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Brussels (AFP) - The European Union's top officials expressed relief on Wednesday that they would again have a friend in the White House as Joe Biden replaces Donald Trump. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said the moment should be seized to form a new "founding pact" between democratic powers. He was joined in the European Parliament by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to address MEPs hours ahead of Biden's inauguration. Trump's Washington has been at loggerheads with Brussels over trade, subsidies for planemakers and European attempts to tax and regulate American tax giants. European...

US President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded entry bans imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic on most non-US citizens arriving from Brazil, the United Kingdom and all European Union countries. The new travel guidelines will come into effect as of January 26, the White House said in a statement. The alleviation of the ban may not last long enough for it to be implemented, though. President-elect Joe Biden gave the notion short shrift.His spokeswoman said the new administration, set to assume office on Wednesday, “does not intend to lift these restrictions.” Jen Psaki tweeted: “In fact, we plan to strengthen...

Violent riots led by communist group Black Lives Matter and Islamic supremacists break out in the city of Brussels after the death of Ibrahim, a migrant in Police custody. The migrant was filming police enforcing coronavirus lockdown measures at a train station. Ibrahim refused to comply with police and their requests to stop filming. Ibrahim fled the scene, but was captured by police and shortly after died, possibly of a heart attack at the station due to drugs he ingested. Ibrahima B. was arrested on Saturday, January 9th a little before 7 pm by inspectors from the Brussels North police...

HSBC has issued a warning to customers as retailers step up coronavirus safety measures amid a further 1,243 deaths. The lender - which also owns First Direct and Marks & Spencer bank - said customers who break the law could forfeit their bank account. Speaking to The Mirror, a spokesman said face masks are mandatory in all branches as per government guidelines. Those who refuse to comply will be refused service and could have their bank accounts withdrawn. Jackie Uhi, head of branch network, HSBC UK said: "Our branch colleagues are key workers, continuing to go to work in our...

A near power grid outbreak on January 8, 2021 cut Europe’s power grid into a south-eastern and a north-western part for about an hour was described as one of the most critical near-blackout situations since the region’s last major blackout in 2006. A day after, on January 9, 2021, Pakistan and most of its 210 millions inhabitants were plunged into darkness during several hours. This was Pakistan’s second major power breakdown since May 2018, when the country remained without electricity for more than nine hours. A disturbance in the synchronised European high-voltage power grid on Friday, 8 January 2021, resulted...

The European Union’s top diplomat said on Sunday that last week’s siege of the U.S. Capitol exposed the dangers of allowing the degradation of democratic values to go unchecked and disinformation to spread on social media.

European companies are expected to hunt for assets in China, mainly in insurance, healthcare and automobile sectors, after the world’s second-largest economy and the European Union agreed to an investment deal last month, lawyers and bankers say.

There was a time when the thought of the French military using a weapon developed in another country might have been unthinkable. However, the Glock 17 will now serve in the French military. Here’s how it happened. Background While many nations have routinely adopted small arms developed in other nations, the French have always been fiercely independent – and France was among the few nations of Europe not to employ a Maxim machine gun at the outbreak of the First World War. That trend in domestically-produced infantry weapons largely continued through the Cold War era, but military leaders in Paris...

This blockbuster press release, if true, is the "MOAB"—Mother Of All Bombshells—that should break open the entire election fraud scheme. Is this it? We'll see. by Guest Post January 6, 2021 Rome, Italy (January 5, 2021) – An employee of the 8th largest global defense contractor, Leonardo SpA, provided a shocking deposition detailing his role in the most elaborate criminal act affecting a US election. Corroborating the DNI Ratcliff’s report of international intrusion, Arturo D’elio outlined the scheme that proved successful in using Leonardo computer systems and military satellites located in Pescara, Italy. Recent reports of a hack at Leonardo...

Under no scenario would a unified European Union aligned with China be in the interest of America. Indeed, a united EU might not be a friend but a foe.Joseph Borrell, a former Spanish socialist and current High Representative of the European Union, recently argued the EU needs to be strategically independent. “It is foreseen that in 20 years, we [the EU] will not represent more than 11 percent of world GNP, far behind China, which will represent double it, below 14 percent for the United States and at par with India,” Borrell wrote, adding the next two decades would be...

Major Covid Vaccine Glitch Emerges: Most Europeans, Including Hospital Staff, Refuse To Take It All is not going according to plan in the biggest global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing US mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (and now, Moderna too) may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA’s rushed approval, and is also why as we reported yesterday, scientists...

Stalking dog walkers, fines for unauthorised car journeys, telling Britons to snitch on their neighbours, and arresting protesters at Britain’s sacred space for free speech are just some examples of British policing during 2020, the year of the Chinese virus. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson passed the emergency coronavirus legislation on March 23rd, he also gave police expanded powers to enforce it, telling Britons: “If you don’t follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including fines and dispersing gatherings.” No sooner had police been given the powers than they were flexing their muscles in using...

France faces a new wave of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, with many coming from conservative areas and some openly supporting groups like the Taliban. Over the last five years, the number of Afghans arriving in France has increased fivefold from just over 2,100 asylum seekers at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015 to nearly 10,000 reaching in the country last year. According to a report from Le Figaro, Afghan migrants made up 90 per cent of the 3,500 residents of a makeshift migrant camp in the north of Paris that authorities dismantled just weeks ago. “While waiting for...

The UK and European Union are on the threshold of striking a post-Brexit trade deal, and talks are expected to continue through the night to iron out the details of an agreementThe UK and EU could have Brexit trade deal agreed while talks continue overnight, with a press conference expected later in the morning. The expected deal comes with only days left before the current trading agreements expire on December 31 - New Year's Eve. Prime Minister Boris Johnson led a late-night call with Cabinet ministers to update them on the situation, reports PA. European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer suggested...

Stranded lorry drivers have clashed with police officers at Dover after the border with France was reopened this morning. Police and lorry drivers were said to be in a "stand-off" on Wednesday morning as tensions ran high at the port. Drivers were filmed jeering and booing at police and there were some scuffles after reports of delays to the border reopening. The Calais-Dover crossing was shutdown on Sunday evening over fears of a new highly-infectious Covid strain, leaving thousands of lorry drivers stranded before Christmas. More than 2,800 lorries have been stuck at the port after France stopped them crossing...

<p>PRAGUE - The lower house of the Czech Parliament has approved a government plan to cut income taxes in an effort to help revive an economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>The lawmakers have reduced the main tax rate from 20.1% to 15% while the top earners will pay 23%.</p>

When the church doors open, only white people will be allowed inside. That’s the message the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock, Minnesota, is sending after being granted a conditional use permit to open a church there and practice its pre-Christian religion that originated in northern Europe. Despite a council vote officially approving the permit this month, residents are pushing back against the decision. “I think they thought they could fly under the radar in a small town like this, but we’d like to keep the pressure on them,” said Peter Kennedy, a longtime Murdock resident. “Racism is not welcome here."...

Flights from countries all over the world, including COVID-19 hotspots like Brazil, continue to land at London airports despite Londoners themselves being banned by law from traveling outside the area. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that London and the south east of England would be placed under a new lockdown – tier 4 – making it illegal for Londoners to travel outside the region. Johnson also revealed that people living in tier 4 areas would be banned from international travel, forcing millions of Brits who planned to visit family abroad to cancel their Christmas. However, while Londoners are...

LONDON - Trucks waiting to get out of Britain backed up for miles and people were left stranded at airports Monday as countries around the world imposed stringent travel restrictions on the U.K. because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England.A growing number of countries halted air travel from Britain, while France banned British trucks for 48 hours while the new variant is assessed.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the strain is “out of control” around London and southeastern England, though experts have said it is not clear whether it is more lethal, and...

Austrian police have arrested two more suspects for alleged involvement in the November 2 Islamic terror attack in Vienna. A spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office said Sunday that one of the two men arrested is a 26-year-old Austrian of Afghan origin whose DNA was found on one of the murder weapons. Both arrests both took place on Friday but the news was not released until Sunday. The spokeswoman did not provide any information on the identity of the second suspect. On the evening of November 2, heavily armed gunmen opened fire in a coordinated attack at six different locations in...