Author: staff

In addition to the airfield strike, the Kremlin also confirmed that Ukraine on Saturday had used five ATACMS missiles to hit S-400 missile positions in Lotarevka, a village in Kursk region. “Three missiles were destroyed, while two hit the target,” the Russian defense ministry told Ria Novosti on Tuesday. Kyiv has officially confirmed only the S-400 attacks and has not identified the missiles it used. “[The] Ukrainian Army carried out a group strike on the positions of the anti-aircraft missile division 1490 … of the Russian Federation in Kursk region. A successful hit was recorded on the radar station of…

The new Commission is set to be approved by the European Parliament with a large majority, but how this majority is shaped will be worth watching. A positive outcome is all but guaranteed when the European Parliament votes on whether to approve President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen’s new team of commissioners in its entirety, but there are good reasons to monitor Wednesday’s vote in the Strasbourg closely.Parliament will vote to approve the incoming Commission, having previously endorsed all 26 commissioners through a backroom deal among centrist groups: the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats…

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s memoir hit the shelves Tuesday. Over more than 700 pages, she plumbs her singular 16-year career as German leader for anecdotes and insights about major political events and world leaders. We’ve selected nine of the most eyebrow-raising excerpts: Putin’s big lie: Merkel was stunned when Russian President Vladimir Putin lied to her about the annexation of Crimea in 2014, denying the so-called little green men invading the peninsula and seizing government buildings were Russian soldiers. “When I confronted Putin in a phone call the following day … he denied it,” she wrote. It was the…

The security service also said that the diplomat had shown “signs of conducting subversive intelligence work, threatening the national security of the Russian Federation.” On those grounds, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has ordered the diplomat to leave Russia within two weeks. U.K. Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey has also been summoned to the foreign ministry. There was no immediate response to the news from the U.K. Foreign Office or No. 10 Downing Street. It comes amid deepening hostility between the U.K. and Russia over the war in Ukraine. British-made long-range missiles were widely reported to have been used inside Russia last…

The US has for years been a major destination for Chinese goods, but exporters are reducing their reliance on the world’s largest consumer market as Beijing and Washington feud over trade. Visitors who bought fridge magnets at Times Square or other tourist hotspots around New York in recent years are unlikely to have known they were buying something made in a small city in China.Du Jing and her husband who run Yiwu Xianchuang Handicraft Manufacturing in the eastern city of Yiwuor are among a number of exporters in a small Chinese city that supplies the U.S. and the world with…

The decentralised social media said that the “huge influx of users” has led to “a predictable uptick in harmful content posted to the network”. Bluesky, the decentralised social media platform positioning itself as a potential rival to Elon Musk’s X, has announced it will quadruple its moderation team.This move comes as the platform experiences a significant influx of users from X, formerly known as Twitter. The latest estimates suggest X’s users are now around 588 million by September, a 6 per cent drop compared to April, compared to Bluesky which now has over 20 million people.”We’re trying to go above…

As well as the Commission’s approval, the EU’s 27 countries still have to ratify France’s multi-year spending plan during a meeting of finance ministers in January next year. France would then have an extended period of seven years to bring public spending in line with key EU parameters. The extension is part of the EU’s revamped fiscal framework which allows countries to benefit from a further three years to get their house in order provided they complete a set of pre-agreed reforms with the Commission. Brussels can sanction countries that fail to carry out the promised amendments by reducing the…

Her call comes at a time when there’s increasing concern among European politicians about social media platforms, their addictive features and their role in teens’ mental health crises. It could turn up in the next phase of the EU’s regulatory crackdown on tech companies. “We would like that something very similar could be put in place, enforced in Europe,” Genetet said, referring to Australia’s example. She added that the matter was an “emergency.” “We absolutely urgently need something to be put in place.” France has tried its luck before but was rebuffed by then-Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who argued…

Mistral AI, one of Europe’s most valuable AI companies, is reportedly making plans to build a base in the US, having already started working on a Palo Alto office. European artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, Mistral AI, is reportedly planning to expand into the US, according to The Financial Times. Currently based in Paris, the start-up is working on an office in Palo Alto, in California. The move suggests its ambition to expand in the US and in the global tech hub, Silicon Valley, as the company tries to hire better industry talent, including engineers, AI scientists, administrative and sales staff. Mistral…

However, one in 10 Ukrainian-made 120 mm shells from the latest supply batch explodes on the front lines, Ukrainian journalists reported earlier this month, citing numerous complaints from the troops. The defense ministry claimed it had been silently investigating what caused the huge malfunction and had suspended the use of Ukrainian-made mortar shells from the specified batches. “Imported shells will be delivered instead,” the ministry said. The State Bureau of Investigation has initiated criminal proceedings into the cause of mortar shell malfunction. The ministry promised appropriate personnel decisions related to responsible officials based on the results of the proceedings. At…