IPTI’s usual monthly newsletter – the “President’s Message” – contains, inter alia, some summarised news articles from around the world. This IPTI publication – “Property Tax in the News” – contains some of the more interesting news articles concerning property taxes in North America and Europe which is where many of our members have a particular interest. Links to these and more, similarly summarised, articles – from North America, Europe and around the globe – can be found in...

Member States endorse EIB Group strategy to use its full potential and scale up investment and risk-taking, with a special focus on energy autonomy, technological leadership, security and defence, resilient infrastructure and strong global partnerships. EIB Group on track to meet 2026 target of 5% of total financing in EU for security and defence. EIB Group is delivering on its strategic roadmap, including record energy investment. The Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank (EIB), comprised of European Union...

On June 2, 2026, the White House issued an Executive Order that aims to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity infrastructure through AI-enabled defenses while maintaining the administration’s permissive regulatory environment for AI development. The Order imposes a series of short-term action items on federal agencies intended to improve the nation’s posture on cybersecurity and creates a voluntary framework for collaboration between the government and private AI developers. Covered Frontier Model Framework While the Order prohibits creating a mandatory licensing or preclearance requirement for AI models,...

The EU has set a 2040 EU climate target of a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels. This new target requires the Commission to review other relevant EU legislation to achieve the target. Our Planning & Environment team discuss how, for example, RED II and the Energy Efficiency Directive will need to be amended. What you need to know The EU Climate Law sets a binding objective to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, it set...

On June 8, 2026, a federal court in Massachusetts struck down the $100,000 fee that the Trump administration had imposed on employers filing H‑1B visa petitions. The ruling is a major win for businesses that utilize the H-1B program to hire skilled foreign workers in fields like technology, engineering, healthcare, and finance. BACKGROUND Last September, President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation titled Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers. The proclamation required employers to pay a $100,000 fee—on top of existing filing...

In our first article in this series, What AI shopping agents will mean for customers and retailers, we outlined six imperatives retailers must act on to stay competitive in a fast-evolving landscape. As of late 2025, Amazon had launched Buy for Me, Google had rolled out agentic checkout with Gemini, and OpenAI’s Instant Checkout had gone live with partners including Etsy, Shopify, and Walmart. 2026 has seen agentic e-commerce go mainstream, with the market expected to be worth $236 billion by...