Belgium

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia in a sixth package of sanctions targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.

Brussels, May 3 (AFP/APP): The European Union warned member states Monday to prepare for a possible complete breakdown in gas supplies from Russia, insisting it would not cede to Moscow’s demand that imports be paid for in rubles.

The European Commission will on Tuesday propose to member states a new package of sanctions to punish President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine, including an embargo on Russian oil, officials said.

BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Apple may be fined and forced to open its mobile payment system to competitors after the European Commission has charged the company of abusing its dominant position by limiting access to technologies allowing contactless payment.

"Apple has built a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, iOS. And Apple controls the gates to this ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach consumers using Apple devices," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday.

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.

Stoltenberg’s remarks came as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership mounts in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Media speculation in the two countries suggest the two might apply in mid-May.

BRUSSELS, April 24 (Reuters) - Belgian newspaper La Libre and Belgian public broadcaster RTBF carried reports on Sunday saying that according to two unidentified exit polls, Emmanuel Macron was leading the vote in the French presidential election with between 55% and 58% of the votes.

France’s official polling watchdog said last week that the country’s eight main pollsters had committed to not publishing exit polls and said anything purporting to reflect results before the last polling stations close at 8 p.m. in France (1800 GMT) could only be considered rumour at best.

BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Council said Saturday that it has reached a provisional political agreement with the European Parliament on a new legislation to combat hate speech, disinformation and other harmful content online.

The legislation, named the Digital Services Act (DSA), "aims to protect the digital space against the spread of illegal content, and to ensure the protection of users' fundamental rights," the European Council said in a press release.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union reached a landmark deal early Saturday to take aim at hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content.

The law will force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines.

23 April 2022; MEMO: The Brussels Short Film Festival has removed Israel from its list of partners in the event on 30 April, a statement issued by the Belgian Palestinian Friendship Association announced on Friday.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The number of migrants trying to enter the European Union without authorization in the first three months of this year has risen to its highest level since 2016, even excluding refugees arriving from Ukraine, the EU’s border and coast guard agency said Tuesday.

Frontex estimated that more than 40,300 “illegal crossings” were made into the 27-nation EU between January and March, up by 57% over the same period last year.

BRUSSELS, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is allocating a further 50 million euros (about 54.03 U.S. dollars) of humanitarian aid to people affected by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a EU statement issued on Sunday.

Some 45 million euros (about 48.63 dollars) of the funding is allocated for humanitarian projects in Ukraine, and 5 million euros (about 5.4 dollars) to projects in neighboring Moldova, which has taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the conflict.