European Union

Myanmar's ambassador to the UK, Kyaw Zwar Minn, was locked out of his embassy in London by a deputy on Wednesday after having criticised the junta back home. "I have been locked out," he told Reuters. "It's a kind of coup, in the middle of London ... you can see that they occupy my building," he said. "This is my building," he added, amid a small street protest.

Developing countries stand to benefit from up to $10 billion in savings after the G20 group of wealthy nations announced on Wednesday (7 April) that it would extend its debt service suspension initiative (DSSI) which launched last May until the end of this year.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Wednesday that unusual blood clots with low platelet counts should be listed as a side effect of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca - falling short of limiting its use, Reuters reported. EMA insisted that the benefits of the shot outweigh its risks, adding that the risk of dying from Covid-19 was "much greater" than the risk of mortality from these rare side effects.

A multilingual digital platform will launch on 19 April, allowing European citizens "to provide their views on any topic that they consider important for the future of the EU," the political organisers of the Conference on the Future of Europe said Wednesday. The platform will allow citizens to "put forward their ideas, comment on other people's ideas, create and participate in events," the executive board of the conference said.

Germany's Bavaria region has reached an agreement to buy doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once it is approved by European regulators, the regional health ministry said Wednesday (7 April).

Beatings, forced sterilisation, police violence and fire bombings by right-wing extremists against Romani communities are still a reality in Europe. The corona pandemic only worsened this situation.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Ethiopia of the risk of conflict over its giant dam on the Blue Nile, after talks involving the two countries and Sudan ended without progress, Reuters writes. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Egypt and Sudan fear will imperil its water supply from the Nile.

G20 finance ministers are exploring a global minimum tax on corporate profits, amid growing international consensus on tackling tax avoidance after the pandemic, The Guardian writes. The virtual meeting between the group of 20 major industrial nations comes after the US made the case for an international base rate this week, in a move by the Biden administration to end US resistance to international tax reforms.

One-in-three Covid-19 survivors in a study of more than 230,000 mostly American patients were diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting the pandemic could lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems, scientists told Reuters. "Although the individual risks for most disorders are small, the effect across the whole population may be substantial," said an Oxford University psychiatrist who co-led the work.

Four nights of paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland was blamed on Wednesday on "dishonesty" over Brexit, by justice minister Naomi Long. More than 40 police officers have been injured in nightly rioting since Easter, blamed on loyalists angered at new customs borders with the mainland UK in the Irish Sea. UK prime minister Boris Johnson promised in advance of Brexit there would be no such border.

This week negotiations on a renewed nuclear deal with Tehran started in Vienna. Iran is desperate to have a deal quickly. Elections are coming up in June, and the economy is in terrible shape.

Since 2018, when the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries started negotiations on the deal that would replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, calls for "de-colonising aid" and a strong role for local actors in development have grown.

The European Commission says its president should be treated on an equal footing with the president of the European Council. The issue came to a head over a meeting in Ankara which saw von der Leyen separated from male counterparts.

President Xi Jinping told German leader Angela Merkel during a phone call that he hoped Europe would "make positive efforts with China", Chinese state media reported, following an international row over the treatment of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

Ethiopia said Wednesday (7 April) it would not be deterred from impounding water at its Nile mega-dam, sparking new warnings from downstream countries Sudan and Egypt, which are worried about their water supply.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe continued preparations to get the Conference started.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe continued preparations to get the Conference started.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

There are currently no guidelines on the "mixing and matching" of COVID-19 vaccines, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) clarified on Wednesday (7 April), as several European countries are now considering mixed vaccination strategies.

The German Greens will decide later this month which of their two co-leaders to put forward as their candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in September’s landmark election, the party said on Wednesday (7 April).

A majority of European consumers want to see compulsory labelling on food products containing genetically modified crops, according to a recent Ipsos report, but industry players insist that this is impossible to implement.