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Ireland’s Emily O’Reilly, who’s been responsible for probing maladministration in EU institutions since 2013, is stepping down. The six candidates hoping to replace her face an uphill struggle for support – and to define what the role is for. Two Italians, a Portuguese, an Estonian, a Dutchman and an Austro-German are jostling to be the next European Ombudsman, as Ireland’s Emily O’Reilly prepares to step down.  They’ll face a gruelling process to gain support from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in a series of secret ballots set to take place in December. They’ll also have to resolve a longstanding squabble over…

The new animated film, ‘Gainsbourg: Rue de Verneuil’ is based on 11 hours of interviews with the iconic French singer, two years before his death. Biopics about musicians are a dime a dozen, but it seems that the genre is getting a necessary shake-up.  Whether it’s Morgan Neville’s animated film Piece By Piece, which premieres on the last night of the London Film Festival and follows the life of Pharrell Williams in Lego form, or Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, which has the ex-Take That member and ‘Angels’ singer portrayed by a monkey on screen, more music biopics…

So far, only Italy, Spain and Finland have applied for a seven-year extension. “The possibility of extending the adjustment period from four to seven years is currently being discussed,” said a German finance ministry official. For years, Germany’s position as Europe’s industrial powerhouse had shielded its economy, allowing it to emerge as the champion of fiscal discipline in the bloc. But this week the strain of a deeper-than-expected recession forced Berlin to miss its Oct. 15 deadline to submit a multi-year spending plan to the European Commission. As of the rules’ implementation in April, Brussels requires countries with relatively low…

Dublin says a renewed tensions in the Middle East provide legal grounds to re-examine the bill, which has stalled for six years over concerns it breaches EU law. Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris has said his government will receive “formal advice” next week from attorney general Rossa Fanning that could revive a bill outlawing trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.The Occupied Territories Bill was first tabled in 2018 by senator Frances Black, before the war in Gaza and Lebanon broke out. It aims to make it an offence in Ireland to import, attempt to import or assist…

“At present and most likely in the foreseeable future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting an application to BRICS,” the Kazakh president’s spokesperson, Berik Uali, said in an interview with local news on Wednesday. Uali added that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the United Nations as a “universal and irreplaceable international organization,” and said that the U.N. Security Council should be reformed to take into account interests of regional powers. Kazakhstan’s decision represents a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to brand BRICS as an alliance of “the global majority” as part of Moscow’s…

Investment mogul Elon Musk has ramped up his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by promising cash for those who support a political petition that backs the candidate. Tech tycoon Elon Musk has promised to give “$100” to anyone who signs a petition in support of free speech, the right to bear arms and who is a registered US voter in the state of Pennsylvania. In a post on social media platform X, which he owns, he wrote: “Earn money for supporting something you already believe in!” “Offer valid until midnight on Monday.”The post links to a blocked America…

Battle for Moldova’s future: Gendered disinformation is Russia’s secret weapon – POLITICO Skip to main content

Drone footage released by the Israeli military shows the last moments before Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death. The footage has been edited at the source to include a freeze frame and graphics. It shows a man sitting in a room destroyed by shelling. His face is covered with a scarf, possibly to hide his identity. With one wounded arm, the man reaches for a stick and throws it at the drone as it approaches closer. IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military then fired an additional shell at the building, causing it to collapse and killing Sinwar. The…

Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken. | Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images Dick of the year Explaining De Wever’s political success to a non-Belgian (or even a French-speaking Belgian) is challenging. He is cynical, arrogant, and easily outsmarts everyone around the table. He’s also bad at making polite small-talk and has mild germophobia, making campaigns extra challenging. How, then, has he proven so durable? He has been party president since 2004, remarkable in an age when most politicians rise and fall faster than the stock market.   “You could see that he was a man who picks up things…

At a summit where migration dominated, the EU’s 27 leaders drafted their final conclusions just before midnight, with so-called “return hubs” and a timeline for a landmark migration pact missing from the agenda. The high-stakes European Council summit concluded on Thursday, with migration policy dominating the agenda.For the first time, leaders discussed so-called “return hubs” — centres in third countries where migrants within the EU, whose asylum claims have been rejected and cannot be repatriated, would be held.This, along with discussions around the European Union’s asylum and migration pact, set to be implemented in 2026, signalled that leaders were potentially…