I don't look like somebody who is giving up"

Britain and France are the No. 2 and No. 3 arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The EU, meanwhile, is a big user of Saudi oil and an eager recipient of investment from Riyadh's $230bn sovereign fund.

The decision will force the European Commission to prepare a new list.

"I'm disappointed, but I hope I don't look like somebody who is giving up," the EU commissioner in charge of the listing, Vera Jourova, said.

In a hearing in the EU Parliament, Jourova this week said she was subjected to heavy lobbying by some countries affected by the decision, citing Saudi Arabia, the United States and Panama.

She raised doubts about the motivations of EU states for blockingWhen it was first announced that Batman would play a major role in the Man of Steel follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, audiences reasonably assumed that Warner Bros. would be forging ahead with a new iteration of the character despite the fact that Christopher Nolan had only just wrapped up his take on Batman with The Dark Knight Rises. Batman is one of the most iconic characters in pop culture history, so obviously Warner Bros. wasn’t just going to sit on that character forever—and then with the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne things got even more interesting.

Rumors swirled for some time that Affleck may or may not be directing his own Batman movie as part of the DC Extended Universe, and confirmation finally came