European Union

The US Navy's deployment of new extremely long-range air-to-air missiles in the Indo-Pacific could erase China's advantage in aerial reach, experts say, part of an intensifying focus on projecting power amid high tensions in the region.

Ukraine's forces advanced further into Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday (14 August) as Kyiv said its gains would provide a strategic buffer zone to protect its border areas from Russian attacks.

Hamas said on Wednesday (14 August) it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday in Qatar, but an official briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the Palestinian group afterwards.

An ethical hack of solar panels in the Netherlands has revealed their vulnerability to cyberspace attacks, prompting calls for more rigorous safety assessments by the industry.

Finance Ministers from five German-speaking countries met at Lake Constance where they doubled-down on the need to mobilise private capital and reduce public debt, ahead of EU discussions on how to spur growth and investment.

Germany has issued an arrest warrant against one Ukrainian national who is suspected to have been involved with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by German media revealed.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is convinced that Edmundo González will be sworn president on Jan. 10, 2025, despite the official proclamation of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, as the winner of July's elections. 

Following the recent US court ruling on Google’s market dominance, Washington may be aligning more closely with the Brussels approach to tech competition regulation, hinting at possible enforcement measures.

The rise in gas prices in Europe that has been attributed to Ukraine's recent invasion of Kursk is expected to add to Russian revenues from selling fossil fuels, further widening the gap between such revenues and the total amount of EU support to Kyiv.

Eastern Germany could be on the brink of a tectonic shift in the upcoming state elections, with the far-right AfD and the left-populist BSW predicted to make unprecedented gains, fuelling fears of future ungovernability in large parts of the country.

The EU reacted "extremely" quickly to Greece's request for EU aid to fight wildfires that reached the outskirts of Athens, an EU Commission spokesman said on Tuesday, describing a response that began 12 hours after the government had asked for help.

The constitutive meetings of the European Parliament's standing committees and subcommittees took place in Brussels on 23 July 2024, following the appointments of their members in the plenary sitting of 16-19 July.

During the constitutive meetings, each committee and subcommittee elected its respective bureau, made up of a Chair and Vice-Chairs, for a two-and-a-half year mandate. The newly set up committees then started holding their regular meetings during the same week following their constitutive meeting.

The AFET constitutive meeting took place on Tuesday 23 July from 09.00 to 09.30 (Brussels).

The meeting was webstreamed.
AFET-SEDE-DROI calendar of meetings 2024
Meeting documents
Webstreaming
Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces near a pipeline Russia uses to supply European countries with gas has not disrupted supplies, network operators and gas companies said on Tuesday (13 August).

More than two weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed reelection victory, the US and other Western countries are showing little sign of swift tough action over what many of them have condemned as voting fraud.

A far-right Israeli minister drew international condemnation Tuesday (13 August) by praying with thousands of Jews at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem, defying a ban on Jewish prayer at the flashpoint site.

Greece's worst wildfire of the year eased on the outskirts of the capital Athens on Tuesday (13 August) thanks to weaker winds, pausing progress of a destructive blaze that killed one person and torched cars, buildings, fields and forests.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will step down in September, ending a three-year term marred by political scandals and paving the way for a new premier to address the impact of rising prices.

Ukraine kept pounding the Russian border region of Kursk with missiles and drones on Wednesday (14 August), as Kyiv said it had made further territorial gains in an incursion that US President Joe Biden called a "real dilemma" for the Kremlin's leader.

Bluetongue virus cases have shot up in several European countries, data gathered by AFP on Tuesday (13 August) showed, as farmers are worrying about consequences for sheep and cattle.

On Monday (12 August), the World Health Organisation (WHO) published a report revealing a significant surge in mpox cases, albeit with significant gaps in reporting.