Author: staff

So, is this rare reproach and economic threat responsible for some sort of shift in Moscow? Is that the reason Trump and his aides believe they’re nearer a deal? Or is Zelenskyy the one caving? No matter what, a healthy dose of skepticism remains in order. Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov appeared to harden Moscow’s position on annexed territories in eastern Ukraine in an interview this weekend. And we’ve heard optimistic noises from the Trump administration about the proximity of a deal before. Further caution is also advisable, as the deal’s broad contours have not actually shifted much:…

An unprecedented blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday, stopping trains, cutting phone service and shutting down traffic lights and ATMs for millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.The Peninsula is home to more than 50 million people across both Spain and Portugal. It is not known exactly how many people were affected as authorities declined to share specific information.The blackouts affected many densely populated urban areas. In Spain, major centres like Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Avila, Murcia, Galicia, Alicante and Zaragoza were affected. In Portugal, the two largest cities, Lisbon and Porto suffered similar challenges.The…

A spokesperson for the Spanish government told POLITICO that “at 12:33 a.m. 15 gigawatts of the energy being produced [in Spain] suddenly disappeared and remained missing for five seconds.” They added that the amount of electricity that had suddenly vanished from power grid was equivalent to 60 percent of the total being consumed nationwide at that time. The sudden drop in available power destabilized Spain’s electricity grid, which is highly integrated with Portugal’s and linked  to the rest of Europe through a small number of cross-border interconnections with France. Eduardo Prieto, director of Spanish transmission system operator Red Eléctrica, on…

Les prévisions du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) ont réduit les perspectives de croissance des Etats-Unis pour 2025 de 0,9 point de pourcentage en raison des droits de douane, soit la plus forte baisse de toutes les grandes économies, à l’exception du Mexique. Celles de la Chine ont été entamées de 0,6 point, tandis que la zone euro s’en est sortie relativement indemne, avec seulement une révision à la baisse de 0,2 point. Les derniers seront les premiers Le deuxième mandat de la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, a débuté l’année dernière en clamant haut et fort…

Why are the power systems linked? Spain and Portugal have tightly linked power systems with few cross-border links to France and the rest of the EU. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, has long wanted to change that fact, strongly encouraging EU countries to build more interconnections. Officials argue the move would improve energy security and ease electricity flows across borders. Madrid, Lisbon and Paris have repeatedly signaled a willingness to move forward with that plan, but advances have been slow. Although Spain and France are now finally forging ahead with a new link in the Basque country, the EU’s…

“And to see the European Union visibly present for the first time was tremendous,” Micallef added. The EU’s circle of stars was flown at the Games alongside the Olympic flag for the first time last year. With the upcoming Summer Olympics to be held in Los Angeles in 2028, followed by Brisbane in 2032, the earliest Europe could host the Summer Games is 2036 — though Milan will host the Winter Games in 2026. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan told The Times in an interview published Monday that he wanted the British capital to be “the sporting capital of the world” and would…

Germany will step up to the new security demands in Europe, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said, as his country marked 70 years of NATO membership against the backdrop of the Trump administration signalling that US defence priorities lie elsewhere.”Today, with Putin’s war against Ukraine raging on in full force and with the United States putting fierce pressure on its European allies, Germany, I think, is in a crucial position,” Steinmeier said.”Germany is being called on and we heard the call. We got the message and indeed, Mark, you can count on us,” he said, standing alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte…

Monday’s monster outage saw the entire Iberian Peninsula lose power. In Lisbon, the metro was shut down, ATMs and traffic lights stopped working, and phone and internet traffic was disrupted. The cause of the blackout was a “very strong oscillation in the electrical network,” Spain’s transmission system operator Red Eléctrica said Monday afternoon, and would take several hours to rectify. Portugal’s next election will take place on May 18. The snap vote was called after the center-right minority government, led by Montenegro, lost a vote of confidence last month. Meanwhile, the European Union’s Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said on social…

Washington’s decision to circumvent ongoing international talks and unilaterally open up international waters to US-backed mining companies has stoked fears of an environmentally ruinous 21st-century gold rush, and the EU is among many voices now questioning the legality of the move.Trump’s executive order came just weeks after the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed its 30th session in Jamaica without finalising a rule book on the safe and sustainable exploitation of mineral resources, thereby prolonging a global moratorium on seabed mining.The European Commission told Euronews on Monday that it “deeply regrets” the US president’s executive order that “circumvents” the negotiations…

However, the Bank of Spain said that, as of 3:30 p.m. local time, the national and cross-border payments system was working normally, and that any residual problems were down to a lack of back-up power available to bank branches, merchants or consumers. At retailers, it noted, the point-of-sale terminals used to process payments may have run out of battery. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has actively tried to reduce the use of cash in Spain in recent years in an effort to reduce tax evasion. In 2021, Spain lowered the amount of physical cash that businesses could receive in a single…