European Union

Police in Ukraine have received new evidence that may help identify those who ordered the murder of award-winning investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet in 2016.

As a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to visit China to investigate the origins of COVID-19, Beijing has stepped up efforts to shape the narrative about when and where the pandemic began.

Shareholders gave their blessing on Monday (4 January) to a merger of carmakers PSA and Fiat Chrysler that catapults the new company "Stellantis" into fourth place globally, as the auto industry races to make the transition to cleaner cars.

Tunisia, the current president of the UN Security Council, called Monday (4 January) for a resolution sending international monitors to support Libya's brittle ceasefire to be adopted as soon as possible.

The head of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson, Bjorn Ekholm, is worried about Chinese reprisals after Sweden banned Huawei from taking part in the rollout of 5G networks, he said Monday (4 January).

The Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan has completed the accreditation of observers of international organisations and foreign states for the 10 January elections, media in the Central Asian nation reported.

The EU's drugs watchdog held off authorising Moderna's coronavirus jab on Monday (4 January), as criticism mounts of the bloc's slow vaccine roll-out.

The Orthodox Church is refusing to implement new lockdown restrictions amid growing tensions with the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who for the first time in Greek politics has appointed a minister who has openly declared that he is gay.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders are expected Tuesday (5 January) to extend a shutdown in Europe's top economy as coronavirus deaths continue to mount despite tough restrictions in the run-up to the holidays.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday (4 January) ordered England into a new national lockdown to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases that threatens to overwhelm parts of the health system before a vaccine programme reaches a critical mass.

A Norwegian firm that was meant to have provided technical and safety certificates for Russia's gas pipeline to Germany has abandoned the project due to US sanctions.

More than a dozen UK nationals have been refused entry to the Netherlands because Britain is no longer exempt from Covid-related restrictions on non-essential travel from outside the EU since it left the bloc, the Guardian reports. British citizens living in Spain were also barred from boarding flights in the UK because the airline said their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were refused entry to Germany.

As case numbers continue to climb, UK prime minister Boris Johnson declared on Monday a lockdown for England until mid-February. All non-essential shops will be closed, along with schools and universities. On the same day, the German government and the majority of Germany's 16 federal states agreed to extend lockdown measures until 31 January to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday.

The EU Commission says the perceived slow roll-out of vaccines is due to production capacity, not the number of doses the EU has secured.

The European Commission is providing an additional €3.5m of humanitarian aid to help migrants made homeless in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to political infighting.

The Danish government has committed to reducing Denmark's CO2 emissions by 70 percent by 2030. These are not figures made up for the occasion. They are the targets that scientists believe are the bare necessity.