursday (29 April) to allow Facebook and Microsoft to scan and remove online child sexual abuse, potentially paving the way for a deal in the coming months on privacy rules targeting online platforms.

Spain lost 137,500 jobs in the first quarter of the year, and both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate have decreased, according to a recent survey published by Spain’s National Statistical Institute (INE), EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

France is planning to almost-fully end its lockdown by July, in four phases starting with reopening schools 3 May. Bars, restaurants, and non-essential shops will reopen, but with social distancing rules, on 19 May. Sports and cultural events, as well as foreign tourism, will be allowed from 9 June, for those with a "health pass". And all curfews will end on 30 June, but nightclubs will stay closed for now.

The European Parliament, on Thursday, said an "EU Covid-19 certificate", proposed by the European Commission must be able to facilitate free movement without discrimination. They said holders of such a certificate must not be subject to "additional travel restrictions, such as quarantine, self-isolation or testing." They also want it to be universal and accessible to everyone, so as to avoid discrimination against those not yet vaccinated.

Brazil's health regulator said Thursday (29 April) its decision to reject the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was based on the developer's own data, after the latter threatened to sue for defamation.

Preliminary UN talks on Cypriot reunification have broken up with the two sides further apart than before they began.

The European Union is considering creating a semiconductor alliance including STMicroelectronics, NXP, Infineon and ASML to cut dependence on foreign chipmakers amid a global supply chain crunch, four EU officials said.

The European Commission unveiled on Thursday its plans to improve the EU law-making process, including the requirement to assess the UN Sustainable Development Goals in all legislative proposals and to simplify public consultations. Brussels will also introduce the so-called 'one-in, one-out' approach, offsetting new legislative proposals by equivalently reducing existing burdens in the same policy area.

The European Parliament has approved a EU regulation against 'terrorist' content online. It allows one EU state to ask another to remove content hosted in another. But European Digital Rights, Access Now, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, and other NGOs say the new rules amount to censorship. "Somebody like Viktor Orban could ask for the removal of content uploaded in another country because it criticises his government," said Liberties.

The EU's border agency Frontex is coordinating with the Libyan Coast Guard, according to a joint-investigation between Lighthouse Reports with Der Spiegel, Libération and ARD Monitor. The agency has in the past denied such links but "the investigation reveals back channels between Frontex and the Libyan Coast Guard, including Whatsapp groups where coordinates of refugee boats are shared."

Jonas Grimheden will become Frontex's fundamental rights officer. Grimheden is set to start his new job in June, amid intense scrutiny over the agency's long delay in hiring staff tasked to make sure rights violations are not taking place. 40 such monitors should have been hired by December, but only 20 have so far been hired.

Arlene Foster has been under internal pressure for months because of the party's annoyance at her failure to stop the creation of an economic border between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain as part of the Brexit deal.

The European Commission concluded that existing legislation on GMOs is not "fit for purpose" for new genomic techniques, and needs to be adapted - a move seen by some critics as the first step to deregulation.

A new study has shown that Romanians are increasingly more tolerant towards LGBTI rights - with 43 percent saying that they support a legal form of same-sex union in Romania, either as civil unions or marriage.

A second referendum would only be called by the SNP when there is a visible and consistent majority in favour among the Scottish electorate. And such a majority does not exist at the present.

The European Union should follow Britain's example and impose new anti-corruption sanctions on Russians suspected of fraud and graft, the European Parliament said on Thursday (29 April) in a resolution that reflected hardening attitudes to Moscow.

EU lawmakers on Thursday (29 April) approved the controversial €7.9 billion European Defence Fund (EDF), clearing the way for the bloc's first-ever dedicated programme for military research intended to bolster military cooperation between EU member states.

Why should we debate climate science from a space-based perspective?  This is a question that should concern all of us because of the unprecedented times we are living in. Dealing with uncertainty, risk and ignorance about the future, which the...