EU'S TOP COURT KEEPS HAMAS ON TERROR LIST

The Wednesday decision overturns a 2014 ruling by the EU's second-highest court to remove Hamas from the blacklist. The EU first labeled Hamas a terror group in 2001, with the bloc freezing the faction's assets and imposing travel bans on its members. The Palestinian movement took power in Gaza in 2007 and has been in control ever since. Three years ago, the EU's General Court ruled that the European bloc did not have enough evidence to keep Hamas on the blacklist.

EU REFUGEE QUOTAS 'PROPORTIONATE,' EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IS TOLD

The obligatory relocation of asylum seekers within the bloc is a "proportionate" means of enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the migration crisis, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was told on Wednesday. The ECJ's Advocate General Yves Bot, who was tasked with advising judges on the case, recommended that a lawsuit brought by Hungary and Slovakia should be dismissed.

CATALAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT HURTS SPANISH ECONOMY, COMPANIES CLAIM

Spanish business leaders think Catalonia's push to split from Spain is negatively affecting the economy, even if the effects are not directly impacting their companies. The economy minister also warned of economc damage. Three out of four directors of Spanish companies believe that the Catalan movement for independence from Spain is proving detrimental to the national economy, a poll published in the Spanish Newspaper El Pais has revealed.

POLL SHOWS FRANCE NO LONGER SO SWEET ON EMMANUEL MACRON

Emmanuel Macron's approval rating slipped 10 points in a month to hit 54 percent, according to an Ifop poll published Sunday in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, which reported that not since Jacques Chirac in 1995 had a newly elected president lost so much ground in such a short time. Worse for Macron, a neoliberal who faced far-right leader Marine Le Pen in May's presidential runoff, just 47 percent of respondents classified their assessment of him as "rather satisfied," down from 54 percent in June, and only 7 percent said they were "very satisfied" - it was 10 percent last month.

BILLIONS OF TONS OF WASTE ARE CREATING A 'PLASTIC PLANET'

Industry has made more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic since 1950 and there's enough left over to bury Manhattan under more than two miles of trash, according to a new cradle-to-grave global study. Plastics don't break down like other man-made materials, so three-quarters of the stuff ends up as waste in landfills, littered on land and floating in oceans, lakes and rivers, according to the research reported in Wednesday's journal Science Advances.