Author: staff
By Sertac Aktan with AFP Published on 10/03/2026 – 17:52 GMT+1•Updated 17:52 Israel’s new West Bank settlement initiative is a “big mistake,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday. At a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in Berlin, Merz described the developments as “annexation moves” and called on Israel to halt the settlement push. Merz added that advancing the project would “complicate the two-state solution,” and urged the Israeli government to reconsider its decisions. The so-called “E1 project” was authorised last August, paving the way for 3,400 housing units across a 12-square-kilometre area to the east of Jerusalem, in West…
Published on 10/03/2026 – 17:29 GMT+1 The European Parliament adopted on Tuesday a series of recommendations urging lawmakers to find a “permanent” solution to protect copyright from use by artificial intelligence (AI), a move that creative industry groups say signals strong political backing for artists and rights holders. Drafted by Parliament’s committee on legal affairs, the report calls for EU copyright law to apply to all AI systems made available to users within the bloc. Among its key proposals is the creation of a European register at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that would list every copyrighted work…
BRUSSELS — The head of the International Energy Agency on Tuesday summoned an extraordinary meeting to decide whether to tap millions of barrels of emergency oil supplies amid soaring energy costs. The meeting, to be held at an undisclosed time on Tuesday, will “assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks of IEA countries available to the market,” the agency’s chief, Fatih Birol, said in an emailed statement. The IEA’s 31 members — mostly advanced Western economies — have grown increasingly panicked as Iran and a U.S.-Israeli coalition trade airstrikes, imperilling…
Published on 10/03/2026 – 16:15 GMT+1 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said he reached agreement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the need to restore the Druzhba oil pipeline, following a meeting on the sidelines of the World Nuclear Forum. The pipeline, which carries Russian oil through Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary, was struck in a Russian drone attack in late January and has yet to be repaired. Bratislava and Budapest maintain that it remains operational, and accuse Kyiv of using the matter for political blackmail. “We discussed the need to resume the transit of Russian…
Governments and lobby groups in Italy, Ireland and Hungary are raising concerns over the continuing near-standstill in maritime freight transport in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran escalates. The strait, a major international waterway for oil, gas and fertilizers, has been a no-go zone for a week now, after Iran retaliated against a joint U.S.-Israeli strike and the conflict spilled into the surrounding region. The narrow stretch of water lies partly in Iranian territorial waters. Tehran has said the waterway technically remains open but warned that U.S. and Israeli vessels would be targeted, adding it “cannot…
By Euronews Published on 10/03/2026 – 15:15 GMT+1 International policy issues are on the table for European Union finance ministers. The 27 ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday, where the economic impact of the war in Iran was the main topic. Oil prices briefly surged to their highest level since 2022, nearing $120 a barrel, a day after Iran’s Assembly of Experts appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to succeed his late father. But prices fell sharply after US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the war against Iran could be short-lived and that Washington was considering waiving oil-related sanctions…
Published on 10/03/2026 – 15:05 GMT+1 A number of upcoming European cruises have been cancelled after several vessels were unable to leave ports in the Arabian Gulf amid regional tensions. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has forced operators to suspend sailings and repatriate thousands of stranded passengers. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) told AFP that 15,000 cruise passengers had been stuck in the region with ships from several operators – including MSC, TUI, Celestyal and AROYA – docked in key ports. On Monday, Greek cruise line Celestyal confirmed that its ships remain in the Gulf, with…
Larijani is a former revolutionary guard and one of the most influential politicians within Iran’s regime, which has appointed a new supreme leader after former ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike. In his post, Trump added: “Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!” The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has driven up oil prices globally, though they eased after…
As the war in the Middle East sends oil prices soaring, Russia is once again driving a wedge between the European Union and the United States. President Donald Trump, whose endgame in Iran is not clear to Western allies, has suggestedsuspending US sanctions on foreign oil in an attempt to bring down global prices, reassure panicked investors and contain the fallout from the war he launched. “We have sanctions on some countries. We’re going to take those sanctions off till this straightens out,” Trump said on Monday. “Then, who knows? Maybe we won’t have to put them on – there’ll…
Thousands of women marched through the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday, calling for stronger protections against gender violence and greater equality. Demonstrators were seen chanting, beating drums and carrying banners as they marched toward Plaza de Mayo. Some participants said women in Argentina continue to face insecurity and warned that recent policy changes could weaken protections for women’s rights. Similar demonstrations were also held in several Latin American countries in recent days.