Author: staff
Ukrainian military units have introduced tournaments and point based systems designed to improve speed, precision and coordination among drone pilots. While details about a reported “Wild Drones” competition remain unclear, the wider practice is well established across Ukraine’s defence sector. Operators train by flying low and fast through obstacle courses that simulate battlefield conditions such as trenches, ruined buildings and wooded terrain. Military analysts say these exercises help pilots improve manoeuvring under electronic jamming and hostile fire while allowing commanders to identify the most effective tactics and crews. Drones now play a central role in the war, with both Ukrainian…
Published on 21/05/2026 – 19:14 GMT+2•Updated 20:29 The artwork? Just 24 rust-coloured steps, arranged in a spiral. Yet this section of staircase sold for 450 160 euros on Thursday 21 May at an auction at the Artcurial auction house. And with good reason: these 24 steps once formed part of the 1,665 that run up the Eiffel Tower. This fragment of the Iron Lady, 2.75 metres high, once formed part of the helical staircase that connected the second and third floors of the tower when it was inaugurated in 1889. During renovation work on the monument in 1983, when lifts…
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X that he had asked EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put the adoption of sanctions on the agenda of the next meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. He accused Ben-Gvir of committing “unacceptable acts” and of subjecting the activists to “harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — who had already banned Ben-Gvir from entering Spain last year — similarly announced that Madrid would “push Brussels” to extend the sanctions “on a European scale as a matter of urgency.” In Poland, Foreign…
Italy, Ireland and Spain have called on the EU to sanction Israel’s far-right national security minister, who posted a video showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla forced to their knees with hands bound. A global outcry erupted after Itamar Ben Gvir published a video on Wednesday showing the heavy-handed treatment of foreign activists from the flotilla who were detained at sea by Israel and awaiting deportation at the southern port of Ashdod. In the video, dozens of activists are seen forced to kneel with their foreheads to the ground and their hands tied. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and…
A court in Turkey annulled the 2023 leadership election of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Thursday, state news agency Anadolu Agency reported, in a sharp escalation against the country’s embattled opposition. The ruling overturns the result of the leadership election that brought in current party head Özgür Özel and ordered that the party’s former long-term chair, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, who lost the election to Özel, take over as interim leader. In response, the party urged its senior membership to gather at its Ankara headquarters. The news prompted Istanbul’s BIST 100, Turkey’s main stock exchange, to fall by more…
Published on 21/05/2026 – 19:14 GMT+2 The piece? Just 24 rust-coloured steps, arranged in a spiral. Yet this section of staircase fetched 450 160 euros on Thursday 21 May at an auction held by the Artcurial auction house. No wonder: these 24 steps once formed part of the 1,665 that run up the Eiffel Tower. The section from the Iron Lady, 2.75 metres high, belonged to the helical staircase that linked the second and third floors of the tower at the time of its inauguration in 1889. During renovation work on the monument in 1983, when lifts were installed, the…
PARIS — Voilà les poids lourds de la mode française soulagés, bien loin de leur colère de cet hiver, quand, au plus fort des négociations sur le budget, Bercy avait supprimé la subvention de l’Institut français de la mode (IFM) pour faire des économies. Six mois plus tard, la direction de l’IFM a appris que l’école touchera finalement la moitié de sa subvention, soit près d’un million d’euros. “Nous avons été nombreux à hurler”, glisse un représentant de la filière, ravi du rétropédalage gouvernemental. Ce rétablissement ne tombe pas du ciel : il est dû à l’intervention personnelle de Brigitte Macron,…
European carmakers will be required to buy chips from at least two suppliers in certain cases and to incorporate supply chain resilience into their procurement decisions, according to a draft law the European Commission is expected to present next month. After a series of supply chain shocks, the EU is set to impose mandatory measures on the likes of Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault to prevent excessive dependence on a single chip supplier, most notably from China, according to two EU officials. The move is being planned as part of a revamp of the bloc’s semiconductor legislation, known as the Chips…
By Euronews Persian Published on 21/05/2026 – 16:29 GMT+2 Ahmad Vahidi, one of the most senior figures in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has emerged as a key player in shaping Tehran’s posture toward the US since the war began in February — and may now be the main point of contact for the regional mediators trying to end it. Holding the rank of a brigadier general, Vahidi currently serves as deputy commander-in-chief of the IRGC. Analysts believe he belongs to the small inner circle in direct contact with Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since Israeli and…
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s groundbreaking plan to grant Ukraine “associate membership” in the European Union has received mixed reviews in Brussels, with questions raised about its legality, feasibility and political implications. In a letter to his fellow leaders, seen by Euronews, Merz proposes a tailor-made status that would give Ukraine access to decision-making bodies without voting rights or portfolio and to certain EU-funded programmes on a “step-by-step” basis. He also envisions Kyiv able to request assistance from other member states in the event of armed aggression through Article 42.7 of the EU treaties. This, he argues, would create a “substantial…