Author: staff

The Kremlin is seeking additional funds for the war in Ukraine by raising taxes, as the federal budget deficit reached 5.8479 trillion roubles (€60.4 billion) in the first half of the year, according to official data. By the end of July, the budget deficit amounted to 2.8% of annual GDP, almost twice the initially planned annual figure. The volume of funds in Russia’s reserve fund has fallen to 1.6% of GDP, forcing the Kremlin to borrow from domestic banks. At the same time, GDP growth has slowed compared with the peak rate of more than 4% year on year recorded…

British police said on Sunday that five men arrested near RAF Fairford, an air base used by US forces during the war against Iran, were being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. The arrests followed a major security incident overnight, during which residents living near the base were evacuated from their homes. Police said they received reports of three suspicious vehicles heading towards RAF Fairford at around 12:45 am on Sunday. They have not disclosed the nationalities of those arrested. “We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody,” said Vicki Evans,…

He backed the U.K. government’s current approach to the European Union, warning people would be “misplaced” to seek to return to a customs union. “Look at the arrangements we’ve already got,” he said. “You don’t add a lot more to it through a customs union … and you’d be having to, you know, frankly, accept a whole range of alignment on regulatory issues,” he added. Reynolds comments come days after former Prime Minister Tony Blair published a paper calling for the U.K. to rejoin a “reformed” union within the next decade. Burnham left the door open to putting a rejoin…

Published on 27/09/2026 – 11:53 GMT+2•Updated 16:30 Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday that assisted dying should not be considered “normal”, as he continued his landmark visit to France, where parliament has voted to legalise the practice for certain patients. “We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion. It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal,” he told sick and disabled worshippers at the pilgrimage site of Lourdes. The US pontiff met with the bishops of France at the Saint Bernadette auditorium at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday…

For Gibała, Sunday’s result gives him another shot at winning an office he came within a few thousand votes of securing in 2024, when he lost to Miszalski. Miszalski subsequently faced mounting local opposition, including over Kraków’s clean-transport zone, before being recalled. Opposition parties, including Law and Justice (PiS) and parties on the far right, presented that result as evidence of weakening support for Tusk’s government ahead of the fall 2027 general election. An effort is underway to hold a similar referendum in the capital Warsaw, targeting Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, also from Tusk’s party Sunday’s exit poll had the PiS…

Spain has today reached the symbolic milestone of 1,000 days without a new national budget, the main tool for steering the country’s economic policy and setting priorities for public spending. The left-wing coalition government led by Pedro Sánchez, made up of PSOE and Sumar, has gone the entire legislative term without passing a single budget. Instead, it has been governing with the budget approved in 2022 for the 2023 financial year. That year, after Sánchez returned as prime minister – without a parliamentary majority – the government argued that the 2023 election results had made it difficult to bring a…

At least five children were among the wounded. The strike hit shops near the Mawiya junction, although the casualties and target could not be independently verified. Yemeni government forces said they had instead targeted a Houthi military position and vehicles in the area. The attack comes amid a major escalation in Yemen’s war, with Houthi forces advancing along the Red Sea coast towards Bab al-Mandab, a crucial shipping route. Saudi Arabia has responded with hundreds of airstrikes, according to the Houthis, who said 27 strikes were carried out across six provinces in the previous 24 hours. The renewed fighting has…

“Enlargement … remains a geopolitical imperative. Accession, however, takes time,” reads a draft version of the pre-enlargement review text seen by POLITICO. “Candidate countries must complete a rigorous, merit-based process and deliver far-reaching and lasting reforms. That time should be put to full strategic use to both prepare the Union for larger membership and deepen gradual integration in areas of mutual interest.” As part of that review, von der Leyen and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos will propose changes to the bloc’s internal workings to ensure safeguards are in place to prevent new joiners from disrupting key policies or reneging on…

Pope Leo XIV called on the Catholic Church to acknowledge its failings and confront sexual abuse as he celebrated an open-air Mass in Lourdes on Sunday, the latest stop on his visit to France. After drawing nearly 800,000 people in Paris on Saturday, the pontiff was greeted by further crowds in Lourdes, where around 150,000 people attended Sunday’s Mass. In his homily, Leo urged the Church to take responsibility for wrongdoing within its ranks. “The Church must have the courage to be the first to undergo this conversion. To heal the deep wounds, the acts of infidelity and the painful…

For the first time in nearly a decade, a Serbian media hosted a televised election debate with opposing politicians which drew significant public attention ahead of the 25 October parliamentary vote, in Serbia’s highly polarised media and tense society landscape. Equally for the first time, a top official from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party appeared on N1 television in a live election debate. Ana Brnabic, Speaker of the outgoing parliament and a former prime minister, as well as top figure in Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s political camp, faced the top candidate of the opposition Student List – Students win political…