European Union

Italy is changing its rules on drug-induced abortion. Health Minister Speranza announced on Saturday that from now on the administration of the abortion pill RU486 will be allowed up to the ninth week of pregnancy and without mandatory hospitalisation. The decision marks "an important step forward" while respecting the current legal situation, Speranza said. Representatives of Catholic associations have sharply criticised the move.

A sharp escalation in tensions with the United States has stoked fears in China of a deepening financial war that could result in it being shut out of the global dollar system.

Taiwan unveiled a T$42.1 billion ($1.4 billion) increase for next year’s planned defence spending on Thursday (13 August), as China announced details of its latest combat drills near the democratic island.

Native people in the Amazon region have urged EU banks to stop funding oil development. "How can they [bank executives] sleep peacefully knowing their money leaves thousands of indigenous peoples and communities without water, without food and in devastating health conditions due to pollution?", Marlon Vargas, the head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, said. EU banks have lent billions to Amazon oil firms, NGOs revealed.

Russia's new coronavirus vaccine could be "dangerous", Germany has warned, in what Russia called part of "groundless" international criticism. "The problem is we know very little, because Russian authorities aren't very transparent," German health minister Jens Spahn told German radio Wednesday. "There haven't been any ... clinical trials with thousands of volunteers, and it can be dangerous to start vaccinating millions, if not billions, of people too early," he said.

Police viciously attacked protesters in Minsk for a fourth night in a row on Wednesday, as EU ministers confirmed sanctions talks.

France announced it will be sending military reinforcements into the Eastern Mediterranean following an escalation with Turkey over Greece.

The US government said on Wednesday (12 August) it would maintain 15% tariffs on Airbus aircraft and 25% tariffs on other European goods, despite moves by the EU to resolve a long-standing dispute over aircraft subsidies.

Coronavirus travel restrictions have kept lovers and unmarried couples apart since the outbreak, but governments around the world are now introducing measures to allow a happy and long-awaited reunion.

Belarus on Wednesday (12 August) confirmed the death of a jailed protester as demonstrators took to the streets for the fourth night of clashes with riot police over a disputed presidential election.

On the eve of the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council this Friday (14 August), there is need for urgent contacts between EU representatives and the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to clarify and resolve issues related to the political crisis in Belarus, writes Petro Poroshenko.

France will increase its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday (12 August), calling on Turkey to halt oil and gas exploration in disputed waters that has heightened tensions with Greece.

China’s global economic power makes the communist country in some ways a more difficult foe to counter than the Soviet Union during the Cold War, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday (12 August).