Category: EU

EU Accuses Apple of Antitrust Breach Over App Store Rules

LONDON—European Union regulators are accusing Apple of violating the bloc’s antitrust laws, alleging that the company distorts competition for music streaming through rules for its App Store. The EU’s executive Commission said Friday it objected to how Apple applies rules in its App Store to music streaming services competing with its own Apple Music service,…


EU Report Accuses Russia, China of Sowing Mistrust in Western Vaccines

BRUSSELS—Russian and Chinese media are systematically seeking to sow mistrust in Western COVID-19 vaccines in their latest disinformation campaigns aimed at dividing the West, a European report said on Wednesday. From December to April, the two countries’ state media outlets pushed fake news online in multiple languages sensationalizing vaccine safety concerns, making unfounded links between…


As the EU Showed Britain, You Can Have Socialism or Democracy, but You Can’t Have Both

Commentary On April 28, the EU voted to ratify the post-Brexit trade deal by 660-5 with 32 abstentions. But this overwhelming majority was begrudgingly given, as not meeting the deadline would have resulted in the UK leaving on a “no-deal” basis and subject to World Trade Organization tariffs on trade. EU Commission President Ursula von…


EU Says Communist Party of China Endangering Peace in South China Sea

BEIJING—The European Union called out China on Saturday for endangering peace in the South China Sea and urged all parties to abide by a 2016 tribunal ruling which rejected most of China’s claim to sovereignty in the sea, but which Beijing has rejected. The EU last week released a new policy aimed at stepping up…


AstraZeneca Agrees to Divert 1 Million Doses to PNG After Australia Talks

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan has secured one million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Papua New Guinea, which neighbours Australia to the north, and has been experiencing a severe outbreak. The arrangement was secured after Tehan approached AstraZeneca directly while visiting Europe and the United Kingdom to shore up Australia’s vaccine supplies. The one million doses…


Australia Secures 1 Million AstraZeneca Doses for Papua New Guinea

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan has secured one million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Papua New Guinea (PNG), which neighbours Australia to the north, and has been experiencing a severe outbreak. The arrangement was secured after Tehan approached AstraZeneca directly while visiting Europe and the United Kingdom to shore up Australia’s vaccine supplies. The one million…


EU Sanctions Elite Iran Commander, 7 Others Over 2019 Protests

BRUSSELS—The European Union has imposed sanctions on eight Iranian commanders and police chiefs, including the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, over a deadly crackdown in November 2019, the bloc said in its Official Journal on April 12. The travel bans and asset freezes are the first EU sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses…


Italy First in EU to Mandate COVID-19 Shots for Health Workers

Italy on March 31 became the first EU country to mandate that its health care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, in a move the government said is aimed at protecting its vulnerable patients in hospitals. In a decree passed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s cabinet, all health care…


UK Reports 7 Blood Clot Deaths After AstraZeneca Vaccine

Seven people who had received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have died after registering rare blood clot events, the UK’s medicines regulator has confirmed. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Apr. 1 that they had identified 30 cases of blood clot events after the use of AstraZeneca. “Out of the 30 reports…


EU Official Urges Greece to Probe Reports of Asylum-Seeker Pushbacks

ATHENS—Greece “can do more” to investigate reports it has pushed asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a senior European Union official said on March 29, as Greek authorities pledged that a new migrant reception center on the island of Lesbos would open in time for winter. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said it has received…