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Published on 05/06/2026 – 13:17 GMT+2•Updated 13:25 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has offered her solidarity with Romania after a maritime drone exploded in the country’s eastern port of Constanța on Friday morning, a week after a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galați. This incident is a “direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine”, she said in a post on social media platform X, adding that incidents like this are “increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on our Eastern border.” “Our solidarity with every Member State exposed to these threats is absolute. And our…

Around 500,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines worldwide need to be renovated, rebuilt or upgraded, while leaks, ruptures and incidents already cost the sector more than $7 billion (€6bn) a year — and roughly 40% of failures go undetected in the first 24 hours, according to industry experts speaking at the Baku Energy Forum. The scale of the problem is driving rapid adoption of sensors, machine-learning and real-time monitoring systems designed to shift pipeline management from responding to failures to anticipating them. At the Euronews-led panel, experts described this shift as one of the most significant technological transformations facing…

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Updated: 05/06/2026 – 12:30 GMT+2 Video shows the moment a sea drone exploded in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta. Authorities said the drone self-destructed after the area was secured and evacuated, and no casualties were reported. … More

A cab driver, who gave his name as Steve, pushed aside his many grievances, local and national, to echo this. “I look at Andy and think can he be PM,” Steve said. “When I look at what he’s done in Greater Manchester I think he could.” There’s not an analyst in the land who thinks another Labour politician could stop Reform winning Makerfield — but here in Burnham’s north-western fiefdom, his own team describes him as having a “fighting chance.” The next Boris Johnson? One of Burnham’s most important backers in parliament is Louise Haigh. The prominent Labour MP gained…

A wave of misinformation has erupted online following the sentencing of 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, who was jailed for life on 1 June for killing 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak. Nowak’s killing, which happened in the southern English coastal city of Southampton in December 2025, has sparked an intense public debate about policing and knife laws in the United Kingdom. It has also been seized by politicians across Europe, with one Polish far-right politician claiming that the case symbolises “Europe condemning itself to death”. The case has opened the door to a dangerous wave of misinformation with real-life human consequences: police…

The package singles out companies working with the Cuban military’s Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) enterprise, a shadowy megaconglomerate estimated to control around 40 percent of the island’s economy, according to classified government ledgers obtained by the Miami Herald last year. The state-controlled entity, whose finances are closely guarded, operates the country’s banking industry, gas stations, supermarkets and most of its tourism sector. The country’s hotels and resorts are not only drivers of the service sector that accounts for over 70 percent of the country’s economic output, but also a key source of the foreign currency the state uses…

As the rally in AI stocks fades, investors were cautious at the open on Friday, with European markets opening to mixed sentiment following steep falls in Asian markets. Indices in London and Frankfurt quickly moved into negative territory, with the FTSE 100 dropping nearly 0.4% and the DAX losing 0.3% right after the opening. The Paris CAC 40 and the IBEX 35 in Madrid were both up 0.3%, while Milan’s main index was flat. So was the EURO STOXX 50, a benchmark index of 50 blue-chip companies from the eurozone. Investors are awaiting the latest US non-farm payrolls report and…

Fellow German Manfred Weber seemingly loves a job, or several. He’s a member of the European Parliament, of course, as well as head of the conservative European People’s Party group in that very same Parliament. Oh, and he also heads the European People’s Party, er, party, which is not the same as the European People’s Party group — and now my head is exploding. As if that weren’t enough, readers of Brussels Playbook will have spotted that Weber is now rumored to be angling for a senior job in the Christian Social Union in his native Bavaria. Alas, how different life…

Dressed in colourful costumes and handmade masks, parishioners danced through the streets as children received their First Communion after a year of religious preparation. The event combines Catholic devotion with local customs and forms part of a ritual in which masked devils ultimately submit to the Blessed Sacrament, symbolising the victory of good over evil. The tradition was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012. The celebration in Tarmas is distinguished by its small masks made from dried gourds and a rhythmic dance that traces the sign of the cross on the ground. Participants said that while costumes…