Author: staff

Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics. Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping for a quieter week, after the largest backbench rebellion since he took power last week over the reforms to the welfare system. But it might not work out that way, as questions remain about how Chancellor Rachel Reeves will fill the £5.5bn blackhole in the public finances. Sam and Anne discuss the scale of the challenge the government is facing and what tax changes could be on the horizon.

Airlines had to issue 43,000 forced ticket refunds, accommodate 94,000 people in hotels, and provide food and drink worth 354,000 rubles (€3,800). Russian pro-government media website Kommersant reported that the transport issues will cost billions of rubles (more than €200,000). Ukrainian drones have repeatedly forced Russia to close its airspace for civilian traffic, as Kyiv targets military plants and other sites as it looks to inflict domestic pain on Putin. Starovoit, former governor of Russia’s Kursk region, was appointed to lead the transport ministry in 2024.

As budget talks ramped up, so did the resistance. Farm lobbyists mobilized. Agriculture ministers revolted. The Commission’s own agriculture chief, Christophe Hansen, began pushing back internally. Germany’s governing Christian Democrats wrote to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hails from the party,  urging their “Dear Ursula” not to fold the farm budget into broader spending plans.  “Cuts to the Common Agricultural Policy would send out completely the wrong signal,” Johannes Steiniger, one of the authors of the letter, told POLITICO. “The CAP must continue to have an independent and reliable budget.” The goal had been to fundamentally reshape how…

Enterprises are likely to face the greatest challenges under mandatory reuse systems. Many lack the reverse logistics or automation needed for reuse systems. For exporters, the burden is even greater, as they would be forced to operate two parallel packaging systems: one compliant with EU reuse requirements and another for non-EU markets. Currently, there are no large-scale reusable packaging systems in place, meaning an entirely new infrastructure would need to be developed within an extremely short timeframe. This raises serious legal, operational and economic concerns, especially for the most vulnerable segments of the market.   What it all means  Both studies agree…

Misleading claims are circulating online that US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Norway if he doesn’t receive the Nobel Peace Prize.Posts on X and other social media platforms like those pictured below suggest that Trump said he brought peace in the Israel-Iran war “by blowing things up”, and that he can do the same in Norway to secure the prestigious award.The claims are sometimes shared with pictures of Trump or even footage of various explosions.Nevertheless, a Google search for any trace of Trump ever making such remarks yields very few results.Searching for terms like “Trump”, “Norway”, “bomb” and…

References [1] Elkon K, Casali P. Nature and functions of autoantibodies. Nat Clin Pract Rheumatol. 2008 Sep;4(9):491-8. doi: 10.1038/ncprheum0895. [2] Gilhus N, Skeie G, Romi F et al. Myasthenia gravis – autoantibody characteristics and their implications for therapy. Nat Rev Neurol 12, 259-268(2016) https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.44. [3] Bacci ED et al. Understanding side effects of therapy for myasthenia gravis and their impact on daily life. BMC Neurol. 2019;19(1):335. Doi:10.1186/s12883-019-1573-2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31864345/. [4] Menon D, Barnett C, Bril V. Novel Treatments in Myasthenia Gravis. Front Neurol. 2020;11:538. doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00538. [5] Schett G, Teitelbaum SL. Osteoclasts and Arthritis. J Bone Miner Res. 2009;24(7):1142-1146. doi:10.1359/jbmr.090533. [6] Kocijan…

Ireland, Lithuania and Spain are vying for leadership of the Eurogroup on Monday, which chairs the monthly meetings of the 20 eurozone finance ministers and plays a key role in coordinating and influencing the Council’s economic policy decisions. Over the past two decades, the Eurogroup has had only four permanent presidents: Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker (2005–2013), the Netherlands’ Jeroen Dijsselbloem (2013–2018), Portugal’s Mário Centeno (2018–2020), and Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe. Since 2020, the position has been held by Donohoe, a member of the influential European People’s Party (EPP). But for his potential third term, the Irishman is being challenged by the socialist finance ministers…

Gut 8 Wochen ist Thorsten Frei jetzt Kanzleramtsminister. Einst sprach er davon, dass bei der Koalitionsarbeit auch die “B-Note” stimmen müsse. Doch die lässt bisher zu wünschen übrig. Das liegt auch an Frei. Der Mann, der für die interne Organisation zuständig ist, bewegt sich noch stark im Kommunikationsmodus eines Fraktionschefs. Das und mehrere andere, wenn auch anekdotische Begebenheiten, sorgen für Verwirrung. Bei den Länderchefs, bei der CSU und teils bei der CDU selbst. Gordon Repinski analysiert die Herausforderungen, vor denen Thorsten Frei und damit auch sein Kanzler stehen.  Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Jürgen Trittin (Grüne) über das, was von Ex-Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock…

According to the National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios 2024, data centers could become one of the UK’s fastest-growing sources of demand by the 2030s. AI data centers are used to train the most advanced AI, including frontier models such as ChatGPT, and require vast amounts of energy due to their continuous utilization. We cannot meet this surge in demand simply by layering data center load on top of an already stretched energy system. Coordination will be critical Last month, a report from Aurora Energy Research highlighted that an uncoordinated approach to power sourcing could see power sector emissions increasing by…

When they finally met at the American embassy in Vilnius, Tsikhanouskaya was shocked by her husband’s appearance. Siarhei had lost half his body weight. He told friends he’d forgotten how to speak in prison. Their daughter initially didn’t recognize him.  “When he started talking, she just recognized his voice only,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Of course, there was an ocean of tears, hugs. But prison changes people a lot. It’s like gray face, very skinny people.” Tsikhanouskaya still isn’t sure why the regime freed her husband. But Lukashenko has made a practice of releasing prisoners in exchange for international credibility. Relations with…