Author: Press Room
The European Union is rearming at an eye-watering pace not witnessed in decades. Yet as the continent invests billions into its military might, and confronts its most perilous environment since the Cold War, four EU countries cling to a defining principle: neutrality. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have each maintained policies of neutrality or military non-alignment — though they differ considerably in their legal status and interpretation. These concepts have adapted — or are adapting — to an increasingly volatile world, punctuated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a turbulent US presidency. For these countries, neutrality is a…
“We are not interested in having the extension of Russia on our borders for many reasons,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said of neighbouring Belarus. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Those concerns are part of the reason for the Bundeswehr’s first permanently stationed combat brigade abroad in its 71-year history. By the end of 2027, around 5,000 German soldiers will be permanently stationed in Lithuania, just a few kilometres from the Belarusian border, to help protect NATO’s eastern flank. The Lithuania Brigade – officially Panzerbrigade 45 – will be the Bundeswehr’s first permanent overseas deployment since it was founded in 1955. Budrys added…
Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from 6-17 November, the Vatican said on Wednesday, in a return to the continent where the pontiff spent decades as a missionary. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The pope, who was born Robert Francis Prevost in the US city of Chicago, lived for more than two decades in Peru, where he was a missionary and bishop in Chiclayo. The northern city will be among the stops the head of the Roman Catholic Church will make in the Andean nation, along with the capital Lima, Cusco and Pucallpa. The pope, who obtained Peruvian citizenship in…
Moroccan prosecutors have charged 25 people in connection with last Thursday’s mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish territory of Ceuta. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The charges include organising illegal border crossings, transporting passengers without a license, overcrowding vessels, overstaying visas, insulting and assaulting security forces, and deliberately damaging public property. The Moroccan news outlet Hespress reported the developments this week. On Monday, the Moroccan government denied that it had given in to “pressure or blackmail” during the crisis – which saw tens of thousands of migrants enter Ceuta – while expressing its “disappointment” at the reactions of several European leaders, accusing…
Published on 05/08/2026 – 17:12 GMT+2 Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the US, is under investigation in an anti-corruption case, with the High Anti-Corruption Court holding a hearing on the matter in Kyiv on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) served Stefanishyna with a new notice of suspicion on 5 August. According to the SAPO prosecutor, Stefanishyna – a former ambassador to the US and ex–deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration – is accused of failing to declare two apartments and cash used…
A 26-year-old man accused of the murder of a British woman whose body was found in a suitcase, attended a court in Athens on Wednesday to give his account. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The suspect was arrested on Sunday, with police saying he “confessed to his actions”. “Officers of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime have solved the homicide of a 38-year-old UK national, whose body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in the Kypseli area on July 18,” they said. The woman, identified in media reports as Elisabeth-Jane Ross from Scotland, had come to Greece on 26 June…
After two days of searching, a winning €1 million lottery ticket that had been mistakenly thrown away was recovered intact amid six tonnes of rubbish on Tuesday in Bitonto, near Bari in southern Italy’s Puglia region. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Roberto Nicola Toscano, the director of Sanb, a company responsible for waste collection in the region, told the story to the Italian news agency ANSA. The anonymous winner had discarded the ticket at a local tobacconist after a self-service lottery terminal displayed the message “not payable.” Under the rules of the lottery, retailers can only pay out smaller prizes directly. Larger winnings…
By Christina Thykjaer Published on 04/08/2026 – 22:11 GMT+2•Updated 05/08/2026 – 13:00 GMT+2 Spain’s Interior Ministry has denied confirming reports published by Spanish news outlets El Español and The Objective, which claimed that security services had identified several people investigated for jihadism-related offences among the migrants who arrived in Ceuta last week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “At no point have we confirmed those reports,” a ministry spokesperson told Euronews. The ministry added that “Spain’s security forces carry out continuous work to monitor and combat jihadist terrorism throughout the country, not only in Ceuta.” However, it neither confirmed nor denied the accuracy of the…
Published on 05/08/2026 – 12:47 GMT+2 Ukraine was unable to shoot down a single Russian missile during an overnight attack that left at least 17 people dead in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to a daily air force report published on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Russian army sent 115 drones and fired 28 high-speed missiles, including ballistic ones, the air force said, at a time officials have lamented a drastic shortage of anti-ballistic munitions. President Voloydmyr Zelenskyy confirmed in a post on social media that “the main target of the attack was the warehouses of civilian enterprises, there were…
Greek officials and residents of a region west of the capital Athens began to assess the damage suffered by homes, businesses and farmland on Wednesday scorched by a wildfire. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is due to chair a cabinet meeting later on Wednesday to determine compensation for those affected by the fire, his office said. Meanwhile, teams from the Environment and Civil Protection ministries arrived to assess communities about 50 kilometres northwest of Athens, where residents have been returning after preventive evacuations, public broadcaster Ertnews reported. The blaze blackened more than 14,000 hectares in just five days…