Belgium

BRUSSELS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmygal accused Russia on Tuesday of being "absolutely" behind what he called an attempt to organise a coup to overthrow the pro-Western government in Kyiv, citing intelligence.

Last Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine had uncovered a plot to topple his government this week, involving individuals from Russia, but he stopped short of saying whether he believed the Kremlin was behind the plot.

BRUSSELS (AP) — New findings about the coronavirus’s omicron variant made it clear Tuesday that the emerging threat slipped into countries well before their defenses were up, as two distant nations announced their first cases and a third reported its presence before South African officials sounded the alarm.

30 Nov 2021; MEMO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights and the illegal Israeli settlements erode the chances of peace, Wafa news agency reported.

Marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Guterres said: "The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – including East Jerusalem continues to pose a significant challenge to international peace and security."

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world raced Friday to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on nearly every continent.

A World Health Organization panel named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the United States.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said on Friday that it will ease its restrictions on exporting COVID-19 vaccines.

The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said that as of January it will no longer require vaccine producers to request special authorization to export outside the 27-nation bloc.

Earlier this year when vaccines were still in short supply, the EU introduced a mechanism to keep some of the jabs it secured from AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish drug company, from being diverted elsewhere.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A slew of nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa on Friday, and stocks plunged in Asia and Europe in reaction to news of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant.

“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn, amid a massive spike in cases in the 27-nation European Union, which is recommending a ban on flights from southern African nations.

BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - European Union ambassadors approved the renewal of sanctions on four Chinese officials and one Chinese entity on Wednesday as part of an extension of a human rights blacklist, two diplomats said.

The decision, which will formally be adopted early next month, puts in jeopardy a Chinese-EU investment agreement signed in late December 2020.

China's envoy to the bloc said last week there could be no ratification of the deal until the EU lifted its sanctions, which Beijing sees as internal interference.

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (NNN-XINHUA) — Faced with soaring numbers of COVID-19 cases, many European countries have tightened anti-pandemic measures and accelerated vaccination programmes.

  According to the World Health Organization’s weekly report on Tuesday, during the past week there were 230 newly confirmed cases per 100,000 people in Europe within seven days, the highest rate in the world.

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Brussels in mid-December to discuss tensions that have led to border clashes, the European Union said.

“Leaders have agreed to meet in Brussels to discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which the EU supports,” a spokesman for Charles Michel, the president of the European Council representing EU member states, said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission has started a long-awaited probe into whether Poland and Hungary should continue to receive billions of euros from the EU budget because of problems with corruption and the rule of law.

Commission documents on Saturday showed letters were sent to Warsaw and Budapest on Friday asking governments for clarifications under a recent EU law allowing the suspension of EU cash if it may be misspent.