Brussels, Belgium - Comments made by the Chinese ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries were "unacceptable," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday.Borrell added that he hoped the comments did not reflect Beijing's official stance."Unacceptable remarks of the Chinese ambassador to France," Borrell tweeted."The EU can only...

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - EU lawmakers this week adopted new laws boosting Europe's climate change fight, but a parallel drive to protect biodiversity in bills to be finalized before the end of next year looks to be on shakier ground.Negotiations between the European Commission, EU member states and the European Parliament on...

The European Union's central data regulator said it was forming a task force to help countries deal with AI chatbot ChatGPT, ramping up the pressure on its US maker OpenAI. Italy temporarily banned the program over allegations its data-gathering broke privacy laws, and France's regulator said it had opened a...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM  - The EU trade in goods registered a large deficit of US$469 billion (€432 billion) in 2022, reaching its lowest level since the start of the time series in 2002.The deficit was due, in particular, to a steep rise in the value of energy imports, which started towards...

Women earn on average nearly 13 percent less per hour than men for the same work in the 27-nation European Union, according to official data for 2020. Under the new rules, workers can demand to know individual and average pay levels, broken down by gender, in their workplace.

The provisional political agreement, which was reached after nightlong negotiations between the EU parliament and states, seeks to raise the share of renewable energy to 42.5 percent, from 22 percent today. The EU has set an ambitious target to become a "climate neutral" economy by 2050, with net-zero greenhouse gas...

Warsaw, Poland - Poland's prime minister on Wednesday appealed to Brussels to limit the amount of Ukrainian grain entering the European Union, saying it was destabilizing local markets.Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain exporters, saw its traditional Black Sea export routes blocked or limited by Russia's invasion.The EU has since...

The 10 nitrosamines -- which are not intentionally added to food but which can form during its preparation and processing -- are carcinogenic and may damage DNA.

If the company raided is guilty of antitrust violations, it risks large fines but can be granted immunity if it cooperates with the commission.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had warned Monday that if crisis-torn Tunisia "collapses economically or socially then we will be in a situation where new flows of migrants will come to Europe". An EU delegation arrived in Tunisia on Tuesday to examine "the political and socio-economic situation" and...

Amman, Jordan - Jordan king Abdullah on Monday discussed his country's modernization efforts in a meeting  with a number of ambassadors of European Union countries to Jordan at Al Husseiniya Palace here.According to a royal court statement, the meeting covered Jordan’s modernization efforts, with King Abdullah reaffirming the Kingdom’s seriousness...

The ultimatum to TikTok came from the US interagency board charged with assessing risks foreign investments represent to national security. Western powers, including the European Union and the United States, have been taking an increasingly tough approach to the app, citing fears that user data could be used or abused...

Most of the MEPs who signed are from Green or left-wing parties. They were joined by non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam, supported by a dozen economists and by 20 millionaires. The signatories claimed that in 2018 Tesla owner Elon Musk, "then the second-richest man in the world, did not pay a...

Volkswagen is also setting up a series of battery plants in Europe - one will open in 2023 in Sweden, followed by one in Salzgitter, Germany in 2025 and the company has chosen Valencia, Spain for a third. Volkswagen said last year it planned to open a total of six...

Brussels, Belgium - The European Union must urgently lower energy prices and ease regulations to stop industry fleeing the continent, European businesses said on Monday, as Brussels prepares plans to stimulate the green economy.The European Union is racing to make Europe more attractive for the companies that could be tempted by...

TikTok executives said the company was working with a third-party European security company to oversee and check how it handles European users' data, which will be stored at two centers in Dublin and one in Norway from 2023 onwards. European users' data are currently stored in the United States and...

The World Bank estimated last week that the devastating quake, which flattened entire cities, had caused damage worth more than $34 billion in Turkey, with recovery likely to double that sum. But Louisa Vinton of the UN Development Program said the Turkish government had calculated far higher damage.

Panama City, Panama - Delegates to a global conference on saving the world's oceans pledged US$19 billion, the host country Panama said.The total included a $6 billion commitment from the United States, announced on Thursday by White House climate envoy John Kerry.Panamanian deputy foreign minister Yill del Carmen Otero announced the...

"I also read news in the press,” the Hungarian President Novak said. “In Hungary, a decision so far has not been made on moving our embassy in Israel,” he added. “The ministry would provide updates on any changes to the embassy in all cases,” Hungary’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mate Paczolay...

Investors' appetite for "green debt", used to finance renewable energy projects, low-carbon transport or well-insulated housing, is growing exponentially. But the European Union until now did not have a common standard to certify the sustainability of investments.

Another two weeks of negotiations ended with no agreement in August last year, but advocates and officials have expressed cautious optimism ahead of the coming session. "There are a lot of negotiations and discussions happening between delegations trying to find middle ground on some of the key sticky issues... at...

The oil firm posted a net profit of $4.55 billion in 2022.

Brussels, Belgium--The 27 EU leaders wrote to their Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to express their "full solidarity" and offer more emergency aid after a devastating earthquake."We stand ready to further step up our support in close coordination with the Turkish authorities. Our thoughts will continue to...

The United States has adopted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which contains $370 billion in sweeping investments, subsidies and tax cuts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest-ever US programme to combat climate change. But some of its provisions have been criticised by European Union officials as discriminatory...

The majority of the EU's response involves repackaging already existing funds, a stop-gap measure that has earned much criticism. German MEP Markus Ferber described the proposals on Wednesday as "old wine in new bottles" and "predictably disappointing".

AMMAN, JORDAN  - Confirming its role as one of Jordan’s main supporters, the European Union (EU) on Sunday signed two financing agreements with the Kingdom's Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation providing up to US$69 million (€64 million).The first agreement is financing a US$42 million (€39-million) program: "EU support to...

The EU and Britain on Monday slapped another round of sanctions on Iran which has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women. "The move by the European Union...

Morocco's Parliament "decided to reconsider its relations with the European Parliament and submit them for an overall evaluation," said Rachid Talbi Alami, speaker of the House of Representatives. He gave no further details. Under a 1996 agreement, Morocco and the European Union have been linked in tight economic and commercial...

The EU has already imposed sanctions on more than 60 Iranian officials and entities over the crackdown on protestors, including the "morality police", Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and state media. But the 27-nation bloc has so far stopped short of blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards themselves as a terror group despite...

"By making it harder for people to spend time in the West Bank, Israel is taking yet another step toward turning the West Bank into another Gaza, where two million Palestinians have lived virtually sealed off from the outside world for over 15 years," HRW's Eric Goldstein said.

Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to include the Guards on the 27-nation bloc's terror list in "light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia". The vote is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening...

Despite pressure on him to authorize delivery of tanks to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged support to the war-scarred country for "as long as necessary". Germany's allies in Europe have implored the country to agree to the export of Leopard heavy tanks to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen slammed what she described as "aggressive attempts" to convince Europe's clean technology operations to relocate to China through cheap labour and more lenient regulations.

The company formerly known as Facebook is facing increasing pressure and fines to curb its practice of delivering narrowly targeted ads to its users, a practice that brings in billions of dollars in revenue from advertisers every year.

"The position of the EU is clear: There can be no impunity for corruption. Zero tolerance," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting with Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. "We need to wait for the result of the investigations currently underway," Borrell added, saying he expected "everybody's...

EU nations have adopted a mechanism to cap natural gas prices, but analysts say it will likely have only a limited impact on reducing what businesses and households pay.

The price ceiling of $60 per barrel agreed by the European Union, G7 and Australia came into force in early December and seeks to restrict Russia's revenue.

Introduced alongside an EU embargo on seaborne deliveries of Russian crude oil, the cap aims to ensure Russia cannot bypass the embargo by selling its oil to third countries at high prices. Russia has said the cap will not affect the Ukraine offensive and expressed confidence it would find new...

The French regulator said that after investigations it found that "when users visited this site, cookies were deposited on their terminal without their consent, while these cookies were used, among others, for advertising purposes." It also "observed that there was no button allowing to refuse the deposit of cookies as...

The "Baghdad II" meeting in Jordan, which alongside regional powers also includes officials from France and the European Union, follows an August 2021 summit in Iraq's capital organized at the initiative of Macron. "There is a way that is not... a form of hegemony, imperialism, a model that would be...

Observers had warned the COP15 talks aimed at sealing a "peace pact for nature" risked collapse due to disagreement over how much the rich world should pay to protect ecosystems in developing countries.

Emmanuel Macron said France had been pushing the idea for more than four years. The global minimum tax is only one part, known as Pillar Two, of the OECD agreement. The first pillar, which provides for the taxation of companies where they make their profits to limit tax evasion, primarily...

Global stocks sank as central banks hiked interest rates again and signaled they needed to go higher to tame inflation. Meanwhile, downbeat economic data out of China and the United States fanned recession fears. Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank mirrored the Fed's half-point hike on...

The EU summit was to also examine the situation, and consequences in Europe, of Russia's war in Ukraine, which European Council President Charles Michel said was at "the heart of our concerns".

Several EU countries, including France, Poland and Spain, want a price cap lower than the one proposed by the European Commission, with fewer conditions attached. Some EU countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, view a too-rigid price cap as a threat to supplies, comporting the risk that deliveries could...

The United States is open to amending lucrative green subsidies that have drawn transatlantic anger for allegedly encouraging job losses in Europe, US climate envoy John Kerry said. In a BBC interview, Kerry signaled unease over the UK government's decision to permit the opening of a coal mine despite ambitions...

Diplomats said a preliminary agreement had been struck among the 27-member bloc to bolster the European Peace Facility, which has already committed over 3 billion euros to covering the cost of weaponry for Kyiv. They could sign off on the move Monday.

The EU is set to impose more sanctions on Iran for drone supplies to Russia and a crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, European diplomats said. The new measures will target around eight individuals and organizations involved in the manufacture and delivery of drones Moscow has used...

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey said Wednesday it has started requesting proof of insurance from tankers loaded with Russian crude oil after Western powers imposed a price cap to punish the Kremlin for its war on Ukraine. But a Turkish official denied that the measure was slowing the passage of oil...

The trip -- only Xi's third overseas journey since the coronavirus pandemic began, and his first to Saudi Arabia since 2016 -- comes after US President Joe Biden's visit in July, when he pleaded in vain for higher oil production.