Author: staff

Kallas said that the EU came up with an “inventory” of possible options to put pressure on the Israeli government — including a proposal to halt trade ties and suspend the country’s participation in the research and innovation fund Horizon — but added that “there is no unity on what should come next.” “There have been some positive developments, 2,904 trucks have entered between 10th of July and 1st of September,” Kallas said, “not a single truck entered [the] Gaza Strip from March to July.” “I believe we must continue diplomatic efforts with Israel because we cannot get anywhere if we do not talk,” she…

Published on 04/09/2025 – 11:15 GMT+2 Portugal and other parts of Europe have been at the centre of one of the continent’s worst wildfire seasons since records began in 2006, which has also turned into a breeding ground for misinformation. A post appeared on Instagram in August, alleging that immigrants receive €910 in benefits, compared to volunteer firefighters, who the user alleged receive no stipends. The account that published the picture is a self-professed supporter of the far-right Chega party and has more than 16,000 followers. The post has received 10,000 likes and has prompted other similar posts elsewhere on…

The tiny golden image, venerated for more than four centuries, remains a powerful symbol of faith and resilience in a country enduring its harshest economic crisis in decades. Power outages, lack of water, and basic supplies have strained the population’s daily life over the past four years. Many worshippers voiced pleas for unity and change as they followed the Virgin. Despite restrictions on religion after the revolution, devotion to the saint has persisted, drawing both Catholics and Santeria followers. Her sanctuary near Santiago remains one of the island’s most important pilgrimage sites.

It continues: “You would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up. And often, no sooner were you getting used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone…. again. “Leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead…. Or just some dogs to keep you company (he wasn’t always so keen on them). “But then he would parachute back in… Very occasionally, taking you by surprise in some far off places. “Or in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum). It concludes: “But, wherever he is in the world, he…

Defence spending among EU countries has reached a new record of €343 billion, according to new data from the European Defence Agency (EDA). Member states increased their investments by 19% between 2023 and 2024. Military hardware accounts for the largest share of the budget, around €88 billion, up 39% from the previous year. Defence Research and Development (R&D) spending rose by 20% to €13 billion. The yearly cost for each EU citizen is now estimated at €764. Which EU members are on course to hit the 5% NATO target? Earlier this year, NATO members agreed to raise their spending target…

The violence comes ahead of municipal elections on 4 October, which opposition parties say they will boycott, accusing the government of abandoning the country’s European path and moving closer to Moscow. Political tensions have gripped Georgia since disputed parliamentary elections in October 2024, when Georgian Dream claimed victory amid allegations of Russian-backed vote-rigging. Opposition leaders, many now jailed, continue to demand fresh elections under international supervision as tensions mount over the government’s suspension of EU integration.

“The main flotilla boat, Family, has been attacked. By a drone. Of course, it will have to be verified … if it’s confirmed that there has been an attack on this flotilla, there has been an attack on Tunisia,” Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories and a prominent critic of Israel, said in a video. Tunisian authorities, however, denied the reports of a drone attack. Houcem Eddine Jebabli, a spokesperson for Tunisia’s national guard, said an investigation was “ongoing” but “no drones have been detected,” calling the reports “completely unfounded.” “According to preliminary findings, a fire…

Bulgarian officials have denied claims they suspected Moscow of jamming the GPS of a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, days after the Commission cited Bulgarian authorities as suggesting the incident was “due to blatant interference from Russia.” The country’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told parliament on Thursday that von der Leyen’s plane had not experienced “prolonged interference or jamming.” In a statement made later the same day, Zhelyazkov said that even though no jamming had been detected by “ground instruments,” it didn’t exclude the possibility of “onboard devices” detecting jamming. Analysts consulted by Euronews confirmed that…

ASML, one of Europe’s largest tech companies by market value, takes an 11 percent stake in Mistral, which is one of the few European companies to develop AI models and chatbots that rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, both companies announced Tuesday morning. ASML’s investment is part of a larger funding round of €1.7 billion for Mistral. The French company is valued at €11.7 billion. “This investment brings together two technology leaders operating in the same value chain,” Mistral’s CEO Arthur Mensch said. Currently, U.S. cloud providers service two-thirds of the European market, and the EU represents only 7 percent of global AI…

If launched, the digital euro will be “profit-making” for payment service providers, Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) executive board, reassured MEPs on Thursday. “We do not have the impression that this project will be loss-making. I think this is an assumption that needs to be proved,” Cipollone told members of the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee in Brussels. “For what we know, the taking up of the digital euro will not be so huge that it puts in danger the financial stability, but will be enough to provide a signal to the central bank to…