Author: staff
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has found himself at the heart of a politicised spat after his proposal to certify trustworthy media outlets with “labels” was distorted by media commentators and politicians, leading him to be accused of promoting autocracy. In one stark example, on 30 November, the Journal du Dimanche — owned by media mogul Vincent Bolloré — published a front page story claiming that Macron was seeking to “control the media”. In an editorial segment aired on 1 December, right-wing political commentator Pascal Praud, who works for CNews and Europe 1 — outlets also owned by Bolloré — jumped…
The European Union began simplifying visa procedures for Kazakh citizens following talks at the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council in Brussels, a pledge Council President António Costa affirmed during his first official visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday. “I know very well how these talks matter deeply to both Kazakh and European citizens,” Costa said in Astana. “When concluded, this agreement will make it easier for our people to meet, study, work and invest, a real sign of the friendship between our peoples.” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also welcomed the agreement, noting that increased mobility will facilitate cooperation in education, science, cultural exchanges…
Overlapping tropical storms and “intensified” monsoon systems have unleashed widespread devastation across Asia, with rescue teams still racing to reach isolated survivors. Days of record-breaking rainfall and storm surges triggered catastrophic flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam last week. With thousands of homes destroyed and roads rapidly transforming into fast-flowing rivers of mud, people have been found clinging to rooftops or trees to stay alive. The death toll has now surpassed 1,600, but hundreds are still unaccounted for across the region. According to the UN, the disaster is one of the deadliest weather patterns south…
Protests are being held in around 90 towns and cities across Germany. According to Berlin police, around 800 people gathered to protest the reform in the morning, with several thousand expected in Germany’s capital by the end of the day. The initiative behind the protest, Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht (school strike against conscription), said on its website: “Politicians [and] Bundeswehr … argue how we should reintroduce conscription. But no one talks to us. No one asks us what we want.” Martin, a high school student from a town in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, was among the students who skipped school to object. “Why resolve wars by arming…
A French woman who was allegedly drugged by a diuretic by a former senior official in the Culture Ministry during a job interview has decried the slow pace of the justice system, saying, “It prolongs the trauma.” Ten years after her alleged assault, Sylvie Delezenne is now speaking out about her ordeal in a bid to “make things change”. She says she met former ministry official Christian Nègre for an interview for a post at the Culture Ministry in 2015. She travelled from Lille to Paris to attend the interview, with high hopes, saying the position was a perfect fit…
BRUXELLES — La Commission européenne a infligé vendredi une amende de 120 millions d’euros à X, le réseau social d’Elon Musk. Il s’agit de la toute première sanction prononcée en vertu du règlement européen sur les services numériques (DSA). Cette décision, qui risque d’exacerber les tensions avec les États-Unis, a d’ores et déjà suscité des critiques de la part de J.D. Vance. Le vice-président américain a ainsi jugé que cette amende était une sanction pour “absence de censure”. Le montant de l’amende est pourtant modéré par rapport aux sanctions infligées précédemment par Bruxelles aux entreprises technologiques. Dans le cadre des…
Published on 05/12/2025 – 11:39 GMT+1 Google released its breakdown of the year’s top search trends, and topping the list – above Charlie Kirk, Pope Leo XIV, and Men’s Cricket scores – was its own Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot Gemini. The company’s “Year in Search” highlights search queries that saw a significant and sustained spike in traffic in 2025 compared to 2024. By those standards, and with a healthy dose of scepticism, the company’s top global trending search of the year was “Gemini,” followed by “India vs England” for men’s cricket, and “Charlie Kirk,” the US far-right influencer who was…
Virkkunen said that they estimated the size of the fine to be “proportionate” and said it was calculated considering “the nature of these infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users, and their duration.” Asked to clarify how the EU calculated the amount, a senior Commission official repeated the idea of proportionality and said that it cannot be “drilled down to a simple economic formula.” Brussels has been under growing pressure from EU leaders, European Parliament lawmakers and digital rights groups to wrap up the investigation into X to show that it’s protecting its citizens online. U.S. officials have…
The European Commission slapped a €120 million fine on Friday on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time under its landmark Digital Services Act following a two-year investigation. At the centre of the probe is the blue checkmark, previously used to signal official accounts at no cost but now sold for €7 a month, which risks confusing users about the veracity of identities. Under the new X settings, an account with a checkmark may not signal a real user and could instead be a bot, the Commission said. As a result, it decided…
Updated: 05/12/2025 – 12:00 GMT+1 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this December 5th, 2025 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More