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Analysis: Trump’s policies set to widen EU-US innovation gap

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Analysis: Trump’s policies set to widen EU-US innovation gap

As the curtain falls on 2025, policymakers in Brussels have yet to decisively counter the negative economic impacts of two major developments: the trade deal struck between the European Union and the United States this summer, and President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”, a mammoth piece of domestic legislation with global economic implications.

The EU’s slow progress toward improving relative business conditions at such a volatile moment has left investors frustrated and looking elsewhere.

According to a report published this week by the European Round Table for Industry, the leaders of the bloc’s industrial giants are “alarmed at the lack of urgency in delivering on Draghi and Letta’s bold reforms to restore the business case for investing in Europe.”

The report also points to a survey of CEOs conducted in October, which shows that only 55% expect to stick to their investment plans. Even worse, a mere 8% intend to invest more in Europe than they planned to six months prior, in contrast with the 38% who will either invest less than previously intended or have put decisions on hold.

And most tellingly, the US now attracts more investment than originally planned by 45% of respondents.

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The ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach

The Trump administration’s combination of supply-side economics and protectionism has converted the necessity of avoiding US tariffs into a massive financial incentive for foreign companies and multinationals to invest in the United States directly.

The Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed into law in July, formalised huge tax breaks and effectively guaranteed incentives to shift investments across the Atlantic. Namely, the 100% bonus depreciation for new machinery and factories, as well as the 100% immediate expensing of domestic research and development (R&D) costs, mitigating the expenses of moving production and innovation to the US.

Companies have until 1 January 2026 to finalize their decisions and collect retroactive benefits for capital deployed in 2025, but the conditions will remain the same next year.

To compound the EU’s growing inability to compete, the heavily criticised EU-US trade deal was agreed in the same month. The agreement de-escalated the transatlantic trade war of 2025 but it levied a 15% tariff on the vast majority of the EU’s industrial exports to the US, with an exemption from duties for most US-made goods bound for the EU market.

In addition, the EU committed to spending over €640 billion in US energy, investing more than €500 billion in the US economy and buying around €35 billion worth of US-made AI chips, until the end of President Trump’s mandate. Meanwhile, the United States made no similar pledges.

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As for corporations, the choice became simple: relocate investment to the US, avoid the tariff and claim massive tax deductions.

The innovation gap in numbers

The R&D siphon is the most critical threat to Europe’s future competitiveness, as the Trump administration’s new incentives pull core innovation to the US.

In the most innovative industries, such as the AI and healthcare sectors, the numbers for 2025 already demonstrate the chasm between the EU and the US.

In the first three quarters of this year, private investment flowing into US AI companies exceeded €100 billion, with the US capturing over 80% of global AI funding. In contrast, the entire EU attracted just shy of €7 billion, according to the widely read State of AI Report 2025.

This severe 15-to-1 funding deficit means the technological future is being built and scaled primarily outside the EU, something that has been recognised by the European Parliament.

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Likewise, the EU is aiming to achieve 20% market share in semiconductor manufacturing by 2030, as outlined in the Chips Act, but experts say such a goal is unlikely given that Europe is among the slowest growers in the sector year-on-year.

Furthermore, the EU is even falling behind on AI adoption among young users, according to a new survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

As for the pharmaceutical industry, CEOs sent a stark warning to President von der Leyen back in April that “unless Europe delivers rapid, radical policy change then pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing is increasingly likely to be directed towards the US.”

In the following weeks, fuelled by the fear of the ongoing transatlantic trade war at the time and frustration with the European regulatory scene, the third largest company in Europe by market capitalization, the Swiss-based Roche, committed over €40 billion in US investment over the next five years. Likewise, the French multinational Sanofi announced an investment of €17 billion to expand manufacturing in the US through 2030.

In July, as the Big Beautiful Bill and the EU-US trade deal were being agreed, the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca also declared investing over €40 billion in the US over the next five years, including the construction of a chronic disease research centre in the state of Virginia, the company’s largest single investment in a facility to date.

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In November, the White House announced a large-scale agreement between two pharmaceutical rivals, the American manufacturer Eli Lilly, and the Danish corporation Novo Nordisk, known for pioneering the prescription drug for type 2 diabetes, Ozempic, which has also been widely used off-label for weight loss.

The two companies agreed a strategy to reduce the prices of several medications for Americans and announced new investments in the US, with Novo Nordisk committing roughly €8.5 billion to expand US manufacturing capacity. In exchange, the Danish company is expected to receive a three-year exemption from US tariffs, among other benefits.

In total, the European pharmaceutical industry has pledged more than €100 billion for US expansion in 2025 alone with multi-year commitments.

The scramble to deregulate

The pressure applied by the US is evident as this year has seen the European Commission pivot to an aggressive deregulation agenda.

In response to a request from the European Council, six simplification proposals, referred to as “omnibuses”, have been presented since February covering energy, finance, agriculture, technology, defence and chemicals.

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Notably, the so-called Digital Omnibus was introduced in November, and it includes delays to provisions of the AI Act and modifications to the GDPR.

These initiatives aim to rapidly cut red tape and reduce bureaucratic costs for European businesses in an attempt to stem the outflow of talent and capital. However, the proposed measures are still facing legislative scrutiny, as well as administrative oversight and political backlash from privacy and climate advocates, among others.

It was only this week that an agreement was finally reached on the first omnibus, another sign that the EU is still far from offering the immediate financial certainty of minimising or avoiding US tariffs while benefiting from President Trump’s policies where possible.

The numbers reveal the plain economic truth: while the EU debates the fine print of deregulation, the investment in innovation is already being decisively relocated.

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Netflix Unveils Turkish Slate, Headlined by Series Adaptation of Nobel Prize-Winning Author Orhan Pamuk’s ‘The Museum of Innocence’

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Netflix Unveils Turkish Slate, Headlined by Series Adaptation of Nobel Prize-Winning Author Orhan Pamuk’s ‘The Museum of Innocence’

Netflix has unveiled its Turkish production slate for 2026, which is headlined by a hotly anticipated series adaptation of Turkish Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk acclaimed book “The Museum Of Innocence” and several other high-end shows with international reach.

The previously announced nine-episode “Museum of Innocence” series – that will drop on Netflix Feb. 13 – starts out in 1970’s Istanbul where a wealthy man named Kemal becomes romantically obsessed with his poor and distant young relative, a shopgirl named Füsun. Their romance unfolds over a decade against the backdrop of the changing city, after which he spends the rest of his life creating a museum in her memory that contains “his beloved’s earrings, her hair clips, and even her discarded cigarette butts,” as the synopsis puts it.

Directed by Zeynep Günay, “Museum of Innocence” is written by Ertan Kurtulan and produced by Turkish TV Powerhouse Ay Yapım known for International Emmy-winning series “Endless Love,” and also “Fatmagul,” “Ezel” and “Forbidden Love,” among other global hit series.

Other standout titles in Netflix’s new Turkish that have not been previously announced comprise:

— “Seni Tanıyorum,” a series written by Tuğba Doğan (“Hepimiz Birimiz Için”), directed by Mert Baykal (“Hot Skull”) and produced by Bonbon Studios. “After taking a break from painting following childbirth, Funda finds the nanny she has been searching for,” reads the synopsis. “But the mystery and unsettling nature of Nazlı begins to change the lives of Funda and her husband İlker forever. What starts as a simple encounter turns into a long-running game in which each of them is tested in their loyalty and desires.”

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— “Sonra Gözler Görür,” a series penned by Ece Yörenç (“Fallen Leaves,” “Forbidden Love”), directed by  Bertan Başaran (“Shahmaran”) and produced by Ay Yapim. “A quiet coastal town is shaken by the mysterious death of a young girl. When a renowned journalist returns to the place she grew up years later to investigate the case, her search uncovers not only a killer, but long-buried secrets and the truth about her own past,” the synopsis says.

New upcoming 2026 instalments of popular pre-existing Netflix Turkey originals shows include fresh seasons of “Ethos,” “Money Trap,” “Thank You, Next,” “Another Self” and Graveyard.”

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Iran accused of sex assaults on teenage prisoners, while families charged to recover remains of loved ones

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Iran accused of sex assaults on teenage prisoners, while families charged to recover remains of loved ones

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Reports have emerged from eyewitnesses in Iran alleging sexual assaults on teenagers held in custody, as well as authorities forcing families of those protesters killed to pay as much as 10 billion rials to recover their bodies.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) also told Fox News Digital Wednesday that the “barbarity continues” across the nation, with prison detainees allegedly being killed and their bodies burned.

The reports came as Iran’s government claimed it had successfully crushed weeks of unrest that swept the country.

Beginning Dec. 28, the protests erupted amid deep public anger over political repression, economic hardship and state violence before rapidly expanding nationwide.

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LINDSEY GRAHAM SPEAKS AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF 26-YEAR-OLD IRANIAN PROTESTER: ‘THIS REGIME MUST FALL’

Iranian demonstrators gather in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value, in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2026.  (Stringer/WANA/Reuters)

“The sedition is over now,” Iran’s prosecutor general Mohammad Movahedi said, according to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency.

“And we must be grateful, as always, to the people who extinguished this sedition by being in the field in a timely manner,” he added, according to the New York Times.

The regime’s claims emerged on day 25 of the protests with the number of confirmed fatalities reaching 4,902, and the number of deaths still under review standing at 9,387.  

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The total number of arrests has risen to 26,541, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.

IRAN STATE TV HACKED TO SHOW EXILED CROWN PRINCE PAHLAVI

Demonstrators burn a poster depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, in Holon, Israel Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026.  (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) also said it received information indicating that some families were forced to pay sums of up to 10 billion rials to recover the bodies of their relatives.

In many cases, funeral ceremonies were held under heavy security control in the hometowns of those killed. 

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Some families were reportedly subjected to threats and pressure to falsely attribute responsibility for the killings to protesters.

KHRN further said that two protesters, including a 16-year-old, said they were sexually assaulted by Iranian security forces who detained them in Kermanshah, according to reports.

G7 THREATENS IRAN WITH NEW SANCTIONS OVER NATIONWIDE PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLING THOUSANDS

Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)

Meanwhile, NCRI’s Ali Safavi said eyewitnesses reported that “several young women and men were forced to undress, so the military could see whether they had pellet wounds.”

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“There has been barbarity with people who were detained. When they were killed, their bodies were burned,” he added.

Safavi also said clashes continued in multiple cities Tuesday night, including “Kermanshah where protesters and armed units of the IRGC fought in parts of the city.”

“There was the same in Rasht and Mashhad where the people and the regime will not return to the status quo even if the uprisings have slowed down. This is because of the blood of thousands of martyrs on their hands.”

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“The regime is still in power, and it won’t abandon brutal and bloody suppression so there is no pathway to a velvet revolution in Iran.”

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“The shoes and sneakers seen left along the sidewalks remind us of the 30,000 MEK members and Iranian prisoners who were hanged during the 1988 massacre based on a fatwa by Khomeini,” Safavi added.

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French firm Lactalis latest to recall baby formula amid contamination scare

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French firm Lactalis latest to recall baby formula amid contamination scare

French, Swiss food giants Danone and Nestle have also recalled infant formula batches in recent weeks over toxin fears.

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French dairy product giant Lactalis has announced a recall of batches of infant formula in France and more than a dozen other countries over worries batches have been contaminated by a toxin.

The announcement on Wednesday follows the recall of infant formula by Swiss dairy corporation Nestle in almost 60 countries since the beginning of the month.

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Lactalis “is proceeding with a voluntary recall of six batches of Picot infant milk, available in pharmacies and mass retail, due to the presence of cereulide in an ingredient supplied by a supplier”, the company said, referring to the toxin that can cause diarrhoea and vomiting.

“We are fully aware that this information may cause concern among parents of young children,” the company said.

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Outside France, the recall affects Australia, Chile, China, Colombia, the Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Peru, Georgia, Greece, Kuwait, the Czech Republic and Taiwan, a spokesperson for the company told the AFP news agency.

The recall involves “a few batches” of formula in each of the countries, the spokesperson said.

The company said the French authorities had not signalled “any claim nor any report related to the consumption of these products”.

The infant formula industry has been rocked by recalls in recent weeks.

Authorities in Singapore on Saturday recalled Dumex baby formula, a brand owned by French food giant Danone, as well as batches of Nestle formula.

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The ‍ Singapore Food Agency said it ordered the precautionary recall of a batch of Danone’s Thai-origin Dumex Dulac 1 and Nestle’s Swiss-origin NAN HA1 SupremePro after detecting cereulide.

Danone said the authorities blocked just “a few pallets” of Dumex, indicating they were not yet on the shelves of retail outlets.

Like Lactalis, Nestle has issued recalls since January due to the potential presence of cereulide, a bacterial substance that can cause sickness.

Nestle France said it was carrying out a “preventive and voluntary recall” of certain batches of its Guigoz and Nidal infant formulas after new investigations showed the potential presence of cereulide.

French health authorities said on Tuesday an investigation was under way after the death of a baby who had consumed milk from one of the batches recalled by Nestle, though no link has been established between its consumption and the death at this stage.

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In 2018, Lactalis was at the centre of a salmonella outbreak and ensuing scandal after the company was accused of trying to cover up the extent of the outbreak, which led to the recall of 12 million tins of baby formula from more than 80 countries.

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