Europe

Lebanon sanctions, EU adopts legal framework after a year of crisis

Editorial Bureau July 30, 2021

PARIS (FRANCE) – The European Union said on Friday it had adopted a legal framework for a sanctions regime targeting Lebanese individuals and entities after a year of crisis that has left Lebanon facing financial collapse, hyperinflation and food and fuel shortages. In a statement it said

UK

New agency for cracking down money laundering, EU on a mission to tackle dirty money

Editorial Bureau July 8, 2021

LONDON (UK) – In a bid to come up with tougher actions to fight dirty money, The European Union will propose a new agency to crack down on money laundering and new transparency rules for transfers of crypto-assets. Europe has come under pressure to step up enforcement of anti-money laundering rules after several countries began […]

World

Eighty six Belarus officials and companies blacklisted by EU

Editorial Bureau June 21, 2021

LUXEMBOURG (US) – The European Union will on Monday enforce travel bans and asset freezes on 86 Belarusian individuals and companies. will leave the decision on when to impose economic sanctions to leaders, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said. In an attempt to put more pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko over the forced […]

Middle East

EU cautions Lebanon’s leaders of sanctions citing ‘home-made’ crisis

Editorial Bureau June 19, 2021

BEIRUT (LEBANON) – The European Union’s foreign policy chief told Lebanon’s leaders on Saturday they were to be criticised for the country’s political and economic crisis. He said that some could be subjected to sanctions if they continue to create obstacles against steps to form a new government and implement reform. Speaking after what he […]

Europe

Portugal’s recovery plan approved by EU commission, first grants seen in July

Editorial Bureau June 16, 2021

LISBON (PORTUGAL) – European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen said an initial disbursement from the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery fund should reach Portugal by July. This makes the country the first EU country to have its recovery plan rubber-stamped by the European Commission. “The plan clearly meets the demanding criteria we have jointly

World

EU bans Belarus airlines as opposition calls for G7 sanctions

Editorial Bureau June 4, 2021

BRUSSELS/WARSAW (BELGIUM/ POLAND) -Belarus carriers will be banned from flying over European Union territory or having access to its airports from Friday, the bloc said, as the country’s exiled opposition leader called for more joint Western sanctions. The EU decision is part of planned punitive measures against Belarus in response to Minsk scrambling a warplane […]

Europe

EU to make data transfer more safe with legal tools, justice chief

Editorial Bureau June 2, 2021

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) – The EU executive’s justice chief has announced that the European Commission will adopt revamped data transfer tools with more legal and privacy safeguards to allow companies to transfer Europeans’ data securely around the world. Standard contractual clauses (SCCs) came under the spotlight after Europe’s highest court told

Europe

EU negotiators fails to agree farming subsidies deal amid disputes

Editorial Bureau May 28, 2021

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) -European Union negotiators this week failed to agree reforms to the bloc’s huge farming subsidy programme, with talks due to resume in June on rules to protect small farms and curb agriculture’s environmental impact. The EU is nearing the end of a three-year struggle to reform its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP […]

Europe

EU’s AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine not renewed after June: Breton

Editorial Bureau May 9, 2021

PARIS (FRANCE) – Thierry Breton, European Internal Market Commissioner said that the European Commission did not renew its order for AstraZeneca vaccines against COVID-19 for after June. The European Commission last month launched legal action against AstraZeneca for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and for not having a

World

Fighting kills, injures nearly 1,800 Afghans in first three months of 2021: U.N.

Editorial Bureau April 14, 2021

KABUL (Reuters) – Nearly 1,800 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in the first three months of 2021 during fighting between government forces and Taliban insurgents despite efforts to find peace, the United Nations said in a new findings on Wednesday. Fighting has increased in several parts of Afghanistan in recent weeks while the peace […]