Big tech companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta will have to police their platforms more strictly to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content under landmark EU legislation approved early Saturday. European Union officials clinched the agreement in principle on the Digital Services …
Read More »Amsterdam airport urges travelers to stay away as strike causes chaos
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport urged travelers on Saturday to stay away as a strike by ground personnel at the start of a school holiday caused chaos at Europe’s third-busiest airport. “The terminal is too full at the moment… Schiphol is calling on travelers to not come to the airport anymore,” airport …
Read More »At least 10 missing after second accident at Polish coal mine in days
Ten people were missing Saturday after an accident at a coal mine in southern Poland, the pit owner said, the second such incident to strike in just days. “Rescuers are without contact with 10 people,” at the mine in Zofiowka, the JSW company said in a statement. A tremor shook …
Read More »‘Fierce battles’ rage in eastern Ukraine: Governors
Authorities in two eastern Ukrainian regions said Saturday that fighting with Russian forces was “fierce,” as hope fades for a truce over Orthodox Easter weekend. The governor of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, said on Telegram that Kyiv retook three villages near the Russian border after “fierce battles.” “Our …
Read More »EU fails to agree Russian energy ban
Brussels is weighing options after the total oil and gas embargo was met with strong resistance The European Union has failed to reach a consensus on a full ban on Russian oil and gas imports but says that an agreement will be reached in the coming weeks. Member states are …
Read More »Brits cut spending as living costs soar; EU faces ‘new era’ of high inflation – Report
Amid reports that consumer confidence is touching an all-time low in the UK, the French finance minister has predicted “a new era of higher inflation” for France and partner countries. Bruno Le Maire was quoted as saying by BFM TV on Friday that inflation will be high in 2022 in …
Read More »Russia continues to pump gas to Europe via Ukraine
The ongoing conflict has not interrupted energy supplies Russia continues to supply natural gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory without interruptions, the spokesman for Russian energy major Gazprom, Sergey Kupriyanov, told the media on Monday. “Gazprom supplies Russian gas for transit through Ukrainian territory in accordance with requests of European …
Read More »Russia says Ukraine fired mortars at Bryansk border post
Russia’s security service said on Thursday that a border post in the Bryansk region had been fired at with mortars from Ukraine in the latest of a series of reported cross-border attacks that Moscow has said may trigger an escalation of the conflict. No one was injured in the incident …
Read More »Finland to make decision on NATO entry in coming weeks, not months
Finland will take a decision about whether to apply to join the US-led NATO alliance in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday, underlining a shift in security perspectives since Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Finland and fellow Nordic state and neighbour Sweden are close partners with …
Read More »Putin says Peace talks with Ukraine are at Dead End
Summary Peace talks hit a dead end – Putin West’s economic Blitzkrieg has failed – Putin Putin: Bucha is fake like a staged Syrian chemical attack Russia to achieve ‘noble’ war aims – Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead …
Read More »Finland and Sweden set to join NATO as soon as Summer: Officials
Russia has made a “massive strategic blunder” as Finland and Sweden look poised to join Nato as early as the summer, according to officials. US officials said Nato membership for both Nordic countries was “a topic of conversation and multiple sessions” during talks between the alliance’s foreign ministers last week …
Read More »Ukraine War | ‘Slovakia’ S-300 launchers obliterated – Russia claims
Slovakia reported delivering its only S-300 weapons system to Ukraine last week Russian forces have destroyed foreign-supplied S-300 anti-aircraft launchers in a number of precision strikes on Ukraine, the Defense Ministry, in Moscow, claimed on Monday. Days earlier, Slovakia reported the donation of a battery of old Soviet-made S-300 air …
Read More »France’s Macron heads to Le Pen stronghold in search of more votes
Centrist President Emmanuel Macron took his hunt for more re-election support on Monday to France’s former industrial heartland in the north, a blue-collar stronghold of far-right rival Marine Le Pen, who he will face in an April 24 runoff vote. Macron, 44, is vying to become the first president in …
Read More »NATO to station permanent force in east – Stoltenberg
The change comes after the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the bloc’s chief says NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the bloc will deploy a permanent full-scale military force on the eastern flank to deter Russia. The move comes in response to Moscow’s military campaign against Ukraine. In an interview …
Read More »Who’s behind alleged war crimes in Ukraine?
It comes into the category of ‘stating the obvious’ that all sides commit atrocities in war – especially in the course of modern conflicts fought out in urban centers in and around civilians. Indeed war itself is an atrocity, reflective as it is of a complete breakdown in human affairs …
Read More »French election race wide open as far-right Le Pen closes in on Macron
France heads to the polls on Sunday with Emmanuel Macron facing a far tougher test than first envisaged They are antique car aficionados and struggling students. They are retired people living in the countryside, cheerful multilingual accountants who have lived abroad, and even frustrated, disadvantaged members of the country’s Muslim …
Read More »Europe at greatest risk of war in 30 years, Poland warns
Europe is nearer war than it has been in 30 years, Poland’s foreign minister warned during the third round of diplomacy this week aimed at defusing tensions over Russia’s demand that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO. Addressing envoys from the 57 members of the Organization for Security and …
Read More »Latest migrant shipwreck off Greece leaves at least four dead
At least four migrants have died after their boat was wrecked on an islet north of the island of Antikythera on Thursday, the Greek coastguard said, adding that rescue crews had mounted an operation to rescue about 90 other people. Greece is one of the main routes into the European …
Read More »Germany, France urge all sides to respect eastern Ukraine ceasefire
Germany and France called on both the Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine to respect the restoration of a full ceasefire, their foreign ministries said in a joint statement on Thursday. “We urge the sides to respect the ceasefire and to continue discussions on further steps in …
Read More »Belgium to phasing out all its nuclear plants by 2025
Belgium will shut all seven of its nuclear reactors by 2025 but will not close the door on new-generation nuclear technology, according to a deal reached by the coalition government yesterday. A government source said the all-night negotiations included an agreement of “investments of around 100 million euros (US$113 million) …
Read More »