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US sanctions are causing food and medical shortages in Iran, its ambassador to the EU writes, while the EU is doing little to help.

Serbia will have to dissolve its new free-trade pact with Russia's Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) when it joins the EU, the European Commission has said.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has condemned Russia for "multiple violations" against Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-fraud activist who died in pre-trial detention in 2009. The unanimous court decision, on Tuesday, including by a Russian judge, said Russian authorities deprived Magnitsky of medical care and failed to protect his life. They ordered Russia to pay €34,000 compensation to Magnitsky's wife and mother.

Britain would still have to honour all the financial obligations it made during its membership of the EU even if a 'no-deal' Brexit occurred, EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday. UK leader Boris Johnson has said that if Britain left without a deal, it would no longer legally owe the €43bn EU divorce bill. "There is no room for discussion on this," Moscovici said.

Following a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron, one of the world's largest container shipping companies, French CMA CGM, has announced it will not operate in the Arctic. "This is a bold choice for the preservation of the Arctic that has an essential role in regulating ocean currents and global climate patterns", CEO Rodolphe Saade announced. Chinese COSCO and Danish Maersk have both conducted trips in the Arctic area.

The ruling 5-Star Movement (5MS) and opposition Democratic Party (PD) were on the verge of agreeing a new Italian government coalition on Monday night after the PD indicated it had abandoned a veto on Giuseppe Conte serving another term as prime minister, Reuters reported. Conte resigned last week after the collapse of a 14-month coalition between 5MS and the far-right League party. The deadline to avoid snap elections is Wednesday.

German far-right extremists had planned to hunt and attack migrants and foreign-looking individuals last year, according to a police report cited in several German media. The plans were made during the August 2018 demonstrations of neo-Nazis in Chemnitz, where a Syrian national had stabbed someone to death during a fight. The extremists explicitly used the word "hunt" or "jagd" in German in their planning for the racial hate attacks.

The Romanian coalition government of socialists (PSD) and liberals (Alde) no longer has a majority in parliament. Alde left the coalition of prime minister Viorica Dancila over a disagreement on putting forward one candidate for the Romanian presidency. Alde leader and former prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, hoped to be the only government candidate, but PSD put forward Dancila as his opponent. Dancila is now looking for an alternative coalition.

French president Emmanuel Macron said after the G7 summit in France on Monday he "hopes" a "summit between [Iranian] president [Hassan] Rouhani and [US] president [Donald] Trump" was possible "in [the] coming weeks" to resolve the Iran crisis. Trump echoed his words, saying: "I have a good feeling" about a new US-Iran deal. The US earlier abandoned an EU-backed Iran nuclear arms control treaty, escalating tension in the Gulf.

Merkel wants a US-EU trade deal as soon as possible, she said, amid potential US tariffs on the car industry, a vital German sector in hard times.

Brasil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has rejected French-led aid proposals to put out Amazon fires and insulted the French president's wife on social media. France and Ireland had "overreacted" in saying the EU should block a free-trade deal with Mercosur, a South American bloc, Brasil also said. Germany has spoken out against Mercosur vetoes, but Finland has proposed banning Brazilian beef, amid tanking popularity at home for Bolsonaro himself.

With 24 out of 28 EU countries having declared candidates, the next European Commission is taking shape and the selection process is under way.

Serbia is to sign a free-trade pact with the Russian-led Eurasian Union bloc, Russia's ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, said on Monday after meeting Serb president Aleksandar Vucic, the Associated Press reports. The accord, to be signed on 25 October, will "give new quality to future cooperation", Botsan-Kharchenko said. The move could complicate Serbia's EU accession bid, which entails Serbia aligning itself with EU trade and foreign policy instead.

The EU has little to lose and much to gain from such a move, not least to demonstrate moral leadership on an issue of global concern.

The Five Star Movement (M5S) and the Democratic Party (PD) are almost ready to form a new government in Italy, but cannot agree on who should be the new prime minister. The PD first refused current prime minister Giuseppe Conte, but now says "'yes' to Conte, but without Di Maio". Luigi Di Maio is currently deputy prime minister and M5S leader. The presidential deadline for an agreement is Tuesday.

At the end of June 2019, there were 439,039 asylum seeker applications in the EU awaiting a decision in the first instance - an increase compared to a year ago, according to figures from the European Asylum Support Office. An equal number of cases were also pending an appeal. The rejection rate for asylum requests in Europe has risen from 37 percent in 2016 to 64 percent in 2019.

US president Donald Trump promised a "quick" free-trade agreement with the UK after Brexit at the G7 summit, saying the UK quitting the EU would be like getting rid of an "an anchor round the ankle". As a member of the EU, the UK cannot conclude trade deals with other countries on its own, but it has provisionally agreed 13 different deals that should apply post-Brexit.

UK leader Boris Johnson said at the G7 summit that Britain could "easily cope" with a no-deal Brexit, adding that the £39bn [€43bn] Brexit settlement previously agreed by his country would not "strictly speaking" be owed to Brussels if there was no exit accord. He added that the prospect of a Brexit deal was "improving", but EU officials said it was up to Britain to solve the Irish border issue.

Western leaders could not agree whether to drop Russia sanctions or how to handle Iran and Brazil at the G7 summit in France.

Belgium's outgoing government has nominated its foreign minister, Didier Reynders, to join the European Commission, complicating government talks.