Author: staff
Beijing’s relationship with Moscow will be at the forefront of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) summit in China this weekend. As Russian strikes continue to rain down on Ukraine and European calls for further sanctions on the Kremlin grow, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will attend the event in the Chinese city of Tianjin with around 20 other world leaders. The meeting will include representatives from the 10 European and Asian member states of the SCO, a body which styles itself as an alternative to the US-led world order. It comprises China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and…
France and Germany on Friday agreed to better integrate their energy markets and find common ground on EU green laws as part of a sweeping bilateral reset following years of bitter feuding over energy policy. The EU’s two biggest economies gave their political backing to a new cross-border power line and the long-stalled “Southwestern” hydrogen pipeline network connecting Spain, Portugal, France and Germany at a ministerial meeting in Toulon, also attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The summit comes after years of friction between the countries over energy policy, including regarding subsidies for energy-intensive industries…
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on the campaign trail he was open to the idea — a major about-face for Germany, as Berlin had repeatedly refused similar offers in past decades. Under France’s nuclear doctrine, there is a “European dimension” to the country’s so-called vital interests — which the weapons are designed to protect. However, what exactly that European dimension entails, and in which circumstances France might deploy its nuclear capacity beyond its own borders, is left purposefully vague. Unlike the United Kingdom, France is not a member of NATO’s nuclear planning group. In Friday’s conclusions, France and Germany also…
| via DSEI UK Defence leaders continue to grapple with questions of scalability, affordability, and resilience, balancing cutting-edge capability with the quantities required for operational effectiveness. Across the event floor and in conference sessions, attendees will engage with these issues in real time, seeing both concept and capability demonstrated in ways that reveal not only what is possible, but what is achievable at scale. International participation reinforces the global significance of the event. Delegations from more than 90 countries and over 40 national pavilions highlight the collaborative nature of modern defence. For the UK, the event provides a platform to…
Twenty years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina ripped into Louisiana and left New Orleans flooded. Nearly 2,000 people died. Entire neighbourhoods were lost. It was the costliest storm in US history, and it reshaped how the country responds to disasters. But the systems built in Katrina’s wake are now under threat. Scientists and emergency managers are warning that cuts to forecasting and federal response systems risk leaving the US exposed in the midst of hurricane season, and as climate change fuels ever stronger storms. The storm that changed America Katrina made landfall on 29 August 2005 as a Category 3…
Published on 29/08/2025 – 13:41 GMT+2 Israel has said its military has recovered the bodies of two hostages previously being held by the militant group Hamas in Gaza. The bodies reportedly include an Israeli man who was killed in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office identified one of the bodies as that of Ilan Weiss of Kibbutz Be’eri. The other body remains unnamed. “The campaign to return the hostages continues continuously. We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home…
By Lina Ferreira Published on 29/08/2025 – 14:17 GMT+2 A 14-year-old boy has admitted deliberately starting several wildfires in Portugal by riding to forest areas on a scooter and using matches to start a blaze in an interview with police. Officers believe he may have been responsible for blazes in Seidões, Ardegão and Arnozela. “The minor may have acted out of anger and frustration, given his poor school performance and the obvious precariousness of his social relationships,” the national criminal police, the Polícia Judiciária, said in a statement, adding that they hadn’t ruled out the boy acting as part of a…
German citizens are being asked to leave Iran and refrain from travelling to the country due to concerns about potential retaliatory actions by Tehran regarding sanctions, the Federal Foreign Office said late Thursday. Germany along with France and the United Kingdom on Thursday triggered the process to reimpose sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council. Those sanctions were lifted in 2015 under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in exchange for Iran agreeing to keep its nuclear program strictly peaceful.“Since Iranian government officials have repeatedly threatened consequences in the past, it cannot be ruled out that German…
Published on 29/08/2025 – 12:28 GMT+2 Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim has called on religious leaders to take a stronger role and assert their voices and values in a society facing declining trust and hypocrisy. “We are living in an era of declining trust, a deficit not only among political leaders but also in upholding the values of justice, humanity, and truth. This is why religious leaders have no choice but to take up the banner of peace and morality,” he said. Ibrahim was speaking at the 2nd International Summit of Religious Leaders which took place in Kuala Lumpur…
Human rights group Amnesty International is urging governments worldwide to break up with Big Tech, arguing that “the concentration of power” of a few companies has profound implications on privacy, nondiscrimination, and access to information. A report published on Thursday, called ‘breaking up with Big Tech,’ by the group took aim at Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. It urged governments to “rein in Big Tech and put people’s rights first”. The report comes as tech relations between the United States and Europe turn fragile after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose “substantial” additional tariffs on countries that implement…