Belgium

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The number of first-time asylum seekers to the European Union has more than doubled over the spring months, Reuters said a report released today by the bloc's statistics office revealed.

Nearly 103,900 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in EU countries between April and June of this year, according to Eurostat, up 115 per cent compared to the same period of 2020.

BRUSSELS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Young people around the world began taking to the streets on Friday to demand urgent action to avert disastrous climate change, in their largest protest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The strike takes place five weeks before the U.N. COP26 summit, which aims to secure more ambitious climate action from world leaders to drastically cut the greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The first meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), set up by the United States and the European Union (EU) during their summit in June to coordinate approaches to key global trade, economic and technology issues, remains suspended despite signs of reconciliation in transatlantic relations, according to an EU spokesperson.

BRUSSELS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - European Union countries are struggling to agree their negotiating position for the COP26 climate change conference, with rifts emerging over timeframes for emissions-cutting pledges, according to officials and documents seen by Reuters.

The EU is drafting its position ahead of the November COP26 talks, where countries will attempt to finish the technical rules to put the Paris Agreement into effect.

One issue they will try to settle is whether countries' climate targets under the 2015 accord should follow a "common timeframe".

BRUSSELS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Poland will have to pay a 500,000 euro ($585,550) daily penalty to the European Commission for defying an earlier court order to halt operations at its Turow open-pit lignite mine, Europe's top court said on Monday.

The order, which a Polish deputy minister called "aggression," comes amid a dragging dispute between coal-reliant Poland and the Czech Republic.

Sept 20 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers will on Monday discuss Australia's scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with France, a move that has enraged Paris and cast a shadow over free trade talks between the EU and Australia.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York at 2200 GMT, a spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters in Brussels.

BRUSSELS, September 19. /TASS/: European Parliament’s (EP) attempts to lecture the Russian people are being perceived as an insult to its intelligence and its ability to think independently, Russian Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told journalists, commenting on the recent EP resolution on Russia Sunday. He also underscored that EU countries could learn how to organize elections and ensure their transparency from Russia.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Belgian town of Aarschot has a vaccination rate of 94% of all adults, but Mayor Gwendolyn Rutten worries her town is too close for comfort to the capital of Brussels, where the rate stands at 63%. But there’s not much she can do about it.

Her hope is that the government mandates vaccination. “Otherwise, you drag all others back into danger,” Rutten said in a recent interview.

17 Sep 2021; MEMO: With only a month to go until its pandemic-delayed opening, Dubai Expo 2020 has come under fire in Europe, and there is a real possibility that several countries will boycott the five-month long event.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is committing 200 million more coronavirus vaccine doses to Africa to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the new donation to be fully delivered by the middle of next year comes on top of 250 million already pledged and underscores the EU resolve to boost the challenge low-income nations are facing.

Von der Leyen called it an “investment in solidarity and it is an investment also in global health.”