Author: staff
A post on X by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has triggered a wave of misinformation linked to the EU’s €90 billion support loan to Ukraine, which is designed to help Kyiv meet its general budget and defence needs amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. Hungary said earlier this week that it would block both the loan — agreed by EU leaders in December — and a new EU sanctions package against Moscow amid a dispute over oil supplies. Shortly afterwards, Metsola posted on X that she had signed the Ukraine support loan on behalf of the parliament. She said the funds…
Published on 27/02/2026 – 13:28 GMT+1 Tehran’s security agents dressed in plain clothes reportedly obstructed doctors from administering care to injured protesters at hospitals, according to doctors in Iran. One medical professional said a man in his 40s was rushed to the hospital’s emergency unit after being shot in the head at close range during a protest. When he and others tried to hurry into the room to tend to him, he said the agents blocked their way, pushing some back with their rifles. “They surrounded him and didn’t allow us to move further,” said the doctor in the northern…
In the wilderness By contrast, Britain’s Tories, who were running the country in government under two years ago, had a bruising night. They dropped from an already-dire general election showing of 7.9 percent to just 1.9 percent — receiving a paltry 706 votes. By polling under 5 percent, the party’s worst ever by-election result, the Tories lost the £500 deposit all candidates must pay to stand. In the immediate aftermath, Tory figures stressed that the party never had a chance of winning a constituency that has been reliably Labour for decades. Instead, they talked up Reform’s failure to seal the…
Published on 27/02/2026 – 15:00 GMT+1•Updated 15:41 Conditions at the Riofrío sturgeon farm are ideal for the fish, which are exclusively fed on organic vegetables and fishmeat sustainably sourced in a natural environment. “Sturgeon have a very slow metabolism and growth rate. They are not a breed for impatient people. We don’t accelerate the process in any way, letting the animal produce the caviar as it would do in nature,” explains Ignacio Alba Alejandre, a veterinarian at Caviar Riofrío. Natural water comes from a spring just 300 metres upstream of the facilities. Organic caviar is made here with only sturgeon…
The family of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has sued US President Donald Trump and senior administration officials over sanctions imposed on her for criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza, claiming the penalties violate her constitutional rights. Albanese’s husband Massimiliano Calì, a senior World Bank economist, and their minor daughter filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in US District Court in Washington, naming Trump, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as defendants. The civil complaint argues the sanctions violate Albanese’s First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, unreasonably seize property without due process, and…
The result, one of the worst in Labour’s recent history, has turbocharged the acrimonious debate about Starmer’s perilous position and the direction he is taking his party in. Six government ministers, MPs and officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told POLITICO they don’t expect the prime minister to be ousted in the wake of the result, which two people separately described as the “worst case scenario.” Further election hammerings expected in national and local contests in May are seen as the next flashpoint which could end his premiership less than two years after he won a landslide majority. The Scottish…
The European Commission has welcomed the joint proposal by Hungary and Slovakia to send a fact-finding mission to inspect the damaged section of the Druzhba pipeline, seeing it as a first step to ease the standoff between the two countries and Ukraine. The Commission does not rule out joining such a mission if Kyiv gives permission. But the plan remains in very early stages, and the executive does not have a track record of participating in exercises of this type. “We consider this a welcome step. We are now in contact with the Ukrainian authorities on this matter and continue…
Updated: 27/02/2026 – 14:31 GMT+1 A skier was rescued alive after being buried headfirst under a thick layer of snow at Palisades Tahoe, California. Two Sacramento skiers spotted his skis and dug him free just as he struggled to breathe. The rescue comes amid a particularly deadly season for skiers in the Lake Tahoe area. … More
Uzbekistan will place one of the world’s most dramatic environmental transformations at the centre of its national pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Titled The Aural Sea, the project focuses on the Aral Sea, located in Central Asia between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Once the fourth-largest inland body of water in the world, the sea has lost more than 90% of its volume since the 1960s after river diversion projects redirected the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for large-scale irrigation. What was once a vast fishing economy has largely become a desert. Rather than revisiting the…
“That may also enable us to provide concrete answers to the questions raised by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta. Because we know full well that the European Union really needs to make a huge investment effort, particularly in innovation,” Forissier said, referring to landmark strategy recommendations from the two former Italian PMs. “Basically, the Americans are doing us a favor by forcing us to take action, make decisions, and step outside our comfort zones or areas of uncertainty that suited us just fine.” Forissier’s comments were a departure from the usually more hawkish French position toward Washington. As recently as…