(AFP) — Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday blamed restricted vaccine supply from Europe for his country’s halting coronavirus inoculation efforts, as he faced growing public frustration over the sluggish rollout.
BOCHNIA, Poland (AP) – Polish hospitals struggled over the Easter weekend with a massive number of people infected with COVID-19 following a huge surge in infections across Central and Eastern Europe in recent weeks.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is struggling to show complete coronavirus vaccination solidarity among member nations, after a week of negotiations over the distribution of extra doses exposed fissures on Friday.
A Brussels court has ordered the Belgian government to lift “all coronavirus measures” within 30 days after finding they were instituted on an insufficient legal basis. The court order is part of a growing legal backlash across Europe to the draconian emergency restrictions introduced by governments to counter the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
AMIENS, France (AP) – As France battles a new virus surge that many believe was avoidable, intensive care nurse Stephanie Sannier manages her stress and sorrow by climbing into her car after a 12-hour shift, blasting music and singing as loud as she can.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has told European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Ylva Johansson that Turkey no longer accepts rejected migrants and uses them as a foreign policy tool.
Italian populist Senator Matteo Salvini and the conservative Central European premiers Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, of Hungary and Poland, will meet to discuss a conservative alliance within the European Union.
PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to impose new virus restrictions in a televised address to the nation Wednesday night, amid growing pressure to act more boldly to combat surging coronavirus hospitalizations.
Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven has been met with criticism after suggesting the Swedish communists (VPK) had “stood up for democracy”, despite being friendly with various totalitarian regimes.
The Spanish government is mandating masks in all “open-air spaces”, including beaches, from March 31st.
A French Uber delivery driver was stabbed in the stomach and hospitalised last week in the department of the Rhône after a man attempted to steal his scooter.
A group of Syrian illegal immigrants were arrested at an airport in Athens over the weekend after pretending to be a volleyball team with the goal of illegally entering Austria.
Of the ten most prolific French drug lords, nearly all come from migration backgrounds, with many of them linked to North African countries such as Morocco.
MADRID (AP) – In Madrid, the real party starts at 11 p.m. after the bars close — and curfew kicks in.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has announced that migrants and asylum seekers living on camps on the country’s Aegean islands will be vaccinated against the Wuhan virus, starting in May.
CAIRO (AP) – At least 480 migrants were intercepted off Libya by local coast guard forces over the weekend, according to the United Nations’ migration agency.
PARIS (AP) — The number of patients in intensive care in France is fast approaching the worst point of the country’s last coronavirus surge in the autumn of 2020, another indicator of how a renewed crush of infections is bearing down on French hospitals.
TOKYO (AP) — The government minister tasked with overseeing Japan’s coronavirus vaccination campaign on Monday urged the European Union to ensure stable exports of European-made vaccines, warning that any attempt to suspend shipments amid a shortage in Europe would harm relations.
The left-wing candidate to replace Angela Merkel when she steps down as chancellor of Germany has said he backs the formation of an EU army.
BERLIN (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed her country’s difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic – from the slow vaccine rollout to the back-and-forth over lockdown rules – on “a tendency toward perfectionism” and called for greater flexibility to tackle the latest surge in cases.
Nigel Farage has warned that the vaccine passport schemes being developed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government are “unworkable”, going on to deride the British leader as having a lack of principles.
A Belgian advocate-general has called for the acquittal of one journalist in a court of appeals and the conviction of another who is said to have been involved in aiding the trafficking of illegal migrants.
PARIS (AP) – France’s president says he has nothing to be sorry about for refusing to impose a third virus lockdown earlier this year, even though his country is now facing surging infections that are straining hospitals and more than 1,000 people with the virus are dying every week.
French president Emmanuel Macron has warned that Turkey’s government, led by Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will make attempts to interfere in next year’s presidential elections.
BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union leaders are meeting Thursday to look for ways of ramping up COVID-19 vaccinations across the 27-nation region amid a shortage of doses, spikes in new cases, a feud with the United Kingdom and internal quarrels.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish officials decided Thursday to continue their suspension of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for three more weeks while they continue evaluating it.
Populist MP Marine Le Pen has promised to organise a national referendum on migration as her first act as president if she wins the French elections in 2022.
A Pakistani migrant has been arrested in Ierapetra, Crete, for the assault and attempted rape of a local woman. He is also suspected of sexually harassing five other women.
BERLIN (AP) – A German woman accused of taking her son to Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria and fighting for the extremist group there was arrested Wednesday after landing in Berlin.
PARIS (AP) – France’s high-profile culture minister has been hospitalized for COVID-19, the latest senior official to become ill as the nation faces a third surge of coronavirus infections, this one propelled by a highly contagious variant first found in Britain.
