European Union

Located at a crossroads of different civilizations, Kazakhstan has placed great importance on promoting religious harmony and mutual respect. This year, the country is hosting the sixth edition of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, an initiative which has its roots in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

3D animation, smart TV apps, content monetisation technology, big data analysis, online education platforms. If anyone ever doubted that the future of work is already here, the list of young European entrepreneur achievements presented in Brussels should be enough to convert even hardcore doubters.

Transport accounts for nearly a quarter of the EU’s emissions and, unlike other sectors, greenhouse gases continue to rise. Trucks only make up a small part of vehicles on the roads in Europe: less than 5% of total traffic.

Appointment of the First Advocate General of the Court of Justice

The European Commission plans to unveil a new bioeconomy strategy on Thursday. EUobserver's third edition of Business magazine looked at the many aspects of the bioeconomy – the parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources.

Wendy Anderson, a former civil servant from the Obama administration, said a ban would not work. "The AI train has left the station. However we feel about it is actually irrelevant," she said.

Andrei Kozlov, a senior Russian Central Bank official shot dead in 2006, may have been killed in connection with what later became the Danske Bank money-laundering scandal, according to news website The Daily Beast. Kozlov had gone to Estonia three months earlier to expose illicit Russian money flowing through a Finnish bank, Sampo Bank, which was later bought by Danske Bank, The Daily Beast said, citing US diplomatic cables.

Ludmila Kozlowska, a Ukrainian activist barred by Poland from entering the EU on security grounds, is under investigation by Ukrainian security services, the SBU, for treason in a case that could lead to 15 years' prison, Ukrainian website Stopcor.org has said, citing SBU documents. Belgium, France, Germany, and the UK ignored Poland on Kozlowska, saying the Polish government had banned her because her Polish husband was a government critic.

Michel Barnier said the UK and the EU can close the withdrawal deal next week - if British prime minister Theresa May agrees to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union.

Polish president Andrzej Duda has nominated 27 new Supreme Court judges, on top of a previous 11, despite EU objections that the Polish government's judicial purge amounted to political interference. The government says former judges were opposition stooges, but their forced early retirements "ostentatiously ignore" the court's own ruling on the illegality of the move, creating lawlessness in Poland, Michal Laskowski, the Supreme Court spokesman said.

US intelligence intercepts of the emails, texts, and phone calls of Ivan Savvidis, a Greek-Russian billionaire in Greece exposed Russian plans to pay protesters and football hooligans earlier this year to stir trouble on the Macedonia name deal, the New York Times reports. Greece expelled two Russian diplomats after the US tip-off in July and complained publicly to Moscow. Russia opposes Macedonia's entry into Nato under its new name.

Just three months after Belgium finished the World Cup tournament in Russia as the world's third best team, a massive corruption scandal including hiding commissions on transfers from tax authorities has shaken Belgian football. On Wednesday clubs in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia were searched, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office. Operations outside Belgium were coordinated by Eurojust, the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit.

Greece's right-wing defence minister Panos Kammenos has proposed the United States increase bilateral security cooperation with Greece, by establishing three more permanent US bases in the country. "It is very important for Greece that the United States deploy military assets in Greece on a more permanent basis not only in Souda Bay but also in Larissa, in Volos, in Alexandroupoli," he told US defence secretary Jim Mattis in Pentagon.

German chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, faces historic losses in regional elections on Sunday (14 October), with just 32.9 percent support, according to a Spiegel Online poll Thursday. The CSU won 47.7 percent at the last election in 2013. The Greens have risen to 18.5 percent. The hard-right AfD is third with 12.8 percent while 11 percent intend to vote for the social democrat SPD.

Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday (10 October) in favour of increasing the EU’s Paris Agreement emissions pledge by 2020. They also urged the European Commission to make sure its long-term climate strategy models net-zero emissions for 2050 "at the latest".

The looming decision on whether to close the prestigious Central European University (CEU), a symbol of the resistance in Hungary, is bringing together the opposition to forge an innovative plan to end the ‘Orbánian’ state, EURACTIV.com reports from Budapest.

The European Fiscal Board complained on Wednesday (10 October) that member states had failed to use strong economic growth to reduce their public debt, and called for a major change of EU fiscal rules to ensure better enforcement by the European Commission.

The harassment I saw of Western Sahara human rights defenders will not make it into the official report.

Finland's EU commissioner, Jyrki Katainen told EUobserver in February his cabinet members "always" takes notes when he meets lobbyists. They did not on at least seven occasions, when talking about artificial intelligence.

Frans Timmermans confirmed on Wednesday (10 October) that he wants to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission next year, dismissing concerns that he has made too many enemies to stand a fighting chance of succeeding his current boss.