Author: staff

“They don’t need to use drones to confuse air defense radars and overwhelm systems in quite the same way,” she said. “So there would be no real husbanding of assets, at least in the early phases of potential war with the U.S.” Beijing has its own struggles. China has not fought a war since invading Vietnam in 1979 and is in the middle of an extensive military purge that led to two former defense ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei Fengh, sentenced to death this week. The crackdown has resulted in the dismissal of more than 100 senior military officers since…

Fewer than a hundred Jewish people are estimated to remain in Syria, scattered across a country where their community once numbered in the tens of thousands. In the narrow stone alleys of Damascus’s ancient Jewish Quarter, the question of how to maintain religious tradition with almost no one left to sustain it has become urgent — and nowhere is that more visible than in the search for kosher food. Bakhor Shamntoub, head of Syria’s Mussawi or Jewish community, sat down with Euronews to explain how a tradition that once sustained an entire community now depends on individual effort, occasional imports…

Once seen as stuffy, boys-only spaces shrouded in cigar smoke, private members’ clubs have undergone a chic transformation in recent decades. Post-COVID, creatives and entrepreneurs have turned these third spaces into their offices, with an after-dark programme of events and discussions meant to bring these like-minded souls together. With more than 40 clubs in cities around the globe, Soho House has long dominated the conversation, but that hasn’t stopped a new challenger entering the mix: Luxury hotels. Already home to many of the amenities you’d expect, like a gym and a pool, it’s seemingly an easy side step into the…

The Venice Biennale is one of the world’s most prominent art happenings, a dynamic, global event coloured by and, in turn, commenting on the socio-political order of the day. For the 61st edition, however, late curator Koyo Kouoh’s vision was to reorient the show away from the “anxious cacophony of the present chaos raging through the world” to focus on softer tones of emotion, connectivity and grounding, encapsulated in the theme ‘In Minor Keys’. After Kouoh’s passing in May 2025, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator’s concept for the Biennale is now being realised by her team. It provides a framework for the…

Although the U.K. does not elect a president, it has for decades been true that many voters base their decisions on who they want in No. 10 Downing Street (or who they really want to keep away from that famous black door). Here, Farage is not, apparently, a runaway success.  According to YouGov’s most recent survey, on May 4-5, the Reform UK leader’s net favorability score is -39 percent, only a little better than Starmer’s score of -47 percent. Of the leaders and potential leaders polled, only Labour’s Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has a net positive rating, of 4 percent.…

Published on 08/05/2026 – 20:52 GMT+2•Updated 23:28 Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a presidential decree on Friday night, confirming he would “permit” Russia to hold the Victory Day parade on Saturday. “Taking into account numerous requests, and for humanitarian purposes outlined during negotiations with the American side on 8 May 2026, I hereby decree: to permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.” US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire for 9, 10 and 11 May in his post on Truth Social. “This ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic…

According to Italian media, Rubio said he had not raised the issue of troop withdrawals directly with Meloni, but added that “some European countries … have refused to allow us to use those bases in a very serious emergency,” which “has created some unnecessary risks” for the United States. Ultimately, though, removing American soldiers from European bases is “a decision for the president to make,” he concluded. Tajani stressed the importance of maintaining a strong American presence in Europe. “For us, an American presence in Europe is important to strengthen NATO,” he said, adding that “a strong commitment from Europeans…

Yet his words show that Starmer is caught in a dilemma of his own making. Dismissed by many on his own side as a weak leader, he is determined to signal to the country – and his party – that things will improve, while declining to make big adjustments to his overall policy direction. Next week, he will set out Britain’s legislative agenda for the coming year via the King’s Speech, including tighter settlement rules for migrants, a rollout of digital ID, and votes for 16-year-olds. Yet all these plans were known to MPs already and locked down two weeks…

4. A trickle of calls for Starmer to go … but the dam hasn’t broken (yet) As of Friday evening, more than 10 Labour MPs had either called for Starmer to either outright go, or demand his departure unless there’s urgent overhaul of the government. Louise Haigh, the influential co-chair of the soft-left Tribune caucus, was first to make the veiled call for Starmer to go. That was couched in the language of being necessary unless there is “significant and urgent change,” a phrasing echoed by Anneliese Midgley to POLITICO.  So far no ministers have publicly called for a change…

Published on 08/05/2026 – 10:25 GMT+2 It was a bold move by Giorgia Meloni. This week, the Italian Prime Minister posted an AI-generated image of herself in underwear, a picture that had already been circulating on social media. It was intended as a warning: if this can happen to a head of government, it can happen to anyone. However, the European Union has already been working to tackle deep fakes. So what exactly is changing? On Thursday, the EU reached a deal to ban so-called “nudification” apps — the tools used to create non-consensual sexually explicit images and videos through…