Author: staff

Earlier this year, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns by a private contractor in 2019 and 2020. The lawsuit immediately triggered questions about conflicts of interest: How could the Justice Department and IRS now controlled by Trump appointees defend against a lawsuit brought by their boss? But before the lawsuit advanced, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed that a settlement had been reached. Instead of a payout to Trump, the settlement would result in the establishment of the nearly $1.8 billion fund to make payouts to people described in the settlement as…

Anyone over the age of 30 has heard at least one business manager, entrepreneur, or university professor complain that the younger generation is remarkably AI-savvy and quick to complete tasks with AI, yet young people are often unable to adequately question, think through, or explain the outputs they receive. The concept of human oversight is also still a highly abstract idea – what is a proper human oversight? How do we teach that? Without strong foundations for critical thinking, AI tools risk amplifying issues already present in many societies, where people believe everything they read. Previously, this over-reliance applied to…

Back-to-back crises have limited the power of the public purse, so policymakers are hoping professional financiers and savers can do the heavy lifting by putting their money to work in the right places. EU citizens alone have €11 trillion of cash savings sitting in their bank accounts. But vying interests from within the industry and national governments, such as Ireland and Luxembourg, threaten to derail negotiations. That’s convinced the E6 group to agree on the fundamentals among themselves to speed the process along, triggering fears of a two-speed Europe in which some countries are left behind. “I don’t think a…

For Rome, “the Italian proposal is part of a broader effort to promote the country’s scientific heritage and Italy’s role in major international technological innovation initiatives.” The diplomatic push intensified on Thursday, with junior digital minister Alessio Butti discussing the proposal with Annette Koo, director general of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), a Paris-based international organization in charge of measurements. “The Italian proposal goes well beyond the linguistic question and represents the desire to give important historical recognition to one of the fathers of modern science, whose work radically changed humanity’s relationship with electricity and technological progress,”…

The alliance is “assessing what more can be done now to optimise Romania and NATO’s network of sensors and shooters to safely neutralize such threats,” the same official said. That could include bringing Romania’s MEROPS counter-drone system “under NATO command,”they said, adding that allies would “have an opportunity” to offer additional capabilities during an force generation conference early next month. Sorin Moldovan, Romania’s deputy defense minister, said last week at the POLITICO Speakeasy at the GLOBSEC Forum in Prague that if there is a risk to civilians “you don’t give the [order] to fire.” The full list of kit Romania is…

Przemysław Czarnek, one of the leaders of PiS, called Zelenskyy’s decision a “scandal.” “You cannot talk about partnership with Poland and reconciliation one day, and then glorify the groups responsible for the massacre of thousands of Poles the next,” he said. Nawrocki said he’ll raise the issue of stripping Zelenskyy of the decoration during a June 8 meeting of the chapter in charge of the Order of the White Eagle. The Ukrainian president was given the honor by former President Andrzej Duda in 2023. Polish law says that an order can be taken away if “the decorated person has committed…

On 27 May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to name an elite Special Operations Forces unit, Heroes of the UPA,after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He argued that he had done so ‘in order to restore the historical traditions of the national army and taking into account the exemplary performance of the tasks entrusted during the defence of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence’. To which, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he had received Zelenskyy’s decision ‘with great sadness’. ‘This is not how relations between nations are built,’ he stressed on Friday during a brief meeting with journalists, in…

Berlin is “open to discussing” stronger trade defense measures,” a German government official told POLITICO. “Things are moving in the right direction. We are open to discussing a measure to address overcapacity.” The bloc’s trade deficit with China widened to €360 billion last year from €312 billion in 2024. And a surge in Chinese goods ranging from vehicles to solar panels and clothes is undercutting Europe’s industries, leading to factory closures and job losses.  Yet even with Berlin’s backing, von der Leyen will still need to corral her fellow commissioners into a common stance — a tall order when her…

Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries are moving towards deeper economic integration through digitisation and AI, as leaders of the bloc met in Astana for a two-day summit. During the high-level talks, member states discussed creating a unified digital environment to build a seamless market across a shared economic space of more than 20 million square kilometres. Delegations focused on trade, joint projects and the development of shared digital tools and AI systems designed to strengthen cooperation and reduce fragmentation across the bloc. Last year, trade within the union more than doubled, while turnover with third countries rose by 72%, while…

Speaking to reporters in Berlin, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius dismissed Greer’s warning that if implemented the proposal “would be at odds with the Turnberry Agreement.” Germany remains committed to “very close and constructive trade relations” with the U.S., Kornelius said. He also maintained the proposed obligations fall squarely within accepted cultural policy rules. “It is agreed that no unjustified digital trade barriers will be erected. And we are adhering to that,” the spokesperson said, adding that the investment obligations “do not constitute market access barriers” and that the funds would flow directly into productions that streamers themselves can exploit commercially.…