Belgium

BRUSSELS, Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Belgium, the country with by some measures the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, will impose tighter lockdown rules from Monday, closing non-essential businesses and restricting household visits.

“These are last-chance measures if we want to get the figures down,” said Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, warning that the new rules would stay in place for at least a month and a half.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- To avoid a full lockdown amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU) is pinning its hope on introducing new testing and tracing strategies, results from an informal EU summit showed on Thursday.

The pan-Europe bloc has found itself deep in the second wave, recording rapid increase in COVID-19 infections.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the European Union (EU) issued a joint statement Thursday condemning "terrorist attacks" in France, after the latest one in Nice left at least three dead and several injured.

"We, European Leaders, are shocked and saddened by the terrorist attacks in France. We condemn in the strongest possible terms these attacks which represent attacks on our shared values," read the statement.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Faced with a veto from the United States, the World Trade Organization has two unpalatable options for selecting its next leader - override its biggest paymaster with a vote or hope for a change of U.S. president and wait until he takes charge.

With just days to go before the U.S. election, Donald Trump’s administration struck another blow to the global trade watchdog on Wednesday by rejecting Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the woman proposed by a nomination “troika” to be the WTO’s next director-general.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The delivery of potential COVID-19 vaccines to European Union countries could begin in earnest in April, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“The big numbers of supplies are due to start in April,” von der Leyen told a news conference, adding that in the best-case scenario companies could deliver up to 50 million vaccines a month to the EU.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday a series of new measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the European Union, saying the new spike in infections on the continent was “alarming”.

As Europe again becomes the world’s epicentre of the pandemic, the EU executive urged the 27 EU governments to do more and in a more coordinated fashion to tackle the virus.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is still willing to offer a period until December for Turkey to take positive actions to deescalate the recent tension in between, a spokesman for the European Commission said on Monday.

According to media reports, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made verbal shots towards his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, after the latter condemned the killing of a French history teacher as an "Islamic terrorist attack."

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier is due in London on Monday for talks with Britain to find out whether a deal on future relations can be struck to avoid widespread trade disruption at the end of the year.

The United Kingdom left the European Union in January but the two sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade before a transition period of informal membership ends on Dec. 31.

22 Oct 2020; MEMO: Two hundred twenty-two members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sent an open letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on 21 October to voice their: “Deep concern about the ongoing detention of prisoners of conscience in Egypt.” The MEPs also called on him to end reprisals against human rights activists, according to German website DW.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission has signed contract with pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which will enable European Union (EU) member states to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for up to 400 million people, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker told a press briefing that the contract with J&J was the third one signed by the commission on behalf of the whole EU.