Author: staff
By Laila Humairah Published on 26/06/2025 – 17:30 GMT+2The 10th annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing concludes with China and member states reflecting on a decade of robust development projects, while reaffirming their commitment to funding critical infrastructure initiatives, to build a dynamic, diverse and sustainable future.Since its launch in 2016, the AIIB has financed 320 projects in 38 countries, valued at $60 billion. Under outgoing president Jin Liqun, the Bank has 110 member countries, with several more in the process of joining.Qatar, a founding member of the AIIB, will host the 11th edition of the…
Published on 26/06/2025 – 13:31 GMT+2•Updated 17:05On the one hand, nearly half of the world’s population — over 3.7 billion people — live in poverty. On the other, the world’s 3,000 billionaires gained $6.5 trillion (€5.5tr) over the last ten years, the equivalent of 14.6% of global GDP.That’s according to a new report from the British confederation of NGOs Oxfam. The group added that since 2015, the world’s richest top 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9tr (€29tr) in real terms.This amount could do a lot of good in the world, and according to Oxfam, it is enough to…
Friedrich Merz empfängt morgen den österreichischen Bundeskanzler Christian Stocker in Berlin. Im Gespräch mit Gordon Repinsky erklärt Stocker, wie Wien und Berlin beim Thema Migration kooperieren wollen, wo Grenzkontrollen bleiben – und warum der Druck von rechts (FPÖ, AfD) die Agenda bestimmt. Zwei konservative Regierungschefs, gleiche Generation, ähnliche Ziele: Sicherheit, Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und ein gemeinsames Europa stehen auf der Probe. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen euch jeden Morgen auf den neuesten Stand in Sachen Politik — kompakt, europäisch, hintergründig. Und für alle Hauptstadt-Profis:Unser Berlin Playbook-Newsletter liefert jeden Morgen die…
However, Rama confirmed at the time Albania would not be part of the scheme as “we are loyal to our marriage with Italy.” Tiranë has a similar scheme with Rome which has been repeatedly held up by legal action. Rama told the Guardian: “The fact that today it’s not just imaginable, it’s happening, is not because of Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak doing something outrageous; it’s because of the country being in a very dark place.” The Albanian PM said Starmer’s proposals were part of the “eighty percent of the things that are said, or are written, or are accepted…
“The additional effort decided today reflects a clear determination to act without delay to meet our targets for controlling public finances and debt,” Economy and Finance Minister Eric Lombard said in a statement. Measures to reduce healthcare spending include lowering the amount spent in reimbursing drugs and medical services, while government ministries will be asked to tighten their belts in order to rein in the state budget — which is tabulated separately from the social security budget. France has struggled in recent years to rein in public spending. Fresh data from the country’s statistics agency, Insee, showed that the country…
By Euronews with AP Published on 26/06/2025 – 11:45 GMT+2Two people were killed and 17 others injured as torrential storms swept across France, toppling trees, flooding the streets of Paris, and causing the roof of the National Assembly to spring a leak.”Have you noticed it’s raining?” Prime Minister François Bayrou remarked, glancing up at the National Assembly’s leaking domed ceiling after delivering a speech on the Middle East, as heavy rain poured outside, quickly flooding Paris boulevards on Wednesday evening.The assembly’s vice president, Roland Lescure, suspended the debate to allow fire crews to assess the damage. When the session resumed about 15 minutes…
One of the most egregious recent examples saw MEP Giusi Princi named in Parliament because Belgian authorities wanted immunity to be lifted so that she could be investigated over allegations of corruption connected to Chinese tech firm Huawei. The request was withdrawn shortly afterwards. “The Parliament, at several levels, is keen to convey the message to Belgian authorities that they need to act up and be more professional,” said a high-ranking Parliament official, granted anonymity to speak about sensitive matters. “Their mistakes and carelessness can extremely damage the reputation of members and EU institutions.” Under the plans, which Metsola conveyed…
The agreement adds: “The question of UK accession therefore merits further review, and this is reflected in feedback from business. We will now engage business and PEM members to consider the benefits of joining PEM.” But the document says the government recognizes “that PEM rules could have varying effects on businesses” and says it will assess “whether we are using our current trading relationships with these partners to best effect.” PEM covers the 27 EU member states, as well as dozens of other countries in the region ranging from Turkey, Morocco and Syria to Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine. The agreement…
“The role of the NATO summit was to lay the foundations for what will happen next,” said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general. Make the 5 percent happen Options to boost defense spending include raising taxes, cutting public spending (including popular welfare and social programs), and issuing debt. The European Commission is helping with its new €150 billion loans-for-weapons scheme dubbed SAFE, and its planned smaller €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme. The EU’s next multi-annual budget is expected to earmark more cash for defense — but that will only kick off in 2027. “The only European countries with…
“The most natural outcome would be to have a right-wing majority” when agreeing the new regulation on deportations, said Dutch MEP Marieke Ehlers, a leading member of the Patriots for Europe group working on that law. “If the EPP were to work with the left on this file, they would end up with a proposal that is weaker than what their own commissioner has proposed, so I don’t really see how they would sell that to their voters,” she added. But while von der Leyen might find some marriages of convenience on environmental themes and immigration with the far right,…