Author: Press Room

Published on 11/09/2026 – 15:00 GMT+2 Work begins at dawn in Corticeira Amorim’s cork oak forests. Cork harvesting takes place between late May and August, and much of it is still done by hand. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “On average a tree can produce for 170 years, 200 years more or less, giving us 15 to 17 extractions.” explains Carlos Abreu, from the Communication Department at Amorim Florestal. A cork oak takes at least nine years to regenerate its bark, and around 25 before it can be harvested for the first time. These long timeframes are difficult to reconcile with the needs…

Published on 11/09/2026 – 14:31 GMT+2 The European Commission transmitted the EU-India trade deal, clinched last January, to EU member states for ratification on Friday – but only in English, despite opposition from France. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The EU executive wants to fast-track the ratification process for trade deals by skipping the translation of agreements into the bloc’s 24 official languages. “When President von der Leyen went to India in January to conclude negotiations for this landmark trade agreement, she made a commitment to try to get it over the line within this calendar year,” Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Olof Gill…

Despite public declarations that economic ties with Russia will be severed, Europe has paid an estimated €7.28 billion for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Moscow’s Arctic Yamal project in just over eight months this year, already surpassing the €7.3 billion spent in all of 2025. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The figures were revealed by an investigation by Urgewald, an NGO that exposes the financial institutions and companies backing climate-damaging projects. During the first eight months of 2026, European ports received 156 Yamal LNG cargoes carrying 11.39 million tonnes, compared with 142 cargoes and 10.34 million tonnes between January and August 2025 –…

Emma Bonino has died aged 78. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The founder of More Europe, a longtime leading figure in Italy’s Radical Party and former government minister, passed away after her health deteriorated in recent weeks. Bonino had recently been admitted to the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome after a respiratory crisis. She arrived in critical condition and was transferred to intensive care so that her condition could be monitored. After an initial improvement, on 10 September, she left the ward and was moved to a private facility. In 2015, Bonino revealed she had a tumour in her left lung. She underwent…

Published on 11/09/2026 – 11:11 GMT+2 The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is preparing to call for a rebalancing of relations with China that stops short of open confrontation or full decoupling. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In the upcoming paper, senior EPP lawmakers are set to argue for a general rebalancing of economic relations by making fuller use of the bloc’s existing economic leverage tools, stopping short of a full escalation, according to the early contents seen by Euronews. The EPP is the largest and most influential political family at EU level, commanding the largest number of MEPs in the European Parliament…

Published on 11/09/2026 – 9:34 GMT+2•Updated 10:19 Russia launched 160 drones across Ukraine in overnight attacks, as well as one drone-launched cruise missile, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Meanwhile, Ukraine reportedly struck the Russian oil refinery in Saratov. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A drone attack in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district left eight people injured after one nine-storey residential building caught fire, leading to its evacuation, according to police. The injured include a 64-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman who were being treated for burn wounds, as well as a 23-year-old woman with shrapnel wounds, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Meanwhile,…

The European Union needs to “pin down” the precise scope of Ukraine’s growing budget needs before deciding how to fill the gap, Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who oversees support for the war-weary country, told Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We obviously need to do a proper, detailed assessment, but we understand that the war continues to rage at high intensity. If anything, Russia is intensifying its attacks,” Dombrovskis said in an interview recorded in Riga, Latvia. “Correspondingly, the economic situation in Ukraine is also very difficult. So we can understand that this may lead to higher financing needs for Ukraine,” he added.…

Europe’s housing crisis has escalated to an “emergency”, as young people in many member states find it impossible to buy or even rent a home, European Commissioner for Housing Dan Jørgensen has told Euronews, adding that Brussels is taking the situation “extremely seriously”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Housing rental and purchase costs have become increasingly unaffordable across the bloc. European Commission data shows property prices across the EU have skyrocketed by roughly 60% over the past decade, while in the same period, average rents rose by over 20%. “Prices in many cities in Europe are way too high,” Jørgensen told Euronews’ flagship…

Published on 10/09/2026 – 10:26 GMT+2 Singapore’s ministers, already among the world’s highest-paid, are getting a raise for the first time in 15 years, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, explaining that the government cannot attract top talent into politics if salaries remain unchanged. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Wong told Parliament on Tuesday that under a revised salary framework, the benchmark annual pay for a minister at the lowest grade will rise to 1.8 million Singapore dollars (€1.2 million), from Sg$1.1 million (€747,564). The prime minister’s benchmark salary will jump to Sg$3.6 million (€2.4 million) from Sg$2.2 million (€1.5 million), he said. Ministers’…

Alicia García-Herrero, an economist at the Bruegel think tank, says new EU legislation to limit the subsidies foreign companies investing in Europe can receive is “fair”, despite facing criticism. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Parliament is proposing to close the EU market to Chinese investment in sectors where Beijing is dominant, going further than the European Commission’s proposal. García-Herrero warns that if the Chinese government wants to compete through subsidies, European companies “won’t have a chance” against Chinese firms. A few months ago, the European Commission unveiled a proposal allowing EU public authorities to favour European companies in public procurement for…