Author: staff

After a long wait, the Senate is launching action on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts at a risky moment for the US and the global economy. More than a month after House Republicans surprised Washington by advancing their framework for Trump’s $4.5 trillion (€4.1tn) in tax breaks and $2tn (€1.8tn) in spending cuts, Senate Republicans voted on Thursday to start working on their version. The largely party-line vote, 52-48, sets the stage for a potential Senate all-nighter on Friday, spilling into the weekend.But work on the multitrillion-dollar package is coming as markets at…

Lombard said that if the trade war escalates and it has a negative impact on France’s economic growth, the government plans to accept the fact that its deficit for this year will worsen and won’t cut spending nor raise taxes to prevent that. “Even if the situation worsens, I don’t want to further cut public spending,” Lombard said, also excluding tax raises. France had aimed to bring its budget deficit to 5.4 percent of gross domestic product this year, down from 5.8 percent in 2024. The country is already facing an excessive deficit procedure in Brussels after breaching EU spending…

Updated: 04/04/2025 – 12:11 GMT+2Fans can now explore Minecraft’s world in London at the first immersive attraction, featuring lifesize models, interactive props, and quests to save villagers. … More Minecraft has burst out of the screen and into the real world with the launch of the UK and Europe’s first immersive attraction, Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, in Canada Water, London.Fans can now step into a glowing, story-led world filled with life-size Minecraft models, interactive props, pixelated animals, and forest biomes. Using a magical orb, visitors mine resources, build structures, and go on a quest to save villagers. With each room…

European equities tumbled further on Friday, rounding off their worst week since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, amid rising investor concerns over the economic implications of sweeping tariffs announced by the United States.By 11:00 Central European Time, the Euro STOXX 50 was down 2.2%, taking weekly losses to 5.9%. The broader Euro STOXX 600 index also fell 2.1%, extending its drop for the week to 5.4%. Major national indices followed suit, with Germany’s DAX losing 1.8%, France’s CAC 40 shedding 1.7%, and steep losses recorded in Southern Europe: Spain’s IBEX 35 dropped 4.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB…

The British government is attempting to strike an economic agreement with the U.S. that would remove the 10 percent tariffs on exports. Lammy added: “We have been absolutely clear that all options are on the table as we ensure the national interests of the British people, who will be very concerned at this time about how this affects the bottom line for them and their economic welfare.” Trump claimed U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was pleased Britain avoided the 20 percent tariffs slapped on EU goods.  “We have a very good dialogue,” the U.S. president said Thursday. “I think he…

Protesters have taken to the streets again in Slovakia’s capital to demonstrate against a draft law targeting NGOs, which has raised concerns of a Russian-style crackdown.Thousands of people marched through Bratislava on Thursday and gathered outside parliament, chanting “We won’t give up freedom” and “No to the Russian law”. Rallies also took place in several other cities, as part of a wider months-long protest movement against Prime Minister Robert Fico’s pivot away from the EU and towards Moscow. The bill proposes that certain NGOs be labelled as lobbyists and face administrative obligations such as disclosures over income and spending, as…

Trump went on to compare Le Pen’s trial, in which she was found guilty of embezzling EU funds, to his own numerous legal woes. “It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco,” said Trump, calling out some of the prosecutors that worked on cases against him over the years. He was eventually convicted in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to a porn actress … after which he became the first convicted felon to…

Who cares that she was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds, illicitly siphoning EU money to pay for party employees who can barely point to Brussels or Strasbourg on a map? People voted for Le Pen because she is the Robin Hood of modern-day Europe, stealing from the rich institutions and reinvesting in her national political interest. It hardly matters that those funds come from EU countries, that those countries make money by collecting taxes from their citizens and that, therefore, those former MEPs, including Le Pen, improperly used EU citizens’ money. Marine Le Pen was personally responsible for…

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously voted to uphold the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol — removing the beleaguered leader from office four months after he thrust the country into political chaos following an ill-fated martial law order. Thousands gathered at a rally in Seoul broke out in cheers over the decision, which marks a dramatic fall for Yoon, once a former star prosecutor who became president a barely a year after entering politics. The court’s acting chief Moon Hyung-bae said the court’s eight justices acted based on Yoon’s declaration of martial law around four months ago.Yoon’s decision to…

Citing a letter from 13 member countries urging Brussels to devise a strategy to nab U.S. researchers, Zaharieva said the Commission is working on a special visa for top talent, as well as a system to help governments and universities in the bloc pool resources to attract American scholars. A meeting will also be held to coordinate those actions with EU countries. “Europe has a historical responsibility to defend academic freedom,” the commissioner added, alluding to the persecution of scholars under Nazi and fascist regimes on the continent during the 1930s and 1940s. “Without freedom, knowledge cannot truly grow.”  Open…