Новости за 09.07.2021

SOS Mediterranee's Ocean Viking carried out six rescues since the start of July. After a week of high tension, the NGO was finally given a port of safety in Sicily's port of Augusta on Friday.

SOS Mediterranée's Ocean Viking obtained a port of safety late Thursday evening and is now heading to Sicily's Augusta to disembark the 572 people rescued. The search and rescue vessel had carried out six rescues between 1 and 5 July. The announcement sparked widespread joy among those rescued, with many breaking into song and dance.

"We will never, ever accept a two-state solution. We are firm on that and very united," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in Nicosia Thursday, referring to Turkey's proposal for how to solve a 40-year old frozen conflict on the island. "If they [Turkey] speak to one of our member states, like for example Cyprus, in whatever tone, they speak to the European Union," she also said.

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday it would not charge asylum seekers with offences, such as "illegal entry", because they had normally not broken any other UK laws and would "be better dealt with by removal" than criminal proceedings. The decision came after the Home Office tried to tighten anti-immigration laws in its Nationality and Borders Bill earlier this week, which made entering the UK without permission a criminal offence.

Jonathan Taylor, an oil-industry whistleblower, is free to go home to the UK after Croatia snubbed Monaco's request to have him extradited.

The UK government decided that British citizens travelling to amber-list countries will not have to quarantine on return if their NHS app is proving they are fully-vaccinated, but Britons living overseas will not be able to prove their vaccine status if they have been jabbed abroad, The Guardian writes. The move is likely to cause a significant backlash from UK citizens living abroad, especially those now fully-vaccinated.

British prime minister Boris Johnson has announced the end of Britain's military mission in Afghanistan, 20 years after the post-9/11 invasion that started the "war on terror", The Guardian writes. The prime minister confirmed to MPs that the intervention, which claimed the lives of 457 British soldiers, would end even as the insurgent Taliban were rapidly gaining territory in rural areas, as British, US and other forces withdrew.

The European Parliament in a resolution on Thursday condemned Hungary's anti-LGBTIQ legislation with 459 votes for, 147 against, and 58 abstentions. MEPs said urged the EU Commission to take legal action. MEPs also note that "these human-rights violations are part of a broader political agenda to break down democracy and the rule of law, including media freedom, and should be considered a systemic violation of EU values".

The European Commission has imposed a €875m fine on Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche for forming a cartel, restricting competition in emission-cleaning technology for diesel cars. "Over five years, the car manufacturers deliberately avoided to compete on cleaning better than what was required by EU emission standards…despite the relevant technology being available," EU anti-trust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday. This is separate from the previous 'dieselgate' scandal.

The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the event, Reuters reports. Prime minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly-infectious Delta Covid-19 variant was spreading, from becoming the source of another wave of infections.

The surge in Covid-19 cases across Europe due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant is making EU member states consider re-tightening travel restrictions for this summer.

Independence of courts in Austria, in Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherland and Denmark is seen as very, or fairly, good, according to a survey published with the EU Commission's annual justice scoreboard.

Thee international community needs to act to prevent the environmental destruction being orchestrated by Slovenia's populist prime minister, Janez Janša - especially now his country has the EU's rotating presidency.

This year's Prague European Summit will focus on three main topics - the post-pandemic recovery, EU external relations - especially in the Neighbourhood Policy - and future trends and policies, with a focus on the 'digital decade'.