Author: staff

The UK has become the latest nation to unveil a plan to tackle forever chemicals, describing them as one of the “most pressing environmental challenges of our time”. Earlier this week (3 February) the country’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published its first ever framework to protect public health and the environment from the ubiquitous chemicals. Under the plan, a consultation will be launched later this year to introduce a statutory limit for PFAS in England’s public supply regulations. The government, which insists that there is no evidence of forever chemicals above “safe levels” in its water…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threw his support behind Hungarian populist nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing the most serious challenge to his rule in more than a decade in the parliamentary election set for April. “Viktor Orbán is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary — HE WILL NEVER LET THE GREAT PEOPLE OF HUNGARY DOWN!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.Relations between Budapest and Washington have reached “new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement” under the two leaders, Trump wrote.…

Ziobro is under investigation over the alleged misuse of public funds and the deployment of Pegasus spyware against political opponents, in cases pursued by prosecutors under Tusk’s center-left coalition government. He was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in November. Ziobro denies all charges and has long argued that the investigation is a political vendetta by Tusk, whom the former minister vows to fight, even from Budapest, he told POLITICO last week. “Today’s decision only serves the authorities a political purpose, as my client is in Hungary and has been granted international protection,” one of Ziobro’s lawyers, Bartosz Lewandowski, told reporters immediately after the court ruled…

The US Department of Justice’s release of an extra 3 million pages of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has opened the door to intense speculation about his vast network of rich and powerful contacts. The documents, which contain images, videos, text messages and emails, have also triggered a wave of disinformation, including AI-generated images of a young Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, alongside Epstein. In one doctored image, Mamdani is pictured as a child in a photograph with his mother, Mira Nair, as well as Epstein’s collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Jeff…

Published on 06/02/2026 – 11:44 GMT+1 Portugal’s government is extending a state of emergency until the end of next week as it says it is facing a “devastating crisis” caused by a wave of storms that have killed several people in recent weeks. “In the coming hours many will continue to face situations of extreme difficulties,” Speaking during a press conference in Lisbon, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said. “I would like to reiterate a very determined appeal for that in these crucial hours everyone follows the recommendations from the authorities, the risks cannot be ignored,” Montenegro stated. “This is a…

Though he supports the flexibility of the Lords system, Neuberger said the behavior of peers over assisted dying could be a catalyst for reform of the unelected upper chamber. “If it’s felt, and I think with some justification it’s felt, that the present system has been shown to be unsatisfactory, then it must be right, at least, to have a serious debate about how things could and should be changed,” he said.  Blocking vs scrutiny Opponents to assisted dying in the Lords argue they are undertaking necessary scrutiny to expose holes in the safeguards. These include the role artificial intelligence…

The European Parliament will push for the EU’s planned improvements to military mobility across the bloc to include a European preference to remove the risk of foreign actors using “kill switches” to slow down the movement of troops and weapons, according to the file’s shadow rapporteur. “Today, everything is digitised. I don’t want our digitalised (railway) signalling points to be stopped remotely because there are Huawei chips inside them,”François Kalfon (S&D, France), the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on military mobility, told Euronews this week. Kalfon is broadly positive about a package unveiled by the Commission in November which aims to…

Published on 06/02/2026 – 10:36 GMT+1 The United States launched an attack Thursday on a vessel it said was operated by drug trafficking organisations in international waters in the Pacific near Colombia, killing two crew members. The US military’s Southern Command announced the attack in a video posted on social media and confirmed the deaths of two people it described as “narco-terrorists.” The Pentagon said the target was part of maritime drug trafficking networks. The strike is part of Operation Southern Lance, a campaign the Trump administration says aims to reduce the flow of narcotics into the United States. According…

Berlin airport is the latest to be hit by wintry weather, with flights grounded on Friday morning (6 February) due to black ice. It comes after freezing rain halted departures and caused delays throughout Thursday. Passengers have been advised to check their flight status before travelling. Last month, the Netherlands saw over 700 flights cancelled at Amsterdam Schiphol airport due to snow and strong winds. The European hub warned that more cancellations of mainly European flights were likely, due to “persistent winter weather and heavy winds”. Winter weather disruption is stressful, especially as it can halt all flight services for…

After the most difficult week of Keir Starmer’s premiership, with mounting speculation over how long he can last as Prime Minister, this week on Westminster Insider, host Patrick Baker explores Labour’s long and not-too-illustrious history of failed coups and botched insurrections. Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson remembers the “curry house plot” in 2006 that forced Tony Blair to bring forward his departure from office and urges Starmer “not to let himself be forced out”.  One of those at the heart of “balti-gate” as it became known, ex-Labour MP Siôn Simon, explains how being well-organised and having a viable successor in Gordon Brown…