Author: Press Room
Pope Leo XIV denounced the “scourge” of sexual violence by Catholic clergy on Monday and called for a “culture of care” in the Church ahead of an expected private meeting with victims in Spain. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care,” the pope told a gathering of Spanish bishops. “Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing,” he said. Spanish media said the pope would speak later…
Published on 08/06/2026 – 8:00 GMT+2 The two-year transition phase of the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum ends on June 12. National governments will soon implement new European rules on migration and asylum. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The pact establishes a unified and stricter framework for migration, asylum, border management, and integration. It aims to create a fairer, more consistent, and secure approach to managing migration across the bloc. The measures strengthen external borders, set common asylum procedures, guarantee burden-sharing among member states, and establish international partnerships to fight illegal migration. In January, the Commission presented the European Asylum and Migration…
More and more of us are using AI chatbots in our daily lives, whether it’s to ask for advice, help us with work, or conduct research. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But what happens when these chatbots start pushing disinformation and conspiracy theories? That’s what information reliability rating platform NewsGuard discovered in a recent study. It’s well-known that you should be careful when using AI chatbots because they often make factual errors, but NewsGuard found that one called “Uncensored AI” is being deliberately used by popular conservative social media accounts to spread outlandish claims and appear credible. Uncensored AI markets itself as different…
Published on 06/08/2026 – 8:40 GMT+2•Updated 08/06/2026 – 10:11 GMT+2 Your reporter is excited to watch the games, even though my own team failed to qualify and saved me from the inevitable heartbreak. I have got some fascinating numbers for you to check out, just in case your team did not qualify either. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT FIFA proudly projects a 30 billion dollar cash injection for the host nations. Yet analysts warn the impact will be practically invisible. For an economic giant like the US, it is a drop in the ocean, with most hotels reporting bookings way below forecasts. The…
In 2025, the EU saw 669,400 first-time asylum requests and 178,000 irregular border crossings. The scale is putting pressure on the five member states along the Central Mediterranean route: Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Greece received 83% of all first-time asylum applications. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Frontline countries lack the physical capacity to shelter applicants, and processing can take years, leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in legal limbo. Local budgets are also unable to provide adequate long-term healthcare, education and social assistance. The EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact aims to ease this pressure by bringing non-border countries forward: states must…
Good morning, Brussels. Angela Skujins here on newsletter duties. Roughly 24-hours ago we saw two lightning rod elections – one in Kosovo and one in Armenia — with candidates bristling against Russian influence and communities weighing whether to get closer to the European Union. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT This newsletter is all about the bloc’s battle of wills amid campaigns of foreign interference. Barbs at the ballot box. Near complete results from Kosovo’s snap election show the country’s incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party on track to secure the most votes (43%). The social democratic, pro-EU party, Vetëvendosje, has not drummed up…
Armenians decided to turn the page on their tumultuous political past giving incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a strong mandate for a balanced, pro-West future as early results on Monday show his Civil Contract party in the lead. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The vote on Sunday also signals diminishing influence in a region once dominated by Russia, despite reported threats from Moscow and claims of interference. Armenia and Russia are technically allies, but Moscow has compared the former Soviet republic’s ambitions to join the European Union to one of the reasons it triggered its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With more than…
Published on 08/06/2026 – 6:05 GMT+2 The leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in calling for direct ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued following defence talks in London on Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 10 Downing Street for talks as Russia’s war has stretched into its fifth year. The leaders “supported the proposal for a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia, with active US and European participation, to bring about a…
Published on 07/06/2026 – 18:14 GMT+2•Updated 18:38 Russian national teams and clubs from the Russian Federation will not take part in UEFA-run international tournaments in the 2026/27 season. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has extended the suspension of Russian teams from its competitions. “The UEFA Executive Committee has amended the list of entrants for the 2026/27 season in order to bring it into line with the current suspension of Russian national teams and clubs from UEFA competitions. The list of participants has also been adjusted to reflect competition results, namely the redistribution of titleholder places and…
Published on 07/06/2026 – 15:44 GMT+2 An equid skeleton has been uncovered during archaeological excavations in a bakery area of Pompeii’s House of the Chaste Lovers complex. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Insula of the Chaste Lovers is one of the most important excavation sites in Pompeii because it preserves an entire production complex, including a bakery oven, storage rooms, workspaces and the owner’s residence. The complex is named after the famous “Chaste Kiss” fresco discovered in a triclinium of the house and comprises a large bakery with adjoining stables, where other equids used to operate millstones and transport grain for bread…