Author: Press Room

A “Yes” vote could leave the EU’s other Nordic neighbour in an awkward position, putting pressure on Norway to reconsider its relationship with Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Beyond Reykjavík and Brussels, one European capital is watching Saturday’s vote particularly closely: Oslo. Norway is arguably the non-EU country with the most at stake, especially if the “Yes” side wins. “We must recognise that an Icelandic membership process will pose special challenges for Norway as an EEA country,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told parliament in May. Norway’s government has so far maintained that the European Economic Area (EEA) should remain the basis…

Spain’s National Police have arrested a fugitive known as the “escape master” in Tarragona. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The man was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by Italian authorities. His record includes escapes from prisons in Terni and Parma in Italy, as well as from a prison in Belgium. In his latest breakout in December, he managed to escape a high-security Italian prison after sawing through the bars of a window and climbing down the building using knotted bedsheets, according to police. In Belgium, he is also said to have climbed over a prison’s walls after forming a human…

Ireland is keeping the door open to nuclear power as a potential answer to the growing energy demand from data centres, even as the government insists its immediate energy strategy will remain firmly focused on renewables, an Irish government official told Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “There is a need to consider all options (with decarbonising potential) in the long-term,” a spokesperson for the Irish Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment said. Political talks about the future of data centres are heating up in Dublin, the Silicon Valley of Europe. According to the country’s Central Statistics Office, data centres consume roughly…

Spanish police have revised down the number of minors recorded in Ceuta following the mass arrival of migrants from Morocco last month, after discovering duplicate entries in their databases. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT According to the Interior Ministry, some procedures involving the same child had been recorded as separate cases, inflating the overall figure. On 18 August, police said they had located, identified and placed 2,168 minors in the care of the Ceuta authorities since the mass arrival of people from Morocco on 30 July and up to 09:00 that morning. Following a review of the records, the figure now stands at…

With the trade war with the US heating back up, Canada’s Prime minister Mark Carney has delivered another pledge to deepen his country’s economic and security partnership with the EU. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT His statement came after trade talks between Ottawa and Washington collapsed last week, with Canada accusing the US of interfering in its sovereignty by demanding French-language concessions. In retaliation, US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that on 1 January 2027, tariffs on cars and trucks will be increased to 50%. “WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” he wrote. “They do 95% of their business with…

Leonardo has set up a new company in Kyiv with the aim of moving into the frontier of drone warfare, whose epicentre is now Ukraine, and of reaping the hoped-for benefits for European production and defence. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Italian arms manufacturer has in recent months created Leonardo Ukraine, a company wholly owned by the group, according to the daily newspaper Milano Finanza. (source in Italian) At the Farnborough Airshow in the United Kingdom in July, the company’s chief executive, Lorenzo Mariani, explained how Ukraine has “acquired an operational experience without equal during the conflict” and that it was therefore…

Published on 26/08/2026 – 11:40 GMT+2 An employee at Frankfurt Airport has died of malaria, a spokesperson for the facility’s operator Fraport said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A further five employees at the airport also contracted the infectious disease and are receiving medical treatment. The cause of the infections is believed to be a mosquito that travelled by plane from a malaria-endemic area to Germany, likely in July. Fraport says its focus is now on information and prevention. Employees are being advised to see a doctor if they experience any malaria-like symptoms and to tell medics they work at the…

Published on 26/08/2026 – 9:18 GMT+2•Updated 9:21 A baker in Bavaria who says he had to spend €15,000 on new scales after a row with a customer over half a loaf of bread has made headlines across Germany. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The dispute took place in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, a town north of Munich, where baker Matthias Breitner has for decades sold half loaves to customers who do not want to buy a whole one. The dispute started by email As first reported by Bild and RTL, the row began when a customer emailed to complain after weighing a half…

The EU is increasing maritime defence spending as threats to its ports, undersea cables and offshore infrastructure grow. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT 90 percent of EU trade, energy supplies and internet data move by sea. This exposes the bloc to hybrid and cyber attacks, border tensions and infrastructure sabotage, including from Russia. Brussels updated its Maritime Security Strategy in March 2023 and funding followed. EU countries spent €343 billion on defence in 2024, up 19 percent year-on-year. Equipment procurement jumped 39 percent. Spending hit a record €392 billion in 2025, much of it through the €150 billion SAFE fund under the EU’s…

Published on 25/08/2026 – 19:24 GMT+2•Updated 19:27 Three people have been arrested after Slovak police said they thwarted a planned arson attack on a drone manufacturer’s production facility in eastern Slovakia. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday, police said two individuals were detained in Slovakia while a third person was arrested by German authorities after a European arrest warrant was issued. They are suspected of preparing the attack “as accomplices on someone else’s instructions.” None of those arrested were Slovak nationals, the force said, adding that it had acted on information provided by Slovak intelligence. It…