Toy Safety Regulation

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Photo by L N on Unsplash The EU Commission has proposed a Toy Safety Regulation revising the current rules to protect children from potential risks in toys. Toys put on the EU market are said to be already among the safest ones in the world. But the EC says the proposed rules will further improve this protection, in…

Stronger Ties for EU Latin America

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Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash Parliamentarian cooperation “will be crucial” to strengthening ties between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean. This is the keynote message to emerge from the 15th plenary session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) taking place in Madrid from 24 to 27 July. The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly is a trans-national…

Environmental Impact of Healthcare

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) has launched two new calls for proposals featuring topics on the environmental impacts of healthcare. These concern addressing the use of animals in research and the generation of synthetic health data for research, among other things. IHI is a partnership between the EU and Europe’s health…

Addressing Sustainable Development Goals at Local Level

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Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash  The European Committee of the Regions’ willingness to participate actively in the UN-led processes for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2024 European Summit of Regions and Cities were the main themes of the meeting between President Vasco Alves Cordeiro and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres. The meeting, in the…

Difficulties for Mobile Workers in the Labour Market

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Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash Even in the absence of legal hurdles by comparison with third-country national migrant workers a new report shows that intra-EU mobile workers also face similar difficulties in the labour market, with generally lower employment probabilities and lower quality jobs for the same level of skills. The report was conducted by the European…

Improved Protection for Blood Donors

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash MEPs say they want to reinforce measures to ensure improved protection for citizens that donate blood, tissues or cells, or are treated with these substances. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted its position on new rules governing the use of so-called substances of human origin (SoHO) in the…

1956 Mining Disaster

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Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash Special commemorations will take place in Charleroi next month in memory of one of the worst ever disasters in Belgium. On 8 August 1956 some 262 miners perished in the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. They included 136 Italians, more than half the victims. Today, the site is preserved as an industrial heritage…

Gone to Pot

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Photo by Liam Riby on Unsplash The latest report by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), just published, announced that vehicle breakdowns in Britain caused by potholes have now reached a five-year high. The number of potholes is also increasing – a stark contrast to the proud legacy over two centuries of the country leading the world in road-building technology….

Gabriel Popoviciu wins extradition battle in UK’s Supreme Court

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Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash The UK’s Supreme Court has discharged Romania’s extradition request for businessman Gabriel Popoviciu. This final decision by the Supreme Court, in response to Romania’s appeal against an earlier decision to refuse Popoviciu’s extradition to Romania, means that after six years of litigation, Popoviciu has won this lengthy court battle. The Supreme Court…

Reject Nuclear Weapons

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Photo by Osama Madlom on Unsplash The financial community is increasingly rejecting nuclear weapons, a new report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons claims. ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.  It says that after more than a year…