Author: Press Room

Germany’s ruling coalition presented a comprehensive reform package on Thursday with the goal of getting the country’s sluggish economy back on track. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The coalition of CDU, CSU and SPD have agreed on 34 measures that include cuts to income tax for low- and middle income families, an overhaul of the creaking pension system and tougher rules for employees’ sick leave. “We are working to increase the flexibility of our businesses,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference in Berlin after seven hours of talks. “We are working to cut red tape. We are working to protect our welfare…

Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in southern France and water-bombing helicopters deployed to battle wildfires after a record-breaking heatwave last month, officials said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Tourists and local residents had to be moved after a wildfire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon. Firefighters said nearly 3,000 people were evacuated with half of them from three campsites in the affected area. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, said Pierre Regnault de La Mothe, the top regional official for the southern department of Pyrenees-Orientales. Two hundred firefighters and four water-bombing aircraft were deployed to put…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 22:38 GMT+2 A suspect has been identified in the investigation into a parcel bombing that seriously wounded a sanctioned Ukraine-born multi-millionaire and two others in Monaco, the principality’s prosecutor’s office said Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, who will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice from this evening,” the prosecutor’s office added. The announcement comes after authorities on Wednesday that a person was arrested but later released as they “very actively” pursued their probe into the blast. A statement from the Mediterranean principality’s prosecutor general said the person…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 21:10 GMT+2•Updated 21:13 The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Thursday that eight people had been arrested as part of a probe into an international network of men drugging and sexually abusing women they know. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The NCA, which looks into international crime, said it had uncovered a global network of predominantly men suspected of offences, known as organised drug-facilitated sexual assault, after a 2025 tip-off by German journalists about a platform used to facilitate them. The crime agency found “a truly international network with group members identified in dozens of countries spanning every…

Almost 1.2 million undocumented migrants have sought legal status in Spain under a scheme that has defied a growing European crackdown on irregular immigration, according to final figures released on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a standard bearer of more open immigration policies, launched the vast plan in April while European neighbours toughen measures in response to pressure from ascendant far-right parties. A total of 1,174,978 applications were submitted between mid-April and 30 June when the window closed, with more than 600,000 already being processed, Secretary of State for Migration Pilar Cancela told a…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 17:07 GMT+2 A handshake, €150,000 in cash and a coded text: Maltese prosecutors on Thursday set out their case against a tycoon accused of ordering the murder of a prominent investigative journalist. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Yorgen Fenech is accused of masterminding the 2017 killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia in a case that shook the island nation and brought down a previous government. After the defendant attempted to escape on his yacht in 2019 and many procedural delays, Fenech’s trial finally began on Wednesday. He denies the charges. According to the indictment, cited by the Times of Malta,…

Ireland is under mounting pressure to end its alumina sales to Russia, as the risk of propping up Moscow’s war machine becomes an explosive liability. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The government in Dublin is weighing whether to allow EU sanctions on the raw material, which is sold as a white powder and is essential to the manufacture of aluminium, which is commonly found in weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, no decision will be taken until an internal probe to determine the final destination of alumina exports is completed. The probe is in its final stages. “We will discuss (the findings)…

EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi is facing renewed scrutiny after a leaked European Commission document indicated that Hungary’s Permanent Representation operated a spy ring during his tenure as Hungary’s permanent representative. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Last October, several media outlets reported that Hungary’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels had allegedly run a network of intelligence officers posing as diplomats, who targeted Hungarian nationals working at the Commission between 2012 and 2018. Várhelyi was drawn into the investigation because he served as Hungary’s ambassador to the EU between 2015 and 2019, which overlapped with part of the period under scrutiny. He was…

Violent clashes erupted between police and demonstrators outside Albania’s parliament on Thursday, as protests against a controversial resort development linked to US President Donald Trump’s family continue. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Since late May, protests have been held against the construction of a luxury hotel linked to Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in a nature reserve in Zvernec, on Albania’s southwestern coast. For the second time this week, large groups of protesters had gathered outside the country’s parliament in an attempt to confront lawmakers and block entry to the building. Hundreds of demonstrators were met with lines of riot…

Published on 02/07/2026 – 15:24 GMT+2 European car suppliers and manufacturers are divided over Brussels’ “Made in Europe” strategy, an effort to shield the EU market from Chinese competition. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The EU car industry is facing fierce competition from China, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs across the bloc. To address the issue, the EU is preparing the so-called Industrial Accelerator Act, which is designed to favour electric vehicles constructed mostly with European components in public procurement and public support schemes. However, EU car suppliers and manufacturers disagree over the proposed law, currently under discussion by EU countries and…