EU plans to have vaccine certificates ready by summer

The EU has called the plan a "road map for investment" in the developing world. It is seen as an eventual alternative to China's "Belt and Road" global infrastructure strategy

The EU and China have pledged to boost funding of green investment projects in ASEAN. But will these erstwhile partners, whose relations have soured over the past year, be able to work side by side?

FRANCE 24 spoke to the EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton about several issues, including the threat of the omicron Covid-19 variant worldwide; the possibility of easing intellectual property rules on vaccines to get more doses out to lower-income countries; and the state of relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Brussels says the Belarusian government created the crisis by luring migrants with false promises. But some say Poland and the EU are ignoring human suffering.

On the cusp of taking the reins from Angela Merkel, incoming chancellor Olaf Scholz has sent a strong signal about where his government's foreign policy priorities lie. DW has rounded-up the most important points.

Though some countries in the EU have decriminalized cannabis, the island nation is the first to legalize recreational use and cultivation for adults. Germany and Luxembourg are expected to follow suit early next year.

European diplomats have called a pause in talks on Iran's nuclear program "disappointing." EU envoy Enrique Mora has said only weeks remain to save the deal, as Iran ramps up uranium enrichment.

German doctors and their staff have been facing aggression and threats from vaccine opponents. They have described having frayed nerves as pandemic fatigue sets in among patients and medical staff.

The court has agreed to hear arguments about the Biden administration's vaccine or testing requirement for large employers, and a separate vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

The head of the World Health Organization says rich countries are merely prolonging the pandemic by fueling vaccine inequality. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," he says.

Instead, mRNA vaccines use mRNA created in a laboratory to teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.

Officials took down a temporary European Union flag at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris after it drew fury from conservatives and the far right. The flag was intended to mark the start of France's six-month EU presidency.