
EU Envoy Flags Concern With Beijing-Moscow Axis, Pushes Defence Pact with Australia
China's military build-up is not just a regional concern, the EU's top envoy in Australia has cautioned, citing Europe's deepening worries about Beijing's cooperation with Moscow.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on June 11, European Union Ambassador Gabriele Visentin said the continent was worried the alignment between China and Russia would threaten global stability.

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EU names special envoy for Ukrainian refugees, POLITICO reports
Ylva Johansson, former European Commissioner for Home Affairs, will serve as the European Union's new special envoy for Ukrainians in the bloc, POLITICO reported on June 12. According to anonymous officials that spoke to POLITICO, Johansson will fill the newly created post, overseeing the Commission's long-term strategy for Ukrainian refugees currently residing in the European Union. Johansson, a former Swedish minister and European Commission official, previously visited Ukraine on several occasions, including a refugee camp on the border with Romania. She received the Ukrainian order of merit in September 2024. As special envoy, Johansson will be responsible for EU initiatives focused on helping Ukrainian refugees transition into permanent legal statuses or return home. As part of these initiatives, the EU will launch "unity hubs" – information centers jointly managed with the Ukrainian government. The hubs will support Ukrainian refugees to integrate with EU host countries or repatriate to Ukraine. Germany, which has has taken in more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees since the start of the full-scale invasion, recently committed to establishing unity hubs in Berlin. The unity hubs in Berlin will provide Ukrainians with access to educational and career opportunities both in Ukraine and Germany. The European Commission also recently extended temporary protection Ukrainian refugees who fled to the EU following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to Eurostat, 4.26 million Ukrainians currently hold temporary protection status in the EU as of April 2025. Read also: Germany to supply new Iris-T air defense systems to Ukraine, rules out Taurus missiles We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.


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Lead EU lawmaker on sustainability laws proposes more cuts
The European Union should further slash the number of companies subject to its environmental and corporate sustainability rules, the European Parliament member leading negotiations on the policies said on Thursday. The European Commission proposed a 'simplification omnibus' in February that it said would help European firms compete with foreign rivals by cutting back on sustainability reporting rules and obligations intended to root out abuses in their supply chains. Those proposals did not go far enough, according to Swedish centre-right lawmaker Jörgen Warborn, who has drafted amendments to scale back the laws further to only cover companies with 3,000 employees or more and over 450 million euros ($521 million) in turnover. The Commission proposal would exempt companies with fewer than 1,000 employees - already, cutting out more than 80 percent of the roughly 50,000 companies currently covered by the green reporting rules. The EU counts around 6,000 companies with more than 1,000 employees. 'Europe is falling behind the US and China in the global race for competitiveness. I'm entering this process with a clear ambition: to cut costs for businesses and go further than the Commission on simplification,' Warborn said in a statement on Thursday. His draft proposal must be negotiated in the European Parliament where other lawmakers can propose their own amendments. The Parliament will agree the final changes with EU member countries in the coming months. Warborn, a member of the centre-right European People's Party lawmaker group, is facing competing calls from some right-wing lawmakers to scrap the policies entirely, and Socialist and Green lawmakers vowing to preserve them. French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz have both demanded the EU scrap the supply chain law. But the walk-back on ESG rules has met resistance from some investors and campaigners, who have warned it weakens corporate accountability and hurts the bloc's ability to attract more investments towards meeting climate goals. Warborn said his proposed changes will not weaken Europe's sustainability standards, but rather free up resources that companies can instead invest in innovation. By Kate Abnett; Editor: Joe Bavier Learn more: Op-Ed | Dear Fashion CEOs, Stop Undermining Climate Action Too many brands have set ambitious emissions goals while their trade associations quietly work to block the regulations needed to achieve them, argues Maxine Bédat.
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Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' could ban states from regulating AI for a decade
President Donald Trump's massive bill package, dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' contains a proposal that could significantly waylay a burgeoning movement to regulate artificial intelligence on the state level. The ban is tucked into a section of the bill that would allocate $500 million over the next 10 years to modernize government systems with the help of AI and automation technologies. The ban would not only prevent new state-led regulations of AI but would also block dozens of states from enforcing preexisting AI regulations and oversight structures. The 1,000-plus-page legislation pushed forward by Republicans passed in the House by just one vote on May 22, sending it off to the Senate. Though Republicans hope to finalize the tax and policy bill by the end of July in order to avoid a debt default, it's still a ways off from becoming law, as the GOP navigates a slim majority amid party infighting over several key elements of the bill. Though misgivings center on Medicaid, tax cuts and government spending, a few high-profile Republican lawmakers have signaled the proposed AI regulation ban is also a point of friction. Trump's bill: Tax policy bill clears the House. Next up: An opinionated Senate Regulation of artificial intelligence is often likened to a wild west of sorts, as governments across the country and the globe race to keep up with the rapidly evolving technology. AI itself has proved to be an enticing tool for public and private organizations – so much so that adoption of the tech far outpaces many governments' ability to implement laws and frameworks meant to prevent misuse. As it stands, there is no centralized federal oversight of AI, leaving states to attempt to regulate the technology through an uneven patchwork of legislation. Under President Joe Biden's administration, the White House introduced a now-defunct blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, taking a cue from the European Union's similarly named document. It directed state agencies to evaluate current uses and potential impacts of AI, evaluate potential AI-fueled risks and encourage state employee training on the subject. In its place is a new Trump-led AI framework, prioritizing accelerating AI innovation. The Trump administration's stance on regulation so far largely aligns with that of companies and much of the tech industry, who argue that regulation would stymie innovation. Trump and AI: President signs executive order boosting AI in K-12 schools Many regulations target AI scams, deepfakes and AI-assisted disinformation, with increasing focus on other possible harms from the technology. While there are many opportunities for AI to create positive changes, policy and advocacy organizations like the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy (CITED) warn of the same possibilities for negative impacts, necessitating regulation in some areas. "Many commentators believe that AI could soon be used by state and non-state actors to develop dangerous weapons, increase surveillance, and magnify existing biases and discrimination in a variety of fields, from lending, to hiring, to policing," CITED says in a January 2024 report. The letter's signatories include Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Actors' Equity Association, Innocence Project and the National Union of Healthcare Workers, among others. Though Republicans largely expressed support for the provision in a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday, May 21, prominent Republican Republican Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee have recently pushed back on the ban. 'We certainly know that in Tennessee, we need those protections,' Blackburn said in a May 21 hearing on a bill to protect Americans from AI impersonations. 'And until we pass something that is federally preemptive, we can't call for a moratorium.' Hawley also pushed back on the proposed ban in a May 13 interview with Business Insider. 'I would think that, just as a matter of federalism, we'd want states to be able to try out different regimes that they think will work for their state,' Hawley said. 'And I think in general, on AI, I do think we need some sensible oversight that will protect people's liberties.' The argument against regulation is often one of innovation, with tech industry leaders and companies saying it could limit the technology and make the U.S. less competitive in the field. Others in support of the ban, such as Sean Heather, Senior Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, say states are moving too fast in regulating AI. "We should stop international patchworks and domestic patchworks in AI regulation," Heather said during the May 21 House subcommittee hearing. "We should not be in a rush to regulate. We need to get it right, therefore taking a time out to discuss it at a federal level is important to be able to support a moratorium." At least 45 states plus Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C., introduced AI bills in the 2024 legislative session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of those, over 30 states and territories passed legislation concerning AI, with Utah, Maryland and Florida passing regulatory and AI oversight acts. Across seven states and Puerto Rico, there are 16 AI regulation bills introduced last year still pending legislative approval, and more than a dozen new regulatory proposals introduced in statehouses across the country in 2025. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' could ban states from AI regulation