Author: staff

The timing means that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set out his legislative plans just days after the crucial May 7 local elections, which are being seen as a major test for his Labour administration. MPs’ votes on the speech are traditionally seen as a test of confidence in a government. The same four people all said that the government plans to prorogue parliament — ending a continuous session that has lasted almost two years under Starmer — in the week of April 27. Two of the people said April 29 is the ideal target date for prorogation. The prorogation…

In a document seen by POLITICO and circulated by Moldova to EU officials shortly after the parliamentary election, the government documented how Orthodox priests in the country had received “instructions to spread disinformation seven days a week instead of only on Sundays.” Moscow also offered people in the country “guidance on how to set up and manage Telegram channels,” a messaging platform popular in Russia. The government has also highlighted the use of large-scale vote-buying networks, staged protests, cyberattacks, troll farms and AI-generated deepfakes — with Russian proxies paid, sometimes in cryptocurrency, according to a performance-based system of financial bonuses.…

Now, fraught coalition talks will begin, with control in Copenhagen likely hinging on which direction Rasmussen — the current foreign minister and leader of the Moderates party — will swing. His party has enough seats to hand power to Frederiksen, or to Venstre’s Troels Lund Poulsen atop the blue bloc.  Rasmussen called on both Poulsen and Frederiksen to “drop the trench warfare” after they spent much of the campaign attacking one another, despite serving in the coalition government together. “Come down and join us. You’re standing out by the corner flags; we’re in the middle. Come and play with us,”…

“We will not be intimidated by an apparent attempt to interfere with independent reporting — nor deterred from the important work we do,” they wrote. “We have always been and will remain vigilant in protecting our sources, supporting the work of our journalists, and maintaining the accuracy of our independent, nonpartisan reporting.”  The issue comes at a time when leaks of confidential EU information are in the spotlight ahead of the Hungarian general election on April 12. In a report on Saturday, the Washington Post said that Viktor Orbán’s government maintained close contacts with Moscow throughout the war in Ukraine, and Hungarian…

PARIS — French far-right leaders jumped to the defense of National Rally MEP Fabrice Leggeri over accusations that he was complicit in crimes against humanity while head of the EU’s border agency, Frontex. Party leader Jordan Bardella said on X that Leggeri was the victim of “harassment by far-left judicial organizations,” after newswire AFP reported that the Paris Court of Appeal could open a probe following a complaint lodged by human rights groups. Human rights organizations Ligue des Droits de l’Homme and Utopia 56 announced in 2024 that they were taking legal action against Leggeri for having “opted for a…

“That’s why we are taking these measures. We have to ensure the security of these specific places for the Jewish community. We must do everything we can to prevent attacks on people and also to stop all the attacks … [on Jewish] buildings,” he added. “Our job is to protect everybody.” As for whether soldiers will do a better job of providing security than police, Belgium’s Defense Minister Theo Francken told POLITICO: “They are not replacing anything — this is in addition to the police force. The police force remains the first responder … and has the responsibility for the…

Delmastro Delle Vedove had also received a criminal conviction earlier in the legislature after leaking official secrets. Justice Ministry chief of staff and former MP Giusi Bartolozzi is facing criminal charges over an alleged cover-up involving a Libyan warlord who was arrested last year on an International Criminal Court warrant and then flown out of Rome. During the campaign she called prosecutors “an execution squad,” reinforcing accusations that the government viewed investigations as political interference. Bartolozzi didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Meloni also signaled she had lost confidence in Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè, who has been ordered…

It’s the first time a Lithuanian tree has won the prize in the contest’s 15 annual iterations. The Oak of Laukai’s victory follows a change in the online voting system that used to favor bigger countries and last year fueled a bitter feud between Polish and Spanish tree lovers. Poland has won the last four contests, mostly thanks to votes from followers of the Polish Instagram meme account Make Life Harder, which heavily promoted Polish entrants. But last year’s competition was soured by a campaign on a Spanish public TV comedy show featuring a sign calling the tree “a load…

The European Parliament will on Thursday vote to move forward the 2025 transatlantic trade deal agreed between the EU and the U.S. Puzder on Monday called on the European Parliament to back the deal, telling POLITICO it would unlock deeper transatlantic cooperation on energy, tech and AI even as he pledged to seek to revisit the bloc’s digital rules. Benifei, who leads the Parliament’s delegation on U.S. relations, warned that if U.S. “requests become a form of pressure over other issues like the trade deal or energy,” they will “backfire.” That’s because EU “constituents are fed up of threats, especially now that they are suffering…

Published on 24/03/2026 – 20:38 GMT+1 Russia launched almost 1,000 drones against Ukraine within 24 hours between March 23 and 24, making it one of Moscow’s largest aerial attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Following a massive barrage of missiles and drones overnight, Russia carried on its attack during Tuesday in a rare daytime wave of over 550 attack drones targeting central and western regions. At least three people have been killed and over 30 have been injured across Ukraine during the daylight attack, following the overnight missiles and drone assault, killing at least four people and injuring…