Author: staff

Due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, the Dutch government wants to more than double the number of people serving in the armed forces, from 70,000 to 200,000 people. The Dutch Ministry of Defence has confirmed it aims to more than double its military personnel, from 70,000 to 200,000 by 2030. In a letter from the State Secretary for Defence, Gijs Tuinman, to the House of Representatives, he said that defence is “facing a major change,” which means “that the Netherlands must be able to stand on its own two feet.”In order to increase the size of the armed forces, the government…

But soon after that amendment was passed, Martin was shouted down as he attempted to answer his first question. As scores of opposition lawmakers stood and refused to stop shouting, Murphy conceded defeat and shut parliament for the day. It marked the second time she was forced to take that step following January’s first failed attempt to elect Martin as Taoiseach, Ireland’s “chief.” Murphy wasn’t even able to announce the official outcome of Tuesday’s vote, she said, because opposition lawmakers refused to sign the document confirming the number of votes cast on their side. Moments earlier, video screens inside the…

Lukashenko marked three decades in power last year and his political opponents have denounced the tightly orchestrated presidential election on 26 January as a farce. Alexander Lukashenko has been sworn in for a seventh consecutive term as president of Belarus at a ceremony in the capital Minsk.During the ceremony, Lukashenko poked fun at those who call him ‘Europe’s last dictator’ by claiming Belarus has more democracy “than those who cast themselves as its models.””Half of the world is dreaming about our ‘dictatorship,’ the dictatorship of real business and interests of our people,” Lukashenko said in his inauguration speech at the Independence…

The exhibition was co-hosted by Luxembourgish Green MEP Tilly Metz and organized by NGOs Animal Law Europe and the European Environmental Bureau, with the aim of highlighting standard practices in industrial farming. Metz’s office didn’t formally contest the request — her team submitted alternative images, and the swap was made within minutes. The one accepted shows a piglet getting its tail docked — also legal, also painful, but apparently less upsetting. “In agreement with MEP Tilly Metz, the photo was replaced by another one sent by her office,” Złotowski said in a written reply, citing rules against offensive or disruptive…

The Common European System for Returns aims to speed up deportation of asylum seekers who aren’t permitted to stay in the European Union. In an unexpected move, it also opens the possibility to build the controversial detention centres outside the bloc. The revised regulation fills a gap within the Pact on Migration and Asylum to be implemented from July 2026 and aims to address the fact that only about 20% of yearly deportation orders are carried out, according to EU institutions.Lists of safe countries of origin and safe third countries to which rejected asylum applicants may be sent should be defined. In…

Following the Dutch notice, the Belgian government announced that it is also working on adjusting the travel advice in light of stricter border controls and changing attitudes toward transgender people and the LGBTQ+ community, Flemish public broadcaster VRT reported. German and Finnish authorities have also tightened their travel warnings for the U.S. after President Donald Trump took steps to remove some protections for sexual minorities, such as only accepting M or F (male or female) as gender identification on passports and visas. ”It reflects a sad and completely needless reality,” Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak, from the Greens group, told…

In a letter to Health Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi, health ministers from 12 countries urge the Commission to step up its fight against tobacco and novel nicotine products. Health ministers have urged the European Commission to step up its fight against tobacco and questioned the blocking of several pieces of tobacco legislation in a letter to Commissioner Várhelyi seen by Euronews. In the letter, dated 21 March, health ministers from Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, and Spain, at the initiative of the Netherlands, voice their concerns over the increasing use of new nicotine products among youth, cross-border…

Daniel Heath and William Lawrence admitted to vandalism after they drunkenly broke and stole half of a statue of Paddington Bear on a night out. Two engineers with the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) who broke a statue of Paddington Bear while drunk on a night out were criticised by a judge on Tuesday for being the “antithesis” of everything the bear stands for.Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, both 22, admitted in Reading Magistrates’ Court that they were responsible for the act of vandalism on 2 March in Newbury, the hometown of Paddington creator Michael Bond.The pair were handed 12-month…

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu says he’s “convinced” that Washington’s decision is “strictly a technical measure” as part of the U.S. reassessment of security risks.  “We will take advantage of this — hopefully short-lasting — delay to work with our American partners to clarify all issues of concern to the U.S. government,” Ciolacu wrote in a post on Facebook. Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program came amid election turmoil in the country. After far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election, the results were annulled in December due to alleged Russian manipulation during the…

Calling the portrait “truly the worst,” Trump blamed Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis and declared he’d rather have no portrait at all. A painting of Donald Trump hanging among the other presidential portraits at the Colorado State Capitol is being taken down – much to the president’s delight – after he claimed it was “purposefully distorted,” according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.In a recent post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a photo of the portrait, saying it’s “truly the worst” and blaming it on Colorado’s “Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis.” “I would much prefer not…