Author: staff

Bagging the win: The Tory leader welcomed the “rubbish policy” getting put on the scrapheap, though crowed that the change of heart came just after Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged ministers to “try to get it right first time.” Awks. In response, the PM reiterated his determination to “make it harder for people to work illegally,” and said there would still be mandatory digital checks. Hmm … Grab the sick bags: The PM attempted to divert attention by making queasy political analogies. Highlighting the number of PMs, chancellors and housing ministers under the last Tory government, Starmer said “they had…

Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters has reignited a long-running debate within the European Union over designating the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — widely seen as a key force behind the repression — as a terrorist organisation. Placing the most powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces on the EU’s terrorist list would put the IRGC alongside groups such as Daesh, al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A terrorist group designation would subject its members to travel bans, asset freezes and “a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to those listed”, according to rules established by the…

Once the legal text is agreed, the EU will raise joint debt to finance the initiative, although the governments in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia said they will not participate in the funding drive.  The conditions on military spending are splitting EU countries. Paris is demanding strict rules to prevent money from flowing to U.S. weapons manufacturers, while Germany and other Northern European countries want to give Ukraine greater flexibility on how to spend the cash, pointing out that some key systems needed by Ukraine aren’t manufactured in Europe. Meeting halfway The Commission has put forward a compromise proposal — seen by…

The European Commission on Wednesday put forward its legal proposal to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan, calling on the European Parliament and member states to approve it swiftly so Kyiv can start receiving the money it desperately needs in early April. Under the proposal, the money would cover Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years, with roughly €60 billion earmarked for military spending and the remaining €30 billion intended to support Ukraine’s overstretched national budget. “We are aware of Ukraine’s both sizeable and urgent financing needs. That’s why we are aiming indeed to start with disbursing in…

Published on 14/01/2026 – 13:10 GMT+1 Iran’s chief coroner has laid the blame for the deaths of demonstrators in Iran on what he said were “terrorists,” claiming forensic examinations revealed victims whose “throats had been slit” and others shot at close range with hunting shotguns. Detailing a series of killings during a Supreme Judicial Council meeting, Abbas Masjedi-Arani, head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organisation, said a large number of victims were killed with knives and double-barrelled shotguns. “The shotgun blasts were fired at such close range to the neck that the plastic wads from the cartridges remained lodged in the…

Now a date has finally been set for Jan. 27, according to officials. The head of Shein’s Business Integrity Group for Greater Europe, Yinan Zhu, will appear before the committee. “Shein finally answers to EU lawmakers and will appear before the IMCO Committee after I had several email exchanges with them,” said the committee’s chair, German Green MEP Anna Cavazzini. In a letter seen by POLITICO, Zhu confirmed his attendance and asked for a separate meeting with the committee chair. Zhu said he wants to discuss in detail the measures that the company is putting in place to address lawmakers’…

Former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko was charged with offering bribes to lawmakers following an investigation and a raid by the country’s anti-corruption bodies, authorities revealed on Wednesday. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) reportedly raided the offices of a political party on Tuesday evening. It was later reported that the searches took place at the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party headquarters, which is led by Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko confirmed the news of the raid on Wednesday morning and rejected all allegations against her, calling them “absurd”. NABU and SAPO issued a statement saying that they have notified…

However, the European and British envoys used their speaking time to push back strongly against the minister’s account, voicing outrage over what Britain’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the “brutal repression” of protests. “The ambassadors forcefully expressed their concerns” during the Monday meeting, a spokesperson for France’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The closed-door meeting in Tehran was part of a piecemeal but escalating European response to the crackdown on protests, in which at least 2,571 people have been killed, according to the U.S.-based HRANA rights group. Speaking to journalists in India, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Islamic…

City services lifted a partial ban on salt spreading until noon to limit falls. The forecast had warned of a rough stretch and hospitals felt it quickly. From midnight to midday, Vienna Rescue treated 65 people after slips on ice, with injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones. The cold also reached the Danube. Ice was broken in Vienna harbour to protect wintering cruise ships and keep routes open. The icebreaker MS Eisvogel, rarely used in recent mild winters, returned to service. With temperatures near minus six degrees, ice can reach ten centimetres in a day, putting the ageing vessel…

“We are not in a position to move the agreement to a vote today,” lead trade lawmaker Karin Karlsbro, of the liberal Renew Europe, told POLITICO, adding that clarity from the U.S. on Greenland was essential.  Discussions will continue next Wednesday, the chair of the international trade committee, Bernd Lange, told POLITICO as he left the room. Political groups are divided over what to do in response to Trump’s threats to annex European territory. The Socialists and Democrats, of which Lange is a member, are leaning toward freezing the vote on the trade agreement. “One camp is more like, OK,…