The European Union confirmed Tuesday that free-trade negotiations with the United States should kick off as planned next week, despite widespread concerns over the alleged eavesdropping of EU diplomats. The Commission, the EU's executive branch that leads the negotiations on behalf of its 28 members, said the planned start of talks in Washington next Monday "should not be affected" by the surveillance scandal that has emerged in recent days. However, it insisted that the trans-Atlantic atmosphere needed to clear up for the talks to be successful. "For such a comprehensive and ambitious negotiation to succeed, there ... (full story)