Author: staff
Published on 19/06/2026 – 11:28 GMT+2 Russian drones struck two foreign-flagged civilian ships in the Black Sea on Thursday night, Ukrainian authorities said. According to Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration, the drones hit one vessel flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis and one Panamanian-flagged ship, leaving one person dead and five injured. One of the injured sailors is in a critical condition, per Kuleba. “This is yet another proof that Russia is waging a war against freedom of navigation, international trade, and global food security,” he wrote. The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, Oleh Kiper,…
Published on 19/06/2026 – 10:37 GMT+2 Elon Musk’s space and AI firm secured first-time ratings from Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global on Thursday, a milestone that places its debt firmly in investment-grade territory and could allow it to borrow more cheaply as it funds a vast expansion. The endorsements arrive less than a week after the company’s record IPO, which raised around $85.7 billion (€73.8bn) in the largest initial public offering in history. Moody’s assigned SpaceX a Baa1 long-term issuer rating with a stable outlook. In its report, the agency pointed to the firm’s “exceptional franchise strength” as the world’s…
Andy Burnham has secured a thumping victory in the Makerfield by-election – but is it game over for Sir Keir Starmer? With a critical few days ahead, attention now turns to Labour’s cabinet ministers, MPs and party members. Who could make the first move to oust the prime minister? Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy have inside information from team Burnham and assess whether a ‘bloodless coup’ is really possible or whether rivals like Wes Streeting could disrupt the plan? Is this really Labour’s last chance to reconnect with voters and could Andy Burnham reset the party’s fortunes? Plus – are…
Published on 19/06/2026 – 9:54 GMT+2•Updated 10:32 Israel’s national security minister said “all of Lebanon must burn” after the Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers had been killed in the south of the country. “For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote in a post on X. Israel’s military said the soldiers were killed “in combat” when their tank was hit during an operation near Kfar Tebnit. It has named one of the victims as 32-year-old Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, the commander of the 52nd Battalion of the…
Published on 19/06/2026 – 8:54 GMT+2•Updated 9:10 A new award celebrating Europe’s most influential marketing leaders is set to make its debut at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on 22 June, with a shortlist drawn from some of the continent’s biggest and most exciting brands. The European CMO of the Year award, with Euronews among its industry partners, aims to recognise the chief marketing officers excelling at what they do. The shortlist spans 29 names from across the continent – from household giants like LEGO, Ferrari, Coca-Cola and L’Oréal, to newer-wave brands like Klarna, Gymshark and Revolut. “Marketing…
Which brings us neatly (sort of) onto Miroslav Radačovský, who was named Slovakia’s ambassador to Cyprus this week. When he was an MEP in 2024, Radačovský released a live dove from a bag in the European Parliament in Strasbourg (which means the bird has a better attendance record than most EU lawmakers). “I would like to set this dove free as a symbol of peace, to symbolize that Europe needs peace. Let’s let this dove unite all of us,” he said, uniting the bloc by letting a terrified bird shit all over the hemicycle. Radačovský had clearly learned nothing from the pope.…
Published on 19/06/2026 – 9:07 GMT+2 Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has won the key Makerfield by-election in the UK, paving the way for him to mount a leadership challenge to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Labour candidate returns to Westminster having won the Makerfield seat comfortably, securing 24,927 votes, around 55% of the vote. Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon came second with 15,696, followed by Restore Britain’s Rebecca Shepherd with 3,111. The by-election was triggered after the former Makerfield MP Josh Simons stepped down to allow Burnham to take on Starmer, who has been under increasing pressure since Labour’s…
Supporters poured out of Guadalajara’s Estadio Akron waving flags and singing after the final whistle, while thousands gathered at fan zones in Monterrey and Mexico City. The win guarantees Mexico a place in the last 32 and confirms the hosts as Group A leaders with six points from two matches, an important milestone for a team playing in front of home crowds. The decisive moment came in the 50th minute when midfielder Luis Romo capitalised on a defensive mistake involving South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu and defender Lee Gi-hyuk. Romo calmly converted into an empty net to score the only…
By Johanna Urbancik Published on 19/06/2026 – 9:06 GMT+2 The United States has launched a trade investigation against Germany over drug pricing. According to several media reports, Washington wants to examine whether innovative medicines are systematically under-remunerated on the German market, leaving US patients to shoulder a comparatively high share of research and development costs. The announcement was made on Thursday in a statement from the office of the US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, who, according to the Reuters news agency, launched the investigation on suspicion that Germany is paying too little for innovative medicines. “I am particularly concerned by reports…
“Our ambition is to think big and to build a new European architecture capable of addressing the major challenges of the 21st century — and we will certainly need the largest group possible,” he told POLITICO in the interview. Bardella will find out if he is his party’s presidential candidate on July 7, when a French appeals court decides whether to uphold his mentor Marine Le Pen’s convictions for embezzlement and the five-year election ban that comes with it. Polls have him winning the election’s first round, and early polls also show him beating other contenders in the runoff, though…