European Union

Individuals born in the US automatically receive US citizenship. Just days before the midterm elections, President Trump has announced that he wants to abolish the so-called natural-born-citizens clause. But to do so he'll require a two-thirds majority in Congress, which seems unlikely. For that reason commentators don't believe that Trump will be able to execute his plan.

Journalists are still preoccupied with the election victory of the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil's presidential elections. They fear that other countries could be infected by this development in the Latin American country and explain why Europe should also be concerned.

Austria will follow the United States and Hungary in backing out of a United Nations pact on migration over concerns that it will blur the line between legal and illegal migration, the right-wing government told media on Wednesday (31 October).

Foreign aid groups are being forced out of Pakistan, where the need for their services remains immense, in a move analysts say is fuelled by suspicions of foreign spying.

The future employment rights of the 3.6m EU nationals living in the UK have been plunged into uncertainty by a British minister.

Poland and the Netherlands are working together to strengthen the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that apocalyptic visions of the 1960s stay in the past, write the two countries' foreign ministers.

Following the US and Hungary, Austria has decided not to sign a global UN treaty on migration agreed last July, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported Wednesday. "We have decided that we will not join the pact," said Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz. ORF said Austria will be absent at the December signing ceremony in Morroco. Austria currently holds the rotating EU presidency and is in charge of finding compromises on migration legislation.

Members of the House of Commons EU scrutiny committee said on Tuesday they expected UK citizens will not be able to benefit from the EU-wide abolition of roaming fees after Brexit: "It is probable that mobile roaming charges - abolished on an intra-EU basis - will return, and that, even where they do not, increased wholesale roaming costs incurred by UK providers may be passed on to UK consumers indirectly."

Denmark wants the EU to consider new sanctions on Iran for its supposed attempt to assassinate Iranian activists in Denmark. It recalled its ambassador from Tehran on Tuesday. "Denmark can in no way accept that people with ties to Iran's intelligence service plot attacks against people in Denmark," foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said. Prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the alleged murder attempt was "totally unacceptable". Iran denies the allegations.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday her stepping down as leader of her CDU party will not weaken her on the world stage. "I don't believe that anything will change about the negotiating position in international negotiations - one can even say I have more time to concentrate on my tasks as the head of government," she said. Dutch PM Mark Rutte agreed, saying: "I would not underestimate her."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged on Tuesday (30 November) a new development fund to tackle unemployment in Africa, a problem spurring the mass migration that has shaped her long premiership as it nears its end.

The construction sector can cut polluting emissions up to 80% by applying efficiency measures along the whole value chain, according to new research. If combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, emissions could even be brought down to zero by 2050, they argue.