Author: Press Room
Published on 07/06/2026 – 8:08 GMT+2 Polls opened in Kosovo on Sunday morning as the Western Balkan country holds another snap election — its third parliamentary vote in just over a year. Public frustration in the Western Balkan country has mounted over persistent political gridlock. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The vote follows months of institutional paralysis. A deeply divided parliament failed to elect a new president in April, worsening a crisis triggered by inconclusive elections in February 2025. Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetëvendosje party emerged as the largest force in the February 2025 election, but fell short of securing a governing majority,…
Updated: 07/06/2026 – 10:02 GMT+2 US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day anniversary speech in Normandy to warn European leaders about migration, saying that “boats and men” arriving on southern European shores posed a challenge that governments could no longer ignore. … More
Published on 07/06/2026 – 9:11 GMT+2•Updated 9:29 US forces shot down two Iranian attack drones threatening international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Earlier today, US forces in the Middle East shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones that threatened international maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a post on X. CENTCOM said it remains prepared to “continue defending against Iranian aggression.” The interceptions came a day after US forces downed four other Iranian attack drones launched towards the Strait of Hormuz, which the military…
Published on 07/06/2026 – 8:23 GMT+2 At least two people were killed and 22 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of As-Saksakiyah on Saturday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The ministry said the injured included three children and a woman. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The attack came amid heightened regional tensions, as the conflict entered its 100th day since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Tehran on February 28. As tensions continued to spread across the Middle East, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces had shot down two Iranian attack drones threatening international maritime…
By Sertac Aktan with AP Published on 06/06/2026 – 20:24 GMT+2 On June 6, 1944, during World War II, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on what is known as ‘D-Day’, and they launched ‘Operation Overlord’ to liberate German-occupied Western Europe. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Over 4,400 Allied troops were killed on that single day, and more than half of them were Americans. The exact number of German casualties on D-Day is not known, but it is estimated between 4,000 and 9,000 killed, wounded or missing. This year commemorates the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy beach landings, with only a handful of war…
“Europe must be the first to provide for its own conventional defence”, said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on his arrival in Normandy on Saturday. He is taking part in commemorations marking the 82nd anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT During a meeting attended by, among others, France’s Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin, Hegseth called on “allies such as France to face up seriously to this reality and to show it through concrete progress”. On a trip to Singapore at the end of May, the US defence secretary had already reproached Europeans for having “for too long” ignored…
Welcome back. When I launched this newsletter, I promised you zeitgeist, so here’s the zeitgeist — I am filing this at ungodly hours, from a flat in Tivat, on the coast of Montenegro, on five hours’ sleep, praying for no typos and my keyboard on fire. But oh boy how I love this job. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT This week, we were deployed alongside my producer Paul and my cameraman Pierre to Porto Montenegro for the EU-Western Balkans summit. To kick off, we sat down with António Costa on the eve of the gathering. The European Council chief told me there is…
The arrival at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport shortly after half past ten in the morning marked the official start of a trip that will run until 12 June and take in Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It is the first apostolic visit by Leo XIV to Spain since his election as pontiff on 8 May 2025, and the first by any pope to the country in fifteen years, since Benedict XVI attended World Youth Day in 2011. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia welcomed the pontiff on the airport tarmac. From there, the journey to the Royal…
Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz met with the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Budanov, in Warsaw on Saturday, to discuss Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to name a military unit ‘Heroes of the UPA’. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT After the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote in a post on X that “Poland and Ukraine are partners when it comes to security. But when it comes to history, we must tell each other the truth”. “Today, during a meeting with General Kyrylo Budanov, head of President Zelenskyy’s office, I clearly set out Poland’s expectations regarding the decision…
Out of all the speeches that Ursula von der Leyen has ever given, there is one that resonates to this day, perhaps louder than ever before. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT More than three years ago, in March 2023, the president of the European Commission delivered a landmark, wide-ranging addressdissecting the state of EU-China relations, which she described as “the most intricate and important anywhere in the world”. Back then, it was rare for an EU leader to focus a public intervention exclusively on China, as Russia’s war on Ukraine dominated the political agenda. In fact, von der Leyen devoted the first part…