Author: Press Room

Published on 20/04/2026 – 18:45 GMT+2•Updated 18:46 The European Commission is currently evaluating whether to suspend €1.5 billion in EU funding for Serbia due to rule-of-law concerns and contentious judicial reforms introduced by Belgrade in January, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told EU lawmakers on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Kos said she was particularly concerned about legal amendments that introduce major changes, creating a flawed form of autonomy for Serbia’s anti-corruption prosecution and weakening the independence of the judiciary. “We are increasingly worried about what is happening in Serbia. From laws that undermine the independence of the judiciary to crackdowns on protesters…

EU countries are set to push back on Spain’s request to end the EU-Israel association agreement during the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Tuesday in Brussels, diplomats told Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called on Sunday to break the agreement, accusing Israel of violating international law and therefore the terms of the deal. But his call is far from reaching the unified position needed to proceed. Ireland and Slovenia have previously joined Spain in requesting to discuss the agreement, considering that Israel “is in breach of its human rights obligations” for continuous violations of the ceasefire agreement, escalating…

During last month’s multinational exercise Grand Quadriga 2026, German troops in Seedorf weren’t just training with drones, they were also building them. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Instead of traditional live-fire drills, troops used reconnaissance drones, real-time data links and FPV systems to identify targets and engage them within seconds. FPV (first-person view) drones are unmanned aircraft piloted remotely fitted with an onboard camera, offering operators a live, direct view. As part of the so-called “Spark Cells” programme, soldiers worked alongside the Bundeswehr’s Cyber Innovation Hub (CIHBw) to build, test and refine some of these small unmanned systems themselves. The aim is to…

Published on 20/04/2026 – 17:00 GMT+2 Social media users are sharing a collection of AI-generated images, falsely claiming that they are stills from security camera footage of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In the pictures, we can see a figure resembling Zelenskyy shaking hands and talking with Epstein, with the accompanying social media posts alleging that the two were close and met each other in intimate, non-public settings on the disgraced financier’s private island. However, there’s plenty of evidence to prove that the images are fake. Firstly, The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, ran…

Published on 20/04/2026 – 14:35 GMT+2 United Nations experts expressed concern on Monday over allegations of prolonged incommunicado detention and dire custody conditions in Belarus that may amount to torture. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The group of 17 independent experts said they had received information pointing to “deeply alarming detention practices that may amount to grave violations of international law” at the Novopolotsk correctional colony in northern Belarus. “We are gravely concerned that detainees in Novopolotsk Colony may be subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, disciplinary sanctions and physical punishments after suicide attempts,” they said in a statement. Mandated by the UN Human…

Bulgaria’s former President Rumen Radev, an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia, hailed a “victory of hope” on Monday after his Progressive Bulgaria (PB) coalition topped the polls in Sunday’s election, the eighth such parliamentary vote in five years. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Many voters see Radev, a former fighter pilot, as the only person capable of giving the corruption-plagued Balkan nation a fresh start. The 62-year-old has presented himself as a defender of the lowest earners in the EU’s poorest country as he walks a tightrope on European issues. He has hailed the benefits Bulgaria has reaped…

Russia opened an exhibition titled “10 Centuries of Polish Russophobia” at the Katyn memorial complex on 10 April, drawing condemnation from Polish officials and victims’ families who called the timing and location “disgusting malice”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The exhibition opened on the 16th anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 96 people including Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria on 10 April 2010, and three days before Poland’s Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Katyn Massacre on 13 April. The Russian Military-Historical Society, headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky,…

Cyprus is upgrading two key military installations with US funding to reinforce its role as a humanitarian safe haven for evacuees from conflicts in the Middle East, officials said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Andreas Papandreou Air Base in Paphos will be expanded to include a new parking apron capable of accommodating dozens of heavy-lift military transport aircraft, allowing faster refuelling and maintenance during large-scale humanitarian operations. The Evangelos Florakis naval base at Mari, 229 kilometres from Lebanon’s coast, will receive a new US European Command-funded heliport capable of accommodating large Chinook transport helicopters to airlift evacuees from conflict zones. The US…

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok expose minors to cognitive risks such as anxiety, sleep disruption, and reduced attention spans. They also bring risks of cyberbullying, exposure to harmful or inappropriate content, online grooming, and data privacy violations. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Greece just decided to ban access to social media for children under the age of 15, with the measure expected to take effect from 1 January 2027 following parliamentary approval. The government says the decision addresses rising concerns about children’s mental health, screen addiction, and online safety, and would require platforms to block underage users and potentially involve mandatory parental control…

Updated: 20/04/2026 – 9:09 GMT+2 The winner of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections, Rumen Radev, won’t be “openly anti-EU”, analyst Martin Vladimirov tells Europe Today. But he caveats that this is “a major win for the Kremlin and a culmination of a long strategy of Russia to solidify its influence in the country”. … More