Author: staff
Published on 20/04/2026 – 8:00 GMT+2•Updated 8:15 97 per cent of young people are online daily, with 65 per cent relying on social media for their main news source. Among 13 to 17-year-olds, 78 per cent check their devices hourly. 9 to 15-year-olds spend up to 3 hours on social platforms, and 25 per cent admit to smartphone addiction, according to the 2025 Parliament’s report on an EU-wide minimum age for social media. The EU already took steps to safeguard minors online through initiatives such as the Digital Market Act, the Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids, and the…
Updated: 20/04/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this April 20th, 2026 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More
With care and precision, an aquarist at the Lisbon Oceanarium smooths the sand in the aquarium of the “Forests Underwater” exhibition at the Lisbon Oceanarium. The job requires extended diving. Smoothing the bottom of the aquarium and removing any traces of disturbance or human presence is the final task, carried out after pruning the plants that make up the display. Light but precise cuts shape the vegetation in this 40-metre-long aquarium, which holds a total of 160,000 litres of freshwater. It was designed by Japanese artist Takashi Amano more than ten years ago. Every day, before the doors open, the…
Für Kanzler Friedrich Merz wird dieser Montag zum „Manic Monday“. Zwischen den Hallen der Hannover Messe und den deutsch-brasilianischen Regierungskonsultationen wächst der Unmut der Bosse. Das Verhältnis zwischen Kanzleramt und Industrie ist nach fast einem Jahr schwarz-roter Regierung am Tiefpunkt. Gordon Repinski analysiert die tiefe Enttäuschung über das Ausbleiben echter Strukturreformen und die Wut über Klingbeils 1.000-Euro-Prämie, die in der Wirtschaft als bürokratisches Ablenkungsmanöver gewertet wird. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview ordnet Tanja Gönner, Hauptgeschäftsführerin des BDI, die Lage ein, was die Industrie jetzt vom Kanzler erwartet und was sie selbst bereit ist zu tun. In Hannover trifft Merz heute auch wieder auf…
Published on 20/04/2026 – 6:40 GMT+2 The US military said it launched another strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing three people on Sunday, as the Trump administration continues its efforts to crackdown on the smuggling of drugs into the United States. The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has persisted since early September, killing at least 181 people. Other strikes have taken place in the eastern Pacific Ocean as well. The series of strikes have ramped up again in the past week or so, despite the…
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music This week’s agenda is brimming with high-level summits and meetings on foreign affairs. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, kicks it all off by focusing minds on Gaza. Today Kallas hosts back-to-back events to promote a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian territories. Ian and Nick discuss how the EU is using the occasion to position itself as an authority on the future of Gaza and present an alternative worldview to Donald Trump’s. Plus, they explain how Viktor Orbán’s defeat in the recent Hungarian election could impact EU-Israel relations. Later, we unpack the key issues to be…
The US says it has attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Tehran’s joint military command vowed to respond, throwing the fate of a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires. The ship was the first to be intercepted by the US Navy since it began blockading Iranian ports last week in response to Tehran’s closure of the strategic waterway since the US-Israeli war on the country broke out on 28 February. Iran called the armed boarding of the cargo vessel constituted a…
Klement’s push for clarity over the scope of OLAF’s access comes ahead of an anticipated EU review later this year of rules governing the watchdog’s work, part of a broader revamp aimed at improving fraud prevention in Europe. It comes amid wider scrutiny of how EU institutions handle allegations of corruption and misconduct. The issue came into sharp focus during the 2022 corruption scandal known as Qatargate, a Belgian probe into alleged attempts by Qatar and Morocco to influence decision-making in the Parliament. OLAF investigators complained at the time of being blocked from accessing lawmakers’ offices and laptops. EU institutions…
Many of those who spoke to POLITICO described a lack of “curiosity” in the PM. “He just doesn’t ask questions, on policy, politics or apparently propriety either,” another former official said. Some ministers agree. A current government official described Starmer’s approach to interrogating policies and other decisions as “hear no evil, see no evil.” The official added: “You can’t claim to be this meticulous lawyer, this micro-manager, this mandarin and then not care for stuff like this.” Boris Johnson vibes One bizarre example of his passivity is that Starmer apparently does not even express a strong preference about how he…
I’ve spent years working on vaccination policy in Europe, and if there’s one thing we still underestimate, it’s this: the value of immunization does not begin and end with preventing acute infections in childhood. That is yesterday’s framing. In today’s Europe, immunization must be recognized not as a narrow public health tool, but as a strategic pillar of resilience. Sibilia Quilici, executive director, Vaccines Europe – via Vaccines Europe Europe faces overlapping pressures: aging populations, chronic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), climate-sensitive health threats, workforce shortages and constrained public finances. In this context, immunization is not just about preventing illness, it’s…