Author: staff
While Kyiv has been notching military victories on the battlefield and increasingly striking targets deep in Russian territory, Moscow continues to attack Ukraine with dozens of ballistic missiles as the latter scrambles to shore up its dwindling air defenses. The latest attack on Monday, just before the summit, killed at least 22 people and wounded over 90 in Kyiv alone, with Zelenskyy admitting a lack of PAC-3 interceptors meant Ukraine did not shoot down even one of 20 ballistic missiles launched at it. He urged partner nations to deplete their stocks for Kyiv. Rutte condemned the attack and urged allies…
By Kamuran Samar & euronews Published on 06/07/2026 – 15:30 GMT+2•Updated 17:15 Belgian football fans criticised FIFA’s decision to overturn United States striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension ahead of Belgium’s World Cup round-of-16 clash with the USA. The decision came following reported intervention by US President Donald Trump. Speaking in Brussels, several supporters questioned the fairness of the ruling, arguing that a red card should carry the same consequences for every team. Some said the decision risked affecting confidence in the refereeing, while others described it as “not normal” and insisted that “a red card is a red card”. Watch the video to hear…
Conflicting assessments Belgrade’s parliament last month voted through a series of amendments relaxing controversial laws passed at the start of the year by the governing party, which legal experts said would undermine the independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption. On top of that, officials point to almost two dozen legislative changes that have been passed to comply with EU rules, including strengthening the management of EU funds and aligning with the bloc’s internal market. Yet the Commission’s own assessments appear to point in different directions. In an internal briefing paper circulated amongst ambassadors ahead of Wednesday’s meeting…
The European Union’s new Critical Chemicals Alliance (CCA), which has been presented as a strategic response to concerns about Europe’s industrial resilience and competitiveness, has become a front for industries pushing for deregulation and relaxed pollution rules, according to a watchdog report published on Monday. Launched in January 2026 with the European Commission’s endorsement, the CCA includes chemical giants like BASF, TotalEnergies, and Avantium. It was officially meant to identify chemical substances and production sites deemed “critical” to the European economy, potentially unlocking billions in future public support and state aid. But new research published by the Corporate Europe Observatory…
On the Croatian island of Rab, artists are carving large sand sculptures on the beach as part of the 15th Festival of Sand Sculptures. Visitors watch sculptors shape figures of a monk seal, a turtle and a giant squid. The beach gradually turns into an open-air exhibition, where each form emerges from wet sand. The festival brings together artists who build the structures over several days using sand and water for stability. Organisers say the event highlights the island’s natural sandy beaches, which are rare along much of Croatia’s coastline. Artists describe the process as physical but straightforward, relying on…
For 2027, the government is planning total expenditure of €555.4 billion, of which €109.7 billion, or around 20 percent, will be dedicated to defense spending. That share is set to grow in the coming years with €183.7 billion to be spent on defense in 2030 out of a projected €635.4 billion total. The 2027 spending plan was unveiled ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, where European leaders are expected to try to convince U.S. President Donald Trump that they are committed to boosting military spending and taking greater responsibility for Europe’s defense. “The United States spends more money…
Published on 06/07/2026 – 16:27 GMT+2•Updated 16:27 Ukrainian forces carried out a drone strike on an oil refinery in the Russian city of Omsk on Monday, hitting the country’s most important fuel production site more than 2,500km from the Russia-Ukraine border. The Omsk Oil Refinery is Russia’s largest, with a design capacity of around 22 million tonnes of crude oil per year. It produces gasoline, diesel, aviation kerosene and other petroleum products, including fuel used by the Russian military. The facility had previously been considered beyond the reach of Kyiv’s deep‑strike campaign, but according to Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, Monday’s…
“According to preliminary information, the ELOU-AVT-11 primary oil processing unit with a design capacity of 8.4 million tons of oil per year was hit,” the general staff statement says, referring to partial capacity damage at the refinery. The hit was confirmed by the Ukrainian open-source intelligence project Dnipro. The strike was the farthest Ukrainian drones have penetrated into Russian territory since the war began. Omsk region Governor Vitaly Khotsenko said on the Russian messaging app MAX that Ukraine had attacked the refinery and that Russian air defenses had destroyed most of the drones involved in the strike, according to Reuters.…
Published on 06/07/2026 – 18:19 GMT+2 Hungary’s opposition Fidesz party has called for a demonstration on Thursday after Prime Minister Péter Magyar submitted a constitutional amendment to remove the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok. Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April’s election, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, has repeatedly called for the removal of the official appointed by his predecessor, whom he calls “Orbán’s puppet”. Magyar’s amendment, filed on Saturday, states that “the mandate of the incumbent President of the Republic shall terminate on the day following the entry into force of the amendment to the Fundamental Law”.…
Published on 06/07/2026 – 18:14 GMT+2 A series of attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the western border with Chad have razed multiple villages and displaced thousands of people, according to two survivors and the United Nations. The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023, and has been accused by the UN of committing repeated massacres against Darfur’s non-Arab ethnic groups, including the Zaghawa who inhabit the western villages of North Darfur state. According to the UN’s migration agency, more than 3,500 people were displaced on Friday from one village alone, Wadi…