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Britain's Johnson muses on ending trade barriers to Northern Ireland
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday he wants to get rid of "ludicrous barriers" curtailing trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the country. "What we’re doing is removing, what I think of as the unnecessary protuberances and barriers that have grown up,” Johnson told the BBC in an interview set to air on Tuesday to mark Northern Ireland's centenary, which takes place on June 22. "We’re getting the barnacles off the thing and sandpapering it into shape.” As part of the Brexit deal, British-administered Northern Ireland has remained aligned with EU customs rules to avo...
DPA
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EU Council president heads to Georgia as crisis seems to abate
EU Council President Charles Michel will fly to Georgia on Tuesday in a bid to strengthen ties between the EU and the Black Sea country roiled by a political crisis. Michel on Monday evening thanked the diplomats involved in helping Georgia overcome its domestic political crisis by having lawmakers there sign an agreement to the effect. The European Union and the United States launched a joint appeal to lawmakers in the strategically located country over the weekend. The institutional reforms proposed in the agreement could be an important step for Georgia's democratic development and of benef...
DPA
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EU issues no sanctions in Ukraine-Russia conflict to avoid escalation
EU foreign ministers on Monday decided not ramp up pressure on Russia for amassing troops at Ukraine's border in an effort to solve tensions diplomatically. "The risk of further escalation is evident. We have to commend Ukraine for its restrained response and we urge Russia to de-escalate and to diffuse tensions," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said after a videoconference with the 27 ministers. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who called on the European Union for more support over the weekend - potentially by sanctioning Russia - also dialled into Monday's talks. Support for ...
DPA
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EU agency to present opinion on Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is set to issue an opinion on Tuesday on blood clots that could be associated with Johnson & Johnson's vaccine against Covid-19, after several European countries suspended use of the jab. Last week, the EU regulator announced it was investigating very rare cases of blood clots in cerebral veins following vaccination. So far, six cases had been reported to the EMA, mostly from the United States. However, the agency continues to maintain that the vaccine's "benefits in preventing Covid-19" outweigh the risks of side effects. The review will be expedited, the a...
DPA
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Apply horseradish to swollen joint for 5 hours... or was it minutes?
An Austrian newspaper may have dodged a bullet after slipping up with some bad health advice in which it advised readers to rub horseradish on their skin for up to five hours - not, as intended, five minutes. To relieve rheumatism pain, readers were told to rub some fresh horseradish on their feet. For how long? Two to five hours. In reality, two to five minutes should have been the advice in the daily newspaper's health column, published at the end of 2016. A newspaper reader followed the advice and sued the publisher for damages after suffering a reaction from applying horseradish to her foo...
DPA
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EU's von der Leyen gets Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen celebrated her first Covid-19 shot on Thursday by posting a picture on Twitter of herself receiving the PFizer/BioNTech vaccine. "I’m very glad I got my first shot of Covid-19 vaccine today," the 62-year-old EU executive chief wrote. "Vaccinations will further gather pace, as deliveries are accelerating in the EU." It was von der Leyen's turn to receive the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech according to the rules of Belgium's vaccination campaign, according to her spokesperson. Seven of the 27 European Commissioners have now been jabbed, the spokes...
DPA
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EU bags 50 million extra Pfizer/BioNTech shots by July amid J&J delay
The European Union has a struck a deal with US-German pharmaceutical venture Pfizer/BioNTech to secure 50 million additional Covid-19 vaccines by the end of June, a move that may mitigate delays affecting US supplier Johnson & Johnson. The additional Pfizer/BioNTech doses should be delivered starting this month rather than in the final quarter of the year as originally planned, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday. They will be distributed pro rata to the 27 member states with a combined population of roughly 450 million. The EU now expects 250 million dose...
DPA
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Johnson & Johnson starts delivering Covid-19 shots to EU
US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson began delivering its one-shot Covid-19 vaccine to the European Union on Monday, with the bloc's executive branch expecting 55 million doses by the end of June. "The first doses are leaving the warehouses for the member states today," European Commission spokesperson Stefan De Keersmaecker told reporters in Brussels. A corporate spokesperson for the drugmaker in Germany told dpa that deliveries to the 27 EU states plus Norway and Iceland had begun, without disclosing the size of the first batches. "This is the first step to fulfil the company's obligati...
DPA
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Blinken heads back to Brussels as Afghanistan decision looms
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Brussels on Monday for his second trip within weeks to consult NATO allies as a decision looms on the war in Afghanistan. Blinken is also expected to discuss intensifying EU-backed diplomacy on reviving the Iran nuclear accord and rising tensions with Russia as it builds up its military near Ukraine. He will start talks Tuesday in Brussels and be joined by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is also visiting key European ally Germany as well as Israel, which is critical of the diplomacy with Iran. "I look forward to productive co...
AFP
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Italy's Prime Minister Draghi calls Turkey's Erdogan a 'dictator'
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "dictator" in front of the press, causing a stir. Draghi spoke to the press in Rome on Thursday evening about the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel to Erdogan on Tuesday. Von der Leyen was not given a chair at the meeting, but sat somewhat apart on a sofa. Draghi classified this as a "humiliation" of the head of the commission. "I was very displeased for the humiliation that the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had to...
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