European Union

Iran launched a missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

Circular economy principles offer compelling strategic and operational benefits for the manufacturing industry. These include substantial cost savings, which companies should take advantage of, writes Rafael Go.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Wednesday (8 January) expected to tell Ursula von der Leyen that Britain will not extend the Brexit transition period, in their first face-to-face meeting since she became European Commission chief.

The United States and China are the world's leaders in harvesting and exploiting personal data and the European Union must make sure the same thing does not happen when it comes to business-to-business data, the new EU commissioner for the internal market said.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has met with Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) in Warsaw on Tuesday (8 January) amid growing speculations about his Fidesz party leaving the EPP and looking for other political alternatives.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has formed what is now his second ruling coalition, this time between his conservative ÖVP party and the Greens, replacing the interim government of experts. Although the new government is set to make Austria a climate pioneer, there are question marks as to how long the new alliance is likely to last. EURACTIV Germany reports.

US consumers, companies and workers will pay the biggest price for proposed 100% tariffs on French Champagne and other sparkling wines, cheese, porcelain, enamel cookware and handbags, witnesses told the US government on Tuesday (7 January).

The European Parliament is preparing to vote on a resolution Wednesday accusing the UK of creating "anxiety" among the 3.3m EU citizens who live in the UK ahead of Brexit at the end of the month, British newspaper The Guardian reports. The draft text says EU residents may be at "risk of discrimination" by British employers and that not enough help was offered to "older and vulnerable" EU citizens there.

Iran fired two waves of missile attacks on two different US military air bases in Iraq in retaliation against the assassination of Iranian top general Qassem Suleimani. So far, it seems that there were no casualties. Nevertheless, Iranian state TV claimed 80 people died in the attacks. Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was an act of self defence within the boundaries of international law.

Poland's left-wing parties on Tuesday (7 January) approved Robert Biedron, an openly gay politician, as their candidate in the May presidential election.

Spain's parliament on Tuesday (7 January) narrowly confirmed Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez as premier for another term, paving the way for the country's first-ever coalition government since its return to democracy in the 1970s.

As EU policymakers worry about global tensions threatening raw material imports, one option could be getting more from their own backyard.

The EU's foreign policy chief - along with French, German, Italian and British foreign ministers - have rejected Turkey's troop deployment in Libya.

Legal action related to climate change is set to grow considerably in the next few years - especially after a largely-overlooked ruling over Christmas by a Dutch court forced the government to reduce its emission by 25 percent by 2020.

A nation, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, is not capable of altruism. Even less so, if such a group has formed on the basis of strong emotions and casts itself as the "saviour of the nation".

I am a strong Atlanticist, but how can the US expect its allies to follow when it gives them no idea where they are being led?

An Irish Supreme Court judge will participate in a protest on Saturday in Warsaw in support of Polish colleagues who say their independence is being systematically eroded by the country's nationalist government, the Irish Times reported. Justice John MacMenamin will represent the Association of Judges of Ireland (AJI). Dutch judges also plan to participate. In 2018 an Irish judge raised concerns over Polish judicial independence in an extradition case.

Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, attended the government's national security council to tell them how Iran should retaliate for the killing of general Qassem Suleimani, the New York Times reports. Khamenei said the reprisal should be a direct and proportional attack on American interests, carried out openly by Iranian forces. So far, Iran has mostly used proxy groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan said the EU considers the US investigation into the French digital tax as a "European matter", and confirmed that the "EU will act and react as one" after his visit to Paris on Tuesday. Hogan will travel to Washington next week for talks. US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose punitive sanctions on French luxury goods after France taxing digital tech giants.

An appeals court in Malta on Tuesday overturned a conviction for a German captain of a migrant rescue ship, Deutsche Welle reported. Claus Peter Reisch was found guilty in May for not having the correct ship registration to enter Maltese waters when he transported migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The appeals court ruled that the captain did not have the specific intent to break the law.