Europe: coronavirus second wave

24 Sep 2020
Countries across Europe are seeing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases after successfully slowing outbreaks early in the year. Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Montenegro, and North Macedonia saw higher case numbers in August than they did earlier…

Belarus: protests and sanctions update

24 Sep 2020
Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged the EU to approve sanctions on officials accused of rigging the recent presidential election. Despite six weekends of mass protests against President Lukashenko over the disputed vote on 9 August, the…

Belarus: growing tensions at Ukraine border over Jewish pilgrims

17 Sep 2020
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, runs from 18 to 20 September. Hasidic Jews travel to Ukraine every Jewish New Year in their tens of thousands to worship at Rabbi Nahman's tomb. But Ukraine is keen…

France: return of Yellow Vests

17 Sep 2020
After pausing for the coronavirus lockdown and summer holidays, the Yellow Vests brought their anger back to the streets for a series of protests in Paris and a number of other French cities. Their last major…