Author: staff
In the EU, surplus renewable electricity is sometimes wasted because there is not enough capacity to store it until it is needed. Fossil-fuel power plants are still required when renewable generation falls. Electricity demand is rising, from electric vehicles, heat pumps and AI-driven data centres. Expanding energy storage has become increasingly important to keep the power system reliable and green. EU energy ministers signed, on 26 June, the bloc’s first tripartite agreement on energy storage, bringing together member states, industry and financial institutions. Twenty-two countries committed to adding 30–35 gigawatts of new storage capacity by 2028, contributing towards the EU’s…
With parliamentary recess looming and Andy Burnham due to become prime minister, ministers have had little time to decide much beyond the overall thrust of the policy around restricting social media for children. The two people cited above said the update later this week won’t include any further information about the official definition of “social media” or exempt services. While the government has already confirmed that household names including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram will be included in its ban for under-16s, the criteria floated so far — “capturing user to user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction, which allow users to post material alongside algorithms” — is broad enough that smaller platforms, including Wikipedia, fear they could be in scope if the…
Published on 13/07/2026 – 9:38 GMT+2 Countries in Europe reported over 10,000 excess deaths during the extreme heatwaves that baked the west of the continent towards the end of June, new data shows. The vast majority of the fatalities, in excess of 9,000, were recorded among those aged 65 and over, according to data published by EuroMOMO, the European mortality monitor which is backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation. The European heatwaves have seen temperature records broken in several countries across Europe and have caused thousands of excess deaths, according…
“All the 27 member states agree that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s existing policies have “not done much to limit trade with the settlements” because of inconsistent implementation. The Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, has resisted efforts to impose new trade barriers on Israel and did not present EU countries with formal measures for them to vote on at Monday’s meeting. It did provide an options paper for possible measures, including the trade ban, an import licensing system, and targeted tariffs. A group of EU countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands…
By Alessio Dell’Anna & video by Léa Bequet Published on 13/07/2026 – 9:51 GMT+2 Good news for conservationists: Europe’s shark fin trade is declining. Export volumes from the EU dropped by 15% from 2024 to 2025, according to the latest data from Eurostat. Yet numbers remain significant. Last year, member states sold nearly 3,000 tonnes of shark fins outside the bloc, worth around €45 billion. Blue sharks represent the overwhelming majority (97%) of sharks hunted for their fins and sold frozen by EU countries. The rest are shortfin mako sharks. The significant decline in exports follows the tightening of the Convention on International…
EU ambassadors could meet on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning to prevent the recalculation from happening. Kallas did not want to speculate over whether freezing the oil price cap would be approved separately from the rest of the package. The 21st package has been watered down in recent weeks, with a proposed ban on Russian fish exports removed over the weekend. Restrictions on EU visas for ex-soldiers were also toned down. Kallas said after the meeting of foreign ministers that the bloc had agreed to extend sanctions on Russia in other fields, including cyberattacks and its prison service. “We’re sanctioning…
Published on 13/07/2026 – 10:02 GMT+2•Updated 13:59 The European Union and the UK have announced coordinated sanctions against Russia after accusing Moscow’s FSB intelligence agency of carrying out a cyber attack in December targeting Poland’s energy grid and orchestrating a wider campaign of digital sabotage across Europe. The joint measures focus on individuals and organisations linked to Russia’s security services, with the EU imposing sanctions on nine people and four entities, while Britain added 24 names to its sanctions list. The UK government said the package – the first joint cyber sanctions announced with the EU – was aimed at…
Azerbaijan borders two of the world’s most active war zones, but President Ilham Aliyev said at the conference gathering the world’s top media professionals on Monday that peace remains achievable. “We believe peace is possible,” Aliyev said in his opening remarks at the Shusha Global Media Forum. Aliyev reflected on alternative transport and connectivity routes, noting that instability elsewhere had increased the importance of corridors passing through his country. “The situation in the Middle East now makes this corridor more attractive,” Azerbaijan’s president said, referring to the increasingly key route’s continuing development. Aliyev said Azerbaijan had begun supplying natural gas…
Updated: 13/07/2026 – 20:07 GMT+2 Thousands of football fans gathered in Mexico City’s Zócalo to swap 2026 World Cup stickers as part of a Guinness World Record attempt. The Panini event brought together collectors of all ages, turning the hunt for missing stickers into a celebration of football, family and community. … More
The amendment also reimposes a mandatory retirement age of 70 for all Constitutional Court judges, a move that would result in the removal of four current justices, including Polt, the court’s president. When asked in June whether he would sign an amendment removing him from power, Sulyok told POLITICO, “I can never say for certain in advance whether I will sign a law or not.” On Monday morning, Magyar accused Orbán’s Fidesz party of preemptively prohibiting Sulyok from signing the amendment, saying that “Fidesz has shifted to direct control in the Sándor Palace,” referring to the office of the president.…