Author: staff

The question of Ukraine’s NATO future remains one of the most sensitive issues inside the alliance. Several allies support keeping the door open to Kyiv, while others fear that moving too quickly could escalate tensions with Russia or import an active war into NATO. Jonson acknowledged that there was no consensus among allies. “I recognize that there are allies that are against it,” he said. “But if you ask me for our position, that is our position.” The Swedish minister sees Ukraine as a future security asset for Europe. He pointed to the scale of Ukraine’s armed forces, its wartime…

The money had been withheld over Budapest’s breaches of EU law under Viktor Orbán, who had governed the country for 16 consecutive years until losing last month’s general election. The €10.4 billion is part of a post-pandemic recovery fund and only a fraction of the money Hungary is seeking to unfreeze. But with a looming deadline, securing full access to that tranche has become the new government’s top priority. Magyar’s incoming administration has until Aug. 31 to formally request the money, while the Commission in Brussels has a deadline of Dec. 31 to make the payments. The country’s foreign minister…

Gordon Repinski trifft den ewigen Wahlkreis-König Gregor Gysi zu einem intensiven, persönlichen Spaziergang im Treptower Park. Direkt vor dem sowjetischen Ehrenmal sprechen die beiden über Gysis tief verwurzelte, osteuropäische Familiengeschichte, seine DDR-Biografie und den schmalen Grat zwischen berechtigtem Antifaschismus und der brachialen Realität des Stalinismus. Gysi gehört zu den Bundestagsabgeordneten mit den höchsten dokumentierten Nebeneinkünften. Gordon hakt nach: Wie passt das zu den Idealen eines überzeugten Sozialisten? Außerdem liefert Gysi ein Plädoyer gegen das vorgeschlagene Rentenalter der Großen Koalition und erklärt sein radikales, alternatives Modell für die Sozialsysteme und den Berliner Wohnungsmarkt. Er analysiert außerdem die Angst der etablierten Politik…

Published on 23/05/2026 – 8:41 GMT+2•Updated 9:03 Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged emergency responders to double down on rescue efforts after a gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China on Friday killed at least 90 people. The blast occurred underground at around 7:30 pm at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, China’s Xinhua state news agency reported. The death toll rose rapidly on Saturday, with at least 82 people now reported to have died following the explosion, whilst nine others remain trapped. Xinhua said 247 workers had been underground at the time. Xi has called for…

Published on 23/05/2026 – 7:58 GMT+2 The World Health Organization has raised its public health risk from the Ebola outbreak from “high” to “very high” in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an update on Friday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the agency, said 82 cases had so far been confirmed in the country, with seven confirmed deaths. “But we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger,” Ghebreyesus said, adding that there were around 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. The Director-General said the global risk from the disease remained low. The outbreak has been caused…

Once viewed as a niche interest, anime and comics have evolved into a global travel driver, with fans increasingly crossing borders in search of immersive themed experiences, conventions and real-world locations linked to their favourite series. From themed hotels to major fan events, so-called “anime pilgrimages” – known in Japan as seichi junrei – are fuelling a growing boom in anime tourism across Asia. New data from Trip.com shows searches for anime and comic-related travel experiences in Asia surged by 195% year-on-year, led largely by travellers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea. The trend was also…

Published on 23/05/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2 The Chinese will “not win” from a foreign trade policy that jeopardises Europe’s industry and market, the French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicolas Forissier has told Euronews, as the EU executive mulls a clampdown on a glut of cheap Chinese imports. “The Chinese have to understand that they won’t win anything if they destroy the European industry and then the European market, which is an essential market for them,” Forissier told Euronews’ 12 Minutes With interview programme on Friday. “We must no longer be naive,” Forissier added, saying that there is a “change of…

In the United States, the battle to inherit Donald Trump’s political movement is already underway — even though the 2028 Republican primary is still a long way off. At present, the contest increasingly looks like a two-man race between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Both are seeking to position themselves as the natural successor to Trump, while embodying two very different visions of what a “post-Trump MAGA” (“Make America Great Again”) movement could become. For now, Vance remains the frontrunner. He has the structural advantages that typically make vice presidents difficult to beat in presidential…

POLITICO has obtained a draft of the executive order on artificial intelligence that President Donald Trump had been expected to sign Thursday afternoon, only to abruptly postpone the event. The document — available here and below — was meant to address concerns that advanced AI products from companies such as Anthropic could unleash devastating cyberattacks and wreak other havoc if they fell into the wrong hands. It called for creating a voluntary oversight system in which developers of advanced AI models could submit their products to a review by federal agencies as much as 90 days before releasing them, POLITICO previously reported. Among other…

In a letter to the European Commission on Friday, Kövesi said that the “hasty” move by the government in Athens “has a negative effect on the EPPO’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute offences under its competence in Greece.” She also has sent a formal complaint regarding the amendment to Greek Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis. In her letter to the Commission, Kövesi said the Greek Supreme Judicial Council recently refused to renew the mandate of three European Delegated Prosecutors for five years, as requested by EPPO, which “has a negative effect on the EPPO’s independence in Greece.” The prosecutors are…