Euobserver.com

Haarlem, a Dutch city northwest of Amsterdam, will become the first in the world to ban advertising which promotes meat-eating and meat products, The Guardian reported on Tuesday. The measure comes after meat was included in a list of products deemed to worsen climate change. The ban, covering also holiday flights, fossil-fuels and cars, will begin from 2024, due to existing contracts.

The unprecedented forest fires in the EU and UK this summer released the highest carbon emissions into the atmosphere for 15 years.

While rushing to replace Russian gas, EU policymakers next week should ensure they keep biomethane in its sustainable niche, not use it as a bandage for a broken status quo.

€7,000 newspaper subscriptions, €30,000 for stationary, an accessories kit including a mouse, keyboard and headset with micro for €20,000. These are some of the expenses being billed by the EU's civilian mission to Central African Republic.

Iran has said it would be keen to sell gas to Europe if the US lifted sanctions under a nuclear non-proliferation deal. "Given Europe's energy supply problems triggered by the Ukraine crisis, Iran could provide Europe's energy needs if sanctions against it are lifted," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Monday. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday he was "less confident" of a quick nuclear deal.

The deputy CEO of Russian firm Gazprom, Vitaly Markelov, told Reuters at a forum in Vladivostock Monday that it was German engineering firm Siemens' fault its Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline was switched off. "You should ask Siemens. They have to repair equipment first," he said. Siemens earlier denied that it had been commissioned for repairs or that the kind of oil leak reported by Gazprom would merit a shutdown.

Germany was "sticking to the nuclear phase-out" it had planned before the Ukraine war, but would keep running two of its three remaining power plants for longer than envisaged to build up an "emergency reserve" for winter in the face of Russian cut-offs, its environment minister Robert Habeck said Monday. The Neckarwestheim and Isar 2 plants were to be stopped in December but will now go on until mid-April 2023.

Poland's ruling nationalist Law & Justice government (PiS) have demanded a staggering €1.3trillion in reparations from Germany for damages from the second world war, but what they really want is domestic approval, as the opinion-poll lead droops.

So far rich countries have pledged pitiful amounts of aid to Pakistan. The EU, responsible for 23.2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, has allocated a mere €1.8 million for humanitarian assistance — less than five cents per person.

Moscow said Western sanctions are causing the problems preventing the restoration of gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, as energy prices soared in response to Russia's decision to keep the pipeline closed, following an apparent oil leak.

The former foreign minister was the one who introduced Northern Ireland protocol bill earlier this year, which would allow the UK government to abandon parts of the protocol — in breach of its divorce agreement with the EU.

Water levels on the Rhine River are set to fall perilously close to the point at which it would effectively close, according to German data. This puts the trade of huge quantities of goods at risk and also hampers EU plans to increase the movement of goods along waterways by 25 percent by 2030, as part of efforts to slash emissions from the transport sector.

Last month's declaration by the breakaway Moldovan region of Transniestria that it wanted to join Russia, coupled with a spike in anonymous bomb threats in Chișinău, looked like "a kind of prelude to an operation in Moldova", Oleg Serebrian, Moldova's deputy prime minister, told The Times. Transniestria hosts at least 1,500 Russian troops. Russia-friendly separatists in Moldova's Gagauzia region have also begun calling to split away.

Afghan nationals who had worked for the German government are being prevented by the Taliban from fleeing the country, report German media outlets. News magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday said an emergency plan by the German government to evacuate thousands of former local staff of German institutions had stalled. It said Berlin had wanted to evacuate 7,700 people between July and mid-September. However, only 1,044 Afghans were evacuated in July.

Amnesty International apologised on Sunday for "distress and anger" caused by a report released on Thursday which stated that the presence of Ukrainian troops in residential areas heightened risks to civilians during Russia's invasion. Ukrainian army officials said they try to evacuate civilians from front-line areas. In an email to Reuters Amnesty said it had found Ukrainian forces next to civilian residences in 19 towns and villages it visited.

Energy companies, including Belgian Fluxys and French utility EDF, have warned gas exports from the UK to the EU are "contaminated" with toxic elements that are often radioactive. Removing the materials has cost gas traders an estimated €320m. If the problem is left unchecked pipelines may have to be closed down this winter. EU countries are struggling to replace Russian gas and the UK has become a vital gas bridge.

The Financial Times newspaper reports EU rules being discussed on political advertising are to create tensions between the European Parliament and the European Commission. The paper cites European Commission vice-president Věra Jourová as saying she rejected parliament's desire to impose a total ban on personally targeted online political advertising, also known as microtargetting. "If we ban microtargeting, the marketing method will not be possible to use," she said.

Italy has lurched closer to electing a far-right government in September after a centre-left coalition broke down on Sunday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over the shelling of Europe's largest atomic plant over the weekend.

Greece has become embroiled in a wiretapping scandal that led to the resignation of its intelligence chief as well as the Greek prime minister's top aide.