Euobserver.com

According to the European Commission's Animal Disease Notification System, several outbreaks of African Swine Flu have occurred in Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, originating in Bulgaria. The country's deputy agriculture minister admitted that Bulgaria failed to contain the disease. Experts say it might lose its entire 600,000-strong pig-breeding industry. Bulgaria will receive €2.9m EU financial aid to combat the disease.

The UK Rail Delivery Group announced Wednesday that its membership of the Eurail and Interrail cooperation, allowing unlimited train travel throughout Europe, will end next year, following a disputed decision by the Dutch Eurail Group to merge EUrail and Interrail passes passes into one. "This is not linked to our membership of the EU", the UK group said. Interrail and Eurail passes purchased before 31 December 2019 remain valid.

More than a quarter of the children in Russia live below the poverty line, according to a report from the Moscow Times. The amount of people living in poverty in Russia is growing as the real income of families declines. More than half of the poor children live in families of three children or more, while 45 percent of them live in rural Russia.

In a joint statement on Wednesday the US minister of energy, Francis Fannon, expressed his support for an enhanced energy cooperation between Greece, the Republic of Cyprus and Israel. It says they want to share the "commitment to promote peace, stability, security, and prosperity in the eastern Mediterranean region". This statement comes a few weeks after Turkey started drilling for oil in waters where Cyprus has exclusive economic rights.

Italy's co-ruling party, the Five Star Movement, has filed a motion in the Senate to stop the construction of the Trasporto Alta Velocita (TAV), the high speed train connection between Lyon and Turin. The motion was rejected by a large majority. The party of prime minister Giuseppe Conte is against the train line as it would be expensive and environmentally-unfriendly, while the League party is supporting it.

In EU law, it is often left to national governments to set the maximum level of fines. This leads to a patchwork situation which could be exploited by companies concentrating only on profits.

Sweden is considering joining a military naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Micael Byden, supreme commander of the Swedish Armed Forces told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. Last month British oil tanker Stena Impero, owned by Swedish Stena Bulk, was confiscated in the area. "It's about securing free shipping", Byden said, adding "there is an ambition from the American side to have something in place within a few months".

The US department of defence warns that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is working on a come back in Syria. It is regrouping and supporting activities. This might trigger a new refugee wave to Europe.

The Danish tax authority's headquarters in Copenhagen was on Tuesday night hit by an explosion that severely damaged the building's facade. Only two people were in the building at the time and neither were injured. Danish tax minister Morten Bodskov visited the location and expressed shock and urging people to help police investigate the attack against the public institution "servicing the welfare state", Ekstra Bladet reported.

The UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday that saving migrants "should not be criminalised or stigmatised" in a reaction to new Italian rules allowing for the state to confiscate NGO boats involved in migrant search and rescue operations and to fine captains up to €1m. The law passed Italy's upper house with 160 votes to 57 on Monday. Italian president Sergio Mattarella still needs to sign it.

Now is not a good time to push for a border poll on a united Ireland, taoiseach Leo Varadkar told an an audience in Belfast on Tuesday, in reaction to Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald, who suggested that a no-deal Brexit should lead to a referendum on Irish unity. Varadkar warned against repeating old mistakes, with people "being brought into united Ireland against their will," Irish Times reported.

Documents reveal that EU states are considering broadening requirements on keeping passenger records, currently only applicable to air carriers, to providers of other modes of transport.

The European Commission is "confident" that Turkey will "take any appropriate action" if allegations are true that Syrian refugees had been sent back to the war-torn country, a commission spokesman said on Tuesday. If true, Turkey would be violating the international principle of 'non-refoulement', also banned by Turkish legislation. Also on Tuesday, the commission announced it would spend an additional €127m to help Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Parliamentary arithmetic at Westminster, and societal pressures from the likes of Welsh sheep-farmers, Northern Irish cattle breeders, London business groups and Scottish Conservatives combine to push a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister by mid-October at the very latest.

Eskilstuna, near Stockholm, became on 1 August the first Swedish town to introduce an official begging permit, requiring anyone who asks for money in the streets to pay 250 Swedish kroner (€23) upfront for a three-month valid licence to beg. Licences can be obtained at police stations and require a valid ID. Begging money in Eskilstuna without licence is subject to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner (€372).

Global markets plunged om Monday over the news that Chinese companies have halted purchases of US agricultural products marking the latest escalation of a trade war between the United States and China. China also devalued its currency, the yuan, on Monday. The Trump administration announced new tariffs on Chinese imports last week while praising a previously-announced deal that will open up the European Union to more US hormone-free beef.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has been urged to investigate his new chancellor Sajid Javid's career, after Labour accused him of profiting from the financial crisis while working for Deutsche Bank. John McDonnell, financial spokesman for the UK's opposition Labour Party, questioned in a letter, obtained by The Guardian, Javid's suitability to look after Britain's finances and asked whether Javid also benefited from a tax-avoidance scheme.

July 2019 was on Monday confirmed as the warmest month ever-recorded worldwide, but with large differences across Europe, satellite data from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed. July was marginally warmer - 0.04 degrees Celsius - than the previous hottest month on record, July 2016. It was warmer than normal over western Europe, except for south-western Iberia, but cooler than normal over the east, particularly the north-east.

The Spanish-operated rescue ship, Open Arms, has called for a safe port to dock after rescuing more than 120 migrants at sea. Spain's socialist (PSOE) government has refused the ship, but local authorities in Valencia and Barcelona have welcomed it, El Pais reported. Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini late last week signed an order banning the vessel from entering his country's waters. Malta also earlier refused it.

There are no safe levels for exposure to the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, EU experts have said in a preliminary-finding into the pesticide - suggesting an EU-wide ban is a step closer.