Author: staff

“Everything went according to plan,” Kurti said following the election. “We won, and this is confirmation of a good, prosperous and democratic government.” Previously a province of Serbia, Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following a brutal civil war in the 1990s between Serbs and Albanians in the former Yugoslavia. Self-Determination (VVL) was the first party to have served its full-four year term in government in the capital Pristina, after winning 50.3 percent of votes in 2021. Now, however, VVL will need to find a coalition partner if it hopes to continue in power — which could prove a challenge, given…

Liechtenstein on Sunday voted for Brigitte Haas, a lawyer, to lead its government. Her Fatherland Union party won 38.3 percent of votes, well ahead of the Progressive Citizens Party, which finished in second place with 27.5 percent, according to the official results. The largest party traditionally appoints the prime minister. The conservative microstate is a constitutional hereditary monarchy, with a balance of power between the monarchy and its people, represented in parliament. Prince Hans-Adam II is head of state but his eldest son, Prince Alois, has performed his duties since 2004 as regent. He has the authority to veto laws…

BERLIN — With just two weeks until Germany heads to the polls, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and conservative frontrunner Friedrich Merz tore into each other over migration, the economy and how to handle U.S. President Donald Trump in a combative debate on national television Sunday night. “How dumb can someone be?” Scholz asked at one point, attacking Merz for vowing to turn away asylum seekers at Germany’s border — a move, he argued, that would violate EU law and divide Europe at a time when Germany needs European solidarity to counter Trump’s tariff threats. But when Scholz claimed his government had…

En matière d’IA militaire, les ambitions hexagonales sont élevées : le mois dernier, le ministre des Armées Sébastien Lecornu a indiqué qu’il souhaitait, dès cette année, positionner la France parmi les leaders mondiaux. En septembre, l’AMIAD recevra d’ailleurs un supercalculateur, décrit par Lecornu comme le plus puissant classifié en Europe. Ce supercalculateur de défense a été commandé à Orange et Hewlett-Packard. Un duo franco-américain préféré au français Atos. Si la décision a suscité un certain émoi, la polémique a rapidement été désamorcée par Lecornu : l’offre concurrente d’Atos n’était pas non plus totalement souveraine, car l’entreprise française achète ses puces…

Israel is withdrawing troops from the corridor that has cut northern Gaza from the southern part of the enclave as part of the cease-fire deal with Hamas, according to media reports on Sunday that cited officials from both sides of the conflict.The Netzarim Corridor was established by Israel as a military zone at an early stage of the war against Hamas and prevented Gaza citizens displaced in the southern region from returning to the north.Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said that the withdrawal proves that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of a “total victory” is an “illusion,” the Associated Press…

The Schwesing airbase is a high-value target for surveillance due to the Patriot training carried out there. Germany has already delivered multiple Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine, which play a crucial role in countering Russian airstrikes.  According to the Munich-based newspaper, military officials believe the drones were technologically advanced and not standard commercial models, raising suspicions of state-backed espionage. Some defense officials believe the newly discovered drones may have been launched from ships in the North Sea or Baltic Sea, Süddeutsche said. Security officials have observed increased drone activity near military installations. Just weeks earlier, drones were spotted over…

Putin launched his all-out invasion of Ukraine three years ago this month. Trump has claimed that he could end the conflict in one day. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday said he could neither confirm nor deny any contacts between Trump and Putin, Russian state news agency TASS reported. The White House has not commented on the Post’s article.Peskov said last week that contacts between Washington and Moscow have intensified, but a Trump-Putin call would be the first direct talk between the two leaders since Putin’s launch of what he famously dubbed a “special military operation” in February 2022. Three years…

Trump said last week he wants the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip, send the Palestinians elsewhere, and redevelop the land as the “the Riviera of the Middle East.” He announced the plan alongside his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it was “worth listening carefully to this idea.” Pillay, a former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the special court that tried the Rwandan genocide, also condemned Trump’s sanctions on the ICC, which has issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for war crimes. “International law applies equally, without double standards for a state’s friends,” Pillay…

Emergency teams in China’s southwestern Sichuan province searched frantically on Sunday for 28 people missing after heavy rain triggered a landslide. So far one person is known to have died, and several houses have been buried under the earth. The landslide was about 1.2 kilometres in length and took with it about 100,000 cubic metres of earth and debris.Nearly 1,000 personnel, including armed police, firefighters and medical professionals, were involved in trying to locate the 28 missing people in the village of Jinping in Junlian county. Some officers navigated through the remains of collapsed buildings, using drones and life-detection radars…

Keen to escape the usual holiday hotspots? Slower, more thoughtful travel experiences await in Eastern Europe. Two years ago I spent a week wandering Montenegro’s mountainous hinterland. Quite simply, it was spectacular. That’s the thing about Europe: for all the popular resorts along the Mediterranean there are as many other special places to be discovered tucked a little bit further off the usual tourist routes.Where Europe’s travel hotspots are grappling with the effects of overtourism, these growing destinations have a unique chance to manage increasing visitor numbers so they don’t reach the same tipping point. How we explore Europe now…