Euobserver.com

British overseas territory the Cayman Islands has been put on an EU tax-haven blacklist, just two weeks after the United Kingdom left the European Union.

Boris Johnson's special advisor, Dominic Cummings believes in hard deadlines, rapid transformations and visible delivery. Whether or not what he wants is possible, the EU should be sure that he will resist alignment to the end.

HSBC has said it will slash 35,000 jobs, around 15 percent of its workforce, over three years as part of a major shake-up, the Guardian reports. The bank - which operates in 64 countries - said there would be "meaningful job cuts...in the UK", mainly affecting its head office operations as well as its global banks and markets business, which are largely London-based.

The president of the Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said on Tuesday that he would launch an appeal to avoid cutting cohesion funds which "help make people's lives better in cities and regions," two days ahead of the special summit on the EU budget. "We are aware of the financial impact of Brexit, but the costs should not be placed on the shoulders of cities and regions," he warned.

In a press conference with London mayor Sadiq Khan, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt criticised the UK's Brexit negotiator, David Frost. "It's not a good thing that we continue to discuss the future relationship as if the UK and Europe are living on two different planets because the UK market and the EU market are so close to each other – physically, geographically," Verhofstadt said of Frost's tactics.

A Turkish court has acquitted nine activists accused of attempting to overthrow the government by organising mass protests in Istanbul's Gezi Park in 2013. According to the judge there was "not enough concrete evidence" against them. After the surprise verdict, people started applauding and cheering in the courtroom while others cried in disbelief. The case attracted criticism from various human rights organisations, plus the European Court of Human Rights.

The US has declined to rule out a land swap between Kosovo and Serbia - despite German opposition to the controversial idea.

EU ministers added eight businessmen and two entities to their Syria blacklist list Monday, bringing the total number to 277 and 77, respectively, in a sanctions regime that began in 2011. They also extended an arms embargo on Belarus for one more year and maintained sanctions on four former officials said to be involved in the vanishing of pro-democracy activists there 20 years ago.

EU states, such as Hungary or Poland, who backside on the rule of law could lose funds in future according to a compromise text agreed on Monday and seen by the Reuters news agency. "A general regime of conditionality will be introduced to tackle manifest generalised deficiencies in the good governance of Member State authorities as regards respect for the rule of law," the draft said.

Pegida supporters, including Bjorn Hocke of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), gathered for the group's 200th demonstration in the city Monday, Deutsche Welle writes. However, hundreds of anti-Pegida demonstrators also arrived in Neumarkt square, with posters bearing slogans such as "Red card for Nazis." Pegida held its first rally in Dresden in October 2014, calling for an end to the "Merkel dictatorship" and protesting against Islam and refugees.

Nobody liked the compromise proposal, which means it might work, budget commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Monday, as leaders prepare for long talks later this week.

Foreign ministers reached a political agreement to create a new EU naval force to replace Operation Sophia. It aims to enforce an UN arms embargo on Libya and operate in area where migrants do not take boats.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met on Monday three European commissioners in charge of digital policies - Thierry Breton, Margrethe Vestager and Vera Jourová - to discuss upcoming EU rules and the responsibilities of platforms regarding disinformation.

Luxembourg has stepped up efforts to coordinate an EU reaction to the risk Israel will annex Palestinian territories - but European recognition of Palestine remains a dim prospect.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is for chopping the European budget and its redistributive mechanisms. But each year, according to one economic analysis, the Netherlands get €7.1bn of additional revenues which should be payed in other tax jurisdictions.

The UK will not align its standards with those of the EU, the UK's chief negotiator, David Frost said at a Brussels university Monday. "To think that we might accept EU supervision on so-called level playing field issues simply fails to see the point of what we are doing," he said, even arguing that London might set higher standards, yet it does not want to make the bloc follow them.

European budget commissioner Johannes Hahn sold off in January his 2,200 shares in Austria's largest energy-provider Verbund, worth over €113,000 at the end of 2019. "Hahn mandated the deposit institution with the settlement of the securities in question and the respective deposit contracts were formally adapted and dissolved in January," said a Commission spokesperson on Monday. Hahn's head of cabinet met Verbund on 23 January to discuss climate policy.

Members of a German far-right group arrested last week had been plotting "shocking" major attacks on mosques, similar to the one carried out in New Zealand last year, a government spokesman said Monday. On Friday, German police arrested 12 men across the country allegedly planning several simultaneous mass-casualty attacks to spark a "civil war", the official was quoted as saying by AFP.

Germany's family minister, Franziska Giffey, has urged large national companies to have women on their directory boards, ahead of a possible legislation on gender-quotas in boardrooms, German broadcaster SWR reported on Monday. "Boys-only clubs are no longer appropriate nowadays and only seven percent of women in executive positions is much too little. It can't be a matter of competence. There are structural issues at play," she said.

No, ending anonymous shell companies does not threaten your privacy rights.