Author: staff

When NATO members agreed last summer to increase defense spending, they lavished praise on Donald Trump for forcing the issue, believing that flattery would go a long way to keeping the president committed to the alliance and the cause of transatlantic security. But the takeaway for Trump, it turns out, was something else altogether — that bullying and threats were highly effective means of compelling longtime allies to act. And that’s largely why, when it comes to his pursuit of Greenland, he is returning to the same playbook, starting from a place of outward hostility, believing that’s what it will take to…

Barely a week into January, artificial intelligence (AI) is already the defining feature of this year’s consumer technology landscape. At CES 2026, the annual gadget fair that ended on Friday in Las Vegas, AI was everywhere. But critics and consumer protection groups are questioning whether too many products are being labelled “intelligent” without good reason. “Worst in Show” is an annual contest that highlights what organisers see as the most wasteful technology on display at the show. It is judged by a panel of consumer and privacy advocates, including US nonprofit Consumer Reports, refurbished tech marketplace Back Market, and right-to-repair…

Partly because they have less to lose. Europe still harbors hope it can influence Trump, soften him and avoid an irreparable breach in the transatlantic alliance, especially when it comes to Greenland, suggested Tighisti Amare of Britain’s Chatham House. “With dramatic cuts in U.S. development funds to Africa already implemented by Trump, Washington’s leverage is not as strong as it once was. And the U.S. doesn’t really give much importance to Africa, unless it’s the [Democratic Republic of the Congo], where there are clear U.S. interests on critical minerals,” Amare told POLITICO. “In terms of trade volume, the EU remains…

Some 72 percent of respondents said the intervention was unjustified, though opinion diverges on how German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Brussels should respond. The survey gave Germans a concrete choice: to be “rather restrained so as not to provoke Donald Trump” or to “speak out clearly against U.S. actions even if it might upset the president.” Meanwhile, 39 percent favored restraint, citing the complexity of the situation and the need for caution, while half supported a firmer stance, even at the risk of angering Washington. But the transatlantic rupture extends beyond Venezuela. Trump’s renewed interest in seizing Greenland, tariff threats against…

Time to U-turn: 43 days (Nov. 26, 2025 — Jan. 8, 2026). Farmers’ inheritance tax  Part of Labour’s electoral success came from winning dozens of rural constituencies. But Britain’s farmers soon fell out of love with the government.  Reeves’ first budget slapped inheritance tax on farming estates worth more than £1 million from April 2026. Farmers drive tractors near Westminster ahead of a protest against inheritance tax rules on Nov. 19, 2024. | Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images Aimed at closing loopholes wealthy individuals use to avoid coughing up to the exchequer, the decision generated uproar from opposition parties (calling…

Eurozone finance ministers are set to pick the winner behind closed doors in a secret ballot when they meet in Brussels for this month’s Eurogroup meeting on Jan. 19. The winner will need at least 16 votes from the 21 ministers, representing around 65 percent of the eurozone’s population. Eurozone leaders formally propose the candidate to succeed the outgoing vice president, Luis de Guindos, whose eight-year term ends on May 31. The European Parliament and the ECB are entitled to an opinion about the final pick. Northern European applicants make up the bulk of the contenders, with Finland’s central banker,…

The Netherlands may soon have a minority government after the leaders of three political parties announced on Friday that they would continue coalition talks. At a joint press conference, the leaders of the centrist D66 party — the big winner of last October’s national election — along with the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the liberal VVD, said they would press ahead without other partners. That configuration sidelines JA21, a hard-right party that the VVD had expressed a desire to include, but whose views on climate, immigration and Europe were a tough sell for D66.

Nawrocki argued that while the bill’s stated aim of protecting citizens — particularly minors — was legitimate, the Polish bill would grant excessive power to government officials over online content, resulting in “administrative censorship.”  “I want this to be stated clearly: a situation in which what is allowed on the internet is decided by an official subordinate to the government resembles the construction of the Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s novel 1984,” Nawrocki said in a statement — echoing the U.S.’s stance on the law. Nawrocki also warned that allowing authorities to decide what constitutes truth or disinformation would erode…

It was not immediately possible to find public and verifiable information confirming the real identity of the person behind the account. The video includes footage of former Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and the director of the president’s office, Charalambos Charalambous. In the recordings, Lakkotrypis is presented as a point of contact for people seeking access to Christodoulides. He appears to walk his interlocutor through the process on payments above the €1 million campaign limit. In a written statement, Lakkotrypis said it is “self-evident” from the video that remarks attributed to him were edited in order to distort the context of…

But international law needs Trump. His approach poses an existential threat not just to global agreements such as the Paris climate accord but to the European Union, the world’s biggest factory for international legislation. Every year the EU produces more than 2,000 directives, acts, regulations and other legal documents guiding the economic and societal lives of its 27 member countries.  In an American-dominated world where the rule of law doesn’t matter, the EU’s legislative machine could quickly become a quaint anachronism. The first week of 2026 has once again exposed the paralysis and powerlessness of Europe’s leadership to respond to…