Belgium

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will hold its first meeting in Vienna on Wednesday since the establishment of the European Union's (EU) so-called special purpose vehicle designed to facilitate trade with Iran, the EU said on Tuesday.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Parliament has called on Kosovo to suspend a 100-percent tariff on Serb goods to help restart reconciliation talks.

David McAllister, who is heading the European delegation visiting Kosovo, and Serbia earlier in the week, said Saturday it asked for the suspension of the tariff in all meetings with Kosovar leaders “as the only way to success.”

During a tour to both capitals earlier this week, two senior U.S. officials made the same call.

26 Feb 2019; DW: Meat from animals which are not stunned before slaughter cannot be labeled organic, the EU's top court has ruled. The organic standard places a high emphasis on animal welfare.

The meat from animals slaughtered under ritualistic practices cannot be labeled as organic, the European Union's top court ruled on Tuesday.

The EU organic standard places a high emphasis on animal welfare and ritualistic slaughter does not reach its threshold, the European Court of Justice found.

BRUSSELS, February 25. /TASS/. The European Union stands for resolving the Venezuelan crisis peacefully, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Maja Kocijancic said at a press conference in Brussels on Monday.

"We need a peaceful political and democratic and Venezuelan-owned resolution of this crisis. This obviously excludes the use of force," she said.

On February 28, the EU will discuss preparations for a new ministerial meeting of the Contact Group on Venezuela, Kocijancic noted, adding that no date for the meeting had been determined so far.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Council Donald Tusk are due in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday for the first EU-Arab League Summit, the Commission said in a statement Friday.

The Summit provides an opportunity for leaders to address a wide range of issues and common challenges, such as investment, economic ties, climate change, security as well as current political developments, said the statement.

Brussels; 20 Feb 2019; HUFFPOST: Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish climate change activist, had earlier said world leaders were behaving like children about climate change.

Even as world leaders continue to deny the damage caused by climate change, 15-year-old Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, has been causing quite a storm with her powerful messages to world leaders. 

She also had a message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is joining Belgian students who are skipping classes for the seventh Thursday in a row to march through Brussels to draw more attention to fighting climate change.

The 16-year-old Thunberg first addressed a European Union conference, chiding adults for their inaction in the face of such climatic global dangers. She said youngsters are being forced to skip school and protest because adults are not addressing climate issues quickly enough.

16 Feb 2019; DW:  As Mauricette Rouffignat stood before yet another desecrated Jewish site on a recent sunny morning, it seemed like a playback to darker days. "I experienced World War II and all the suffering, the Jews who were deported," said 84-year-old Roussignat, who is not Jewish, but a resident of Saint-Geneviève-des-Bois, a quiet town on the outskirts of Paris. "We cannot remain unresponsive to these events, to this growing racism and insensitivity."

BRUSSELS, February 13; GANASHAKTI: Belgian airports cancelled almost all flights on Wednesday due to a national strike over pay and working conditions that halted activity at ports, hit public transport and led to blockades outside factories.

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance’s operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict.

Frustrated with America’s longest war, U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to pull out troops, raising doubts about NATO’s training operation in the strife-torn country.

Around 14,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, just over half with NATO and the rest doing counter-terror and combat operations.