Author: Press Room

Hello and welcome to Thursday. I’m Mared Gwyn. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In the last few hours, the presidents of the US and Iran have signed copies of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding, with mediator Pakistan saying the peace deal is now in effect. Oil prices are down this morning on the prospect of the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, with Brent crude futures falling below €70 per barrel, the lowest level since the war began at the end of February. But there are lingering doubts. Speaking live to Europe Today earlier, former US commander general Ben Hodges said that the…

A new psychoactive substance appears on Europe’s drug market about once a week. EU officials say synthetic opioids pose a risk so acute that a single gram can contain several thousand lethal doses. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The warning comes from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), which published its 2026 European Drug Report on 9 June. The report found 50 new drugs detected for the first time across Europe in 2025 alone, many synthetic opioids and cathinones. The agency now monitors more than 1,000 new psychoactive substances through its Early Warning System, including over 100 synthetic opioids, a category that barely…

Published on 17/06/2026 – 8:34 GMT+2 G7 leaders have adopted a joint statement committing to increased deliveries of weapons, including air defence systems and long-range capabilities, while signalling the “right moment” has come to tighten the screws on Russia’s energy sector. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The leaders of the G7 countries have been gathering in Évian-les-Bains, France, for the past two days. On Tuesday night, they endorsed a statement expressing “unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.” The statement praises Ukraine for the new momentum it has built on the battlefield, and commits to sustaining that momentum…

Portugal is urging the European Commission to reconsider its recent decision to reduce free polluting allowances for the industry under the bloc’s carbon market, fearing the move would weaken companies’ ability to invest in decarbonisation, according to a document seen by Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Portugal’s energy minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, argues that the Commission review of the industry’s free allocations for the 2026–2030 period under the Emissions Trading System comes at a particularly difficult moment for Europe’s energy-intensive industries, which have been struggling with high energy prices and production costs. Under the ETS, industries need to pay for the…

Published on 17/06/2026 – 16:25 GMT+2 Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone a successful lung transplant at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, the Royal palace has announced. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Mette-Marit, 52, was diagnosed in 2018 with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis, a condition which causes lung scarring and difficulty breathing. “I have had occasional health challenges for a number of years, and now we know more about their underlying causes,” Mette-Marit said at the time, adding that the condition could affect her work schedule at times. Arnt Fiane, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo and a cardiothoracic…

The United Kingdom’s Minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said that his government is on course to sign a triple deal designed to bolster post-Brexit cooperation with the European bloc when both sides convene for a summit on 22 July. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The deal would seek to slash barriers to agri-food trade by aligning sanitary and phytosanitary rules, bring the UK back into the EU’s internal electricity market and grant special visas to young Europeans and Brits under a youth experience scheme. “Of course, we will get moments of difficulty, as you always do in the final parts of the…

Germany and Poland signed a new defence agreement on Wednesday, putting aside their complicated past to strengthen European military cooperation amid heightened tensions 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 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the coming to power of a liberal government in Poland in 2023. “We are not forgetting the past,” Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in Warsaw during a press conference with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius. “But the politics of the future,…

Published on 17/06/2026 – 20:30 GMT+2 The European Union likes to see itself as an economic superpower — a market of 450 million consumers, home to some of the world’s biggest companies and the largest trading bloc on the planet. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But in an increasingly competitive global economy, Europe is facing uncomfortable questions about whether it is keeping pace with rivals such as the United States and China. Growth in the EU remains sluggish, entire industries are under pressure, and businesses complain about high energy costs, excessive regulation and a lack of investment. At the same time, Washington is…

Published on 17/06/2026 – 21:44 GMT+2 The UN food aid agency, which has been hit hard by steep European and US funding cuts, on Wednesday welcomed an $800 million (€695 million) contribution from the United States. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The World Food Programme in a statement said the funds would support “life-saving food and nutrition operations to reach more than 38 million of the most vulnerable across at least 37 countries.” The Rome-based WFP said earlier this month it was facing a deep shortfall in its funding at a time of acute need. The agency received $10 billion (€8.6 billion) in…

Published on 17/06/2026 – 22:57 GMT+2 One of Europe’s biggest technology and startup events, VivaTech, is underway in the French capital, with AI at the top of the agenda. Around 200,000 visitors, including one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, alongside ViveTech regular, French President Emmanuel Macron. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Out on the show floor, Euronews has been asking visitors the same two questions: which technology worries them most, and which one excites them most. The answer to both, more often than not, is artificial intelligence. “Oh, definitely AI,” said one student from Morocco. Spanish tech worker…