Author: staff

Sensitive budget talks are eyeing the EU’s administrative machinery and global funding as the most likely targets for deep cuts. But the delegation network is already being reorganised, and small European countries, as well as companies, rely on it heavily. European governments are locked in tense negotiations over the bloc’s next long-term budget, with the administrative costs of EU institutions abroad and the global programme the most likely casualties. But small countries have much to lose if the EU’s global diplomatic network shrinks. A coalition of so-called “frugal” countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, is pushing to cut the…

Published on 28/09/2026 – 7:16 GMT+2 US President Donald Trump offered to sell arms to Beijing in response to concerns over weapons sales to Taiwan, the US ambassador to China said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday. China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and US arms sales to the self-ruled island have long been a thorny issue between Washington and Beijing. The United States is required by law to supply Taiwan, which has a democratically elected president and legislature, with weapons for its defence under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. US Ambassador to China David…

Published on 28/09/2026 – 6:27 GMT+2 US President Donald Trump said he will have a late dinner on Sunday night with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, the top AI executive who has cautioned about the technology’s rapid pace of development, even as the president warns against slowing it. The meeting comes after months of open conflict between the artificial intelligence startup (makers of Claude) and the Trump administration. The private dinner is the first one-on-one meeting between the two men, according to US media outlet Axios, which first reported the later confirmed by Trump plans. As he arrived at Joint Base…

Europe’s defense ministers are meeting today to discuss whether the EU needs its own version of NATO’s article 4. This so-called Emergency Security Protocol would allow capitals to bring together all EU countries in the event of a security crisis. But the idea is controversial. On the show, hosts Zoya Sheftalovich and Nick Vinocur discuss whether there is appetite among capitals to set up the protocol, or whether the move will be seen as encroaching on NATO’s turf. Next, the European Parliament’s biggest political family — the EPP — is devising a plan to take on the far right in 2029.…

Nordrhein-Westfalens Ministerpräsident Hendrik Wüst (CDU) gilt als Reservekanzler, doch im eigenen Bundesland schrumpft vor den Landtagswahlen in Nordrhein-Westfalen im April 2027 der Vorsprung vor der AfD. Mit einer Reise in die Türkei betritt er Wüst in diesen Tagen außenpolitisches Parkett. Rasmus Buchsteiner ordnet ein, was hinter der Mission steckt und wie Wüst seine bundespolitischen Ambitionen kalkuliert. Am Rande der UN-Generalversammlung in New York kommt es zu einem überraschenden Aufeinandertreffen zwischen Außenminister Johann Wadephul und seinem russischen Amtskollegen Sergej Lawrow. Hans von der Burchard schildert die Minuten und analysiert, warum der Ruf nach mehr Diplomatie an russischer Härte abprallt. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview…

Europe’s divided conservatives launch 2029 plan to beat far right – POLITICO Skip to main content

The Kremlin is seeking additional funds for the war in Ukraine by raising taxes, as the federal budget deficit reached 5.8479 trillion roubles (€60.4 billion) in the first half of the year, according to official data. By the end of July, the budget deficit amounted to 2.8% of annual GDP, almost twice the initially planned annual figure. The volume of funds in Russia’s reserve fund has fallen to 1.6% of GDP, forcing the Kremlin to borrow from domestic banks. At the same time, GDP growth has slowed compared with the peak rate of more than 4% year on year recorded…

British police said on Sunday that five men arrested near RAF Fairford, an air base used by US forces during the war against Iran, were being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. The arrests followed a major security incident overnight, during which residents living near the base were evacuated from their homes. Police said they received reports of three suspicious vehicles heading towards RAF Fairford at around 12:45 am on Sunday. They have not disclosed the nationalities of those arrested. “We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody,” said Vicki Evans,…

He backed the U.K. government’s current approach to the European Union, warning people would be “misplaced” to seek to return to a customs union. “Look at the arrangements we’ve already got,” he said. “You don’t add a lot more to it through a customs union … and you’d be having to, you know, frankly, accept a whole range of alignment on regulatory issues,” he added. Reynolds comments come days after former Prime Minister Tony Blair published a paper calling for the U.K. to rejoin a “reformed” union within the next decade. Burnham left the door open to putting a rejoin…

Published on 27/09/2026 – 11:53 GMT+2•Updated 16:30 Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday that assisted dying should not be considered “normal”, as he continued his landmark visit to France, where parliament has voted to legalise the practice for certain patients. “We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion. It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal,” he told sick and disabled worshippers at the pilgrimage site of Lourdes. The US pontiff met with the bishops of France at the Saint Bernadette auditorium at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday…