Author: Press Room

Published on 02/07/2026 – 11:27 GMT+2 The European Union Court of Justice on Thursday upheld Google’s record €4.1 billion fine over alleged anticompetitive practices related to the company’s Android operating system. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Commission hit the US tech giant with the penalty in 2018, alleging that the firm had abused its dominant market position, particularly by using pre-installation agreements with phone makers to give an unfair advantage to its search engine and Chrome browser. An initial fine of €4.3 billion was imposed, but the EU’s General Court reduced this to €4.1 billion in 2022. Google CEO Sundar Pichai…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 11:53 GMT+2 EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced that new sanctions targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex will be presented on Thursday, after Russian forces launched massive overnight strikes on Kyiv, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Today, I will propose to sanction more entities supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex in response to the strikes,” Kallas wrote on X. “The more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions must be imposed. We keep raising the cost until Russia understands it cannot win.” The attack came after Ukraine’s air force warned that ballistic missiles were headed…

A remote control listed for €20,000 and a toy priced far above its value. Ages outlined in product descriptions. For social media users in France and Germany, claims that children are being sold on Vinted have gone viral. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Lithuanian-founded online second-hand marketplace has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in France, where it has surpassed Amazon as the country’s leading clothing retailer. The allegations, driven largely by TikTok videos, Reddit threads and unverified screenshots of unusual listings, claim that traffickers are disguising children as ordinary products sold on the app, using inflated prices and coded descriptions. One…

Germany’s ruling coalition presented a comprehensive reform package on Thursday with the goal of getting the country’s sluggish economy back on track. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The coalition of CDU, CSU and SPD have agreed on 34 measures that include cuts to income tax for low- and middle income families, an overhaul of the creaking pension system and tougher rules for employees’ sick leave. “We are working to increase the flexibility of our businesses,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference in Berlin after seven hours of talks. “We are working to cut red tape. We are working to protect our welfare…

Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in southern France and water-bombing helicopters deployed to battle wildfires after a record-breaking heatwave last month, officials said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Tourists and local residents had to be moved after a wildfire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon. Firefighters said nearly 3,000 people were evacuated with half of them from three campsites in the affected area. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, said Pierre Regnault de La Mothe, the top regional official for the southern department of Pyrenees-Orientales. Two hundred firefighters and four water-bombing aircraft were deployed to put…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 22:38 GMT+2 A suspect has been identified in the investigation into a parcel bombing that seriously wounded a sanctioned Ukraine-born multi-millionaire and two others in Monaco, the principality’s prosecutor’s office said Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, who will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice from this evening,” the prosecutor’s office added. The announcement comes after authorities on Wednesday that a person was arrested but later released as they “very actively” pursued their probe into the blast. A statement from the Mediterranean principality’s prosecutor general said the person…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 21:10 GMT+2•Updated 21:13 The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Thursday that eight people had been arrested as part of a probe into an international network of men drugging and sexually abusing women they know. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The NCA, which looks into international crime, said it had uncovered a global network of predominantly men suspected of offences, known as organised drug-facilitated sexual assault, after a 2025 tip-off by German journalists about a platform used to facilitate them. The crime agency found “a truly international network with group members identified in dozens of countries spanning every…

Almost 1.2 million undocumented migrants have sought legal status in Spain under a scheme that has defied a growing European crackdown on irregular immigration, according to final figures released on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a standard bearer of more open immigration policies, launched the vast plan in April while European neighbours toughen measures in response to pressure from ascendant far-right parties. A total of 1,174,978 applications were submitted between mid-April and 30 June when the window closed, with more than 600,000 already being processed, Secretary of State for Migration Pilar Cancela told a…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 17:07 GMT+2 A handshake, €150,000 in cash and a coded text: Maltese prosecutors on Thursday set out their case against a tycoon accused of ordering the murder of a prominent investigative journalist. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Yorgen Fenech is accused of masterminding the 2017 killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia in a case that shook the island nation and brought down a previous government. After the defendant attempted to escape on his yacht in 2019 and many procedural delays, Fenech’s trial finally began on Wednesday. He denies the charges. According to the indictment, cited by the Times of Malta,…

Ireland is under mounting pressure to end its alumina sales to Russia, as the risk of propping up Moscow’s war machine becomes an explosive liability. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The government in Dublin is weighing whether to allow EU sanctions on the raw material, which is sold as a white powder and is essential to the manufacture of aluminium, which is commonly found in weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, no decision will be taken until an internal probe to determine the final destination of alumina exports is completed. The probe is in its final stages. “We will discuss (the findings)…