European Union

The UK's ex-foreign minister Boris Johnson has said in a column commenting on Denmark's burqa ban that women wearing full-body veils looked like "letter boxes" and "bank robbers". In the text for the daily The Telegraph he spoke out against the ban but described the clothing as "absolutely ridiculous". Are these the words of a free thinker or a racist provocation?

US President Donald Trump has warned companies against trading with Iran in spite of the US sanctions. "Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States", Trump posted on Twitter. Commentators see his comment as an attack on the sovereignty of the US's European allies, and believe that in the end it is the US that will suffer most as a result of its newfound isolationism.

After the devastating fires which claimed more than 90 lives the Greek government has announced plans to have buildings that were constructed without permits torn down. In the village of Mati the fences and walls of such buildings had blocked the escape routes of people fleeing the fires. To begin with, over 3,200 buildings in the resorts around Athens are to be knocked down. The Greek press takes a sceptical view of the plan.

Left-wing student and civil rights movements came to a head in many countries 50 years ago. The so-called "68ers" championed democracy, social freedom, emancipation, the environment and other causes.

More than 40% of people in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) support the name deal reached between their government and Athens, according to a poll.

Paul Magnette, mayor of Charleroi and former minister-president of the Belgian Wallonia region, has been approached by the French Socialist Party to lead the socialist list in the European parliament elections in May 2019, reports Figaro. Magnette, who became famous for opposing the EU-Canada free trade agreement (Ceta) and threatening to derail it in the last minute, said he was "flattered" and would discuss the idea with his own party.

A team of Danish economists has put forward a case for one largely-overlooked driver of economic development in Europe: 80,000km of roadways built by the Roman empire nearly 2,000 years ago, according to the Washington Post. Their study shows how density of ancient Roman roads in Europe strongly correlates with present-day prosperity, as measured by modern-day road density, population density and satellite imagery of nighttime lighting.

"Thank God without human casualties, but it is nevertheless extremely regrettable", Estonia's president Jueri Ratas commented after a Spanish fighter jet accidentally fired an air-to-air missile over Estonia on Tuesday during a routine Nato training mission. Estonia's military is now searching the area around where it was fired, as it is potentially still armed, while the Spanish defence ministry has opened an investigation into the matter.

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay his first state visit to Germany since becoming president in 2014 on 28-29 September, the office of Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed on Tuesday. The programme includes a meeting between Erdogan and Steinmeier while a meeting with chancellor Angela Merkel was not confirmed. Relations between the two Nato countries are strained due to Turkey's crackdown on suspected opponents and detention of German citizens.

Users who publish content freely available on the internet should get consent from the person behind it, Europe's top court ruled on Tuesday (7 August) in a boost to the bloc's creative industries.