Author: staff
“It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy,” the spokesperson said. The backlash came quickly. A Reform spokesperson said: “It’s gutter politics, a sign of what the Conservative Party has become.” At a press conference in Westminster Monday night, Farage said of the Tories: “Their reaction to Suella’s defection has been pretty abusive. Don’t please ask any questions about that. We will not lower ourselves to their level.” The backlash was not confined to Reform. Government minister Mike…
Published on 26/01/2026 – 17:30 GMT+1 Finland will establish a new maritime surveillance mechanism to prevent further damage to undersea cables, according to officials. The mechanism will be set up in cooperation with other Baltic Sea states and is part of the European Commission’s plan to boost the security of data and telecom infrastructure. Mikko Hirvi, head of maritime safety at the Finnish Border Guard, said Monday that it will include hubs around the region that would “exchange information, risk analyses, threat assessments and real-time information”. “This also involves the development of surveillance capabilities, including sensors, related technology and exercises,”…
By Derek Gatopoulos with AP Published on 07/01/2026 – 14:13 GMT+1 As Orthodox Christians around the world attended Epiphany ceremonies on Tuesday to commemorate the baptism of Christ, worried officials in Greece used the moment to highlight growing water scarcity. A priest cast a wooden cross into the visibly depleted waters of Lake Marathon, an artificial reservoir north of Athens. Water stored there and in the other three reservoirs supplying Athens has dropped from more than 1 billion cubic metres in 2022 to about 390 million cubic metres. The dramatic decline prompted authorities in November to declare a water emergency in the capital.…
Le secrétaire général en a fait tiquer plus d’un lorsqu’il a appelé Donald Trump “daddy”, un commentaire sur lequel il a tenté de revenir. Le cabinet de Mark Rutte n’a pas répondu à une demande de commentaire pour cet article. “Je comprends parfaitement la difficulté de sa tâche [maintenir l’unité de l’Otan], mais c’est tellement pénible de le regarder”, confie un diplomate chevronné de l’UE, sous couvert de l’anonymat pour pouvoir s’exprimer librement, comme d’autres personnes dans cet article. Le secrétaire général, Mark Rutte, en a fait tiquer plus d’un lorsqu’il a appelé Donald Trump “daddy“, un commentaire sur lequel…
Published on 26/01/2026 – 17:44 GMT+1 Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman became the latest politician from the party to defect to hard-right rival Reform UK. Braverman, who was fired from her job as interior minister in 2023 after repeatedly diverging from government policy, said on Monday she had quit the Conservatives after 30 years and would represent her southern England constituency in Parliament as a Reform UK lawmaker. “We can either continue down this route of managed decline to weakness and surrender,” Braverman said. “Or we can fix our country, reclaim our power, rediscover our strength. I believe that…
Trump’s growing interest in Greenland has highlighted the nation’s largely untapped mineral resources, which many experts argue are key to phasing out fossil fuels. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), critical minerals are “essential” for transitioning to a green energy future – used for technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles (EVs). Acquiring Greenland may help the US reduce its dependency on China, but is Trump’s plan really that simple? Greenland’s critical minerals A 2023 survey found that 25 of the 34 minerals deemed “critical raw materials” by the European Commission were found in Greenland. The nation is…
Rutte went on to insist that the EU allow Ukraine to spend part of the bloc’s upcoming €90 billion loan to Kyiv on weapons from the United States, despite a push by some member countries like France to spend the money on the bloc’s own military suppliers. The comments form part of a broader pattern in which Rutte has insisted that Europe has to keep channels open to the United States, and that the U.S. president remains loyal to the alliance. Washington still has a “total commitment” to the alliance’s collective defense, he said. “The U.S. needs NATO.” He also…
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused Ukraine on Monday of seeking to meddle in his country’s upcoming elections and ordered Kyiv’s ambassador to be summoned to the foreign ministry. The step was the latest in Orbán’s long-running anti-Ukraine campaign as he seeks to convince voters that the neighbouring country, embroiled in a war with Russia, poses an existential threat to Hungary’s security and sovereignty. Orbán, who has maintained close ties with Russia since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, faces what is expected to be the biggest challenge of his 16 years in power during elections scheduled for 12 April.…
Published on 10/01/2026 – 7:00 GMT+1 The super-rich are fuelling the climate crisis with “gross carbon recklessness” as calls for an increased wealth tax grow louder. New analysis from Oxfam found that the richest one per cent have already exhausted their annual carbon budget just 10 days into 2026. This is where CO2 emissions exceed limits to keep the world within 1.5℃ of warming. It is often referred to as “Pollutocrat Day”. Oxfam also found that the richest 0.01 per cent exceeded their carbon limit in the first 72 hours of the new year (3 January) – warning that the…
The Parliament froze ratification of the agreement, signed by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, after the U.S. president threatened tariffs on European allies backing Greenland. Lead negotiators will meet Feb. 4 to decide next steps, the Parliament’s International Trade Committee Chair Bernd Lange said. At the meeting, lawmakers broadly agreed that the deal should go ahead now Trump has backtracked. But political groups are divided on whether they should first play hardball with the U.S. and demand more details on the NATO-Trump agreement, according to four people familiar with the talks. The center-right European…