European Union

Latvian border guards turned back dozens of migrants into Belarus overnight under a new state of emergency designed to stem a flow of arrivals the European Union says is orchestrated by Minsk.

The European Union is not in a position to deal with a repeat of the migration crisis in 2015 and must try to keep people from fleeing the growing conflict in Afghanistan, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said.

Belarus has told the United States to reduce its embassy staff in Minsk and revoked its consent to the appointment of Julie Fisher as the ambassador in response to the latest sanctions by Washington, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Netherlands and Germany on Wednesday abruptly reversed course and said they would not for the time being deport Afghan citizens who are seeking asylum, given the rapidly escalating conflict in their homeland.

Spain's medicines agency has authorized the first round of clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Spanish company Hipra, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday.

The European Union on Wednesday decried the jailing of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor for 11 years in China for spying, saying he had been denied a "fair trial".

Latvia has declared a state of emergency along its border and Lithuania decided to erect a fence in new measures to deter migrants they say Belarus is encouraging to cross illegally in order to pressure European states, Reuters reports. Rising numbers of migrants have reached Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, which accuse Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the campaign to press the EU to reverse sanctions.

Authorities in Germany have appealed to thousands of people to get another shot of Covid vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse may have injected them with a saline solution instead, The Guardian writes. The nurse is suspected of injecting salt solution into people's arms instead of genuine doses at a vaccination centre in Friesland, a rural district near the North Sea coast.

A BBC investigation has revealed the scale of operations by a shadowy Russian mercenary group in Libya's civil war, which includes links to war crimes and the Russian military. A Samsung tablet left by a fighter for the Wagner group exposed its key role - as well as traceable fighter codenames. Wagner's fighters appeared in Libya in April 2019 when they joined the forces of a rebel general, Khalifa Haftar.

Ethiopian and Eritrean troops raped hundreds of women and girls during the Tigray war, Amnesty International said. "Rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on women and girls in Tigray," said Amnesty's secretary-general Agnes Callamard, adding that "the severity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are particularly shocking, amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity."

Facebook said it has shut down a smear campaign that spread disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines made by BioNTech-Pfizer and AstraZeneca, Deutsche Welle writes. In recent months, anti-vaccine and coronavirus conspiracy theories have spread on social media sites, putting major tech firms under pressure from governments fighting the pandemic. Facebook said it traced hundreds of accounts back to Fazze, a UK-registered marketing firm operating out of Russia, which is now banned.

Poland's ruling coalition is aiming for a 'Putinisation' of Polish media and is therefore following three steps to silence journalists. Now not only the EU, but the US too is reacting saying this is incompatible with Nato membership.

Voting on a new media law in Poland on Wednesday will test if ruling party chief Jarosław Kaczyński still has a grip on power after six years of clashes with the EU.

Other EU countries have halted deportations of failed asylum seekers after the Afghan government asked for a suspension of returns. An EU official said the bloc was not facing an imminent surge in migrants.

All the countries in the eurozone use the same currency, but not all coins are the same. Watch our video to learn about the differences.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

All the countries in the eurozone use the same currency, but not all coins are the same. Watch our video to learn about the differences.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The EU is based on a common set of rules and values. Watch our video to find out what happens when these rules are broken.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The EU is based on a common set of rules and values. Watch our video to find out what happens when these rules are broken.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

You choose your MEPs every five years, but did you realise you also have an impact on the set up of the other EU institutions?

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The EU has a positive impact that reaches far beyond Europe’s borders. Watch the video to find out how.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP