Author: staff
The probe follows the finance department’s finding that the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group misspent €4.3 million between 2019 and 2024. ID remained active until the June 2024 European Parliament elections, after which many of its members and staff regrouped under the Patriots banner. According to the report, officials discovered irregularities in the Patriots’ accounts covering the period between July 16 and Dec. 31, 2024. The findings conclude the group donated €54,620 to local and regional organizations — a practice prohibited under Parliament rules, which require expenditure to be linked to political activities at the EU level. Associations promoting French…
It’s been 10 years since the referendum that saw the UK vote narrowly to leave the European Union, with 52% opting to get out and 48% preferring to remain. The vote on 23 June 2016 was followed by years of agonising negotiations and political turmoil in the UK, before the country finally officially left the bloc in early 2020. While the time may have flown by, some of the conflicting claims about whether Brexit would be a benefit or a disaster for the country have not. From the economy to immigration, the Irish border and security, arguments about whether the…
Iran’s delegation returned from Switzerland having agreed a mechanism to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and maintain the Lebanon ceasefire, as mediators described 18 hours of talks as producing “significant progress”. US Vice President JD Vance said Sunday had been “a very, very good day” before leaving the Alpine country that hosted the talks. “First, we wanted to build a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open — it is open,” Vance told reporters at Bürgenstock on Monday. “We laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal, the final deal is the house,” he said. “We…
Withering verdicts on Starmer’s top team and the inner workings of the security vetting system are included in second batch of documents covering Peter Mandelson’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Washington. Jun 1 11 mins read
By Christina Thykjaer & Euronews en español Published on 22/06/2026 – 12:55 GMT+2•Updated 13:51 Spain’s Supreme Court has sentenced former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, once a senior figure in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE), to 24 years in prison for his role in a corruption scheme linked to the award of face mask contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court also sentenced his former aide Koldo García to 19 years in prison and businessman Víctor de Aldama to four and a half years. The ruling, unanimously adopted by a seven-judge panel, found that the three men formed a criminal organisation…
The European Commission has recently unveiled its proposal for the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), which aims to boost the local cloud and AI industry by reshaping infrastructure, the European cloud market, and how public sector bodies can operate in the future. CADA focuses on three major pillars: investment in research, development and innovation, capacity building — tripling the European data centre market within the next five to seven years — and a comprehensive autonomy framework, which entails four levels of sovereignty and security and new obligations for EU member states. CADA met with a mixed reception Thus far,…
Published on 22/06/2026 – 12:33 GMT+2 Exclusivity, luxury and privacy are often overused buzzwords in the world of hospitality, but a new retreat in Finnish Lapland may have a genuine claim to all three. Opening in December this year, Octola III will accommodate just six guests, but don’t expect to make a simple booking online – access is granted exclusively through a private invitation-only waiting list. Guests have the option of booking one suite, two suites or the entire property. The latest addition to the Octola Private Wilderness portfolio sits 500 metres above sea level on the site of a…
Published on 22/06/2026 – 14:00 GMT+2 Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter SZA has slammed AI and artists who “support this degenerate shit,” having discovered that more than 200 of her songs have been used to train AI. Posting on Instagram Stories, the 36-year-old behind hits like ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Luther’ with Kendrick Lamar shared the results of a search of her name on an AI music database. The search apparently revealed that 238 of her songs had been used in AI training datasets. “Checked and music AI has trained off 238 of my songs. I’m certain some unreleased. If you’re…
The negotiations in Switzerland resulted in the creation of a “communication line” between the U.S. and Iran to coordinate the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the statement. The memorandum of understanding signed last week had stated that during the 60-day window, the two countries would lift their blockades of the critical waterway without charging passage fees. The peace talks, hosted at the luxury Bürgenstock resort on Lake Lucerne, also created a “de-confliction cell” between the countries and Lebanon in order to help end the ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah. U.S. Vice President…
By Eduard Wolter Published on 22/06/2026 – 12:56 GMT+2 A decade after the 2015 Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), the EU is now Kazakhstan’s largest trading and investment partner, Tokayev says. According to the head of state, Kazakhstan’s economy is being modernised and diversified for the mutual benefit of both sides: “The partnership between Kazakhstan and the European Union is more important today than ever before. And that is why it must be strengthened.” Tokayev identified three main strategic objectives: firstly, strengthening resilience; secondly, expanding connectivity in all its forms; and thirdly, creating new opportunities for citizens. A pragmatic and…