Author: staff

The Left MEP Marc Botenga said his group’s proposal to halve MEPs’ salaries would bring them “down to earth” and make it easier for them to “realise what a normal European is going through”. Botenga believes many MEPs are only “stressed about their own privilege”. He argues that the way people live “influences the way you vote and the kind of proposals you make”. MEPs currently receive a monthly salary of €8,800, while The Left’s proposal would reduce it to €4,400. Faced with allegations of populism, Botenga argues that the European Parliament is used to discussing “anything”. However, when it…

Published on 08/10/2026 – 9:23 GMT+2•Updated 9:31 The British Consulate in East Jerusalem is “ceasing operations” on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said, as Israel hits back at UK sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. In a post on social media, Sa’ar said 20 diplomats were “ending their assignments” and would leave Israel, while a small “task force of no more than seven diplomats with a very limited scope of activity” would be authorised to continue working from the building. “We did not want it to come to this, but the Labour Government’s actions have…

European stock markets opened lower on Thursday as rising oil prices fuelled inflation concerns. Investors assessed minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s September meeting, released on Wednesday, and awaited those from the European Central Bank. Asian shares also fell after Wall Street’s S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreated from record highs. At the open, Germany’s DAX fell 0.76%, and London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.75%. France’s CAC 40 was down 0.64%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 1.06%. Oil prices rebounded amid uncertainty over global crude supplies. The US and Iran have yet to reach a deal to end their war. Crude…

Aegean Airlines, Ryanair and Austrian Airlines have been ranked in the top three positions of a new 10-year safety index of 20 major European airlines. Released by AirAdvisor, the 2026 European Airline Safety Index assessed the 10 largest eligible low-cost and 10 largest eligible mainline carriers operating in Europe, based on 2025 flight volumes reported by EUROCONTROL. Each airline was scored out of 100 across six weighted categories: 40%: safety record, based on accidents published in the IATA Safety Report between 2016 and 2025 inclusive 20%: certification and audit, including audit history and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) data on…

Getting sign-off from the EU’s 27 governments would be a major coup for Dublin, which is chairing legislative negotiations in Brussels until the end of the year. However, six diplomats close to the negotiations gave contrasting views on whether a deal would be possible this week. According to one, anywhere from eight to 17 countries could band together to block an agreement. The diplomats did concede that the countries opposing the carveout are not unified in their position, however, as they all want different things from a potential deal. But the Deutsche Börse issue remains the most contentious. Securing a deal…

Touchdown in Beijing: EU Trade Chief Maroš Šefčovič landed in China yesterday with a crucial task in hand: secure commitments from the Chinese to rebalance the trading relationship. The stakes couldn’t be higher, my colleague Peggy Corlin writes in this morning. The EU faces a record €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with Beijing, with low-cost Chinese imports threatening entire sectors of EU industry. Curbing Chinese imports: Brussels is pushing for product quotas that could curb Chinese imports into the EU, but Beijing has already rejected so-called “voluntary export restrictions” on EVs. The European Commission must also find a way to rebalance…

Published on 08/10/2026 – 8:08 GMT+2 Texas has carried out the first execution in the US since Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survived a failed lethal injection last week. Jamaal Howard, 46, received a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 8:03 pm. Howard had been convicted of shooting and killing 42-year-old clerk Vickie Swartout in a convenience store robbery in Silsbee, Texas, in 2000. Howard is said to have gasped and taken a few breaths as the drug took effect, before making snoring sounds and coughing. All movement stopped within…

Published on 08/10/2026 – 8:02 GMT+2 The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is adding a glamorous new stop to its European routes in 2027, with Monte Carlo joining the itinerary for the first time. From May, the legendary train operated by Belmond will travel from Paris along the Côte d’Azur before arriving in Monaco on its onward journey to Venice. It’s set to become an annual addition to the iconic rail company’s schedule and will allow guests to explore the famously glitzy city, world-renowned for landmarks including the Casino de Monte-Carlo and the star-studded Formula One Grand Prix. Travellers will start their journey…

LONDON — Zack Polanski promised to smash Britain’s two-party political system — but his campaign for a U.K. parliamentary seat has leaned heavily on the idea that he can keep the existing prime minister honest. POLITICO analysis of the online battleground in the Holborn and St. Pancras by-election – which takes place Thursday — shows the Green leader has been pitching himself as a protest vote for Labour-backing constituents in the London seat, which has been held by Labour since its creation in 1983. The party has spent nearly £5,000 pushing ads on Meta’s platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram,…

María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her longtime Madrid home sparked nationwide protests across Spain and unleashed a political crisis in the country culminating in the government calling for snap elections, died on Wednesday while hospitalised. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez led the way on social media offering his condolences after housing activists and Abascal’s lawyer announced her death. Known widely as “Maricarmen,” she had become a symbol for renters struggling with Spain’s housing affordability crisis. “All my love to Maricarmen’s family and loved ones,” Sánchez wrote in a post on X. “A hug as well…