Author: staff

South Korea’s new president Lee Jae-myung has promised to recommence talks with North Korea with the aim of securing peace on the Korean Peninsula.Lee, who was sworn in early on Wednesday following his victory in a snap election, outlined key policy goals for his five-year term, from foreign and economic policy to healing the country’s political divide.In his inaugural address to the country’s National Assembly, Lee pledged to deal with North Korean nuclear and other military threats with “strong deterrence” bolstered by the South Korea-US military alliance. However, he also said he would restart talks with Pyongyang, which have not taken…

“There isn’t enough listening [in the Commission]. There isn’t enough listening to the people,” he said. Von der Leyen has long been accused of sidelining critics, promoting allies, governing through close aides and employing a Machiavellian divide-and-rule strategy during her years running the EU’s executive arm, which is made up of representatives from the bloc’s 27 member states. Barnier singled out excessive regulation and slow progress on integrating capital markets across the EU as major failures of the Commission during the von der Leyen years. The former French prime minister did, however, credit von der Leyen with successfully responding to…

Published on 04/06/2025 – 11:44 GMT+2•Updated 11:50A court in El Salvador has sentenced three former senior military officers to 15 years in prison for the killing of four Dutch journalists in 1982. Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemson were killed in an ambush by the Salvadoran army in the northern province of Chalatenango while filming a documentary about the Central American country’s civil war, which lasted from 1980 until 1992. Late on Tuesday, a five-person jury in a Chalatenango court found three former top military officials guilty over their deaths after a trial that was closed…

The counterassault was the most sophisticated Ukraine has launched so far. Dubbed “Spiderweb,” the operation saw dozens of Russian bombers parked at separate air bases, thousands of miles away from the front lines, struck at all once. The drones hit targets spread across Russia, including one base closer to Japan and another inside the Arctic Circle, Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed, quickly posting dramatic video footage of the assault on social media. To pull off the operation — which was 18 months in the planning — the drones were smuggled into Russia hidden in wooden mobile houses atop trucks, and…

“They’re looking at the overall numbers and they’re saying, oh, it’s a big directorate general, so it needs to be trimmed,” said one of the officials, referring to the communications department. Another official, however, cautioned the restructuring will likely not be a “major reform” but rather a “readjustment” of resources. What’s on the chopping block The Parliament’s leadership intends to gradually reassign existing staff members to jobs in other departments or to reallocate posts after employees retire. Less clear is what happens with subcontracted temporary positions — so-called externals — who often work in areas such as audiovisual services, website…

Published on 04/06/2025 – 8:59 GMT+2•Updated 9:05Elon Musk has slammed US President Donald Trump’s plan to cut taxes and spending, marking a sharp break from the president he helped re-elect in 2024 as one of his key allies.The bill allows the US government to borrow more money and extends tax breaks approved during Trump’s first term at the White House, along with new ones he campaigned on.The budget — which includes a massive buildup of $350 billion (€307bn) for border security, deportations and national security — was narrowly passed by the House of Representatives last month. “Shame on those who…

Washington is leading a deregulation charge, with President Donald Trump ripping up the safety rules laid down by his predecessor Joe Biden and unveiling a half-trillion-dollar AI hardware plan with leading company OpenAI. The Vatican could use its network across the Global South to “spark more democratic access” to AI as power becomes concentrated in the hands of tech giants and wealthier countries. | Alessandro Di Meo/EPA Even the EU, historically at the forefront of AI regulation, is modifying its stance to focus on competitiveness — opening the door to “targeted tweaks” of its AI Act and doubling down on boosting…

Frederiksen argued the EU needs the funds to bolster its defenses amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine. “For me, the most important thing is to rearm Europe,” Frederiksen said. “That’s my starting point and that’s my conclusion in all discussions, because if Europe is not able to protect ourselves and to defend ourselves, then it’s game over at some point.” Europe, she added, is “running out of time because of Russia’s behavior” and needs “a new profile on the budget.” Frederiksen argued the EU needs the funds to bolster its defenses amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine. | Sergey Kozlov/EFE via EPA…

Die EU treibt ihr 18. Sanktionspaket voran. Wenn sich die USA zu Grahams Sanktionen entschließen, würden diese im „Paket mit drin sein”, sagte von der Leyen zu Gordon Repinski. Das Interview erscheint heute in voller Länge im Berlin Playbook Podcast (hier). Mehr auch hier.  Ein 500-Prozent-Zoll der USA gegen Länder, die weiterhin Öl oder Gas-Produkte aus Russland kaufen, würde aber auch die EU und somit Deutschland betreffen. Zum einen liefert Russland immer noch Energie an EU-Länder. Sie könnten aber von dem Mega-Zoll ausgenommen werden, deutete Graham an – etwa durch Ausnahmen für alle Länder, die die Ukraine unterstützen.  Zum Zweiten…

Am heutigen Abend bricht Friedrich Merz in die USA auf. Es ist sein Antrittsbesuch im Weißen Haus. Gordon Repinski analysiert, wie der Kanzler die drei wichtigsten Themen – NATO, Ukraine und Handel – adressieren muss und wo die Fallen lauern, wenn er auf Donald Trump trifft. Im 200-Sekunden Interview: Die EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen zur Frage von europäischen und amerikanischen Sanktionen gegen Russland.  Dazu: Rasmus Buchsteiner über die wichtigsten Punkte heute im Kabinett und im anschließenden Gespräch von Friedrich Merz mit den Ländern. Und: wie sich die Spargelfahrt des konservativen SPD-Seeheimer Kreis für den neuen Generalsekretär Tim Klüssendorf anfühlt,…