Author: Press Room
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola paid tribute to former Estonian Prime Minister and European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas following the news of his death which was announced by the EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Saturday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “It is with sadness that I must announce that my dear father, Siim Kallas, passed away last night,” Kaja Kallas posted on Instagram. Siim Kallas, Estonia’s first ever European commissioner, starting from 2004 and father to the EU’s current foreign affairs chief, died at the age of 77. Metsola’s tribute highlighted the courage needed to rebuild Estonia, introduce its own currency…
Published on 22/08/2026 – 17:28 GMT+2 It was his first public engagement after the summer break: Two days after the complete extinguishing of the forest fire in the Hürtgen Forest, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) visited the affected area today to thank the emergency services. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Merz was met with boos and whistles. Numerous onlookers gathered on the village square where Merz arrived. At times the chancellor was barely audible, as his words were drowned out. A member of the Hürtgenwald volunteer fire brigade expressed anger at the loud reactions. “Those who are shouting and whistling should turn that…
Published on 22/08/2026 – 15:26 GMT+2•Updated 15:26 French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Saturday that France would deliver new interceptor missiles to Kyiv following a major Russian attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched two waves of drone attacks on the city on Friday, killing at least 16 people and injuring 130 others, including 23 children. The attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown has prompted condemnation from leading figures across Europe, with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, calling it “terror by design.” In a post on X,…
FC Barcelona footballer Pablo Páez Gavira, better known as Gavi, is reported to have allocated 1.3 million euros to a housing project for people who are homeless or in vulnerable situations in Los Palacios y Villafranca, the town in Seville where he was born and raised. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT According to Spanish media, the initiative involves the construction of 150 apartments with capacity for around 300 people. The aim is to provide stable accommodation for local residents who are facing difficulties in accessing housing. The project represents a particularly significant investment for the midfielder because of his close ties to Los…
Published on 22/08/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2 US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner could make their first visit to Ukraine in the coming days, after weeks of reports that the two key negotiators were preparing to travel to Kyiv as part of Washington’s efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The visit may take place around Ukraine’s Independence Day on Monday, although neither Washington nor Kyiv have confirmed the trip. Trump said in late July that he would send Witkoff and Kushner to the Ukrainian capital in the coming weeks. Subsequent reports suggested the two could…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 21:51 GMT+2 “It is clear that, with Donald Trump, I thought things would be easier, given our convergence on immigration and woke culture. But things turned out differently.”, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told to the New York Times, setting out her view of the difficult relations that have developed over time between her government and the Washington administration. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In July Trump’s post about Meloni: ‘Needs a restraining order’ The tensions between the two governments peaked last July, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, when the US head of state posted on his…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 19:02 GMT+2•Updated 19:46 At least 14 people have been killed and 121 others injured in a Russian Friday afternoon strike on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Hanzha said the number of casualties from the “enemy attack on Kryvyi Rig” was growing, adding that shops inside the mall were on fire. Zelenskyy condemned the attack on social media X, which was carried out in his hometown, as “cynical and despicable”, adding that it was “an ordinary shopping center”.…
Latvia stopped 28 migrants who crossed the eastern European Union’s border from Belarus using a tunnel. The underground passage, found around 20 metres from the border, was concealed with moss. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It is the second such tunnel discovered in Latvia. On 10 August, Latvian border guards found another tunnel that had been used by 15 migrants to enter the country from Belarus. Latvia has been experiencing a rise in irregular migration in recent months — something that European leaders call a hybrid attack by Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime — as the country is preparing for parliamentary elections on 3 October.…
More and more European governments are announcing their intention to transfer, or that they have already transferred, so-called Dublin transferees to Italy. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT After Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Finland, Sweden has also confirmed to Italian news agency ANSA that it intends to “apply the rules as set out” in the new EU Pact on Asylum and Migration, which entered into force on 12 June, and that it expects “all member states to fulfil their obligations,” Italy included. Spain and France are taking the opposite line, two other countries that are key points of first entry into Europe for migrants,…
By Kirsten Ripper & Euronews Published on 21/08/2026 – 15:33 GMT+2 The boa constrictor, which can grow to more than 3 metres in length, actually lives in South America, where it is found from Colombia to Argentina. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT So a motorist in Colomiers, a suburb of Toulouse in France, got quite a shock when he discovered a 1.5-metre-long snake of this species under his car bonnet. The discovery was made when the driver was about to change the battery of the car, which had not been driven for a month, according to the Haute-Garonne fire brigade’s Facebook page. Five firefighters, two of…