- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Equity markets, yen rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
- Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts
- Zoom fatigue? Try some nature in your background: study
- Boeing to start large-scale furloughs with Seattle strike talks stalled
- Japan walkie-talkie maker says investigating after Lebanon blasts
- Slipper to become most-capped Wallaby in All Blacks clash
- Tokyo surges on weak yen as Asian traders cheer big US rate cut
- Vast France building project sunk by sea level rise fears
- UK campaigners in green energy standoff reject 'nimby' label
- Rainbow warriors: Three things to watch at cycling world championships
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of device blasts
- China's 'full-time dads' challenge patriarchal norms
- What we know about the fire 'pandemic' plaguing Brazil
- X says Brazil service restoration 'inadvertent' and 'temporary'
- Amazon drought leaves Colombian border town high and dry
- Some Cubans depend on sugar water as food shortages bite
- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
EU studies ways to rival vast new US subsidies on greener tech
EU leaders on Thursday tasked the European Commission with coming up with ways to vie with huge US subsidies on greener tech such as electric vehicles to protect the bloc's industrial base.
"We will come forward in January with a state aid proposal that is not only faster and simpler, but even more predictable," commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said after a summit.
The European bloc is unsettled by parts of the multi-billion-dollar US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which lavishes subsidies and tax cuts for US purchasers of electric vehicles -- if they "Buy American".
The bloc views the act as discriminatory against European car manufacturers, a breach of World Trade Organization rules, and a threat to investment in Europe.
To compete -- and keep big industrial companies on its shores -- many EU countries want rules around national subsidies loosened and public investment in cleaner energy boosted.
European companies "need subsidies in the same way as those in the United States, and of the same magnitude, if you want to avoid a fragmentation of the European market," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
The EU leaders, in their summit conclusion text, stressed the need to safeguard "Europe's economic, industrial and technological base and of preserving the global level playing field".
The commission's upcoming proposals, it said, should look at "mobilising all relevant national and EU tools as well as to improving framework conditions for investment, including through streamlined administrative procedures."
- Some unconvinced -
Some EU countries, though, were not convinced that a big-gun response was needed.
"Finland is not ready for new instruments," Prime Minister Sanna Marin said, adding that Europe needed to ensure that "we do not get into an unnecessary trade war with the US".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he believed the EU had a possibility of winning status like Canada within the United States' application of its subsidies -- despite it not being part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"In the next few weeks, we will have to agree on a fair framework with the US and then we will have to make regulations to defend our own industrial development," Scholz said.
Macron and the commission have tried to persuade US President Joe Biden to change the contentious parts of the IRA, to no avail apart from receiving promises of some "tweaks".
Biden and his administration believe the EU is free to come up with its own subsidy arrangement for electric vehicles -- a sector in which China has advantages when it comes to batteries and rare-earth supplies.
While positions were being worked out on that issue, the European Union on Thursday adopted a plan to sign a global minimum 15 percent tax on multinational businesses, after months of wrangling.
The landmark agreement between nearly 140 countries is intended to stop governments racing to cut taxes to lure the world's richest firms to their territory.
"Today the European Union has taken a crucial step towards tax fairness and social justice," EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said.
"Minimum taxation is key to addressing the challenges a globalised economy creates."
The plan was drawn up under the guidance of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and already had the backing of Washington and several major EU economies.
L.Mason--AMWN