- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
EU faces subsidy race with US in trade spat
EU leaders met in Brussels on Thursday at a summit focusing on a trade dispute with key ally the United States that threatens to trigger a subsidy race between the economic superpowers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said a European response was needed "to maintain fair competition", one which "allows us to match what the Americans are doing".
The European bloc is unsettled by parts of a multi-billion-dollar US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that lavishes subsidies and tax cuts for US purchasers of electric vehicles -- if they "Buy American".
The European Commission sees that as discriminatory against European car manufacturers, a breach of World Trade Organization rules, and a threat to investment in Europe.
It is urging the EU leaders to sign off on a plan that would loosen state aid rules and boost public investment in cleaner energy.
Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a pre-summit letter to the leaders that the measures were needed because of the IRA provisions that "risk un-levelling the playing field and discriminating against European companies".
While Thursday's summit was also to examine Russia's continuing war in Ukraine, and the fall-out in Europe, von der Leyen's Vice President Margrethe Vestager warned: "We already have war in Europe. The last thing we need is a trade war on top."
Macron and the commission have tried to persuade US President Joe Biden to change the contentious parts of the IRA, to no avail apart from receiving promises of some "tweaks".
Biden and his administration believe the EU is free to come up with its own subsidy arrangement for electric vehicles -- a sector in which China has outsized advantages when it comes to batteries and rare-earth supplies.
There were some concerns among EU countries that the bloc's main car-exporting nation, Germany, might go it alone with its own subsidies, as it already did with measures on energy.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he and his counterparts "will talk about the competitiveness and future viability of our economy" in light of the US IRA.
- 'Delicate' ties -
European Council President Charles Michel, chairing the summit, said economic ties between the United States and the EU were in a "delicate" phase.
He acknowledged that Washington was a key ally for Brussels in many other areas, not least in Europe's efforts to "rebalance our economic relationship with China".
But he said there was now a need to "adapt" EU state aid rules and possibly come up with "new tools" to protect Europe's single market and trade.
The EU summit was also to study an internal dispute, between Austria and Bulgaria, over migrants.
Austria is blocking Bulgaria's bid to join the border check-free Schengen zone encompassing most EU members and a couple of neighbouring countries.
Vienna fears Bulgaria's inclusion would further spur irregular migration onto Austrian territory.
"We have more than 100,000 asylum applications in Austria, more than 75,000 of those who make these applications are not registered," Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said.
That "security problem" had to be solved before Bulgaria -- and the linked bid by Romania -- could be allowed into the Schengen club, he said.
"They are countries that should protect the external border," Nehammer said.
Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev said as he went into the summit that his country was "highly committed to secure our border" but needed EU help.
"We request Bulgaria to be treated as a solid country," he said. "Please don't leave us alone."
G.Machado--PC