Author: staff
The script (written by yours truly, under the pen name P.D. Allison) is loosely based on the events of this past week and is set in a dystopian hellscape both leads are desperate to destroy — it’s called Brussels. Le Pen and Farage are set to retire if only they can track down the mysterious crypto billionaire Chad Coinman (played by Donald Trump), who has destroyed the international world order. In the first draft, they found him and had him arrested, but to inject a bit of reality into the script, they now join the Coinman empire and do the…
This week’s NATO summit in Ankara was the most anticipated for some time. After five years of war on the continent, and two years of rancour from a confrontational White House, it was the moment for Europe to prove it’s serious about its own defence. At Tuesday’s Industry Defence Forum, European allies heralded $50 billion (€43 billion) of deals for defence production and procurement, covering submarines, Patriot missile defence systems, interceptors, ammunition, all presented as proof that the alliance is on a credible path to spending 5 percent of its GDP on defence by 2035. Among the headline announcements was…
Volkswagen’s plans to cut tens of thousands more jobs and close factories face a key test on Thursday as the groups controlling Europe’s largest carmaker meet to discuss the proposals, while workers stage protests at plants across Germany. Europe’s biggest carmaker is under pressure from US tariffs, weaker profit margins on electric vehicles and, above all, fierce competition in China, the world’s largest car market. Volkswagen, whose 10 brands range from Seat to Porsche, is already cutting 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, including 35,000 at its core Volkswagen brand. Those cuts were agreed with unions at the end of…
Drivers in Russia’s Saint Petersburg are facing long queues at petrol stations after weeks of intensified Ukrainian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure disrupted fuel supplies. Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, fuel depots and other energy facilities since early June, saying the campaign is aimed at disrupting Moscow’s military logistics and reducing oil revenues that help finance its war effort. At some filling stations in Saint Petersburg, signs indicated that 92 and 95 octane petrol was unavailable, while some stations were closed altogether. Drivers told AFP they were spending hours searching for fuel and…
A Polish court jailed a former Russian opposition activist and his wife for spying for Moscow on Thursday and also accused them of organising a parcel containing explosives. Authorities in Warsaw have warned of Russian sabotage acts in Poland since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. According to court documents seen by the AFP news agency, Russian citizen Igor R., identified by Russian media as Igor Rogov, was jailed for seven years while his wife Irina was sentenced to three years. The couple, living in Poland since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022,…
A cluster of mostly smaller NATO allies has committed to a new institution built to finance the West’s military build-up, though the hesitancy of Europe’s heavyweight nations casts doubt over how much financial firepower it can ultimately command. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the nine founding backers of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) at the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday, calling it a foundation for the allies’ collective security. The signatories, Canada, Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, will shape the bank’s initial rules before its planned launch in 2027. First proposed in…
Portuguese rapper 18 Karat was deported by plane from Germany to Portugal, his country of origin, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and his family has already been informed of his whereabouts. “He managed to get in touch with his family this morning [Wednesday] and tell them the time and place of his arrival,” said the musician’s lawyer, Lisa Grüter, quoted by German daily Die Zeit (source in Portuguese). The deportation was confirmed to German news agency dpa by the authorities in the city of Dortmund, where the 40-year-old rapper moved with his family as a youngster. The artist…
Published on 09/07/2026 – 20:00 GMT+2•Updated 20:20 Christine Lagarde has welcomed the Spanish government’s proposal for joint borrowing, telling Euronews it marks the start of a discussion based on merit rather than “over my dead body” positions, as tough talks on the next European budget get underway. “It’s great that a country like Spain, for instance, makes a proposal and puts it on the table for debate. Now it’s for the others to say, ‘this part we like, this part we don’t like’, and how that can be addressed. I think it’s good to move forward,” she told Euronews. On…
Published on 09/07/2026 – 20:03 GMT+2•Updated 20:19 The digital euro will complement, not replace, cash, and the goal is not to trace payments, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told Euronews in an exclusive interview, rejecting claims that the project is designed to monitor citizens. The European Parliament approved its negotiating mandate on Thursday, bringing the legislation a step closer to adoption by the end of 2026 after months of stalled talks. The proposal initially faced criticism from members of the European Parliament, who argued that the digital euro could undermine privacy and eventually diminish the role of banknotes and…
Paris City Hall has displayed large banners supporting France’s national football team ahead of their 2026 World Cup quarter-final against Morocco. The footage shows the façade decorated with ‘Paris avec les Bleus’ signs and banners in the colours of the French team as the capital shows its support before the game. The display in central Paris comes as Les Bleus prepare for a key World Cup fixture against Morocco on 9 July. Led by coach Didier Deschamps, the French side face a Moroccan team that has established itself as a strong competitor on the international stage. The city has previously…