Belgium

BRUSSELS, April 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fourteen people charged as accomplices to militants who carried out deadly bomb and gun attacks in Paris in 2015 will go on trial in Belgium from Tuesday (Apr 19).

Proceedings will take place under high security in NATO’s former headquarters and are expected to last until May 20, with a verdict likely to take several more weeks.

They are happening in parallel with a trial in Paris of 20 suspects charged in France, which opened in September and is expected to run until the end of June.

14 April 2022; MEMO: The European Parliament (EP) is monitoring the deterioration of the political, economic and social situation in Tunisia as a result of President Kais Saied taking all powers in his hands, a delegation said yesterday after it visited the north African state.

BRUSSELS, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia’s war in Ukraine, and not the sanctions imposed on Moscow, is what is causing an escalating global food crisis, the EU’s top diplomat said.

“They are causing scarcity. They are bombing Ukrainian cities and provoking hunger in the world,” Josep Borrell told a media conference after chairing a Monday meeting of EU foreign ministers.

He said the Russian military was “sowing bombs on Ukraine’s fields, and Russian warships have blockaded tens of ships full of wheat”.

BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuters) - The European Union will halt part of its training of Mali's armed forces, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday, citing a lack of guarantees from Malian authorities that Russian military contractors would not interfere in the work.

The decision is likely to add to international concern about the longevity of the U.N. peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) and the European Union's EUTM and EUCAP missions, after France and its allies began withdrawing from Mali earlier this year.

9 April 2022; MEMO: The European Union (EU) has said that its continued support for Tunisia is dependent on it returning to the democratic course and constitutional institutions. Meanwhile, the opposition expressed its rejection of the system of voting for individuals during the parliamentary elections.

BRUSSELS, April 8 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the European Union's (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Ukraine on Friday, promising a speedier process for the country to join the EU.

"Ukraine takes another important step towards EU membership," von der Leyen said on Twitter. She said the EU will accelerate this process "as much as we can, while ensuring that all conditions are respected."

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has imposed sanctions on two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a new package of measures targeting Russia’s economy, businessmen and oligarchs in retaliation for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to two EU officials.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.

The United Kingdom and the European Union were set to take additional steps, including a ban on new investment in Russian and an EU embargo on coal, after the recent evidence of atrocities that has emerged in the wake of the retreat by Russian forces from areas around Kyiv, including the town of Bucha.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch proposed Tuesday a ban on coal imports from Russia in what would be the first EU sanctions targeting the country’s lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needed to increase the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin after what she described as “heinous crimes” carried out around Kyiv, with evidence that Russian troops may have deliberately killed Ukrainian civilians.

BRUSSELS/BEIJING, April 1 (Reuters) - China offered the European Union assurances on Friday that it would seek peace in Ukraine but said this would be on its own terms, deflecting pressure for a tougher stance towards Russia.

Premier Li Keqiang told EU leaders that Beijing would push for peace in "its own way", while President Xi Jinping said he hoped the EU would treat China "independently", in a nod to Europe's close ties with the United States.