Belgium

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A group of 165 companies and industry bodies have called on EU antitrust enforcers to take a tougher line against Google, saying the U.S. tech giant unfairly favours its own services on its web searches.

The group includes U.S. and UK companies as well as peers in 21 EU countries. It sent a joint letter to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager on Thursday, saying Google was giving its own services, such as those for accommodation, travel and jobs, preferential placement in its search results and urging swift action to stop the practice.

BRUSSELS, Nov 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The European Union (EU), will authorise a contract for the purchase of up to 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, jointly developed by German company BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said.

“This is the most promising vaccine so far,” she said on Twitter. The contract, due to be reached today, will be the fourth the EU secures with a pharmaceutical company, to buy vaccines for COVID-19.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for enhanced efforts across the European Union (EU) to fight terrorism in a "rapid, coordinated and joint" approach, noting many European cities have been troubled by the problem.

Macron made the plea at a joint press conference together with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after he hosted a virtual meeting discussing the matter.

BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Union will impose tariffs on imports of US$4 billion in US goods from Tuesday, while hoping that president-elect Joe Biden will foster a sharp improvement in transatlantic ties.

The bloc will exercise the right to counter-measures awarded to it last month by the World Trade Organization in a case against US planemaker Boeing, part of a long-running US-EU battle over civil aviation subsidies.

(Reuters) - The European Commission is expected to file formal antitrust charges against Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O on Tuesday over its dual role as a marketplace for merchants and as a retailer competing to sell the same products, according to a source familiar with the matter.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager has scheduled a 1230 CET (1130 GMT) news conference without specifying the subject.

The Financial Times earlier reported that Vestager will announce formal antitrust charges against Amazon on Tuesday over how it uses data about the merchants on its platform.

BRUSSELS, November 9. /TASS/: Presumptive US President-elect Joe Biden won’t hurry to restore "frictionless cooperation" with the European Union, Simonas Vileikis, a Brussels political adviser to the British consulting company Portland Europe, told TASS on Monday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The question of who is U.S. president has no bearing on the trade talks between the European Union and Britain, which are likely to run in London all this week, a spokesman for the bloc’s executive Commission said on Monday.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Belgium on Friday condemned Israel’s destruction of Belgian-funded homes in the occupied West Bank, urged Tel Aviv to refrain from destroying Palestinian schools and demanding compensation for Palestinians affected by the demolitions.

06 Nov 2020; MEMO: The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on eight newly appointed ministers of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime over violent repression against the civilian population, Anadolu Agency reports.

The sanctions include a travel ban and an asset freeze against the ministers.

06 Nov 2020; MEMO: The European Union (EU) on Thursday called on Israel to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories.