Новости за 01.02.2021

British diplomats are to carry out security vetting of Chinese academics who wanted to do research in the UK in "sensitive" subjects, such as artificial intelligence, chemistry, physics, maths, computer science, and engineering, The Times reports. The foreign office warned British universities of the move amid fears of intellectual property theft and "national security" concerns. The warning comes after security concerns aired by EU institutions over Chinese students last year.

Portugal said on Saturday it only had seven vacant beds left in intensive care units (ICUs) set up for Covid-19 cases on its mainland, as a surge in infections prompted the authorities to send some critical patients to Portuguese islands, Reuters reports. Health ministry data showed that, out of 850 ICU beds allocated to Covid-19 cases on its mainland, a record 843 beds were now occupied.

A delegation of more than 70 representatives of Libyan regional powers is heading to Geneva for five days this week to pick an interim prime minister in an EU and US-backed UN process. It is unclear if the leader chosen by the 'Libyan Political Dialogue Forum' will be accepted by warring parties, but the PM is meant to serve until elections in December, following a fragile ceasefire agreed last October.

Matteo Renzi, who triggered Italy's political crisis this month by pulling his Italia Viva party out of the ruling coalition, would like to see former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi become prime minister, a party source said on Sunday, Reuters writes. The former coalition allies are holding talks to try and overcome their differences and revive their government, which formally collapsed last week when prime minister Giuseppe Conte resigned.

Women's rights groups have protested for three days in Poland after a court verdict banning most abortions entered into force last Thursday. The protests were put on pause Sunday, in order not to disrupt an annual fundraiser for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, a healthcare NGO with liberal views, which raised some €16m. The demonstrations against the right-wing Polish government are expected to continue this week.

Belgian police arrested more than 200 people at an anti-lockdown protest near Brussels' 'Midi' train station on Sunday. Sizeable demonstrations also took place in Budapest and in Vienna, where they were organised by Austria's far-right FPÖ party and included neo-Nazi militants. More peaceful civic disobedience initiatives, such as a mass coffee-drinking event, also took place in the Netherlands amid a heavy police presence following three days of anti-lockdown riots there.

Vaccine producer AstraZeneca will supply an extra 9m doses to the EU by March European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday, calling the deal a "step forward", amid a massive shortfall in deliveries. EU officials earlier invoked a Brexit-treaty clause to impose physical checks on the Irish border to stop AstraZeneca exporting to the UK via Northern Ireland, but dropped the move after a political blowback.

The European Commission has adopted an export control mechanism on vaccines as a response to shortfalls. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca's jab was approved in the EU.

The security situation in Ethiopia remained "dire", as Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto prepares to travel to the region on an EU fact-finding mission.

MEPs in the civil liberties committee have agreed to create a Frontex scrutiny working group to probe the Warsaw-based agency over a number of allegations.

The EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell will travel to Moscow on Friday, raising eyebrows because leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, is in prison. Borrell argues this is the reason why talking is necessary.

It is well known that Vladimir Putin has for a long time been deeply dissatisfied with Lukashenko. I consider it highly unlikely, though, that Putin will accept a democratic revolution in a neighbouring country.