Author: staff

However, the British government insists Scotland must pick up the tab as they were private visits rather than official government business. In a letter to Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray, Robison said: “There is a clear previous precedent, where the U.K. government has supported policing costs for visits to devolved nations by foreign dignitaries.” The Treasury says it will only foot the bill when it has issued a formal invitation to the visiting leaders. Yet Robison insisted Trump’s trip was “diplomatically significant” and not covering the cost would “strain devolved budgets [and] set a troubling precedent for future high-profile…

Published on 22/10/2025 – 11:07 GMT+2 The Organisation of Turkic States has significantly increased its combined force by cooperating in trade, agriculture, security, technology and other domains, the secretary general of the organisation Kubanychbek Omuraliev told Euronews during his visit to Brussels. “If you look at our total GDP, it is $2.1 trillion, and total trade between our countries is $1.1 trillion,” Omuraliev said. This joint economic growth is increasing “dynamically,” the ambassador added. Omuraliev said that most of their Turkic states have strategic partnerships with the European Union, and that the time has come to step up ties beyond…

Published on 22/10/2025 – 10:20 GMT+2 •Updated 10:23 More than 850 public figures, including artificial intelligence (AI) and technology leaders, have called for a slowdown in the race to create a form of AI that surpasses human intellect, known as “superintelligence”. Prominent computer scientists such as Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio – widely considered the ‘godfathers’ of AI – signed the letter, as did Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. Superintelligence is broadly defined as AI that surpasses human cognitive capabilities, which some tech experts fear could cause humans to lose control over…

“Today I am urgently convening a meeting of the National Security Committee — it will take place at 1:30 p.m. This morning I already demanded that everyone come with concrete solutions. We must discuss this situation immediately and we must find — not debate, but find — what to do,” she said. “I would very much like Belarus to take responsibility for these incidents,” Ruginienė added. “Regardless of our political relations, on a technical level we must cooperate. It’s abnormal that so many balloons are crossing our border, and we have to chase them down and prevent them from reaching our strategic sites.” The…

With growing signs that Britain’s top civil servant will leave Number 10 in the coming weeks – some ask, does Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have a problem with people? Sam and Anne discuss the potential impact of Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald’s departure from the government machine and whether there could be more exits on the horizon. Plus, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood warns the national inquiry into grooming gangs will leave “no hiding place” after several survivors quit the panel.

In a bright, paint-splattered studio in Kent, CeCe Balfour leans over her latest canvas. Blue, she says, is her colour of choice. The 19-year-old has been painting at the Sandra Art4All Studio since she was 12. Like most of the artists who come here, CeCe is autistic. “Art is so fantastic. I can be with my friends. I can see Sandra. It’s like a family to me,” she says. The project was set up by Sandra Hampton nine years ago, and has since become a thriving creative hub for autistic artists. Each week, participants gather for one-on-one or small group…

Enter the simplification agenda, Brussels’ new plan to get the best of both worlds. Cutting red tape is one of the few areas of policymaking on which EU countries largely agree; in fact, they want more of it. Later this week, European leaders meeting in Brussels will instruct the European Commission to speed up its work “as a matter of utmost priority, on all files with a simplification and competitiveness dimension,” according to draft conclusions obtained by POLITICO. Driving home that message, 19 EU leaders — including Friedrich Merz of Germany, Emmanuel Macron of France, Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Donald Tusk…

Friedrich Merz wollte mit seinem klaren Kurs zur AfD eigentlich Ruhe schaffen. Stattdessen läuft die Debatte in der CDU heftiger als zuvor. Mit Rasmus Buchsteiner spricht Gordon Repinski über den Ursprung des Unvereinbarkeitsbeschlusses, seine politische Halbwertszeit und die Frage, wie sich die CDU mit dem Bestand des Beschlusses auch ein zeitliches Problem hat.Im 200-Sekunden-Interview reagiert Sven Schulze, CDU-Landeschef und Spitzenkandidat in Sachsen-Anhalt, auf die Brandmauer-Debatte. Er erklärt, warum er lieber über Inhalte als über Koalitionen spricht. Seine Botschaft: Wir lassen uns nicht verrückt machen. Schon gar nicht aus Berlin-Mitte. Danach meldet sich Rixa Fürsen von der NATO-Tour mit Boris Pistorius…

Macron in recent months has become more cautious, balking at proposals that risk generating a backlash in France, and more prickly with regard to proposals he doesn’t control. France has instead poured its energy into slashing red tape. In recent weeks the French leader has been pushing for more controls on migration and for red tape to be slashed, while lobbying for new rules to keep children off social media and bidding to create carveouts for automakers on green targets. Hardly the stuff of European dreams. “This Macron has been consumed by domestic troubles,” said an EU diplomat. “He is…

Japanese tariffs on multiple British cheeses remain obstructively high, at 25, 14, and 18.6 percent. This is because they will be lowered over 15 years, following the trade deal coming into effect at the start of 2021. “When combined with the fact that we typically export the more premium — and therefore expensive — cheeses to Japan, the impact is even higher,” said Hyde. “All this means that British cheeses will feel relatively expensive to Japanese consumers compared to similar products they’re shopping for.” Luxury cheeses British cheese is a luxury good in Japan. Yet, even Fortnum & Mason doesn’t…