Author: staff
Police used tear gas and water cannon as protesters fired fireworks and threw objects during clashes outside Kosovo’s parliament in Pristina on Monday. Riot officers moved forward behind shields as fires burned in the streets, and several people were detained. The unrest followed parliament’s first reading of amendments aimed at limiting the powers of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. The court recently convicted four former Kosovo Liberation Army commanders of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 conflict. The proposed changes would cap prison sentences at 15 years, allow appeals to Kosovo’s Supreme Court and let convicted people serve…
For most of the past decade, lending money to France was considered almost as safe as lending money to Germany. That belief is now breaking down, and it is happening fast. Last week, investors demanded up to 5% a year to lend to the French government for 10 years. France had not faced borrowing costs that high on its 10-year bonds since July 2002. The extra return investors want to hold French debt instead of German debt rose to its highest level since the eurozone debt crisis of 2011-2012. France now pays more to borrow than Italy and Greece, two…
MAAT – the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon – is hosting until 22 February the exhibition “VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos” (source in Portuguese), inspired by the world of the renowned Italian fashion designer. The project stems from a partnership between the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation – Giammetti being the designer’s life and business partner – and Portuguese sculptor and artist Joana Vasconcelos, who has devised a visitor journey in which her own work enters into dialogue with the pieces created over the years by the designer. “I wanted to…
Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, one of Japan’s largest asset managers, said at the weekend it had sold all its French debt. In case of accelerated sales — or even worse, forced sales — the risk of contagion to other eurozone member countries rises further. Who ya gonna call? Spread-busters! The widening so-called spreads between national sovereign bond yields have raised questions about whether and how the European Central Bank might stop the rot. The ECB’s Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI) allows it to buy government bonds in the secondary market to counter “unwarranted, disorderly” market dynamics — but only under…
By Johanna Urbancik Published on 06/10/2026 – 8:45 GMT+2 Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is seeking to have one of its politicians elected president of a state parliament today, as lawmakers in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt meet for the first time since the party won elections there a few weeks ago. The AfD wants Tobias Rausch to become president, or speaker, of the newly elected parliament in the state capital, Magdeburg, a personnel decision with nationwide significance. Whether he will secure the necessary majority is still unclear. The AfD won the state election on 6 September with 43.8 percent…
Thousands of people marched through central Barcelona on Monday to demand affordable homes, carrying banners and chanting for free and quality housing. The demonstration later turned tense, as some participants threw objects at police and set rubbish bins on fire. Officers charged the crowd and detained several people as smoke filled the streets. The march reflected growing anger over high rents, a shortage of homes and the risk of eviction across Spain. People of all ages took part, with demonstrators calling for political action. Trade unions have also announced a one-day general strike over the issue, although the date has…
Diesel goes back to costing €0.61 more per litre from Tuesday, after the expiry at midnight of the latest tax break on fuel. Without publication in the Official Gazette of the expected ministerial decree, the much-heralded mechanism of “mobile excise duties” remains on hold. Filling up at the pump is officially more expensive, marking the complete disappearance of tax cuts on fuel for the first time since last March, when the first decree was approved following the outbreak of the conflict between the United States and Iran. Despite assurances in recent days about activating mobile excise duties, the joint measure…
On Sunday, Portugal’s national team beat Norway by two goals, securing a place in the Nations League quarter-finals. The group stage of the competition was overshadowed by the controversy involving Cristiano Ronaldo and head coach Jorge Jesus, which ended with the captain leaving the training camp. As a result, the world followed with great curiosity what would happen next, in particular to see what Portugal’s national team would look like without Cristiano Ronaldo. While, regarding the team, Jorge Jesus said he “didn’t have much to say” because “the results spoke for themselves”, when it comes to Cristiano Ronaldo there is…
Badenoch, the party leader, has described maintaining the triple lock as “current” Conservative policy and in the “draft manifesto.” If it stays there, the party will have to set out where they will find billions of pounds to foot the bill of reversing the Labour policy. The Conservative strategy right now is to downplay the purported savings Burnham reckons can be found by the triple lock tinkering — and instead insist they can find many more billions by reducing the working age welfare bill. Marginal gains As the second shadow Cabinet minister put it, “fiddling in the margins” won’t find…
Published on 06/10/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2 The movements and actions of Russian diplomats have come under intense scrutiny as the European Union grapples with a succession of hybrid attacks, some of which have been directly attributed to Moscow, that have shaken its collective security. The topic has emerged as a potential next step in the bloc’s sanctions regime, according to senior diplomats with knowledge of the discussions. Brussels is seeking to turn the page after the contentious removal of two high-profile oligarchs last month, which strained the EU’s united front. Countries are now looking for ways to close ranks and…