EU officials said disagreements over language relating to “non-tariff barriers” are among the reasons for the hold-up of the statement

International News via Reuters:

The European Union is trying to prevent the United States from targeting the bloc’s digital rules as both sides work through the final details of a delayed statement to formalise a trade deal reached last month, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

EU officials said disagreements over language relating to “non-tariff barriers”, which the U.S. said include the digital rules, are among the reasons for the hold-up of the statement, the newspaper said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The European Union, the White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The statement had originally been expected days after the July announcement by EU President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to FT.

The July deal imposed a 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the initially threatened rate – and helped avert a broader trade war between the two allies, who together account for nearly a third of global trade.

The U.S. wanted to keep the door open for possible concessions on the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies, according to FT, which added that the commission has said that relaxing these rules is a red line.

The EU’s DSA is a landmark law meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

The commission had anticipated that Trump would sign an executive order by August 15 to cut tariffs on EU car exports to the U.S. from 27.5% to 15%. However, a U.S. official signaled that this would be delayed until the joint statement was finalized, according to FT.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Kim Coghill

Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years

International News via Reuters:

Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat on Friday as authorities warned of “unfavourable conditions” to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London.

Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years. And a nearly two-week heatwave and southerly winds were worsening the situation in Spain, Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, said on Friday.  

“In the western part of the country the situation is extremely worrying,” Barcones said on RTVE.

In Galicia, several fires converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.

As fire spread from Galicia’s Ourense province to neighbouring Zamora, provoking evacuations, some stayed behind to protect their homes.

“We are waiting for the fire to come down to try and stop it, so it does not get to the houses,” Loli Baz, 52, told Reuters from the village of Villanueva de la Sierra in Zamora.

Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in the north and west of the country, as temperatures are expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on the north coast.

“Today will be another very difficult day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.

FIRES SPREADING QUICKLY

A fire near Molezuelas de la Carballeda in the Castile and Leon region – one of the largest in Spain’s history – had not advanced since Thursday.

That wildfire had, at one point, been spreading by 4,000 hectares (15.4 square miles) per hour, said Eduardo Diego, national government representative for the region.

A fire near Badajoz in the Extremadura region, meanwhile, burned 2,500 hectares in a few hours before being brought under control.

“It was very fast with enormous growth, but it has been possible to tackle it,” Jose Luis Quintana, the national government representative for the region, told RTVE.

The fires caused the closure of more than half a dozen roads on a busy bank holiday weekend, leaving travelers stuck at the height of summer holidays.

In the town of Oimbra in Ourense province, where three firefighters were seriously injured, a man was arrested for causing a fire by using his tractor when it was prohibited, police said.

Two people were also arrested in Costa da Morte in Galicia for provoking fires by illegally burning copper cables to extract the metal, according to the Interior Ministry.

Wildfires have burned more than 157,000 hectares in Spain so far this year, almost double the annual average, according to the European Union’s Forest Fire Information Service.

In neighbouring Portugal, meanwhile, thousands of firefighters were battling five large blazes in central and northern parts of the country, with one fire in Trancoso, some 350 km northeast of Lisbon, now raging for six days.

Around 300 residents were evacuated on Friday from the village of Covanca near Piodao, an area of central Portugal popular with tourists, after a wildfire broke out on Wednesday.

Portugal has activated the EU mechanism for assistance and requested four Canadair planes, according to civil protection commander Mario Silvestre.

Reporting by Michale Gore, Charlie Devereux, Ana Cantero and Andrei Khalip; Editing by Toby Chopra and Joe Bavier

The hurricane was about 330 miles (530 km) east-southeast of Grand Turk Island packing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph)

International News via Reuters:

Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, has been downgraded to Category 3, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said early on Sunday, as the storm’s wind speed eased slightly.

The hurricane was about 330 miles (530 km) east-southeast of Grand Turk Island packing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph).

It had been gauged as high as a catastrophic Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (240 kph), then downgraded to a Category 4. It had earlier been forecast to strengthen into this week.

The meteorological services of France and the Netherlands discontinued tropical storm watches for St. Martin, St. Barthelemy and Sint Maarten, the NHC said.

On Sunday, Erin was moving west-northwest at nearly 14 mph (22 kph) with a decrease in forward speed expected on Sunday and a turn to the north on Monday and Tuesday, the NHC said.

Erin was forecast to pass to the east of the Turks and Caicos islands and the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday night and Monday.

Swells generated by Erin will continue to affect parts of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands for the next couple of days, the NHC said. These swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda, the east coast of the United States, and Atlantic Canada during the early and middle portions of the week.

Rough ocean conditions will likely cause life-threatening surf and rip currents, the NHC said.

The Bahamas, which provides some meteorological services for the Turks and Caicos Islands, issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the British islands to its southeast.

Erin has also raised concerns about wildfire risks if human-caused sparks ignite parched vegetation and strong dry winds fan the flames. BMS Group Senior Meteorologist Andrew Siffert said these conditions could arise if Erin grows into a powerful offshore storm fueled by colliding warm and cold air rather than tropical seas.

Insurance-linked securities manager Twelve Securis said on Friday that Erin was forecast to remain far enough offshore to spare the U.S. East Coast from significant impacts.

Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal, Preetika Parashuraman, Rajveer Singh Pardesi and Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru. Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Matthew Lewis, Cynthia Osterman, Sonali Paul and William Mallard

Thousands of Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job for the first time since 1985

International News via Reuters:

The Canadian government on Saturday moved to end a strike by Air Canada’s cabin crews and require binding arbitration to break their contract impasse, an action that the country’s largest carrier had sought but unionized flight attendants fiercely opposed.

Thousands of Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job for the first time since 1985, just before 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT), after months of negotiations over a new contract. In anticipation of the stoppage, the airline canceled nearly all of its 700 daily flights, forcing more than 100,000 travelers to scramble for alternatives or stay put.

The most contentious issue in the contract negotiations has been the union’s demand for compensation for time spent on the ground between flights and when helping passengers board. Attendants are now largely paid when their plane is moving.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said at a news conference she had asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration on both sides and order an immediate end to the strike. Still, she told reporters it may take 24 to 48 hours for the board to complete that work, while Air Canada has said restarting operations after a strike would take a week to complete.

“This is not a decision that I’ve taken lightly, but the potential for immediate negative impact on Canadians and our economy is simply too great,” Hajdu said.

Air Canada had asked Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government to make the request, but the Canadian Union of Public Employees said it wanted a negotiated solution, as binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline. 

The union said it has asked the CIRB’s chairperson to recuse herself from hearing the case in a virtual session on Saturday afternoon because she has worked in the past as a senior counsel at Air Canada. The carrier declined comment on Hajdu’s decision and hearing as the process is underway.

Hajdu said the government preferred negotiated settlements to labor disputes, but the current impasse showed the two sides would not find a solution soon enough to spare the economy further damage. 

She said Canada had already experienced “unprecedented attacks on trade,” referring to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on U.S.-bound shipments. 

Minutes after the announcement, the union blasted the government’s decision.

“The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted,” it said in a statement posted on X.

Henly Larden, an Air Canada flight attendant and a vice-president at CUPE, called the government’s move “incredibly disgusting.”

“Air Canada should come and join us in good faith and address the matters that really resonate with our members,” a visibly emotional Larden said in a shaken voice at Vancouver airport.

CUPE spokesperson Hugh Pouliot told Reuters that the strike will end only when the CIRB issues binding arbitration notice to the parties. The board is likely to grant the government’s request.

While passengers have generally voiced support for the flight attendants on social media, Canadian businesses – already reeling from a trade dispute with the U.S. – have urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration and cut short the strike.

“With both parties declaring an impasse in negotiations, with valuable cargo grounded and passengers stranded, the government made the right decision to refer the two sides to binding arbitration,” Matthew Holmes, chief of public policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

WAGE DISPUTE

While the most contentious topic was compensation for time spent on the ground, there was also disagreement over broader wage issues. The carrier had offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year, which CUPE said was insufficient. 

The union has said Air Canada offered to compensate flight attendants for some work that is now unpaid at 50% of their hourly rate.

A source close to the negotiations told Reuters the union was looking for parity on wages with Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat. Its flight attendants approved a contract last year that provided for total compounded increases of 30% over five years, making them the highest paid in the industry in Canada.

According to union data, a Transat flight attendant would start at an hourly rate of C$40.38 ($29.22), effective November 2025, compared with an entry level wage of C$26.42 at Air Canada’s low cost service Air Canada Rouge or around C$30 at the mainline carrier.

Air Canada did not confirm if such a proposal had been put forth by the union.

Earlier in the day outside Toronto Pearson International Airport – the country’s busiest – hundreds of cabin crew waved flags, banners and picket signs. Union officials called on members to assemble outside all of the country’s major airports, including in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Montreal-based Air Canada had said the suspended flights included those operated by Air Canada Rouge. Flights by Air Canada’s regional affiliates – Air Canada Jazz and PAL Airlines – were operating as usual.

Hajdu told reporters she had also asked the country’s industrial relations board to extend the terms of the existing collective agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator.

The Canada Labour Code gives the government the right to ask the industrial relations board to impose binding arbitration in the interests of protecting the economy. 

Under Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor, the government intervened quickly last year to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the economy.

($1 = 1.3819 Canadian dollars)

Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal, Kyaw Soe Oo in Toronto and Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Chris Helgren in Vancouver, Utkarsh Shetti and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Frank McGurty, Paul Simao and Chizu Nomiyama