Author: Press Room
Published on 27/08/2026 – 15:08 GMT+2•Updated 15:11 A Russian State Duma deputy has threatened Hungary with an energy blockade in response to a new foreign policy doctrine from Budapest, which describes Russia as a security threat. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party defeated Viktor Orbán’s nationalist government in April. Magyar has since pledged a foreign policy reset, seeking closer ties with the EU and NATO while moving away from the close relationship his predecessor built with the Kremlin. In a document published on Wednesday setting out Hungary’s position ahead of the 81st UN General Assembly, the government said Hungary condemns…
By Simon Ormiston & Euronews Published on 28/08/2026 – 8:51 GMT+2•Updated 10:35 Norway’s King Harald V, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, has died at the age of 89, the royal palace announced on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6:35 am,” it said in a statement. The flag at the royal palace in Oslo was lowered to half-mast on Friday as members of the public gathered outside to lay flowers and pay tribute to King Harald. European…
Former Bosnian Serb military leader and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić has died in a prison hospital in The Hague at the age of 84, according to Serbian state broadcaster RTS. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Considered the most infamous war criminal in the Balkans, Mladić was dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide during the Bosnian War. He was sentenced to life by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for turning large swathes of Bosnia into a bloodbath during the war in the 1990s. Among other war crimes, Mladić was convicted of genocide…
Just a few kilometres from the Belarusian border, thousands of NATO troops are focused on one objective: defending Alliance territory in Lithuania. For around six weeks, nearly 3,000 troops – most of them from the German military – trained at Pabradė, using drones, electronic warfare, heavy armour, artillery, infantry, helicopters and fighter jets to practise defending NATO territory against what the military describes as a “conventional aggressor”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A major part of Exercise Freedom Shield I is Germany’s 45th Armoured Brigade, also known as the Lithuania Brigade. More than three years ago, Germany decided to permanently station around 4,800…
Almost one year ago, Ursula von der Leyen made one of her boldest moves as president of the European Commission: she proposed using the immobilised assets of the Russian Central Bank to support Ukraine’s budgetary and financial needs. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT By tapping the assets, she said, the bloc could raise up to €210 billion in fresh assistance for Kyiv without encumbering public coffers. European taxpayers would be spared. And the void left by the United States, under President Donald Trump, would be filled. It was an idea, quite simply, without precedent in modern history: the aggressor’s money would pay for…
Seven key candidates from across the political spectrum vying to become France’s next president clashed in a debate hosted by the MEDEF, the country’s largest employer federation, on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Less than eight months ahead of the presidential election, the economy, pensions and public debt dominated the debate held at Roland-Garros, the home of the French open. The seven candidates included two of French President Emmanuel Macron’s former prime ministers, centrist Gabriel Attal and centre-right figure Edouard Philippe. Divisive figures such as hard-left leader Jean Luc Mélenchon, as well as far-right politician Marine Le Pen were present, alongside centre-left…
Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden want to cut the EU’s proposed long-term budget for 2027–2034, but have yet to agree on how much. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hosted the leaders of Finland, Austria and Denmark for a lunch meeting in Berlin on Thursday to discuss cuts to the EU’s next seven-year budget. The prime ministers of the Netherlands and Sweden joined by video conference. The meeting of the so-called “frugals” — vocal net contributors to the EU budget — was intended to reaffirm their shared demand to reduce the budget’s overall size. But they again…
Police arrested the head of the Polish Olympic Committee on Thursday on suspicion that he took bribes from a crypto trader in return for sponsorship deals, officials said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Radosław Piesiewicz, who is considered close to Poland’s nationalist right, is suspected of receiving kickbacks from Zondacrypto, which the government accuses of having links to nationalist opposition groups, organised crime and Russian intelligence services. “Radosław Piesiewicz has been arrested,” Poland’s Sports Minister Jakub Rudnicki confirmed in a post on X. “Such a person should never have been president of the Polish Olympic Committee…Piesiewicz has discredited Polish Olympics,” he added. Interior…
Divided Cyprus’ rival leaders agreed to hold weekly meetings following talks on Wednesday, after UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged them to step up preparations for long-stalled reunification talks. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Guterres has personally undertaken the initiative to get Cyprus talks back on track, visiting the island in July for meetings with Nikos Christodoulides, president of the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus in the Greek-speaking south, and Tufan Erhürman, the pro-unification leader of the Turkish-occupied north. Wednesday’s sit-down in Cyprus’ UN-controlled buffer zone was the first time the pair have met face to face since Guterres’ visit and was seen as…
A group of four countries have relaunched the push to unlock immobilised Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s budgetary and military needs before European Union member states become distracted by their own domestic elections. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The EU holds €210 billion of these assets, most of it in Belgium. “Ukraine needs more financial support in both the short and long term. The EU, in dialogue with its partners, should continue to provide comprehensive, predictable and structured financial support to Ukraine in line with its need,” the letter reads. The letter was led by Sweden and co-signed by the Netherlands, Spain and…