On 26-27 November, the VIII High level meeting of the structured and comprehensive EU-CELAC dialogue on migration between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean countries (CELAC – Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños) will take place in Brussels.

Parliament passed three separate resolutions on Thursday, urging calm in the run-up to elections in Bangladesh, expressing concern about the situation of migrant workers in Qatar and calling for fair justice in Bolivia.

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzaï made a passionate plea for more education as she accepted the 2013 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Strasbourg. Ms Yousafzai, who was honoured for her fight to promote education for girls despite the threat of Taliban violence, said: "There is poverty, lack of freedom, fear and terrorism, but there is hope, because we are all here together united to help these children, to speak for them, to take action."

President Dalia Grybauskaitė offered condolences to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, over the tragic plane crash in Kazan which left fifty people dead.

At least 50 people died after a Boeing passenger plane crashed while landing in the city of Kazan in central Russia on Saturday, according to the Emergencies Ministry. A doctor working at the scene said that only ashes and rubble were left from the plane.

On 19 November in Tokyo, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe for the twenty first summit meeting between the European Union and Japan.

The need to step up the security of EU information technology (IT) systems and parliamentary oversight of intelligence services in Belgium and Denmark were debated at the tenth Civil Liberties Committee inquiry hearing, held Thursday, on the electronic mass surveillance of EU citizens.

The European Union is engaging with the Central Asian partners on a long-term plan to reduce demand for drugs and combat their supply, said ambassador-at-large Valteris Baliukonis, who as a representative of the Lithuanian Presidency chaired the EU–Central Asia Senior Officials Dialogue on Drugs on November 12 in Brussels, organised jointly with the EEAS.

Typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc in the Philippines when it swept through the country on Friday, killing more than 10,000 people in its wake. The disaster is more than the Asian country is able to cope with on its own. We discussed how the EU could help with Werner Langen, a German member of the EPP group who is the chairman of the EP's delegation for relations with ASEAN countries, which includes the Philippines.

The EU is the world's biggest market and the greatest competitor for the US and China, but that's not all though. It also defends human rights and promotes democracy and good governance beyond its borders. With aid programmes and humanitarian action, Europe also reaches those who need its help the most.