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EU foreign policy chief said he would hold further talks on the issue with Kiev's top diplomat. (FILE)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday pledged the bloc's "unwavering" support for Kiev as he expressed major worries over Russian troop movements around Ukraine.

"Following with severe concern the Russian military activity surrounding Ukraine," Borrell tweeted after a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

"Unwavering EU support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Borrell said he would hold further talks on the issue with Kiev's top diplomat and foreign ministers from the EU's 27 nations at a meeting later this month.

Ukraine this week accused Russia of massing thousands of military personnel on its northern and eastern borders as well as on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Kremlin did not deny the recent troop movements, but insisted that Moscow was "not threatening anyone".

The reports of a buildup have swirled amid an escalation of armed clashes along the front line between Ukraine's forces and Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.

The long-simmering conflict has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2014, according to the United Nations.

Western leaders -- including new US President Joe Biden -- have said they are standing by Ukraine.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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European Union Has "Severe Concern" Over Russian Activity near Ukraine - NDTV

The Czech government on Tuesday approved the first easing of its tight lockdown in one of the European Union s hardest-hit countries, allowing at least some children to return to school.

Its not a full relaxation, Health Minister Jan Blatny said. The situation hasn't been ideal yet."

Starting Monday, people in the Czech Republic will be allowed again to travel to other counties and the night-time curfew will end. The measures took effect at the beginning of March as the Central European nation was desperate to slow down the spread of a highly contagious virus variant first found in Britain.

With numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients on the decline, the Czechs have offered to treat patients from other European countries where infections have been on the rise, Blatny said, offering up to 50 beds.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Czech hospitals dropped to 5,700 on Monday, down from 9,500 a month ago. A month ago, European countries including Germany, Switzerland Austria Poland and Hungary offered similar help to the then-struggling Czech health system.

Despite the recent decline, the Czech Republic still has the highest number of cumulative deaths (252.7) per 100,000 people in the world and the third-highest number of cumulative cases (14,509.5) again per 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The nation of 10.7 million has 1.56 million confirmed cases with over 27,000 deaths.

Education Minister Robert Plaga said the children up to the fifth grade will be back at schools on Monday under strict conditions to make their return safe and permanent.

All will have to wear face masks and will be tested twice a week, Plaga said. To start, students will return on a rotating basis, in school one week and distance learning the next.

Stores selling children's clothes and shoes, laundries, outdoor farmers' markets, zoos, botanical gardens and some other stores will be allowed to reopen Monday.

An advisory group of scientists at the Health Ministry cautiously agreed with the careful school reopening but said the situation still hasnt been good despite the gradual decline (of infections). But it was not consulted on many other easing measures.

Epidemiologist Rastislav Madar, a member of the group, told the Czech public radio that the relaxed measures pose a risk because the numbers (of infections) are still too high.

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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Czechs partially ease lockdown; kids to return to school - The Independent

BELGRADE President of Serbia Aleksandar Vui is the leading source of information and creator of narratives about the European Union in that country, ranging from the events in which he participated, to EU assistance in the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a big difference between pro-government and critical media on reporting on these topics. These are the most important conclusions of the research on the reporting of media portals in Serbia on the EU in 2020, conducted by the Centre for Contemporary Politics.

You can find the research on this link.

The research analyses the question of which topics are playing the central role in the media coverage of the EU, as well as the question on their content and dominant narratives. The research included the analysis of 18 web pages of media outlets, the ones with the highest readership and the others that have a significant impact on public discourse. The research covered the period from January 1 to October 31, 2020.

When the media wrote about the EU, one of the main topics was related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research of the Centre for Contemporary Politics showed the presence of highly emotional pro-Chinese and anti-European narratives related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the differences between the media regarding the reporting on these topics and the presence of government representatives in their interpretation.

Overall, the pro-government media, and especially the tabloids, are leaning towards reporting that criticizes the EU with a lot of emotion and praises its rival actors in Serbia, mainly using the allegations of state officials. Thus, the EU is portrayed as an entity that often conditions Serbia and asks it to give up key identity symbols (Tesla, Kosovo), as well as its traditional friends (China and Russia), for the sake of membership in that organization, while inconsistently and unjustifiably criticizes it (for buying weapons from Russia and China) and leaves it stranded in times of crisis (COVID-19), the research states.

What is singled out as another conclusion is the role of President Aleksandar Vui as the predominant source of information and the creator of the narrative about the EU, which came to the attention when the aid for fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic was arriving in Serbia.

When it comes to the headlines about donations and aid that was coming from the EU, they were moderate, and they usually summarized the general information Aid from the European Union has arrived, EU donated funds to Serbia. The help provided by the EU was taken for granted, without any sentimental expressions of gratitude, it is stated in the research of the Centre for Contemporary Politics.

On the other hand, the CCP points out that when the aid arrived from China, the sources, narratives, and even sentiments were completely different.

The narrative was marked by praise and gratitude that Vui expressed to China. As he was the main source of information about Chinese aid, the media transmitted his statements in their entirety, with frequent headlines about friendship made of steel and brotherly love between China and Serbia, it is stated.

The research also presents the biggest peaks the days when the media reported the most on the EU. This analysis can provide insights into which topics contribute the most to media coverage on the EU. Also, key topics were presented and analyzed, such as the EU facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the European Commission 2020 Report on Serbia, the Summit in Zagreb, and how the media reported them, and what narratives the media created.

Analyzing media coverage of the European Union is extremely important, bearing in mind that Serbias EU accession is one of the most important proclaimed strategic goals of Serbia in recent decades, taking into consideration the lack of support for this process and that the scepticism about its success has reached worrying proportions, it is stated in research.

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Serbian media coverage of the EU in 2020: Love from China and slaps from Brussels - European Western Balkans

A senior European Union official has sounded the alarm over the rapid decline of Australias Great Barrier Reef while backing calls for all countries to make more ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

The EUs commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, Virginijus Sinkeviius, told Guardian Australia he was deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef. As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve, he said.

Sinkeviius hopes Australia will sign up to the 84-country Leaders Pledge for Nature a document that calls for a green and just recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and stronger political will to act against the crises of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and climate change.

The leaders pledge backs the objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. That is a target the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said is his preference, but he has resisted making a formal commitment amid divisions within his government over climate policy.

Sinkeviius spoke to Guardian Australia after the EU joined the International Coral Reef Initiative, a grouping of countries and organisations that aims to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems. Australia was one of eight governments that co-founded the initiative in 1994.

I am deeply concerned by the threats facing the Great Barrier Reef, Sinkeviius said. Perhaps no coral reef on the planet is better known, certainly here in Europe, than the Great Barrier Reef.

Sinkeviius said coral reefs in general, and the Great Barrier Reef in particular, were emblematic of rich marine life.

Yet the rapid degradation of these beautiful and essential underwater worlds is also a very stark reminder of the pressures that human activity is placing on our shared planet, not least our oceans, he said.

Coral reefs are under threat because of our activity as humans, our unsustainable ways of living, producing and consuming. As long as we do not change our behaviours, things will not improve. This is in our hands, and we must seize responsibility and rectify these negative impacts.

The world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest coral reef system but is under increasing pressure from climate heating that caused mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017 and 2020. A government report card released in February found the marine environment along the coastline remained in poor health.

Asked whether concerns about the Great Barrier Reef should help motivate all countries to increase the level of ambition in their greenhouse gas reduction commitments, Sinkeviius said: I would hope so.

He said the European Commissions European Green Deal included a pledge to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 a goal he described as ambitious, yet one that is absolutely necessary.

Sinkeviius said he had been happy to see its wider impact in engagements with partners around the world and had been pleased to see that China and the US had set deadlines for net zero emissions 2060 and 2050, respectively.

But he said it was also important to acknowledge that our emissions have already had an impact on climate.

Such impact will continue for decades, even if global and European efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions prove effective. Hence substantial adaptation efforts are therefore still required. Our cooperation in the International Coral Reef Initiative and other fora will remain essential in this regard.

Sinkeviius said the EU looked forward to close cooperation with Australia, currently a co-chair of the reef initiative.

He said the EU was already working with Australia on research initiatives, including providing at least 280m ($432m) over three years to a project led by the Institut de recherche pour le dveloppement in France.

The project, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, is examining the genetic response of corals to ocean warming.

Sinkeviius said the EU and Australia were longstanding supporters of conserving the unique ecosystems and rich marine biodiversity of the Southern Ocean, including the reefs of cold-water corals and seamounts that form key habitats for an array of creatures found nowhere else on Earth.

The commissioner called for an ambitious agreement on a post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), due to be held in October in the Chinese city of Kunming.

The EU is pressing for ambitious, and where feasible, measurable and time-bound targets to effectively address the drivers of biodiversity loss.

Sinkeviius said the EU was striving for overarching objectives to galvanise support at the highest political level and among the wider public - similar to the 1.5C target for climate change.

We are at a turning point, and the upcoming COP15 must be the Paris moment for biodiversity, he said.

He said the UN Biodiversity Summit held in September last year was an important event to build momentum as well as to foster strategies to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic that are green and consistent with climate and biodiversity objectives.

The EU invites Australia to join the Leaders Pledge for Nature published in September 2020 and already endorsed by 84 countries, he said, referring to a pledge whose supporters include Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

In addition, the EU also invites Australia to join the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which is raising the global ambition to achieve at least 30% protection of land and oceans.

The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, whose members comprise 57 countries or blocs including the UK and France, calls for that goal of protecting at least 30% of worlds land and ocean to be achieved by 2030.

Mobilising resources ahead of the COP15 will be of key importance and we also count on Australia to join international efforts to ensure adequate support to developing states, Sinkeviius said.

Australias minister for emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, told an international event late on Wednesday that Australia was firmly committed to getting to net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050.

But, Taylor said, Canberras focus was very much on the how of such a transition. The minister pledged $1m towards a clean energy transitions program overseen by the International Energy Agency.

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European Union official sounds alarm over threats to Great Barrier Reef - The Guardian

Hungary has vaccinated more of its population than any other country in the European Union, but continues to be among the world's worst in the number of COVID-19 deaths per capita

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press

March 29, 2021, 12:37 PM

3 min read

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary has vaccinated more of its population than any other country in the European Union, according to figures from an EU agency, but it continues to be one of the world's worst in the number of COVID-19 deaths per capita.

The Central European country has given at least a first dose of a vaccine to 21.6% of its population, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, just ahead of the small island nation of Malta and surpassing the 27-member bloc's average of 12.3%.

But Hungary's high vaccination rate, a product of a procurement strategy that secured doses from China and Russia in addition to those provided by the EU, has been unable to slow a surge in the pandemic that has given it the highest two-week mortality rate per capita in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, has been critical of the speed of the EU's vaccine rollout, and pushed for his country to break with the bloc and secure vaccine contracts with eastern countries. Hungary was the first in the EU to approve Chinas Sinopharm and Russias Sputnik V vaccines, boosting supplies and making it an EU leader in the number of distributed doses per capita.

Were in a very good position, right at the head of the queue, and both the Russians and the Chinese are delivering in a timely manner, Orban said in a radio interview on Friday.

Last week, Hungary issued emergency approval to two more vaccines Convidecia, a jab produced by Chinese company CanSino Biologics, and Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India bringing the total number of approved jabs to seven, the most in the EU.

But while officials have emphasized that only rapid vaccine deployment can bring an end to the pandemic Orban said on Friday that "vaccination is our primary, our only means of defense against the virus Hungary's good standing has been unable to alleviate a third wave that has led to record-breaking new cases and deaths.

As of Monday, more than 20,000 people had died of coronavirus-related causes in the country of fewer than 10 million inhabitants, giving it the third-worst death rate per capita in the world.

While other countries in the region have imposed tough lockdown measures to bring their own surges under control, Hungary on the weekend published plans to loosen pandemic restrictions in coming days despite the spiking numbers, an effort to restart the economy in a country which saw a 5.1% drop in GDP last year.

I have no doubt whatsoever that in Hungary well have a summer of freedom, Orban said Friday.

According to the plans published Saturday in the government's official gazette, nonessential shops will be allowed to reopen with capacity limitations, and an overnight curfew in place since November will be shortened by two hours. The new measures will take effect once 2.5 million people have received a first dose of a vaccine, a government minister announced, which is likely to occur some time next week.

See more here:
Hungary first in European Union for vaccinations, and deaths - ABC News