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.

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

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.

MEPs failed to convince member states to set concrete and legally-binding deadlines for phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies and other environmentally-harmful subsidies .

EU energy ministers met on Thursday to debate spiking gas and electricity prices, and clashed over market reform - with some countries, led by Germany, opposing actions put forward by France and others.

A court ruling next year, in line with the opinion, would clear the way for the EU Commission to launch the mechanism against Poland and Hungary.