Author: staff

The Irish permanent representation to the EU’s transition team initially reached out to incoming commissioners by email, rather than setting meetings or leveraging relationships with key decision-makers, three officials said. Two officials said senior diplomats should have played a larger role in negotiations, rather than leaving talks to the permanent representation and to McGrath’s team. No master plan An official involved in negotiations for jobs in the cabinets of incoming commissioners told POLITICO that the process overall was far more chaotic than expected, and that “no country has a master plan.”  They said transition teams in the permanent representations had…

Chunghwa Telecom, which is part of an international consortium that owns the cable, said it had been able to reroute telecom traffic to other cables, and that service continued uninterrupted. The $500 million Trans-Pacific Express cable has linked countries in East Asia with the United States’ West Coast since 2008. Taiwan has experienced several dozen incidents of damage to its underwater telecom cables in recent years, without being able to definitively identify the source of the attacks, and has appealed to the European Union for help. The Taiwan cable attacks follow the severing of an undersea power cable between Finland…

At the same time, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Kyiv’s Center for Countering Disinformation, confirmed that the counteroffensive had begun. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces declined to comment immediately following a request from POLITICO. Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border raid in August 2024, overwhelming Russian border guards and capturing towns and villages in the Kursk region. Despite Moscow drafting in North Korean troops to fight back, the Russian armed forces have struggled to regain ground. On Saturday, Zelenskyy said the engagement was proving costly for the Kremlin. “Near just one village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up…

The tensions around the scandal contributed to race riots that took place in August, during which Musk also clashed with the United Kingdom’s government. Against this backdrop, Musk’s strident criticism of centrist and center-left politicians like Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips, a Home Office minister, is not unexpected — the Tesla entrepreneur’s politics have veered further and further right on immigration in recent years, and he often picks fights online with left-wing leaders. His schism with Farage, a darling of the anti-immigration movement, is more surprising. Earlier on Sunday, when asked in a television interview about insults and…

This article was originally published in Greek Simitis’ funeral will be carried out with the honours of a serving Prime Minister. Among the most important successes of his eight-year term were Greece joining the eurozone, as well as his effort in pushing for Cyprus’ accession to the European Union. Costas Simitis, the former Greek Prime Minister, has passed away at the age of 88. According to reports, he was found unconscious at his country residence in Agioi Theodoroi and was rushed to Corinth hospital, where doctors were unable to revive him.His funeral will take place on 9 January at the Metropolis…

Carter, who was in the White House from 1977-1981, died on 29 December at the age of 100. Six days of funeral observances for former President Jimmy Carter have begun Saturday in Georgia, the state where he died on 29 December at the age of 100.The first events reflected Carter’s climb up the political ladder, from the tiny town of Plains to a lifetime on the global stage as a humanitarian and advocate for democracy.The proceedings began on Saturday morning with the Carter family arriving at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.Former Secret Service agents who protected Carter served as pallbearers,…

Observers expected Meloni and Trump to talk about Ukraine, potential U.S. tariffs on European companies and the Middle East. Meloni is above all keen to find a quick solution to the detention of an Italian journalist in Iran. The journalist, Cecilia Sala, was arrested in Tehran after Italian police detained an Iranian wanted by the Americans, Mohammad Abedini-Najafabad. If the U.S. were to drop the extradition request or make other concessions to Iran it would facilitate Sala’s release, which would be a big win for Meloni at home. According to media reports, Trump and Meloni met for 90 minutes before…

As many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been sent to the area as part of an agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang, amid warnings of dwindling Russian manpower. While Zelenskyy gave no further details, a battalion is typically made up of as many as 1,000 personnel. In December, Kyiv warned the foreign fighters were being deployed to the front line, while White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the North Koreans were “highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile.” At the same time on Saturday, the Ukrainian armed forces…

A former season worker reveals what really goes on behind the scenes at your ski hotel – and it’s often bonkers. As a travel writer who writes regularly about ski holidays, I’ll typically spend a decent chunk of every winter being wined and dined by tour operators keen to showcase their newest slope-side hotel. And, as someone who spent several winters working as a hotel host in various European ski resorts, I can’t resist the occasional interrogation of the hotel employee pouring my wine or the housekeeper cleaning my room. Not simply because of a curiosity relating to whether their experiences differ…

Coalition talks have dragged on after Austria’s main parties refused to work with the leader of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, who came first in September’s election with 29.2% of the vote. Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed for a second time.The announcement came after the People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Social Democrats (SPÖ) continued coalition talks a day after the liberal Neos party’s surprise withdrawal from discussions.Neos, alongside Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party and the centre-left Social Democrats have…