EU

US tells citizens to avoid Kabul airport due to ‘security threats’

The United States on Saturday urged its citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the Kabul airport, citing “potential security threats” near its gates. The warning from the US embassy in Kabul provided no detail on the danger, but a White House official later confirmed that aides had briefed President Joe Biden on “counterterrorism operations” in Afghanistan, including against the Islamic State group. Conditions outside Hamid Karzai International Airport have been chaotic amid the crush […]

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Health passes spread around the world

Passes and vaccine passports are increasingly being used across the world to limit entry to public places to those who have been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or tested negative. Here’s an overview: – European pioneers – From March, Denmark, Austria and Hungary were among the first countries to introduce health passes, either on paper or in digital form. You still need a pass to go into restaurants, hotels and sports centres in Austria. In Denmark […]

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EU warns it will block AstraZeneca vaccine exports

  by Marc BURLEIGH / Dave CLARK Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union warned Thursday that it will ban drugs firms from exporting coronavirus vaccines to the UK and other countries until they make good on their promised deliveries to the bloc. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s stark warning — which could hit UK-based AstraZeneca first — came after a video summit of all 27 EU leaders and stoked fears […]

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EU limits vaccine exports as US sees health gains for elderly

  by Agence France Presse Bureaus BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The European Union on Wednesday tightened vaccine export controls in a bid to ramp up its stuttering inoculation campaign while the United States said its inoculation drive was already showing results for over-65s. Under the EU’s new rules, the bloc’s European Commission executive will weigh how needy countries are as well as how readily they export doses to the EU before approving shipments. “Open roads […]

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EU to tighten export rules to stop one-way flow of vaccines

  by Dave CLARK Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Commission will tighten its export guidelines on Wednesday to prevent what it sees as an unfair one-way flow of vaccines, according to a draft seen by AFP. Brussels has been infuriated that Britain has laid claim to vaccines produced at a plant in the Netherlands by AstraZeneca, while the UK-based firm falls short on deliveries promised to the EU. While negotiations with […]

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Virus still ‘far from under control’ in Germany due to variants

  by Deborah COLE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The pandemic in Germany is still out of control, the head of its disease control institute said Friday, dampening hopes of a quick easing of its partial lockdown despite declining infection numbers. Robert Koch Institute (RKI) chief Lothar Wieler told reporters that the emergence of new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus posed a real danger to tentatively successful German efforts to curb its […]

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Europe warms to Russian jab after positive trial results

  by Gina DOGGETT and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Final-stage trial results published on Tuesday placed Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine on a par with its Western rivals, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced openness to its use in the European Union once it receives the regulatory nod. Sputnik V, which has already been rolled out in Russia and several other countries, was found to be 91.6 percent effective against […]

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Vaccine storm engulfs EU chief von der Leyen

  by Anne-Laure MONDESERT / Dave CLARK Agence France Presse EU chief Ursula von der Leyen faces the deepest political crisis of her mandate so far, under intense fire over delayed vaccine deliveries and the bungled roll-out of export controls. No-one expects the storm to drive her from office — she still has powerful backing in Paris and Berlin — but the attacks underline concerns about Brussels’ coronavirus strategy. In Brussels, Dublin and London criticism […]

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Vaccine shortfall forces EU to modify jabs strategy

  by Marc BURLEIGH Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Commission said Monday a shortfall in deliveries from Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca had forced it to recalibrate its early coronavirus vaccination strategy. The head of the Commission’s health directorate, Sandra Gallina, told MEPs the firm has been able to guarantee just 25 percent of the more than 100 million doses promised and that this was “a real issue” for the EU’s 27 countries. […]

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Europol warns on fake COVID-negative papers being sold at airports

  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s police agency on Monday warned travellers to watch for organised crime gangs selling fake Covid-negative certificates at airports, sometimes for as much as 300 euros each. The warning from Europol comes after police busted several suspects selling forged certificates declaring people Covid-19 negative at airports in Britain and France, online and through mobile messaging chat groups in Spain and the Netherlands. Many EU countries and others now […]

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EU ‘strongly condemns’ Myanmar coup

  BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU chief Charles Michel on Monday strongly condemned the coup by Myanmar’s military and demanded the release of all those wrongly detained in the crackdown. “I strongly condemn the coup in Myanmar and call on the military to release all who have been unlawfully detained in raids across the country,” the president of the European Council tweeted. “The outcome of the elections has to be respected and democratic process needs […]

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AstraZeneca to increase EU vaccine deliveries by 30 percent: Von der Leyen

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — AstraZeneca will increase its coronavirus vaccine deliveries to the EU by 30 percent, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday as the bloc sought to claw back time lost rolling out the jabs. The British-Swedish company had announced last week that it could deliver only a quarter of the doses originally promised to the bloc for the first quarter of the year because of problems at one of its […]

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