European Union

The European Union is a major target of disinformation campaigns about COVID-19, both by Russia and domestic nationalist actors. What the bloc needs is a cross-national media engagement, a truly transnational European public sphere to build resilience against disinformation on EU affairs, writes Nad’a Kovalcikova.

The economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will make it “more difficult” to reach Europe’s long-term climate objectives, Poland said in a paper circulated to other EU countries ahead of an informal video meeting of energy ministers on Tuesday (28 April).

Spanish authorities have warned parents to act responsibly when taking their children out for a walk in order to ensure that the first major easing of the coronavirus lockdown does not become a public health risk.

More than 3 million people are now reported to have been infected by the coronavirus around the world and over 210,800 have died, CNBC reports. Most cases reported: United States (987,022), Spain (229,422), Italy (199,414), France (165,962), and Germany (158,434).

A record 50.8m people worldwide are internally displaced due to conflict or disaster, with coronavirus posing a new threat, the BBC reports. In its annual report, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) says Covid-19 may add further risks to millions of already vulnerable people. Over 45m have been forced to abandon their homes due to violence, a further five million by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.

Saudi Arabia will no longer impose the death penalty on people who committed crimes while still minors, the country's Human Rights Commission says, according to the BBC. The announcement, citing a royal decree by King Salman, comes two days after the country said it would ban flogging. A record 184 people were executed in the kingdom in 2019, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA), Yoshitake Yokokura, has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, the Guardian writes. "Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year," JMA president told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Workers restarted on Monday the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris with new social-distancing measures after the project was previously suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, the BBC reported. Face masks, hand gels and meals have been provided to the workers. In April 2019, a fire broke out under the roof of the cathedral. Afterwards, French president Emmanuel Macron said that the building would be restored by 2024.

The EU Commission will publish its spring economic forecast on 7 May, economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said Monday, in an important guide to how deep the EU executive thinks the bloc's recession will be due to the pandemic. The coronavirus crisis "dramatically changed the economic outlook", and a "deep recession this year in Europe is unavoidable", Gentiloni added.

East Africa is facing a "Level 3" food emergency as serious as the coronavirus crisis, as climate change creates ideal conditions for 'Biblical' swarms of locusts.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned Monday about possible brutality by law-enforcement forces during the lockdown, Reuters reported. "Emergency powers should not be a weapon government can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power," said Bachelet, denouncing shootings and detentions in countries that have declared a state of emergency. 15 states are listed as "most troubling", including EU Hungary.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and the environment has said "this is the most important climate change court decision in the world so far, confirming that human rights are jeopardised by the climate emergency."

As debate around the issue of contact-tracing grows, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that the new science of predicting and monitoring population movements is already here – and EU agencies have been testing it on refugees and migrants.

Doctors, nurses, paramedics, carers, cleaners, porters and ambulance drivers are at the sharp end of this pandemic. 8,000 Dutch healthcare workers have tested positive, with several in intensive care. Spain has 24,000 infected care-workers and Italy 16,950, with 150 dead.

Press conference following a video conference of home affairs ministers, 28 April 2020.

President Charles Michel, and Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, current Chair of the G5 Sahel, will co-chair an EU-G5 Sahel video conference tomorrow, 28 April 2020, with the United Nations and the African Union Commission.

Press conference following a video conference of energy ministers, 28 April 2020.

The French Navy’s new nuclear attack submarine made its first sea trip on April 28

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MEPs on Monday quizzed Commissioners Dombrovskis and Gentiloni on planned measures to tackle the looming economic crisis due to COVID-19.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

MEPs on Monday quizzed Commissioners Dombrovskis and Gentiloni on planned measures to tackle the looming economic crisis due to COVID-19.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP