Новости за 17.05.2021

US-origin conspiracy theories about the pandemic are spreading on social media and pose a security risk in Europe, according to an AFP investigation. Some 30,000 people in France follow the 'DeQodeurs' conspiracy group on Telegram, another 100,000 follow German demagogues Attila Hildmann and Xavier Naidoo, and 150,000 follow UK conspiracist Charlie Ward. "People are organising in clandestine cells. Obviously it is a threat," French national intelligence coordinator Laurent Nunez said.

Sales of vans between 2017 and 2020 showed no reduction in CO2 emissions because EU laws were so weak manufacturers could meet them without selling a single electric-powered vehicle, according to green NGO Transport & Environment. "With pathetic CO2 targets, the boom in e-commerce is becoming a nightmare for our planet," it said. Hybrid vehicles, which should stop being made, see owners rely almost exclusively on fossil-fuel engines, it added.

Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore urged the G7 countries and the EU to donate 150 million vaccines to the Covax vaccine-sharing scheme to bridge the gap in supplies caused by curbs imposed by Indian authorities, as the country battles one of the deadliest coronavirus outbreaks, Deutsche Welle reports. "Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now," Fore said.

Belgian politicians have raised security concerns over plans by state-owned Chinese firm Alibaba to build a €100m logistics centre at an airport in the town of Liège. "Chinese intelligence officers could have access to sensitive and secure areas of the airport … The future economic importance of Liège airport to China can't be underestimated," Belgian justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said at a parliamentary hearing last week.

The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia's Tigray region is worse than ever since the conflict began last November, with 5.2 million people needing "emergency food assistance" to "avoid starvation", the EU foreign service has said. Blocking "humanitarian aid as a weapon of war is a grave violation of international humanitarian law", it added, amid previous EU threats to hold Ethiopian officials accountable by putting them under EU visa-bans and asset-freezes.

The EU has "deplored" Russia's designation of the Czech Republic as an "unfriendly state" in April, saying the move went against the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and would cause "further deterioration" in relations. Russia's listing means it can ban the Czech embassy from posting diplomats and hiring local staff. It follows diplomatic expulsions by both sides over a lethal Russian bomb attack in the Czech Republic in 2014.

The British government has instructed border guards to stop locking up EU nationals who entered without a visa in migrant detention centres, following several cases of harsh treatment publicised in UK media. "We have updated our guidance to clarify that overseas nationals, including EU citizens, who have been refused entry to the UK and are awaiting removal, should be granted immigration bail, where appropriate," a Home Office spokesman said.

The UK has agreed to host Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadžić in a high-security prison for the rest of the 75-year old's life sentence, despite fears, voiced by his lawyer, that Muslim inmates in Britain would target him for revenge attacks. The deal between the international tribunal in The Hague and London is the sixth of its type. The UK did not say when or where he would be moved.

Impunity from international sanctions is allowing Israel to create "horror" in Gaza, Hanan Ashrawi, a former top Palestinian official has said.

An internal document from January outlines the divisions among EU states when it comes the European Commission's proposal on "return sponsorships". Although positions may have since shifted, the document provides a glimpse into the Council's thinking.

Negotiators from the European Parliament, the council of member states, and the EU Commission will push for an agreement this week on the Covid-19 travel certificate so that safe travel can pick up during the summer.

The European Parliament president David Sassoli has invited MEPs to reflect on the institution's future, opening a broad debate about the best way forward after the Covid-19 pandemic. What will the post-Covid-19 parliament be like?

By 2050, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland and the Baltic countries will all see the age of their populations increase by at least eight years, according to latest Eurostat projections.

Italian activists are collating a growing Instagram collection of racist, sexist and homophobic content in the media. But their battle to stop the use of the n-word, blackface and offensive content on Italian TV means standing up to ingrained racism.

The impact of the EU's e-privacy directive was not theoretical. Since the rule passed, there was a 58 percent decrease in EU-related reports of child sexual exploitation online.