Author: staff

The ritual blends Catholic belief with Afro-Cuban Santería and draws worshippers from across the island on December 16 and 17. Saint Lazarus, also known as Babalú Aye or simply the Old Man, is revered as the protector of the sick and the poor. Many pilgrims wore purple, the colour linked to the saint. Some walked long distances, others crawled or moved on their knees to fulfil vows. Amid outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya and a deep economic crisis, prayers focused on health and stability.

Bart De Wever, the country’s prime minister, refuses to get on board until the other EU governments provide substantial financial and legal safeguards that protect Euroclear and his government from Russian retaliation — at home and abroad. One of the most sensitive issues for Belgium is placing a lid on the financial guarantees that currently stand at €210 billion. Belgium believes that the guarantees provided by other EU countries should have no limits in order to protect them under any scenario. Talks looked to be going in the right direction. The Belgians backed a Commission pitch for EU capitals to…

Published on 17/12/2025 – 12:57 GMT+1 •Updated 13:28 The European Union and United Kingdom have finalised a deal to reintegrate British students into the Erasmus+ scheme in 2027, seven years after the UK formally left the EU, including all its institutions and bodies. The British government had been under considerable pressure from student bodies including universities to rejoin Erasmus, but had resisted due its popularity with European citizens and a history of proportionately lower takeup by British students studying in the EU. However, London will contribute £570m (€650m) in the 2027/28 academic year, which the UK government says is 30%…

A sharp political clash erupted in parliament during debates over the state budget. Representatives of PP–DB accused the governing majority of pushing through what they called a “theft budget,” warning it would burden the country with massive new debt and be used to buy votes ahead of elections. They urged citizens to protest and block its adoption. GERB and There Is Such a People rejected the claims, saying the extended budget is essential to secure salaries, social payments, and financial stability, and accused PP–DB of political irresponsibility. Tensions escalated when MECh lawmaker Radostin Vassilev punched DPS–New Beginning MP Gyunay Daloolu.

Jobbing off:  “The Prime Minister promised economic growth, but the only thing that’s grown is his list of broken promises,” Badenoch hit back. This list analogy was really gaining momentum. She lambasted rising unemployment under Labour, yet the PM was able to point to lower inactivity under his watch and, of course, mentioned the boost of falling inflation this morning. Backhanded compliment: Starmer, no doubt desperate for a rest, used the imminent break to “congratulate” Badenoch for breaking a record on the number of Tories defecting to Reform UK. “The question is who’s next,” he mused, enjoying the chance to…

Signing off the Mercosur trade deal between the European Union and Latin American countries is “imperative”, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euronews, as political divisions among member states could derail a crucial vote this week. The deal, more than 20 years in the making, has entered a decisive week, which could see the Mercosur accord finally signed off or have it derailed. Backers, which include the European Commission, Germany and Spain, argue that a failure to stamp the deal would present a setback as the bloc seeks new markets for exports. France is leading an opposition camp and is…

Police in Spain carried out eviction orders on Wednesday to clear an abandoned school building where around 400 mostly undocumented migrants were living north of Barcelona. Many sub-Saharan migrants, mainly from Senegal and Gambia, had moved into the empty school building in Badalona — a working-class city that borders Barcelona — since it was left abandoned in 2023. Badalona Mayor Xavier García Albiol announced the evictions in a post on X. “As I had promised, the eviction of the 400 illegal squatters in the B9 school in Badalona begins,” he wrote. Albiol, of the conservative Popular Party (PP), has built…

Published on 17/12/2025 – 12:51 GMT+1 Will Twitter’s blue bird ever fly again? Not if X can help it. The company owned by Elon Musk, which bought the Twitter brand and social media platform in 2022, filed a countersuit against a new start-up for “brazenly attempting to steal the world-famous TWITTER brand”. The legal riposte comes a week after a Virginia-based startup called “Operation Bluebird” filed a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to cancel X’s trademark of the words “Twitter” and “Tweet”. Operation Bluebird’s petition claimed that X Corp. had legally abandoned the brand after overhauling…

Expanding Rome’s metro network is a notoriously complicated task, as excavations are regularly halted by the discovery of archaeological treasures. So it’s big news that two new metro stations have just opened beneath the Italian capital. One is located deep underneath the Colosseum, a useful transport link for tourists that means avoiding the hectic traffic on ground level. The second is by Porta Metronia, a gate in the city’s third-century Aurelian Walls. The two stations also feature displays of ancient artefacts, leading Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, to hail them as “full-blown tourist and cultural attractions” in their own right. Rome’s…

This year has seen a number of global cultural changes and trends. We’ve experienced more blending of genres, fragmentation of traditional media and an ongoing shift from broad mainstream culture to niche subcultures, short-lived “eras” and algorithm-driven scenes. From Gen Alpha’s 6-7 meme to the rise of aesthetics like clean girl and corporate girlie, social media platforms like TikTok have been on fire this year. But what have cultural trends have had the biggest impact? As the year draws to a close, the Euronews Culture team looks back on some of the most memorable global culture trends in 2025. AI…