European Union

New President Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath before parliament Thursday, with Iran facing an economy battered by US sanctions, a grinding health crisis and thorny negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal.

Without pricing CO2 emissions from buildings and transport, Europe will miss its -55% emissions target, but it must be introduced bearing in mind the political and societal risks, particularly in countries like Poland, writes Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera.

President Joe Biden picked Mark Brzezinski, a Democratic-aligned foreign policy official with ties to Poland, as his ambassador to the European country regarded as a key Western bulwark against Russia.

The United States, which closed its borders to much of the world as the pandemic took hold, plans eventually to begin allowing fully vaccinated foreigners back in, a White House official said Wednesday (4 August).

Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was the first to arrive in Argentina in December 2020 with the promise of relief for Latin American countries low on the waiting list for shots developed, and approved, in the West.

The UK government said late Wednesday (4 August) it will ease English entry rules requiring arrivals from France to quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated, following its latest review of travel curbs.

An international donor conference collected hundreds of millions of dollars in urgent aid for Lebanon on Wednesday (4 August), exceeding an initial target, co-hosts France said.

The European Commission has approved a supply contract with U.S. firm Novavax for the purchase of up to 200 million COVID-19 vaccines, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

Fire-fighting resources from EU nations are on their way to Greece, Italy, Albania and Northern Macedonia to help fight forest blazes, the EU crisis management commissioner said on Wednesday.

Rescuers used helicopters and water cannon Wednesday to beat back fires encircling a Turkish power plant in the second week of deadly blazes testing the leadership of President Recept Tayyip Erdogan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday ordered a review of the risks to Belarusians in Ukraine following the death of an activist.

A wildfire raged uncontrolled north of Athens on Tuesday (3 August), burning homes and forcing authorities to order more evacuations as they grappled with 81 forest fires during Greece's worst heatwave in over 30 years.

Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya left Tokyo for Austria on Wednesday (4 August), adding another dramatic twist to a diplomatic saga in which she had sought refuge at the Polish embassy.

French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to raise more than $350 million in aid for Lebanon at a donors' conference marking the anniversary of the Beirut port blast, and send yet another warning to its squabbling political class.

The EU has agreed to pay a premium on new orders of COVID-19 vaccines because it is requiring tougher terms to be met, officials said, as the bloc tries to protect supplies after a rocky start to its vaccination campaign.

Half of the European Union's population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, an AFP tally showed Tuesday, as China's Wuhan said it would test all 11 million residents after the virus returned to where it first emerged.

Ukraine will do its best to investigate the death of Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov who was found hanged in a Kyiv park, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.

Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium on Tuesday received their first tranches of money from the 800 billion euro ($950.8 billion) EU recovery fund aimed at helping them rebound from the pandemic and make their economies greener and more digitalised.

The NATO alliance Tuesday condemned a deadly attack on an Israeli-operated tanker last week, and urged Iran to respect international shipping rules.

Troops from Russia and Uzbekistan began joint military drills on Monday (2 August) near the Afghan border, amid fears in both countries that a worsening security situation in Afghanistan could spill over into Central Asia.