European Union

After examinations were cancelled because of the coronamvirus pandemic, the results of this year's A-levels, the UK's university entrance qualification exams, were calculated using an algorithm. This process has resulted in grades that in many cases are significantly lower than those predicted by teachers. Students from disadvantaged families are reportedly worst affected, while students from private schools are said to have benefited.

DR Congo's army launched an offensive last October to root out the armed groups that infest the east of the vast country. Today, the much-trumpeted campaign seems to have made only meagre gains

Some 24 member states signed a formal diplomatic complaint in Washington on Wednesday against US sanctions to stop Germany building a new gas pipeline to Russia, according to the Bloomberg news agency, citing diplomatic sources. Poland, the Baltic states, and Nordic countries had opposed the Nord stream 2 pipeline. But the long list of anti-US sanctions signatories show the group is becoming more fragmented.

The UK has added France, the Netherlands, and Malta to its list of EU countries requiring a 14-day quarantine for travellers upon arrival, prompting France to impose reciprocal measures on British nationals. France detected nearly 2,700 new cases in the past 24 hours. Spain still has the worst infection rate in Europe, with two Spanish regions banning smoking in public in case smoke particles carried coronavirus.

At least 3.5 million EU citizens are preparing to stay in the UK after Brexit, according to new government figures. Some 2 million had been granted "settled status", allowing permanent residency, the UK said Thursday. Another 1.5 million had gained "pre-settled status", allowing them to stay for another few years, before being eligible to apply for permanent residency. Just 4,600 applications had been refused.

If Britain sent its navy into French waters to stop migrants it would be "a declaration of maritime war", the mayor of the French port of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, told the AFP news agency Thursday, amid increasingly heated British debate on how to stop migrant dinghies. British prime minister Boris Johnson "urgently needs to calm down, and urgently needs to change [his] methods of … dealing with migrants," Bouchart added.

The US and Slovenia signed a declaration against using Chinese 5G data networks on security grounds, as US secretary of state began a five-day tour of central European countries Thursday. Pompeo will also visit Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. His visit comes after the US said it was pulling 12,000 soldiers from Germany and amid US opposition to a Russian-German gas pipeline, in which Austria is taking part.

More than the tangible destruction, the explosion in the port of Beirut meant the ultimate destruction of hope for many civilians.

More than the tangible destruction, the explosion in the port of Beirut meant the ultimate destruction of hope for many civilians.

An international charity worker on the ground in Minsk says protesters' will has not been broken despite days of violence.

The tragedy in Lebanon must spark a deeper European Union rethink of its engagement in the Mediterranean.

The tragedy in Lebanon must spark a deeper European Union rethink of its engagement in the Mediterranean.

The Privacy Collective, a Dutch-based organisation, is launching what it says is the largest-ever class action suit against major tech firms for breaches against the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Privacy Collective says data processing firms Oracle and Salesforce violated the EU-wide rules by processing and sharing of data of millions. The firms are being sued in the Netherlands and England and Wales.

Belarus is banking on its EU ally Hungary to prevent sanctions, despite deaths and serious allegations of torture of pro-democracy protestors.

The European Union said Thursday (13 August) it had reserved up to 400 million doses of a potential new coronavirus vaccine being developed by US giant Johnson & Johnson.