Author: Press Room
Published on 26/09/2026 – 10:02 GMT+2 Pope Leo XIV is set to travel to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes on Saturday as part of his official visit to France this week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Nestled in the Pyrenees near the Spanish border, the small town of Lourdes draws millions of pilgrims every year. Here is everything you need to know about the pope’s visit, the town, and the shrine. Leo XIV will be the first pontiff to set foot in Lourdes since Benedict XVI, who visited in September 2008 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Virgin’s apparitions to…
As the Cognac harvest draws to a close in southwestern France, winegrowers already know they face another difficult year. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Cognac makers are struggling. The 300-year-old amber brandy is only produced around the Charente River, but it has been caught in the trade wars between the EU and China, as well as by tensions with its top export market, the US. For months, producers have watched largely powerless as access to both markets has been squeezed. The industry has a historic connection to the EU. Jean Monnet, the French statesman regarded as one of the EU’s founding fathers, came…
A diplomatic dispute over Hungary’s participation in a Ukrainian-led regional summit, followed by the disclosure of an oil-storage agreement between Hungarian energy group MOL and Ukraine’s Naftogaz, has driven relations between Budapest and Kyiv to a new low. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Carpathian Eight (C8) summit, a new regional cooperation framework bringing together eight neighbouring countries, was held last week with the aim of strengthening investment and regional ties. Instead, it reignited long-standing tensions between Hungary and Ukraine just as the two countries were working to repair relations and pave the way for Ukraine to open more negotiating chapters in its…
For now, suspending the right to asylum in the European Union is still only under consideration. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But the prospect is already setting off alarm bells among some left-wing politicians and those on the front lines of Europe’s asylum system, who fear that suspending a fundamental right of the EU would be both unprecedented and dangerous. Earlier this month, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed in her State of the Union speech to introduce an emergency framework that could pave the way for the suspension of the right to asylum, a controversial measure that some capitals have already…
Marion Maréchal, an MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists, believes the European asylum rules “must be reviewed”, as she considers them “too broad”. She said the EU must create a “list of safe countries” from which asylum claims should not be considered. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Maréchal says the mass arrival of migrants in the Spanish city of Ceuta at the end of July “has not been completely solved” and described the influx as a “security threat” to the European Union.
A United States ban on diesel exports would not necessarily leave Europe’s fuel stations empty overnight, but it could push up prices, forcing European governments into another round of emergency intervention just as households, farmers and hauliers are feeling the effects of the wider energy crisis. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The prospect of Washington keeping those barrels at home is especially uncomfortable for Brussels, which acknowledged the bloc’s dependency on US diesel after ditching Russian energy. The Commission said the issue was being discussed with EU countries and the industry. The bloc is already facing a fuel shortage after the war with…
Published on 25/09/2026 – 14:53 GMT+2•Updated 15:19 European Union countries have agreed to release a €6.6 billion programme of military aid for Ukraine that had stalled since spring 2023, when Hungary imposed a controversial veto that paralysed the initiative. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The agreement at the political level was reached on Friday during a meeting of the Political and Security Committee in Brussels. “That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia,” High Representative Kaja Kallas wrote on social media, announcing the news. “Moscow’s hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing…
By Laure Valentin Published on 25/09/2026 – 17:40 GMT+2 French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting withPope Leo XIV gave the French leader an opportunity to revisit the fundamental principles that shape dialogue between the state and religions, while addressing the upheavals confronting contemporary societies. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In his speech, Macron placed the encounter within the framework of the traditional dialogue between France and the Holy See, while recalling the principles of the Republic. The French president placed particular emphasis on secularism, presented not as a way of distancing society from religion, but as the framework that guarantees freedom of conscience and enables…
Protesters gathered outside Granada city hall on Thursday in support of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who was evicted from her Madrid apartment on September 23. UGC footage shows large crowds rallying in the city, including at a student protest. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Demonstrations in support of Abascal were also held in other parts of Spain, reflecting wider anger over the country’s rising housing costs. Her eviction has become a focal point for protests over housing affordability and the difficulties faced by older tenants.
Pope Leo XIV warned against the dangers of artificial intelligence on Friday, stating that new technologies must “remain at the service of the human person”, rather than becoming “yet another instrument of domination and injustice.” ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Speaking at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris as part of his four-day trip to France, the pontiff declared that AI risks impoverishing human “ideas and relationships” through a “process of dehumanisation”, while also criticising the ever-growing emphasis on productivity in modern societies. Delivering his speech in both French and English, he argued that judging people according to the “criterion of efficiency” risked undermining respect…