European Union

The US central banking system, the Fed, has cut interest rates by 0.25 percent after raising them several times in recent years. Trump had harshly criticised the rate increases. Commentators ask whether Fed chief Jerome Powell is bowing to pressure.

A prohibition on face coverings in Dutch public buildings has been in force since August 1 - banning use of the burqa or the niqab. Those wearing such garments may no longer access schools, government offices, hospitals or public transportation. Observers hope the law will soon be history.

The Warsaw Uprising started on August 1, 1944 and lasted for 63 days, but was quashed in the end by German troops. 200,000 people lost their lives and much of the city was destroyed. Commentators praise the resistance fighters and their legacy, but point to shortcomings in the process of shouldering responsibility.

Although roughly three million hectares of forest are burning in Siberia, firefighting measures were initially undertaken in just three percent of the surface area. Smoke now hangs over many cities and clearly also poses a major threat to the global climate. The situation has prompted Putin to call in the Russian army to help tackle the fires. Russian commentators ask in dismay why this action was so long in coming.

A European Commission spokesman called on the US and Russia on Friday to further reduce their arsenals of nuclear weapons, after the US formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as of Friday. "Given the heightened tensions we must be careful not to enter the path of a new arms race that would offset the significant reductions achieved after the end of the Cold War," he said.

Austria's former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and leader of the conservative party is not excluding the idea of re-establishing a coalition with the country's far right, he said in an interview with the Austrian public broadcaster ORF. EURACTIV Germany reports.

As Greece has left behind the greatest economic downturn in modern history, it is required to achieve higher growth rates in the coming years so that economic growth can be sustainable, writes Dr George Patoulis, the regional governor of Attica in Greece.

A landmark agreement of Cold War-era arms control signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1987, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) banned a whole class of medium-range ground-launched nuclear-capable missiles of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.