Author: staff

No full meeting for the group has been convened since Trump’s election victory in November. The loose alliance — also known as the Ramstein format, named after the air base in which it is usually convened — has been run by the U.S. Department of Defense since the start of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine. Since then, it has been the principle vehicle for coordinating Western military support on everything from air defense to drone warfare to cybersecurity. It is as yet unclear whether Trump, who has repeatedly claimed he will end the war quickly after taking office, will continue the initiative.…

The collapse of the talks, which formally began in November, strengthens the hand of the anti-migrant, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPÖ), which doubled its vote share and surged to first place in September’s national election but has been blocked from forming a government, with all other major parties refusing to work with it. FPÖ General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz called on Nehammer to resign after the failure of the coalition talks, which he dubbed a “political monstrosity” and a “loser-traffic-light coalition.” Even without the support of NEOS, the SPÖ and ÖVP could continue negotiations on their own and form a two-way coalition,…

The proposed settlement filed in a US court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade. Apple has agreed to pay $95m (€92.4m) to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other devices.The proposed settlement, filed earlier this week in a federal court in California, would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones…

According to Fico, the expiry of an agreement that allows Russian state energy firm Gazprom to export supplies via Ukraine would “have drastic impacts on all of us in the European Union.” And the Slovak leader has even threatened to cut off electricity exports to Kyiv in retribution for its refusal to renegotiate the deal with Russia, teaming up with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to pressure Ukraine. Despite that, days after the gas stopped flowing, predictions of shortages have been proven wrong and prices have not skyrocketed. According to statistics from Gas Infrastructure Europe, Slovakia’s reserves are more than…

Slovak PM Robert Fico said his government was discussing retaliatory measures against Ukraine after Kyiv shut off a pipeline supplying central Europe with Russian natural gas. Slovakian leader Robert Fico has threatened to cut financial aid for more than 130,000 Ukrainian refugees living in the country as part of a set of retaliatory measures against Ukraine over its decision to halt the flow of Russian gas through its territory to Slovakia. In a video message posted on Facebook, Fico said his Smer party would also consider cutting electricity supplies to Ukraine and demand the renewal of gas transits or compensation…

“L’idée est de permettre en urgence de pallier l’absence de communication sur une partie de l’île”, précise une source préfectorale. “Ces 25 kits Starlink sont disposés dans les 13 communes éligibles et permettent un échange d’information essentiel à la gestion de crise”, notamment avec les communes les plus isolées, ajoute la même source. En plus de ces 100 premières antennes déployées en urgence, 100 autres doivent être achetées et déployées dans la foulée du plan Mayotte Debout, annoncé lundi par le Premier ministre. Cette fois, le ministère de l’Intérieur pourrait bien avoir à régler la note. “Les solutions pour le…

Talks between the left and Bayrou never really took off, and the Socialists are once again threatening to vote against the government, but the close encounter may prove to be a turning point in French politics. The Socialists have been playing second fiddle on the left for years, their last president, Francois Hollande, having departed office in 2017, leaving them to fight for credibility since. But as politicians from all sides jostle for support with eyes on the 2027 election to replace President Emmanuel Macron, the Socialists are trying to up their game. While they teamed up with other lawmakers…

The euro declined further against the US dollar to a fresh low in over two years amid concerns about the Eurozone’s economy, Trump’s tariffs, and monetary policy discrepancy between the ECB and the Fed. The euro declined 0.9% against the US dollar, reaching mid-1.02, its lowest level since 21 November 2022 on Thursday. The common currency extended weakness against its counterpart at the start of the new year due to concerns about the Eurozone’s economic outlook, political instability, and a monetary policy discrepancy between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve (Fed).The EUR/USD pair has fallen sharply from…

At the moment, however, there is no guarantee that the Lords could amend the bill without effectively wrecking it. That’s because any amendments added by the Lords need to go back to the Commons, which, combined with a shortage of time for private members’ bills, could mean the whole thing gets cut off by the end of the parliamentary session.  Daniel Gover, senior lecturer in British politics at Queen Mary University of London, called this an “overlooked” element of the bill and urged ministers to give “a firm commitment” that they will find time to consider any Lords amendments.  House…

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