Author: Press Room

Hello, this is Mared Gwyn writing in the early morning from Luxembourg, where there’s plenty of action on EU foreign policy and enlargement lined up for the day. More on that later. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT As you were sleeping, Russia launched yet another round of ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, striking the city’s historic Assumption Cathedral within the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine’s most significant religious and cultural sites which holds some of the country’s most revered shrines and relics. It comes just as President Zelenskyy is expected to join leaders at the G7 summit for talks on Ukraine’s future.…

Published on 15/06/2026 – 10:29 GMT+2 A cross-party coalition of 47 MEPs has sent a letter to the EU’s trade and foreign policy chiefs urging them to act immediately against exports of alumina to Russia – particularly from Ireland. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Earlier this week, the European Commission proposed the 21st sanctions package targeting Russia’s key sectors since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Alumina is not among the sanctioned exports. “That decision is a serious mistake – and the facts now demand it be corrected,” reads the letter, addressed to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and…

Published on 15/06/2026 – 9:33 GMT+2 Senior EU officials welcomed a deal between the United States and Iran to end the war on Monday, saying Europe was ready to contribute to “a lasting peace.” ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “I look forward to an end to this costly war and to the full restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” António Costa, the president of the European Council representing member states, wrote in a post on X. “Weapons must now fall silent,” Costa urged, saying the “European Union is ready to contribute to advancing a comprehensive strategy for lasting peace…

Technology and geopolitics will dominate the G7 summit in Évian, where host Emmanuel Macron will seek to paper over divisions between the group and the United States. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Leaders will gather for a three-day summit in Évian-les-Bains, a resort town on the shores of Lake Geneva, aiming to forge common positions on how to end the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the development of safer technologies. Many on the sidelines of the summit had hoped the three-day gathering would help pave the way for an end to the Iran war, but those expectations were…

Russia fired a barrage of missiles at several major Ukrainian cities overnight into Monday, killing at least nine people and setting Kyiv’s historic Dormition Cathedral on fire. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The wave of attacks came as news of a US-Iran deal started to open a path to peace in the Middle East war, highlighting the lack of progress toward an end to over four years of fighting in Ukraine. Five rescue workers were killed during firefighting operations in northeast Ukraine, while at least five others were wounded after Russian strikes hit the city of Kharkiv, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on…

Thousands of demonstrators converged in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday, to protest against leaders of the G7 group of rich countries ahead of the summit’s opening in a nearby town in France. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The three-day summit starting this Monday in the resort town of Evian-les-Bains, France, will see leaders discuss issues including the Middle East, Ukraine and global economic imbalances. Most of the leaders will be arriving at Geneva Airport before making their way to Evian. Clashes broke out between protesters and police near the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Sunday, as protesters threw bottles, stones, pieces of cement…

The alpine resort of Évian-les-Bains, better known for its mineral water than its geopolitics, will become the temporary centre of global diplomacy from Monday as leaders of the world’s seven largest advanced economies gather for their annual summit. The 52nd G7 meeting runs until Wednesday on the French shore of Lake Geneva. By most assessments, it arrives at one of the most fraught moments in recent memory. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Donald Trump is expected to fly to France late Sunday, immediately after watching a mixed-martial arts bout on the White House South Lawn — a fight that falls on his 80th…

Thousands of citizens took to the streets for the 14th consecutive day in Tirana, Albania’s capital, on Saturday evening, protesting against a luxury tourism project worth around 4.6 billion dollars (nearly 4 billion euros) that’s planned in a protected coastal area on the Adriatic. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The project, which is linked to an investment vehicle of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US president Donald Trump, involves developing a hotel complex on an abandoned island and the adjacent shoreline, an area of particular ecological importance due to its nearby lagoon and migratory birds, including flamingos. The now nightly demonstrations have seen protesters…

Published on 14/06/2026 – 18:12 GMT+2 The US government’s decision to impose export controls on Anthropic’s most powerful AI models is drawing scrutiny from the European Commission, which is assessing the implications for EU users. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT On Friday, the Trump administration issued a directive banning foreign nationals from using Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models, citing national security concerns, and forcing the company to cut off access for all non-US users, including Europeans. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are considered state-of-the-art models. Access had initially been restricted to a select group of users to assess their potential…

Voters in Switzerland have cast their final ballots on Sunday on an initiative championed by the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT According to early results by the federal government, nearly 53% of voters rejected the proposal, with nationwide turnout exceeding 57%. Results were still pending from many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons. Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency had suggested the poll could be a close contest. A “yes” vote would have required the Swiss government to take action to cap the population by 2050, including limiting immigration. The…