Author: staff
Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council, the eighth time in its history, was meant to be a proud moment to showcase the benefits that membership in the bloc has brought to the shamrock-loving republic and the diplomatic skills it has acquired as a result. “Holding the presidency is an honour and a responsibility, and we are ready to give it our all,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin said at the presidency’s opening ceremony at Dublin Castle. But the special occasion has been largely overshadowed by an explosive scandal over Ireland’s alumina sales to Russia, an uncomfortable, perhaps untenable, look for a country…
Uzbekistan is trying to turn rising visitor numbers into longer stays and higher tourism revenue, as new air links become central to the country’s travel plans. Growth has accelerated over the past three years. Official figures show inbound tourist trips by foreign citizens rising from 6.63 million in 2023 to 7.96 million in 2024. Preliminary official data put the 2025 figure at 11.68 million trips, an increase of 46.8% from the previous year. The economic value of tourism has also increased. Tourism services exports rose from $2.14 billion (€1.88 billion) in 2023 to $3.52 billion (€3.09 billion) in 2024. In…
Published on 04/07/2026 – 6:00 GMT+2 The Society of Saint Pius X has responded to Pope Leo XIV after the excommunication which followed the ordination of four bishops without the Vatican’s approval. The superior general, Father Davide Pagliarani, as he had already done in response to the Pope’s appeal on the eve of the celebration in Ecône in Switzerland, replied in a letter in which he expressed the “sorrow of the community”. For the cleric, the condemnation of the so-called “Lefebvrists”, the ultra-traditionalist Catholics who reject the modernisation introduced by the Second Vatican Council and therefore, among other things, continue…
Compared to its Western allies, the U.S. occupies a solitary position on this list. It outranks Poland by 25 spots in terms of impunity, while Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Australia all rank more accountable by 30 to 50 spots. It seems the club of democracies that America assembled and sustained for all those decades now has a growing hole in its center: the U.S. itself. But it would be a mistake to assume the rest of the West is immune. For Washington, this is not a momentary drift. It is a fundamental breach. The U.S. is currently the…
Published on 03/07/2026 – 10:25 GMT+2•Updated 10:58 While US President Donald Trump “is always raging at something”, he might not create too much rancor at next week’s NATO summit in Ankara, a longtime US diplomat has said. Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to NATO who also served as the first Trump administration’s special representative to Ukraine, told Euronews’ flagship programme Europe Today he believes Trump won’t want to embarrass the summit’s host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Donald Trump is always raging about something: he’s unhappy about European contributions, European defence spending, Iran, whatever it might be,” Volker explained,…
Published on 03/07/2026 – 14:52 GMT+2 European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is weighing the possibility of playing a role in the upcoming French elections, which could lead her to leave her post early, she told French newspaper Les Échos on Thursday. Lagarde did not specify the role she has in mind, but said she is not currently planning to run as a candidate, and would instead prefer to contribute to and shape the electoral debate. “I believe that a European voice needs to be heard in the French presidential debate,” Lagarde said, adding that it would be presenting as…
Published on 03/07/2026 – 15:00 GMT+2 Some 40 years, Finland´s capital started to design new solutions to reduce deadly road accidents – and then eventually eliminate them. Those efforts have now paid off. 12 consecutive months without a single road death were recorded between 2024 and 2025. By comparison, during a similar period 31 people -including drivers, pedestrians, bikers or cyclists- died on the streets of Paris. By the time of the filming of this report, another nine consecutive months had passed without a single road death in Helsinki. Comprehensive city planning has been a key aspect, but there have…
Published on 03/07/2026 – 15:02 GMT+2•Updated 15:03 The Ukraine war front line remained largely frozen in June, extending a longer-term trend of stalled Russian momentum, an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) carried out by the AFP news agency showed on Friday. The June data showed a Russian net gain of 30 square kilometres, focused in the northeastern Kharkiv region. But those gains were largely down to previous Russian incursions being upgraded to advances, as more evidence came to light, said the ISW. Ukrainian forces gained 11 square kilometres in the southern Zaporizhzhia region…
Lagarde did not say what role she would seek if she returned to French politics, however. And she added that whatever decision she takes would depend on the stability of the European economy. “Given that we are once again going through a turbulent period, I believe the captain of the ECB ship must stay on board,” she told Les Echos. Lagarde’s term leading the ECB runs until October 2027, about six months after the presidential contest. Speculation about her future has been rife since the Financial Times reported in February that she was planning to leave early to allow French…
Ukraine is pressing allies to take immediate decisions on air defence at next week’s NATO summit, warning that delays in supplying Patriot interceptors are costing lives as Russia intensifies ballistic missile attacks. Kyiv has appealed to nearly 40 partner countries to urgently transfer Patriot missiles from existing stockpiles in July, offering to backfill them later with deliveries already contracted for Ukraine. The push ahead of the summit, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to attend, follows one of the deadliest Russian strikes on Kyiv in recent months, which killed at least 30 people overnight on 2 July. Speaking at the…