Air pollution has decreased in urban areas across Europe during lockdowns to combat the coronavirus, new satellite images showed on Monday, but campaigners warned city-dwellers were still more vulnerable to the epidemic. Air pollution causes around 400,000 premature deaths each year in Europe, EEA data show.
The looming social and financial cost of the coronavirus crisis, which is going to aggravate a recession that was already on its way, will increase pressure for Brussels to rethink its priorities. Various lobbies will insist that the industries they represent are most deserving of relief. A social-minded alternative would suggest that the companies should be pressured to forego a significant chunk of their profits in the name of social stability, says political scientist Boris Popivanov in an interview to Europost.
The Council adopted on Monday two legislative acts, proposed by the Commission, to quickly release funding from the EU budget for tackling the COVID-19 crisis. One of the acts amends the rules of the structural and investment funds, while the other extends the scope of the EU Solidarity Fund.
Precisely nine months before the end of the post-Brexit transition period, on Monday, the EU and the UK held their first Joint Committee meeting via teleconference. The main focus was on the implementation and application of the Withdrawal Agreement.
If you’re socially isolating right now, it’s entirely possible that you’re catching up on some film or TV watching. Maybe you’re binge-watching an old favorite; maybe you’re using the time to watch something you’d meant to watch in the theater in previous weeks. But there’s also something to be said for trying out something you’ve never seen before. And what better guide to that than an internationally acclaimed filmmaker?
A critical piece of personal protective equipment (PPE), face shields protect health care workers from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as they treat patients, but resources are becoming more and more limited. So when Northwestern researchers Chad A. Mirkin and David Walker heard about the PPE shortage in hospitals, their team sprang into action and demonstrated the ability to generate 1,000 components for face shields per day - with a single 3D printer.
President Donald Trump said he’s concerned oil prices have fallen too far and called Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Russia’s oil-price war with Saudi Arabia. The leaders, who also talked about the spread of the coronavirus, agreed to discussions on oil between energy officials in the two countries, according to the Kremlin. The White House had no immediate comment and didn’t release a summary of the call.
An emergency hospital was erected in tents in Central Park Sunday as the New York City’s staggering toll of coronavirus deaths rose to at least 776, pushing the statewide count past 1,000.
All citizens are now obligated to wear a mask at indoor or outdoor public spaces following an order issued on 30 March by Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev. The minister of interior and regional governors will be tasked with organising control mechanisms, with police officers being responsible for enforcing the measure.
In the context of the strong measures taken by Member States to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the EU, the continued free movement of all workers in critical occupations is essential, read the newest guidelines published on Monday by the Commission.
The parliament in Budapest, where ruling Fidesz party has a comfortable two-thirds majority, voted on Monday a law granting the government with sweeping emergency powers, giving PM Viktor Orban the possibility to rule indefinitely. According to Orban himself, they are necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic. His critics claim that he is simply using the pandemic to grab more power.
France evacuated 36 more coronavirus patients from the hard-hit east to western areas, hoping to free up intensive care units as hospitals brace for even more serious cases in the coming days. Two high-speed trains carried patients from Mulhouse and Nancy toward hospitals along France’s western coast, where the outbreak has been limited so far.
France stepped up on Monday its calls for firms using state aid to keep afloat during the coronavirus crisis to not pay out dividends to shareholders this year.
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