Most of the new projects will be focused on materials essential for electric vehicle batteries

International news via Reuters:

The European Commission on Wednesday announced 13 new raw material projects outside the bloc to increase its supplies of metals and minerals essential for it to stay competitive in the energy transition as well as defence and aerospace. 

The EU’s announcement follows China’s decision in April to impose export curbs on rare earth magnets until new licences are obtained, leaving diplomats, carmakers and other executives from Europe and elsewhere scrambling to secure meetings with Beijing officials and avert factory shutdowns.

China controls more than 90% of global processing capacity for the magnets, used in everything from vehicles and fighter jets to home appliances. Beijing is also the main supplier of many key inputs for renewable energy, especially rare earths, batteries and solar panels, a situation Brussels is keen to change. 

The EU list is part of the implementation of the Critical Raw Material Act agreed in 2023 under which the bloc aims to mine 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of its needs by 2030.

Most of the new projects will be focused on materials essential for electric vehicle batteries and battery storage including lithium, cobalt, manganese and graphite. Two projects for rare earths are located in Malawi and South Africa. Rare earths are used to produce magnets in wind turbines. 

The projects are located in Britain, Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Serbia, Ukraine, Zambia, Brazil and the French territory of New Caledonia. 

The British project is to extract tungsten and the ones in Ukraine and Greenland will be for graphite, with the project in Greenland run by GreenRoc Strategic Materials. 

Greenland has been a point of tension between Brussels and Washington this year after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly said he wanted to acquire the Danish overseas territory.

U.S. officials have discussed a plan to pull Greenland into America’s sphere of influence with a type of agreement called COFA that the United States has used to maintain close ties with several Pacific Island nations. Under COFA, the U.S. government offers essential services and in exchange, the U.S. military operates freely while trade with the U.S. is largely duty-free.

The EU has estimated that the projects would need an overall capital investment of 5.5 billion euros ($6.27 billion) to get off the ground. They would receive coordinated financial support and buyer interest from the Commission, member states and lenders. 

The new list brings the total number of strategic projects to 60. In March, the Commission announced 47 projects within the EU. 

Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Kate Mayberry

The company said it had further enhanced the protection of its systems and data

International news via Reuters:

Cartier, the luxury jewellery company owned by Richemont, had its website hacked and some client data stolen, it told customers, according to an email seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The attack is the latest case of a company being targeted by cyber criminals, with several retailers including Marks & Spencer and Victoria’s Secret disclosing similar incidents.

Cartier, whose watches, necklaces and bracelets have been worn by Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama, said “an unauthorised party gained temporary access to our system.”

“Limited client information”, such as names, e-mail addresses and countries, had been obtained, Cartier said in the email. “The affected information did not include any passwords, credit card details or other banking information,” it said, noting it had since contained the issue.

The company said it had further enhanced the protection of its systems and data, as well as informed the relevant authorities, and was also working with “leading external cybersecurity experts.”

Cartier did not respond to a request for comment.

Julius Cerniauskas, CEO of web intelligence firm Oxylabs, said the breach showed no brand is safe from cybercrime.

“Attackers are becoming more opportunistic and sophisticated, targeting brands that hold valuable customer data, not just credit card numbers,” he said.

U.S. lingerie company Victoria’s Secret on Tuesday disclosed that a security incident relating to its information technology systems had forced it to temporarily shut down its website for a few days last week.

Victoria’s Secret said the breach did not impact its financial results for the first quarter or cause a material disruption to its operations, but warned that its second quarter could be hit by the additional expenses incurred following the incident.

British retailer Marks & Spencer said last month a “highly sophisticated and targeted” cyberattack in April will cost it about 300 million pounds ($405 million) in lost profits.

Fashion brand The North Face, owned by VF Corporation, has also emailed some customers, saying it discovered a “small-scale” attack in April this year.

The company told customers the hackers used “credential stuffing”, trying usernames and passwords stolen from another data breach in the hope customers have reused the credentials across multiple accounts, the BBC said on Tuesday.

VF Corp did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

London department store Harrods also said last month hackers had attempted to break into its systems, following incidents at Marks & Spencer, and the Co-op Group.

($1 = 0.7406 pounds)

Reporting by John RevillEditing by Tomasz Janowski