Author: staff

“This all is Ukraine’s right under international law, not just a wish list” Tykhyi added. “Russia has no right to dictate anything to Ukraine. It’s an aggression, where there’s a state that was attacked and the attacker state. There should not be equalizing of the two.” Earlier this week, Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11, said that Russia wants a permanent settlement and that the peace deal Moscow has proposed includes “five territories of Ukraine”. Witkoff did not specify which territories he meant, but Reuters reported that he had embraced the Russian position in talks…

BRUSSELS — Textiles, furniture, tires and mattresses will be subject to much stricter design standards to ensure they last longer, as the EU aims to stamp out wasteful consumption, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday. Steel and aluminum will also be included in the first wave of regulations under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), along with a range of electronic goods from mobile phones to fridges and washing machines. The ESPR is intended to embed durability, repairability and recyclability into the design of certain products, with the goal of reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and boosting the EU’s circular…

The S&P 500 was down 0.9% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 180 points, or 0.4%, as of 3:35 pm CEST, while the slide for Nvidia and other stocks in the chip industry dragged the Nasdaq composite down a market-leading 1.7%.Nvidia was the single heaviest weight on the market and dropped 5.7% after it said the US government is restricting exports of its H20 chips to China, citing worries that they could be used to build a supercomputer. The limits could shave roughly $5.5 billion (€4.8bn) off Nvidia’s results for the first quarter, covering charges related…

Earlier this week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Europe can’t be a “permanent security vassal” of the U.S., but singled out France among the few European nations he deems worthy militarily. The French minister will also brief his U.S. counterpart about ongoing military planning on security guarantees for Ukraine led by France and the U.K. Negotiations between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine are also on the menu. The two ministers will discuss NATO’s June summit in The Hague, where leaders are expected to raise the alliance’s defense spending target. Lecornu will also meet Keith Kellogg, Trump’s…

EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef has underlined his commitment to boost the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange programme during an exchange on youth engagement in politics on Euronews’ Brussels My Love programme.Micallef holds the portfolio for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport and joined Samira Rafaela, a visiting fellow at Cornell University and former MEP, and Rareș Voicu, President of the European Youth Forum on the programme, which will be aired this weekend.The Commissioner stressed the importance of the flagship student exchange programme, Erasmus+, in shaping a shared European identity and building key skills. “The intention is to strengthen the Erasmus Plus Programme,…

Customers in the US increased their shopping in March, with retail sales rising 1.4% month-on-month — the highest jump in over two years.Excluding sales at auto dealers, the total rose 0.5%, according to data from the Commerce Department on Wednesday.Sales at car dealers rose 5.3%, while electronics retailers recorded a 0.8% increase. Sporting goods retailers enjoyed a 2.4% gain, and grocery stores saw a 0.1% increase. Sales at clothing and accessories stores, meanwhile, jumped 0.4%, online retailers posted a 0.1% gain, and restaurants saw a 1.8% increase. Bucking the trend, furniture and home furnishings stores posted a 0.7% decline.Year-on-year, the…

I’m draped over a couple of foam floats, drifting through the steamy outdoor pool of the Terme di Saturnia resort in southern Tuscany. In these same sulphuric thermal waters, Roman soldiers once bathed to recover from the ravages of war. 2,000 years later, the water’s therapeutic benefits are still lauded, though instead of boasting their ability to heal battle-inflicted wounds, the pamphlets talk about myorelaxants and hepatic cell activity. It’s arresting to think that the Etruscans recognised these waters as sacred in the 8th century BC, while Pope Clement III noted their importance in a papal bill of 1188. Now,…

What you see as modest depends on who you are, the norms you grew up with and the ones you eventually decide to stick with. As for the term modest fashion, it began to emerge in 2010 and went mainstream from 2015 onwards. Fast-forward a decade and Modest Fashion Weeks are cropping up around the globe, while a blossoming influencer scene burgeons in the background. In 2024, TikTok even jumped on the modest bandwagon, with the word demure — which means “reserved, quiet, or modest” — going viral in a series of videos, before being branded Word of the Year by the…

“The Pact provisions on recognition rates and applying the safe country of origin concept can help Member States deal with claims more quickly, whilst always ensuring that every asylum claim still receives an individual assessment and is subject to the scrutiny of national courts.” The move comes after EU capitals, led by Poland, urged the Commission in 2024 to draw up new guidelines on migration to facilitate deportations amid growing political pressure from right-wing and far-right parties. The determination to designate the seven countries as safe was made on the basis of reports by the EU’s foreign affairs branch, EU…

The 14th annual edition of the InClassica International Music Festival runs from April 6-21, dedicated to composer-in-residence Alexey Shor, whose 55th birthday is celebrated throughout the festival programming.The series of concerts at Dubai Opera form the world’s biggest classical music observatory, where exceptional young talent meets some of the genre’s most established and famous musicians.Shor is joined on stage by 13 talented soloists, two symphony orchestras and five conductors from around the globe, performing his compositions alongside the likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.A total of 16 concerts will play out across the two-week festival, featuring the Franz Schubert Filharmonia…