Author: staff

Published on 09/07/2026 – 9:00 GMT+2•Updated 10/07/2026 – 9:01 GMT+2 The topic might be a bit complex so your reporter will do his best to safely walk you through it. Ready? On 1 July, the EU’s landmark crypto rules took full effect. The execution was a total bust for crypto firms. Fewer than 1 in 5 of Europe’s 1,200 registered crypto companies secured a licence. And without it, they simply face shutdown. The aim wasn’t to regulate for the sake of regulating. Brussels wanted to stop crypto scams and protect everyday investors. Big brands like Coinbase cleared the bar, but…

Published on 10/07/2026 – 21:46 GMT+2•Updated 21:47 Belgium’s three regions announced on Friday that they would introduce a road tax next year that foreign drivers transiting the country would also have to pay. The country does not currently charge drivers to use its highways and the issue of introducing some form of payment has been debated for years. “Everyone who uses our roads must contribute fairly to their maintenance,” said the transport minister for the southern Wallonia region, François Desquesnes. Starting on 1 May 2027 drivers will need to register their vehicle and pay the road tax, with day passes…

Georgia’s political and civil society spheres have been gripped by a renewed debate over why its government was once again not invited to the NATO summit in Turkey and to regional political and security events, a possible sign of Tbilisi’s political isolation. As with previous summits, NATO partner countries such as Qatar, the UAE, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia as well as Ukraine were invited to Ankara to attend events focusing on regional security, whereas, for the first time, former key NATO partner Georgia did not appear in the official summit programme nor in the accompanying forums. Over…

Europe is not facing an immediate fuel supply crisis despite renewed tensions in the Middle East, but the continent remains dangerously exposed to fossil fuel supply and price shocks and must rapidly electrify its economy while resisting calls to return to Russian energy, top energy leaders told Euronews. Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol insisted that Europe should not interpret any ceasefire in the Middle East as a return to normal, warning that disruption to the Strait of Hormuz could send oil prices sharply higher and reignite inflationary pressures. “We are in a very…

When NATO leaders left the two-day summit in Ankara with a parting gift, most of them did not bother to look inside the gift bags they were carrying. In fact, it wasn’t until UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a handful of other heads of government first opened the lavish wooden boxes they received from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that they realised the black felt-lined burgundy chest carried a .357 Magnum revolver toted by the likes of Dirty Harry — or rather, its Turkish-made equivalent. The discovery caused panic among some, most notably Belgian Premier Bart De Wever, whose…

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued a stark warning that while international fuel supplies remain secure for now, the latest attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz show that Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels continues to threaten its economy. “The entire world should be prepared for the worst case, which we hope will not materialise, but we really need to be prepared for the worst case scenario,” IEA chief Fatih Birol told Euronews, referring to a complete blockade of the strait, through which flows 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas transit. Birol…

Published on 10/07/2026 – 20:10 GMT+2•Updated 20:11 Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington as President Donald Trump’s efforts to revamp the body of water extend well past his initial goal of having it ready by 4 July to mark the country’s 250th birthday. The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom. Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics…

“The truth is we’re responsible for letting you get dependent on us,” he added. When asked whether Trump had a point in demanding more defense spending, Emanuel responded, “Of course he does.” Emanuel also endorsed Trump’s demand that NATO allies spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense by 2035, something members agreed to do at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague. The pledge drew pushback from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who argued Spain could meet NATO’s capability targets while limiting defense spending to 2.1 percent of GDP. The former chief of staff to President Barack Obama is…

As millions of EU citizens plan their summer holidays, the European Parliament this week gave the green light to an overhaul of air passenger rights, which have been in force since 2004 and will now be updated for the first time in 22 years. The rules seek to ensure passengers are sufficiently protected against travel disruption, such as denied boarding and delayed or cancelled flights. An overwhelming majority of 646 members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the new rules during Tuesday’s plenary session, meaning the bloc now has a new rulebook. “It’s the biggest improvement in passenger…

Wegner’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 28.2 percent of the votes in Berlin’s snap election in February 2023, held after the Constitutional Court ordered a rerun of the 2021 vote because of irregularities. Since then, the party’s support in the state of Berlin plunged to 17 percent — mirroring a broader national trend. The CDU has lost ground to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in nationwide polls, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s approval ratings declining ahead of several key state elections. While the CDU is on course to be overtaken by the AfD in this year’s state elections…