EUROPEAN UNION: The EU today announced a new drive to break its security dependency on the United States, with a focus on buying more military equipment in the EU rather than from suppliers across the Atlantic.

The EU’s executive branch unveiled its “Readiness 2030” security strategy, which says 65 per cent of the value of purchases must be in the EU, Norway or Ukraine. Britain and Turkey are excluded.

PAKISTAN: A leading rights group said today that Pakistan’s authorities have intensified pressure on Afghan refugees to go back to neighbouring Afghanistan, where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions.