Author: Press Room

Published on 17/06/2026 – 6:22 GMT+2 Germany and Poland were set to sign a new defence agreement Wednesday, putting aside their complicated past to strengthen European military cooperation at a time of heightened tension with Russia and growing uncertainty over US engagement in Europe. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Relations between the two neighbours in recent years have become more pragmatic in the wake of Russia’s full‑scale war on Ukraine in 2022 and the coming to power of a liberal government in Poland in 2023. As the US weighs a partial drawdown of its military presence in Europe, Poland is keen to ensure…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 16:03 GMT+2•Updated 16:04 The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to lift the immunity of the Italian MEP Fulvio Martusciello, who is part of an investigation by Belgian prosecutors on alleged corruption and illicit lobbying by Chinese tech company Huawei. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In the secret-ballot vote on Tuesday, 344 MEPs voted in favour of lifting his immunity, while 234 were against and 25 abstained. Martusciello, a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), is believed to have been the promoter of a letter signed by eight MEPs in 2021, urging the EU Commission not ban the use…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 21:29 GMT+2 At least 58 states and territories are contaminated by anti-personnel mines, the UN rights chief said on Tuesday, with heavy civilian casualties in Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “It is deeply troubling that almost 30 years since the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty was adopted, these explosive weapons continue to kill and injure people, often decades after they were placed,” Volker Türk said in a statement. “It is essential that all states recommit to putting an end to the production, use and transfer of these weapons and redouble their efforts to cooperate in…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 21:10 GMT+2•Updated 21:11 Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Moscow had hoped for divisions and a “spat” between G7 leaders and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but the summit in Evian instead demonstrated their unity. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Yatsenyuk joined Euronews’s Special report on the G7 summit on Tuesday evening, saying “the optics of the G7 are much better than expected”. He added that the real test of this unity was whether Ukraine, Europe and the US can bring Russia’s president Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table — whether he wants it or not. “Have you heard what designated…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 17:37 GMT+2•Updated 19:46 Russia said on Tuesday that one of its warships had fired warning shots at a British-flagged yacht in the English Channel after it made a “dangerous approach.” ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “In order to attract the attention of the yacht’s crew, signal flares were fired and audible signals were sounded. Despite these measures, the vessel continued its dangerous approach,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. Following this, “the frigate’s commander decided to fire warning shots in the vessel’s direction using the ship’s small arms,” it added. The statement from Moscow comes after the…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 19:13 GMT+2 The Church of Sweden said on Tuesday it had launched an investigation into Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s wife, who is a Lutheran priest, after media reports raised ethical concerns about her role in a spiritual foundation she runs. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The church said complaints had been filed with Birgitta Ed’s local diocese about her, and the chapter had decided to launch an investigation into her suitability to carry out her work as a priest, without specifying the nature of the reports. Ed has recently come under scrutiny after newspaper Aftonbladet published a series of…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 16:36 GMT+2 A Swedish court sentenced a 61-year-old man to four years and five months in prison on Tuesday for having “ruthlessly exploited” his wife to have sex with scores of men for payment. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The man was convicted of “aggravated pimping” as well as attempted rape, assault and issuing threats, as well as a minor drug offence, the court said in a statement, noting the actions took place over three years. “The district court has found that the man was the one who initiated the woman’s entry into prostitution and was also the person…

Published on 16/06/2026 – 17:12 GMT+2 Belarus leader Aliaksandr Lukashenka said his country poses no military threat to Ukraine and claimed his earlier statements were only in response to what Lukashenka said were threats from Kyiv to Minsk. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “If (Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Oleksandrovych (Zelenskyy) was offended, I apologise to him for these words,” Lukashenka said. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that, given that he is after all at war. Perhaps I shouldn’t have spoken so bluntly about it. But, on the other hand, he must understand that, as we often say: ‘you reap what you sow,'” Lukashenka said.…

A Russian artist well-known for satirising President Vladimir Putin has been shot dead in eastern Poland, officials said on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “An investigation is being conducted…into the murder of a 44-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation…known in the media as Semyon Skrepetsky,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Lublin, Marcin Kozak, told journalists. Two Belarusian nationals have been arrested in connection with the killing, he added. They were detained in the vicinity of the Belarusian consulate in Biała Podlaska in eastern Poland, where the killing took place. According to Polish officials, Skrepetsky, whose real name is Robert Kuzovkov,…

Lithuania’s governing coalition named a new prime minister on Tuesday, after a coalition reshuffle that expelled a populist junior partner. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The appointment of Mindaugas Sinkevičius, the head of the Social Democratic party who briefly served as economy minister, was confirmed by Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda. Sinkevičius will replace current prime minister Inga Ruginienė, also a Social Democrat. “I confirm my commitment to take responsibility for forming the new Government and to serve as Prime Minister, ” Sinkevičius said in a Facebook post, adding that he was acting “with full awareness of the expectations of the people.” The Social…