Domestic Politics
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk resigned for the second time in two months. His first attempt to leave office came in January after an audio clip emerged of him calling President Zelenskyy a “layman” in economics. It is unclear what prompted Honcharuk to submit his resignation this time around. The ruling party will decide whether it is ready to accept it or not in a Special Session today. [DW News]
International Relations
In its most recent report, the UN’s Syria commission–which was set up in 2011 shortly after the civil war began–states that Russian air attacks in Syria amounted to a war crime as they indiscriminately targeted civilian areas. However, the Kremlin flatly rejected these accusations, questioning the impartiality of the commission and its ability to gather reliable information from the ground. [Al Jazeera]
21 policemen and 2 police dogs will be deployed by Austria to the Hungary-Serbia border, to help Hungary in its fight against migration. Interior Ministers Sándor Pintér of Hungary and Karl Nehammer of Austria met in Nickelsdorf near the Hungarian-Austrian border on Monday. Nehammer said Austria will also support Greece and the countries along the Balkan route of migration, to avoid a 2015-like crisis. [Hungary Today]
Law
The Polish constitutional court on Tuesday deferred issuing its ruling on whether recent judicial appointments made under regulations introduced by the right-wing government are legitimate. Though a session was held yesterday, a ruling was put off until March 12. The Supreme Court argues that the Constitutional Tribunal–which comprises judges that were appointed with the ruling party’s backing–is politicized, and therefore has no authority to issue rulings. [The Washington Post]
Gender
According to a new report by the European Parliament, Romania has the lowest gender pay gap among all EU countries, with 3%. Luxembourg, Italy, Scotland and Belgium join Romania in the top 5, while Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Estonia stand at the bottom of the table. [The National]
Health
The Polish Health Ministry said that 68 people have been hospitalized and are undergoing tests under the suspicion of having contracted the coronavirus. 316 have been put in domestic quarantine, and over 4,459 have been placed under epidemiological supervision. There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country so far. [The First News]
Ukraine confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, in the western city of Chernivtsi. The victim is a man who flew into the Romanian town of Suceava from Italy and then drove to Ukraine. Officials have stated that they will not try to track down the people he was in contact with during his trip from Italy. The health ministry has been preparing for the epidemic and has already designated hospitals in every region of the country to deal with the infection. [Forbes]
The Czech Republic confirmed its first 3 cases of the novel coronavirus, with two people hospitalized in Prague's Na Bulovce Hospital and one in the Masaryk Hospital in Usti nad Labem. [bne IntelliNews]
Image Source: ABC News