Author: staff

Updated: 06/01/2025 – 11:16 GMT+1 Crowds gather to watch as the Three Kings — Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior — make their way through the streets, accompanied by giant puppets and glowing figures. … More Crowds gather to watch as the Three Kings — Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior — make their way through the streets, accompanied by giant puppets and glowing figures. Despite earlier rain, families braved the weather, eager to catch the candy tossed from the royal chariots. Children eagerly await gifts, as the night recreates the biblical journey of the Three Kings to deliver presents to baby Jesus. This…

Karachi affair link Then there were the declarations of Ziad Takieddine, a Lebanese-French arms broker with links to high-ranking officials on the French political right, including Sarkozy’s circle. Beginning in 2011, Takieddine was questioned multiple times by investigators probing an arms sale scandal known as the Karachi affair. During one hearing, Takieddine mentioned €50 million in Libyan financial aid to Sarkozy’s presidential campaign, according to the financial prosecution. Takieddine told Mediapart in 2018 that he had introduced Sarkozy to Gaddafi and personally transported “suitcases” of money between Libya and France. Takieddine was later sentenced to five years in prison over…

👉Listen to Politics At Jack And Sam’s on your podcast app👈 Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard are back for 2025 with their guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes. The drama is also back – with Elon Musk causing more than a stir in British politics after changing his mind about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. It comes after Musk launched an attack on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his safeguarding minister Jess Phillips over their handling of past grooming gang cases. How can the government respond to the…

The eurozone’s flash inflation data and the US non-farm payroll will be in the spotlight of the global markets this week. Global markets are set to return to a normal trading week following the holiday season. Wall Street failed to achieve a Christmas rally as profit-taking caused a broad-based pullback. Last week, markets extended the trends from the year-end, with the US dollar continuing to reach a fresh two-year high, and the global stock markets were in a retreat. In Europe, rising energy prices, particularly natural gas, may exert upward pressure on inflation and weigh on the euro. However, gains in…

Indeed, even as the United States rushes in military supplies ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, there’s no denying that, at this stage, Ukraine is on the back foot. And though the assistance from President Joe Biden’s administration has been marked by constant caution and delay, often resulting in “too little, too late,” the new administration could be even worse. Hence, this needs to be a wake-up call for the European Union, a warning that it must step up to protect its own interests — no matter what the U.S. decides to do. For many, after almost three years of…

LONDON — Keir Starmer had a rocky first six months in office — and the road looks set to only get bumpier. The British prime minister, who took Labour back into power last summer after years in the wilderness, will be hoping a New Year reset can help stabilize his administration, which is currently sinking in the polls and struggling to cut through with voters. But there are numerous trip wires lying ahead, threatening to make 2025 difficult. With members of parliament returning to parliament this week, let POLITICO walk you through the dangers lurking ahead. 1. Don roaming One man…

Ein Ort der Ruhe und Einkehr ist das Kloster Seeon. Doch von der CSU erwartet man weder das eine noch das andere, wenn sie dort zu ihrer Winterklausur tagt. Nach der einvernehmlichen Lösung der K-Frage – wie Kanzlerfrage – haben Markus Söder und Co. längst eine neue K-Frage aufgeworfen: die Koalitionsfrage. Chefkorrespondent Rasmus Buchsteiner berichtet, wie die CSU weiterhin Druck auf Friedrich Merz ausübt im Streit um eine Zusammenarbeit mit den Grünen und welche landespolitischen Gründe dahinterstecken. Einmal mehr wird Elon Musk in dieser Woche eine Rolle im deutschen Wahlkampf spielen. Für Donnerstag ist ein Talk zusammen mit Alice Weidel…

Fuel oil spilled out of two tankers nearly three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, about 250 kilometres from Sevastopol on the southwest of the occupied Crimean Peninsula. At least 32 dolphins have died since fuel oil spilled out of two stricken tankers three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait which separates the Crimean Peninsula from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, an animal rescue group has said.Russia’s Delfa Dolphin Rescue and Research Centre said the deaths are “most likely related to the fuel oil spill.”The centre said on the messaging app Telegram that a total of 61 dead cetaceans, an order of…

Nothing, of course, was done with the papers I gave him. Determined that the story be told but unable to get it past my cautious editors, I decided to write a book about it. Before the book could be published, however, the file was released on the internet a few months ahead of Slovakia’s March 2012 parliamentary election. The public response was at first tentative — and then dark, aggrieved, sullen. Three demonstrations were held on Bratislava’s main square, attracting several thousand spectators on freezing February evenings carrying banners and whistles. I spoke at the protests because I’d been reporting the…

Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and assisting police officers attempted to detain the impeached president on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense five-hour standoff with the presidential security service. South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has requested that police take over efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its investigators failed to bring him into custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week.The agency and police confirmed the discussion on Monday, hours before the one-week warrant for Yoon’s detention was to expire.The Seoul Western District Court issued a warrant to detain Yoon last Tuesday,…