Belgium is to go into a three-week 'lockdown light', following a meeting of federal and regional governments on Friday (26 November). "We have to admit that we have been ambushed by the virus and that the situation is much more serious than we saw a few ...

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted on Friday that the EU will block travel from southern Africa, due to a new variant of Covid-19 there. "The EU Commission will propose, in close coordination with member states, to activate the emergency ...

France has urged cooperation with Belgium, the Netherlands, and the EU Commission to help stop Channel migrant-smugglers after 27 people drowned earlier this week, causing shock in the UK. "We need to seriously strengthen cooperation," he said Thursday, ...

MEPs have urged the EU to blacklist members of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, while listing its crimes in multiple conflict zones. The EU ought to impose "targeted EU sanctions against the relevant individuals and entities affiliated with the Wagner ...

Swedish Social Democratic party leader Magdalena Andersson will get a second shot at becoming the country's first woman prime minister next Monday, after her first attempt lasted just seven hours, AFP writes. Andersson is expected to form a minority ...

The combined federal and regional governments of Belgium will on Friday decide on new measures to reduce the current spread of Covid cases, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said in parliament. From 16 to 21 November there were 16,100 new daily ...

The UK has barred flights from South Africa and five other countries in the region, citing the threat of a highly infectious and vaccine-resistant Covid variant called B.1.1.529. "You have to be reasonably paranoid," Ewan Birney, a UK health advisor, told ...

Turkish police fired tear gas at clashes in Istanbul during a rally for women's rights Thursday, which called for the government to resign because it abandoned a treaty, the Istanbul Convention, on violence against women. Campaigners told the BBC 345 women ...

Polish president Andrzej Duda has called for more Nato jets to patrol the alliance's eastern border and more troops to be sent to the region in light of Russia's aggressive behaviour. "We should ask ourselves a question whether this is not the right time ...

The ex-head of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's St Petersburg office said she has left Russia, becoming the latest opposition figure to depart the country amid a wide-reaching crackdown on dissent, The Moscow Times writes. Irina Fatyanova said she ...

Interpol, the French-based international police agency, has chosen an Emirati general tainted by torture accusations in France and Turkey, Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, to be its president for the next four years. Thursday's choice would "undermine the mission ...

The EU Commission wants companies like Facebook and Google to disclose how and why they target people with political advertising, and who pays for them, in an effort to make online political campaigning more transparent. In a proposal published on Thursday ...

The European Central Bank (ECB), through its monetary policy, has shaped the response to the Covid-19 pandemic - and, with it, the current state of the economy - more than any other EU institution. Essentially endless amounts of cheap cash under its ...

The European Commission wants to extend the EU covid certificate beyond next summer, along with new conditions on booster and third shots. "Beyond the nine months, the vaccination certificate will no longer be recognized if a booster jab hasn't been given ...

A surprise new cabinet bringing together the former political foes of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democrat Party (PSD) has been sworn in by the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis. The Save Romania Union (USR) party of former Renew ...

The discounts can be tempting, but there are hidden costs for people and the planet behind every 'too good to be true' price tag. Some retailers like Amazon have been running promotions since the start of November to drum up sales for the holiday season. ...

Magdalena Andersson, was announced as leader on Wednesday but resigned after her coalition partner quit the government and her budget failed to pass, the BBC writes. Instead, parliament voted for a budget drawn-up by the opposition which includes the anti- ...

French president Emmanuel Macron urged Polish president Mateusz Morawiecki to solve a rule-of-law dispute with the EU, while voicing solidarity on the Belarus migration crisis, in a meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Poland should "find a solution that ...

Bosnia would lose EU money and halt its accession process if Serb entity Republika Srpska pulled out, the EU Commission has warned. "Withdrawing the Republika Srpska entity and dismantling the state institutions would take Bosnia further away from ... the ...

Internal divisions are bedevilling Western efforts to show strength over Russia's military stalking of Ukraine. US diplomats and intelligence officers briefed EU diplomats on the latest security scare on recent trips to Brussels. "Information sharing and ...

Over 30 people are feared dead after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel on Wednesday, the deadliest disaster on the route to date, reports AFP. The deaths were confirmed by French interior minister Gerald Darmanin. "Strong emotion in front of ...

Athens is concerned that Turkey's economic and financial crisis is turning its government more aggressive, Ekathimerini writes. In recent days, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar and other officials in the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government have resorted to ...

Ethiopia has expelled four of six Irish diplomats from the country because of Ireland's stance on the conflict there, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. "I deeply regret this decision by the government of Ethiopia. Our ...

The EU approved the renewal of sanctions against four Chinese officials and one Chinese entity on Wednesday on human rights grounds, reports Reuters news agency. The officials had been added to its sanctions list in March over human rights abuses in China' ...

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, has said he has failed to reach a deal with Iran over renewed access to key nuclear sites after talks in Tehran, The Guardian writes. Grossi said the failure ...

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday (24 November) that EU countries should consider booster doses for all adults, with priority for those above 40-years old, to limit the spread of the virus and reduce the risk ...

The SPD, the Greens and the pro-business FDP on Wednesday (24 November) presented a deal to form a new German government, including a European reform agenda that should lead to a federal Europe. "My most important message: the traffic light [coaltion] ...

The new Covid-19 pandemic wave will not hit the EU economy the same way as it affected the bloc's member states this time last year, the EU Commission said on Wednesday (24 November). "Our estimate is that the economic consequences will not be as serious ...

Norway currently has 90 oil and gas-producing fields, but - within a few years - it could rise to more than 130. While the world is struggling to adapt to a changing climate, the Norwegian petroleum industry is booming. Diderik Lund, an economics professor ...

Recently, several Chinese coastguard vessels blocked Philippine supply ships en route to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The French and German ambassadors to the Philippines did issue Twitter-protests. More should be done. What is at stake is the ...