Author: Press Room
Published on 04/02/2026 – 20:30 GMT+1 With a dangerous spike in cyberbullying and self-harm content to addictive algorithms, concerns about children’s online lives are mounting across Europe. Should social media be banned for under-16s across the EU? Could that be the answer? This week on The Ring, Euronews’ weekly debate show broadcast from the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs Axel Voss and Christel Schaldemose dive into this very question. This week, Spain’s Prime Minister announced plans to introduce a ban on social media for under-16s. Speaking in Dubai, Pedro Sánchez compared online platforms to the “digital wild west” where laws…
Estonia’s President Alar Karis told Euronews he remains confident that the United States will honour Article 5 of NATO’s common defence despite a turbulent phase for the transatlantic relationship under President Donald Trump. Since his return to the White House last year, the US President has rattled the fundamentals of the bilateral relationship between the two blocs, imposing tariffs on the European Union and referring to its leadership as “weak” and “decaying.” Still, President Karis said Washington would come to the assistance of Europe if there was an attack on an allied country. Article 5 is the bedrock of NATO…
Published on 04/02/2026 – 18:00 GMT+1 An extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament will be held in Brussels on 24 February to mark the fourth anniversary of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia, and to approve a €90 billion loan to Kyiv from European Union member states. The decision was taken during the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents on Wednesday on the initiative of Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola, internal sources told Euronews. During the one-day session, the Parliament will hold a debate on the war and approve the loan for Ukraine, funded through joint debt, which was officially agreed on Wednesday by…
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein cast a wide net in cultivating his relationships with Europe’s political elite, according to documents newly released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Alongside a new tranche of images, texts and emails that show the breadth of the late disgraced financier’s relationships with unexpected public figures, a wave of doctored images and misleading accusations has followed. It is important to note that the DOJ deemed the files potentially relevant to the investigation of Epstein and his collaborator, Ghislaine Maxwell, but equally insufficient to bring a case against any of those mentioned. Nevertheless, documents in…
Published on 04/02/2026 – 13:55 GMT+1•Updated 14:51 European Union countries looking to impose additional restrictions on social media platforms should be careful not to tread on the European Commission’s toes, a spokesperson for the executive said on Wednesday after Spain announced it would ban social media for under-16s. “Of course we value the fact that member states want to go a step further, potentially by restricting social media access for kids,” Thomas Regnier, the Commission’s spokesperson for tech, told reporters on Wednesday. “Taking measures or putting additional obligations on platforms (…) is a clear no-go, because this is regulated by…
The days of warfare confined to the battlefield are long gone, and artificial intelligence is playing an ever-growing role in the flow of information about global conflicts. As security becomes an increasingly serious matter for Europe, more and more citizens are turning to chatbots for answers to their most pressing questions. Yet, this means that ensuring the accuracy of these AI-generated answers is essential, and it’s something that researchers are looking into. “War isn’t just about physical attacks; it is about attacking people’s minds, what they think, how they vote,” Ihor Samokhodsky, founder of the Policy Genome project,told Euronews’ fact-checking…
The European Union should appoint a special envoy to reopen diplomatic channels with Russia as part of the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the prime minister of Latvia and the president of Estonia told Euronews in separate interviews. The comments reflect a rapid shift in Europe’s strategic thinking when it comes to Russia after being shut off from direct talks in peace negotiations led by the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that work had already started “at the technical level” to appoint a special envoy, a call also backed by Italian Premier…
The fatal shootings of two Minneapolis residents, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, by agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have sparked outrage far beyond the United States amid criticism that the agents used disproportionate force. That anger intensified when Italian authorities confirmed that ICE personnel would be present in Italy during the Winter Olympics in Milan–Cortina, set to begin on Friday — prompting many to ask: can ICE even operate on foreign soil? Experts point out that ICE’s main criminal investigative branch, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), has long operated overseas and can’t conduct any operation without the…
Published on 04/02/2026 – 11:00 GMT+1 They say you never forget your first love. And looking at recent headlines, it seems the EU and the UK are considering getting back together. Or at least, becoming friends with benefits. But what benefits are we actually talking about? First, the done deal: Erasmus is back. Starting in 2027, British students can once again study at EU universities, and vice versa. It is a massive U-turn. The UK government agreed to pay around €650 million a year to rejoin. Second, the stuck deal: defence. The plan was for the UK to join SAFE,…
New data shows that EU citizens are taking more precautions with their personal data online, as Europe tries to seize back its digital sovereignty from US Big Tech. In 2025, the majority of internet users in the European Union chose not to allow their personal data to be used for advertising, while 56.2% restricted or refused access to their geographical location, according to the latest Eurostat data. Limiting access to social media profiles or shared online storage also became more common, with 46% of internet users taking such a step. The figure represents a five percentage-point increase compared with 2023.…