European Union

The sex offender and former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault by a court in New York on Wednesday. The verdict is considered a milestone in the MeToo debate triggered by the case in 2017. Commentators welcome the sentence, but warn against unserious accusations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed through a government reshuffle. The new prime minister is Denys Shmyhal and 11 out of 17 ministers have been replaced. Zelensky accused the outgoing government of doing too little to combat smuggling, failing to adhere to the budget and not supporting industry. Observers say this political shake-up does not bode well.

The Russian State Duma voted on Tuesday in favour of a constitutional reform which will be presented to the people in April. One clause included at short notice allows Vladimir Putin to circumvent the two-term limit as president: his previous terms are simply to be annulled. This paves the way for Putin to govern Russia until 2036. Commentators discuss how this will turn out.

A crisis meeting in Brussels on Monday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel ended without concrete results. A meeting in Istanbul between Erdoğan, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel has been scheduled for next week. The three leaders will discuss the fate of the refugees gathered at the Turkish-Greek border and the situation in Syria. Both Ankara and the EU are taken to task in press commentaries.

Representatives from the US tech industry on Wednesday (11 March) hit out at the UK's plans to introduce a digital services tax from the beginning of April, following a period of uncertainty as to whether the UK would continue with the measures amid attempts to contract a US trade deal.

European officials reacted with surprise and anger Thursday (12 March) after US President Donald Trump imposed a trans-Atlantic travel ban they fear will wound economies already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Court of Justice said on Thursday (12 March) that air passengers re-booked onto a flight are still eligible for compensation if that trip is subject to a delay.

EU environment chief Virginijus Sinkevičius insists there will be no unnecessary overlap between the new circular economy plan and the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F), as new EU food policy will be focused more on the agricultural and food production side.

There is no proof that 5G mobile networks pose a threat to human health, new research from the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), has found.