Euobserver.com

US president Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday imposed new sanctions against Russia, escalating US diplomatic pressure on Moscow. The treasury department blacklisted several firms and individuals accusing them of violating bans on energy trade with North Korea and breaking US laws against cooperation with Russia's intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service. US lawmakers want even tougher measures. The UK on Monday also called for tougher sanctions against Moscow.

Italy's far-right interior minister was happy to use EU funds to escort the Aquarius rescue boat to Spain, while boasting he was "closing down the ports" to migrants.

Brexit chief negotiators on both sides pledged to talk non-stop in the final push to find a divorce deal, particularly an agreement to the Irish border conundrum.

The European Commission said Tuesday that "efforts are ongoing" with regards to Italy's request to find member states that would be willing to host the 177 migrants aboard an Italian coast guard vessel that rescued them last week. Italy's government on Monday allowed the ship to dock in Catania after a row with Malta. Italy said the migrants will be kept on the ship until the EU finds a solution.

Italy will allow its coast guard ship carrying 177 migrants rescued five days ago to dock in Sicily, Italy's transport minister Danilo Toninelli said on Monday, ending a standoff with Malta over where the ship should go. The European Commission said it was in talks with member states to distribute the migrants after a request was made by Italy. "Now Europe must swiftly play its part," Toninelli tweeted.

French energy giant Total has quit its multi-billion euro gas project in Iran after the US has reimposed sanctions when president Donald Trump walked away from a nuclear arms control deal earlier this year. The pullout came as Iran said on Monday that Europe should speed up its efforts to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and other powers, including Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia.

British foreign minister's call for tougher Russia measures risks falling on deaf ears as UK prepares to leave the EU and US leader continues to bash Europe.

US president Donald Trump accused the EU and China of manipulating their currencies amid a wider trade dispute with both economies, who are the US's largest trading partners. "I think China's manipulating their currency, absolutely. And I think the euro is being manipulated also," Trump told Reuters without providing evidence. This is the first time since 1994 that the US has officially accused another country of currency manipulation.

Cases of measles have hit a record high in Europe this year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with more than 41,000 people infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths. Last year 23,927 cases were reported and the year before only 5,273. The WHO said that some 23,000 cases occurred in Ukraine, which is struggling to govern effectively while fighting off Russia's covert warfare.

Swedish anti-immigration politician, Hanif Bali, who is himself an immigrant, may have taken inspiration from US president Donald Trump when declaring war against Swedish media. "Hanif & DN at war" an Instagram poster said showing the conservative member of parliament with guns. Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN) on Sunday decided to offer election coverage for free to support democracy, while Bali later removed the poster.

Sweden is paying the price for 20 years of "very unsuccessful integration policies", conservative opposition leader Ulf Kristersson has told the Financial Times. A recent wave of shootings and arson attacks are as serious as the country's 1990s' financial crisis, he said. Survey's poll Kristersson's party, the Moderates, as third biggest ahead of elections on 9 September, behind the the ruling Social Democrats and the fast growing anti-migrant Sweden Democrats.

The launch of a satellite with a wind-mapping laser, showcasing European innovation, has been 16 years in the making.

EU commission says Greece to be treated like any other eurozone member after it exits its almost decade-old financial rescue programme.

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, threatened on Sunday to send "back to Libya" nearly 180 people picked up by Italian coastguard ship Diciotti. "Either Europe decides to seriously offer Italy some concrete help ... or we will be forced to do what will definitively end the human traffickers' business. That means taking the people saved in the sea back to Libya," Salvini said in a statement.

Maltese Christian Democrat MEP David Casa has come under fire for employing his uncle and his brother-in-law as local assistants on the European Parliament payroll. Speaking to Malta Today newspaper, Casa denied any breach of the rules banning the hire of close relatives, such as spouses, partners, parents, children, brothers, or sisters. He threatened to "take all necessary action permitted by law" should the newspaper publish the story.

"European values, such as freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights, are at the heart of the EU and are not subject to negotiations," Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas told a newspaper ahead of his visit to Poland on Monday. Maas will discuss a range of issues, including the rule of law, where the European Commission says Poland has diverged from EU values and rules.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has joined forces with Germany against the US over a new gas pipeline in a symbolic reversal of the prior Western alliance against Russia's aggressive behaviour.

About 840 French bridges are at risk of collapsing, an audit commissioned by the government has warned. A third of the country's 12,000 state-maintained bridges need repairs and 7 percent - or about 840 - bridges are so badly damaged they are at "risk of collapse". The names of bridges were not mentioned in the report. Last week a bridge collapsed in Genoa in neighbouring Italy killing 43 people.

Julian Dunkerton, who co-founded the Superdry fashion label, has donated £1m to the People's Vote campaign hoping for a second EU referendum. He wrote in the Sunday Times that Brexit will be a "disaster" and that there is a "genuine chance to turn this around." The latest opinion polls show 53 percent of voters now want to remain in the EU, versus 47 percent wanting to leave.

Germany could give financial assistance to Turkey during its economic crisis, Andrea Nahles, of the German Social Democrats (SPD) said on Sunday. "A situation might arise where Germany needs to help Turkey, regardless of political tensions with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan," she said. Germany, the second biggest foreign investor in Turkey, has urged Ankara to accept an IMF aid program amid its lira crisis.