Urgent action needed to reassure fellow citizens.

A backlog of a third of a million applications by EU citizens who wish to stay in the UK must be addressed immediately by the Home Office, Europe Minister Jenny Gilruth has said.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in a press conference on the final day of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall on June 13, 2021. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / various sources / AFP) - LEHTIKUVA / AFP

The leaders of the Group of Seven nations have pledged over 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for the rest of the world - either directly or through funding to COVAX, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced.

In a statement to mark the end of the Summit hosted by the UK, Boris Johnson said: "A week ago, I asked my fellow leaders to help in preparing and providing the doses we need to vaccinate the whole world by the end of 2022."

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

International travel restrictions significantly reduced migration to Finland in 2020. The number of residence permits issued was lower than in the previous year and the number of asylum seekers fell considerably. The situation was similar also in the rest of Europe. This information is reflected in the recent reports by the European Migration Network (EMN).

In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic affected nearly all aspects of international migration in Finland and around the world.

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Europe Minister Jenny Gilruth has expressed concern about the current state of UK and EU relations following the EU-UK Partnership Council, which met for the first time this morning, and the subsequent meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee.

The Minister has also stressed the importance of meaningful engagement of the Scottish Government by the UK Government in EU-UK discussions.

The EU parliament on Tuesday approved 11.6 million euro ($14 million) in aid to help dismissed workers in Germany, Finland, Belgium, and the Netherlands reintegrate into labour market, the legislature said in a release.

"3,700 workers who lost their jobs in Finland, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands will receive EUR11.6 million in EU aid," the parliament said.

The 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum took place on 2–5 June 2021. As in previous years, the business programme focused on the global and Russian economies, social issues, and technological development.

In a landmark judgment, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) today ruled that the UK government’s bulk interception of communications powers  “did not contain sufficient ‘end-to-end’ safeguards to provide adequate and effective guarantees against arbitrariness and the risk of abuse”, thus violating the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. 

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have detected new early-warning signs that the central-western part of the Greenland ice sheet has been destabilizing and may now be close to a critical transition.

Results of the study suggest that there will be substantially enhanced melting in the future. Once the tipping point is crossed the whole ice sheet could melt entirely until the year 3000.

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

More than 130 people in Switzerland have contracted the coronavirus after receiving both shots of the vaccine, with 12 cases being fatal, according to the latest data provided by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) on Monday.

From January 1 to May 14, 134 vaccinees were infected with the deadly virus, with most of them aged 80 and over. Of those infected, 27 people were hospitalized and 12 died.

Workers downloading a shipment of the Covishield vaccine of the AstraZeneca laboratory from a plane coming from Amsterdam, as part of an agreement with the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), in Ezeiza airport, Buenos Aires province, Argentina on April 18, 2021. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Highlighting the gap of vaccinations between high-income countries and low and lower-middle countries, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that the world is at risk of 'vaccine apartheid'.

Speaking at the Paris Peace Forum Spring Meeting, Ghebreyesus said: "I think I would go one step further and say not just that the world is at risk of vaccine apartheid; the world is in vaccine apartheid."