Author: staff

Published on 02/12/2025 – 20:33 GMT+1 Indonesia and the Netherlands agreed to repatriate two Dutch nationals on Tuesday convicted of drug offences in Indonesia, including one facing the death penalty and another serving a life sentence. The agreement was signed by officials in both Jakarta and Amsterdam following a request by the Dutch king and foreign ministry for the release of the men, both of whom are in poor health, according to Indonesia’s senior law minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Mahendra, who signed the agreement at a ceremony in Jakarta, said the request was approved by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and…

Belgium’s ultimate fear is that the €140 billion could be lent to Ukraine and then a single pro-Russian EU country, such as Hungary or Slovakia, could veto the renewal of the EU sanctions regime against Moscow. That would mean Belgium immediately having to send the missing billions back to Russia. The Commission’s fix to keep Belgium happy is to avoid one EU country being able to overturn sanctions. Currently Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has the power to do exactly that, as sanctions require unanimity and must be renewed every six months. The Commission now sees a way round this.…

The National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have filed a complaint with France’s national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (Pnat), accusing Israeli authorities of “obstructions to press freedoms” in the Palestinian territories. The two organisations — the largest journalist union in France and the largest journalist union worldwide — announced the move on Tuesday. Their complaint denounces what they describe as “an organised, systematic and prolonged” effort to prevent journalists, including French reporters, from accessing Gaza and carrying out their work safely. According to the complaint, no foreign journalist has been allowed to enter Gaza freely…

“There’s a very practical issue of the enormity of the reconstruction of Ukraine and the cost of that, and who’s going to pay for that,” Martin said. “It cannot only be the European taxpayer. Europe did not start this war.” But Ireland — a militarily neutral nation that will hold the EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2026 — did use Zelenskyy’s visit to boost its own financial support to Ukraine. Martin signed an agreement with Ukraine pledging a further €100 million in nonlethal military equipment, including for minefield clearance, and €25 million to help rebuild Ukraine’s besieged…

Croatia and Bulgaria are the only EU nations in the top 10 of countries most connected with nature worldwide, according to a first-of-its-kind global study on how people relate to the natural world. By contrast, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands are the EU countries that are the least nature-connected, putting them towards the end of the list. The research article published in the peer-reviewed environment journal Ambio analysed more than 56,000 people across 61 countries on how attitudes towards nature are shaped by social, economic, geographical, and cultural factors. Nature connectedness is a well-established construct that reflects an individual’s cognitive…

Published on 02/12/2025 – 19:53 GMT+1 The right to trial by jury will be pared back in the United Kingdom in an attempt to clear a backlog of cases clogging up the justice system, the government announced on Tuesday. Justice Secretary David Lammy said overload and delays had created “an emergency in our courts” that risks collapsing trust in British justice. The UK’s court system has struggled to clear a backlog of cases built up since the COVID-19 pandemic. The government says there are almost 80,000 cases waiting to be heard in criminal courts in England and Wales, more than…

The 52-year-old’s tenure was short-lived, as she was made the EU’s high representative — the foreign policy chief — the same year, a position she held until 2019. Her time in the job is perhaps most notable for her work on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. At the end of her five-year term, she became the rector of the Bruges-based College of Europe, a position she’s been in ever since. But her appointment was mired in claims of cronyism, as professors and EU officials argued that she was not qualified for the post, did not meet the criteria and applied…

The European Central Bank has declined to provide emergency liquidity to the reparations loan for Ukraine, warning that doing so would breach the European Union’s founding treaties and undermine the bank’s much-prized independence. The news, first reported by the FT, represents a fresh setback to the bold plan of using seized Russian assets to support the country it has invaded and destroyed. “Such a proposal is not under consideration as it would likely violate EU treaty law prohibiting monetary financing,” a spokesperson for the ECB said in a statement. The reparations loan is one of the three options presented by…

The Olympic flame is close to completing its short tour of Greece and soon to be on its way to Italy for the Winter Games next February. A handover will take place on Thursday 4 December, the start of a 63-day, 12,000-kilometre relay through all 110 Italian provinces, highlighting cultural sites and host venues before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony. Its journey officially began a week ago with a spectacular ceremony at the archaeological site where the Olympics began. For several weeks, however, before the flame was lit, dozens of young people, either dancers or actors,…

Published on 02/12/2025 – 19:09 GMT+1 •Updated 19:12 The EU executive will present fresh guidelines on Wednesday meant to reinforce the bloc’s market protection in the face of rising foreign risks. The doctrine’s launch comes after months of tense exchanges with China, which has restricted exports of rare earths and chips – both crucial to several strategic EU industries. The EU is also grappling with a sharp shift in the trade policy of its closest ally, the US, whose nationalist, protectionist approach has put Brussels under extreme pressure, resulting in what many see as an unbalanced trade deal reached in…