Новости за 22.01.2021

Hungary has signed a deal to buy Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine - the first EU country to do so - foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks in Moscow on Friday. Hungary has bought two million doses to vaccinate one million people. Hungary has been critical of the slow arrival of vaccines under EU agreements and was the first EU country to give preliminary approval to the Russian jab.

The Netherlands will impose a curfew on its citizens, beginning Saturday, in an attempt to halt the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, Deutsche Welle reports. Residents will be housebound between 9PM and 4.30AM. The restrictions come on top of a lockdown in place since December. Non-essential businesses, schools, and restaurants are closed and strict contact restrictions are in place until 9 February.

Environmental NGO ClientEarth, on Thursday, lost a legal bid to stop Europe's largest gas-fired power plant being built in the UK by the Drax company. The facility would account for 75 percent of Britain's power-sector CO2 emissions when it was up and running, ClientEarth said, amid British and EU commitments to curb global warming. It would "play a vital role in the UK's energy system, generating reliable electricity," Drax said.

Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde said she welcomed the "lower level of violence" in Russia's war in eastern Ukraine, after visiting the front line in her role as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's chair. "However, lives are still being lost and the everyday life of citizens in this region is still heavily affected," she added Thursday. Russia invaded Ukraine six years ago after a revolution in Kiev.

The Roman Catholic Jesuit order in Spain has admitted that 81 children and 21 adults had been sexually abused by 96 of its members since 1927 and apologised for the "painful, shameful and sorrowful" crimes, The Guardian writes. In a report released on Thursday, the Society of Jesus, whose members often work as teachers, said most of the abuse had taken place in schools "or was related to schools".

EU leaders agreed to maintain open borders, while discouraging all non-essential travel, amid fears over the spread of dangerous new coronavirus variants.

The EU is coaxing US president Joe Biden to open up to Cuba amid its worst economic crisis in decades, but foreign money risks feeding the regime's "feared" rule.

Last year's German EU presidency refused corporate sponsorships. But the new Portuguese presidency has decided they are needed and has signed three contracts. One of them is with one of Europe's largest paper companies, The Navigator Company.

The Belgian and Bulgarian prosecutors who were appointed had also not been the experts' first choice. Belgian prosecutor Jean-Michel Verelst has challenged the council's decision at the European Court of Justice.

The UK has raised eyebrows in the EU and at home over its reluctance to give full diplomatic privileges to João Vale de Almeida, the EU's ambassador to the UK.

NGOs on Thursday urged the EU and member states to reevaluate their relationship with Egypt and to address "the human rights crisis" in the country at the meeting of foreign affairs ministers next week. "Business cannot continue as usual with Egypt as long as the Egyptian authorities maintain their brutal crackdown on human rights," reads the letter sent to EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

A new report from the European Court of Auditors reveals that EU aid for education in conflict areas reaches more boys, even though it is girls who are more likely to drop out of school, experience violence and marry early. It also identified that most projects are too short for the educational needs of children living in protracted crises, calling on the European Commission to foster longer-term, self-reliant solutions.

Some 33 businesses, industry associations, NGOs, and think tanks have combined to call for avoiding the use of hydrogen in building renovations, prioritising existing sustainable solutions and boosting the integration of renewables. The direct use of hydrogen for heating is seen as "problematic" because "it comes with many uncertainties linked to the scalability, costs of its production and inefficiencies," reads the letter sent to the European Commission on Thursday.

"Banknotes are still to stay," European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said at a recent conference, "but I think we will have a digital euro."