Author: staff

Published on 17/09/2026 – 11:43 GMT+2•Updated 12:07 The Palestinian Authority on Thursday sharply criticised a decision by the United States to deny visas to its officials ahead of next week’s UN General Assembly in New York, a measure that also affects its president Mahmoud Abbas. In a statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry called it “an unjustified measure that runs counter to efforts to rebuild trust, develop Palestinian–US relations, and create the necessary political climate for implementing the two-state solution and achieving peace and stability”. The decision marks the second consecutive year in which Abbas has been prevented from traveling to…

A new European Security Council, an emergency protocol and a new strategic enabler initiative: in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out a new security architecture for Europe. But several question marks still hang over it. With the war in Ukraine increasingly spilling over into Europe’s eastern flank and Russia intensifying its campaign of sabotage attacks and drone incursions, security and defence took centre stage in von der Leyen’s annual address. “We already have many tools. And we are strengthening our work with NATO. But our doctrine, our institutions and our…

American rapper Macklemore has said he will donate his $1million (€871,000) net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s tour to organisations supporting the Palestinian people. The rapper, who has been dropped from the tour for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage, has challenged Jewish billionaire Robert Kraft to match his donation. “I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people,” wrote Macklemore. “And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth…

Expectations are high after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday offered to create a tailor-made status of “associate EU membership” for Canada, and pitched closer collaboration on tech, energy and defence (if you missed von der Leyen’s landmark annual speech, here are our five takeaways). Trump strikes back: The announcement has already created ripples across the Atlantic, with US President Donald Trump overnight describing the invite as “hostile” and “laughable”, threatening “very serious tariffs” or to even “stop trading with Europe”. It’s a nightmare scenario for Brussels. The bloc has been treading carefully in its rapprochement with…

Every missile and drone strike on the UAE during the Iran war was matched by a cyberattack on the same target, the head of the UAE Cybersecurity Council told Euronews on Wednesday. In an interview at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti said the strikes and cyberattacks went hand in hand and that the mix of methods used against the UAE was, to his knowledge, unmatched anywhere. “Whenever we see a kinetic attack on any of the ports or on any refineries or the airport, there is always a cyberattack towards many of those entities,” he…

By the end of 2026, every EU country must legally offer citizens a European Digital Identity Wallet. This smartphone app holds a person’s government ID, driving licence, diploma, and other verified documents in one place and is designed to work across all 27 EU countries. Digital rights groups warn the technology and the safeguards meant to protect it are not ready and that the wallet could become exactly the kind of surveillance tool it was designed to prevent. “We are at maybe 50-60% of the technical standards that are needed to build this wallet,” says Thomas Lohninger, executive director of…

Day two of the Arab Media Summit belonged to the Euronews Forum, where ministers from the UAE, Azerbaijan and Georgia took the main stage for a session on building the national narrative. The UAE Economy and Tourism Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri was asked whether the Gulf had been rattled by recent events. His response was robust. “We do not design economies on recovery. We design the economy for future storms, exactly. For the next crisis that we are ready for. And we will be prepared,” Al Marri said. “Resilience cannot be bought. Yes, the storm has hit. Yes,…

To better compete with the U.S. and China, Attal proposed implementing a two-speed EU so like-minded partners can more quickly merge their economies, regulatory frameworks and labor and capital via a new dedicated treaty to be approved by citizens via referendum. Attal also advocated for joint European debt, removing intra-bloc trade barriers and encouraging bloc-wide mergers, especially in telecoms and financial services. Attal’s advisers told reporters that the former prime minister is trying to stake out a position as one of the most pro-European options in a crowded field of candidates. The 37-year-old centrist has struggled to break through, and…

Published on 17/09/2026 – 15:12 GMT+2 When Germany’s finance minister chose Volkswagen’s headquarters to deliver a warning about China, the symbolism wasn’t subtle. Standing in the shadow of the carmaker’s flagship plant on Thursday, Lars Klingbeil told Brussels it was time to stop pulling punches with Beijing — a message aimed less at EU trade officials than at the tens of thousands of German autoworkers watching their jobs disappear. “We cannot, when all is said and done, be naive in our dealings with China,” Klingbeil said, fresh from meetings with VW staff representatives and local politicians. Germany, he added, needs…

Flooded streets, submerged cars and disrupted transport were reported across parts of Valencia and Catalonia on 17 September as torrential rain swept through eastern Spain. In Valencia province, Avamet recorded more than 70 millimetres of rain in just 30 minutes in several municipalities. Officials described the accumulations as rarely seen, while emergency services recorded 478 incidents involving mainly property damage, leaks and traffic disruption. In Moncada, near Valencia, civil protection crews pumped water from a flooded supermarket. Firefighters dealt with hundreds of other calls across the province. Valencia’s metro services were suspended and the city’s airport closed for several hours,…