Author: staff

It’s crunch time for the Eurovision Song Contest, whose organizers are meeting today and tomorrow to tackle a divisive issue: Should Israel be allowed to participate in the 2026 competition? The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs the competition, is holding a general assembly, with many countries calling for Israel to be excluded over the war in Gaza and alleged interference in contest voting, following controversy this year surrounding Israel’s second-place finish. The meeting comes after anti-Israel protesters attempted to disrupt the 2024 and 2025 contests in Basel and Malmö, citing their…

Merz chimed in that Zelenskyy had to be “extremely careful in the coming days.”  “They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz said, seemingly referring to Washington’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of American President Donald Trump — who spent five hours locked in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Merz’s spokesperson Stefan Kornelius told POLITICO: “As a matter of principle, I do not confirm or comment on snippets of conversation.”  Finland’s Stubb seemed to agree with Merz, according to the transcript. “We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” he said,…

Two dozen humanitarian workers who participated in search and rescue operations on the Greek island of Lesvos from 2016-2021 have now begun their long-awaited trial. Once a paradisial tourist hotspot, Lesvos became the key entry point for individuals and small boats headed to Europe in 2015, a year which marked the peak of the continent’s migration crisis. More than 10 years on, the accused – 24 in total – face up to 20 years in prison for charges including alleged participation in a criminal organisation, facilitating the entry of third-country nationals into Greece and money laundering. While the trial focuses…

Five people were killed and 32 others injured on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza that the Israeli military said was a response to an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers. According to medics in Khan Younis, two children, aged eight and 10, were among the dead. The attack was the most recent test of a ceasefire that, despite allegations of violations by both sides, has largely held since early October. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas violated the ceasefire on Wednesday when, according to the army, militants emerged from a tunnel and…

ECB President Christine Lagarde has warned Italy against a proposal to declare the country’s gold as property of the people. The move comes in response to a budget amendment, proposed by the ruling Brothers of Italy party, which seeks to change the way reserves are managed. Questioned by Italian MEP Pasquale Tridico of the Five Star Movement, Lagarde clarified that, according to European law, the holding and management of reserves is the exclusive responsibility of the national central bank of each member state. “The Bank of Italy is no different from any other national central bank,” Lagarde said. “This is…

Published on 04/12/2025 – 11:39 GMT+1 A charity in the United Kingdom is appealing for £500,000 (€572,000) to restore a historic house once occupied by family members of William Shakespeare. Located in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, Hall’s Croft was damaged in October when a car accidentally reversed into the building. The crash caused no injuries but led to “substantial damage to the fabric of the building, damaging several seventeenth century timbers,” the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) said in a statement. The incident shattered several oak beams and left a hole in the building’s roadside wall, according to the BBC. It…

According to open-source maps of the conflict, Russian forces now control about 80 percent of the Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia this week claimed it had — after more than a year of fighting — captured the key city of Pokrovsk, which Ukraine has rejected. Ceding Donbas was one of the points in the 28-point-plan, circulated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s team, which drew criticism from Ukrainian and European officials as heavily lopsided in Russia’s favor. An updated proposal watered down some of the more pro-Russian aspects of the initial plan. Meetings between U.S. envoys Steve…

Published on 04/12/2025 – 12:10 GMT+1 The use of drones in the war in Ukraine and the violation of EU airspace by these aircraft requires a realignment of defence strategy, according to the bloc’s top military official. All military, political, and economic structures of the EU must be prepared and ready to defend themselves, the Chairman of the EU Military Committee (CEUMC), Irish General Sean Clancy, told Euronews. To that end, the EU and the NATO alliance need to work together more closely. “There is a stronger relationship required between the EU and NATO. There is a need for coherence.…

A French student has been convicted of vandalising the grave of Robert Badinter, the former justice minister who abolished the death penalty in France, just hours before the late statesman was to be honoured at the Panthéon. The 23-year-old with no prior record was arrested on Tuesday morning and tried for grave desecration and property damage. He admitted to the offences and was sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term. Police identified him through CCTV footage showing him entering and leaving Bagneux cemetery in the Hauts-de-Seine department on the night of 8 October 2025, as well as mobile phone data…

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will open an investigation into Meta’s integration of artificial intelligence into its WhatsApp chat app, competition chief Teresa Ribera said. “I can confirm you that today we will adopt a decision on Meta AI and we will open a procedure around this,” Ribera told a hearing of the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee on Thursday. She added: “But we have not signed it yet.” The commissioner was replying to a question by Renew lawmaker Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, who’d asked her to comment on a press report on the matter. The Financial Times reported that the EU was set…