European Union

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Tuesday (29 December) that will revive sobering-up stations previously used to allow severely intoxicated people to recover from their inebriation.

The EU and China agreed ‘in principle’ on Wednesday (30 December) to an investment deal that will give European companies greater access to Chinese markets and help redress what Europe sees as unbalanced economic ties. EU leaders and China’s President...

Argentina’s Senate voted on Wednesday (30 December) to legalize abortion, a first for a big country in Latin America and a triumph for women’s rights campaigners achieved over the visceral objection of the Catholic Church.

Russia said on Wednesday (30 December) it had summoned Britain's ambassador to tell her it was expanding the number of British citizens banned from entry in response to London sanctioning Russian officials over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

US President Donald Trump’s pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated US obligations under international law, UN human rights experts said on Wednesday (30 December).

Moscow on Wednesday (30 December) expanded a list of UK officials banned from entering Russia in a tit-for-tat response to British sanctions imposed over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that...

New tremors shook Croatia early Wednesday (30 December) as the Adriatic country was still picking up the pieces of a deadly earthquake that claimed at least seven lives and reduced buildings to rubble a day before. The new 4.8 and...

The Czech Republic has allowed squeezing an extra dose from COVID-19 vaccine vials supplied by Pfizer and BioNTech, taking advantage of an extra reserve amount put into the vials by the maker, the Health Ministry said.

Britain on Wednesday (30 December) became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus.

Turkey and Russia have pledged to develop military cooperation despite US sanctions, in a move that risks destabilising Nato.

The United States has registered its first official case of the highly-infectious Covid-19 variant from the UK on Tuesday. Authorities say a man in his 20s from the state of Colorado has been infected. The variant has so far been found in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

The European Commission has announced it intends to purchase an extra 100 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine. "We will therefore have 300 million doses of this vaccine, which was assessed as safe and effective," said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, in a Tweet on Tuesday. EU officials told Reuters in November that a single dose was priced at €15.5.

Germany registered 1,129 deaths in a span of 24 hours, according to figures provided by the Robert Koch-Institut on Wednesday. It is the highest number of deaths from the disease in Germany since the start of the pandemic. Germany had also detected, over the same 24 hour period, 22,459 new infections. Altogether, some 32,107 people in Germany have died from the disease so far.

Here are some of the key points in the over 1,000-page long agreement on future relations between the UK and the EU.

The NGO Caminando Fronteras said close to 2,200 people died trying to reach Spain throughout 2020, with most deaths taking place on trips to the Canary Islands, reported the AFP new agency. Spain's interior ministry said 19,566 attempted to reach the islands between the first of January and 30 November, compared to 1,993 in 2019. It noted at least 8,000 made the attempt in the month of November alone.

The UK medicines regulator has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 on Wednesday, which is geared towards helping the elderly. The UK has ordered 100m doses. Oxford/AstraZeneca had a 62 percent efficacy in their largest trial, of 11,636 people, but 90 percent efficacy in a small additional sub-group in the UK numbering 2,741. The vaccine is easier to transport and store than the one produced by Pfizer/BioNTech.

State weather forecaster Météo-France said France had its hottest year in 2020 since recording keeping started in 1900. It added that the average temperature across the country in 2020 was 14 degrees Celsius, surpassing the 2018 record of 13.9 degrees Celsius. "The cooler weather we are seeing at the end of this year will not change anything. It is official... 2020 was the hottest year ever recorded", it said.

The United States and European Union on Tuesday (29 December) demanded that China release a citizen journalist jailed for reports from Wuhan, with top US diplomat Mike Pompeo accusing Beijing of covering up Covid-19.

The EU will double down on its efforts to use the Covid-19 crisis to accelerate the ‘Green’ and digital transitions, fuelled by its €1.95 trillion stimulus, an intense policy agenda and new trade opportunities to improve its global standing.

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 3,000 precision guided munitions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at up to $290 billion, the Pentagon said on Tuesday (29 December).