Belgium has introduced new measures to curb the surge of Covid-19 infections in the country, following the third emergency meeting of its federal and regional governments in three weeks.

Europe

Coronavirus

EU Observer

Belgium tightens Covid rules as health system 'is cracking'

Today, Friday, Belgian governments are meeting again in order to decide on new Covid measures in order to stop the spreading of the virus as numbers are spiking. This time the concertation committee is gathering on the request of the Flemish minister-president Jan Jambon who suggested to close down all indoor events, including all concerts and theatre productions. The closing of schools is also on the agenda.

[Ticker] Covid: Belgium might close schools and cultural activities

European consumer groups can sue US tech-giant Facebook for privacy violations, an advisor to the EU court in Luxembourg said Thursday. "Member states may allow consumer protection associations to bring representative actions against infringements of the protection of personal data," he said in a non-binding opinion, which judges follow in most cases.

European Union

Facebook

[Ticker] EU consumers can sue Facebook, judge advised

Valérie Pécresse, a moderate conservative who has likened herself to former British and German leaders Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel, has emerged as a front-runner in primaries in France's centre-right Les Républicains party, Reuters reports. "I won't flinch.

France

[Ticker] French centre-right tilts toward Pécresse

Some 86 civil-society organisations including Access Now, Amnesty International, and the Digital Rights Foundation have urged EU countries to blacklist Israeli firm NSO, which produced the so-called Pegasus spyware, used against dissidents and journalists around the world.

[Ticker] EU urged to blacklist Israeli spyware firm

The EU has blacklisted travel firms and Belarusian officials who helped create the migrant crisis with Poland.

Alexander Lukashenko

EU and US tighten screw on Lukashenko

The European Centre for Disease Prevention said on Thursday the Omicron variant is expected to be detected in over half of all cases of Covid-19 in Europe within the next few months, Reuters reported. It is estimated that Omicron is likely to be more contagious than the current Delta variant. However, experts in the EU and abroad are still assessing Omicron's transmissibility and how effective vaccines are against it.

[Ticker] EU agency: Omicron to be over half of infections 'within months'

Asylum seekers have been sleeping in the streets, some for weeks, in the Belgian capital Brussels - as the government grapples over the lack of capacity to accommodate them despite months of debate over the issue.

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