Author: Press Room

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…

Published on 25/08/2026 – 17:01 GMT+2•Updated 17:04 CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly arrived in Moscow on an unannounced trip on Tuesday, according to US media outlets. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT CBS News reported that Ratcliffe was in the Russian capital, citing sources familiar with the situation. Neither Washington nor Moscow have confirmed Ratcliffe’s presence, and it was not immediately clear who the US spy chief was expected to meet or what would be discussed. News of the visit came after a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport earlier in the day. Flight-tracking data showed…

Published on 25/08/2026 – 15:11 GMT+2 A group of EU officials will travel to China in the coming days to advance trade talks, as Brussels seeks to narrow a record €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with Beijing, Euronews has learned. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Commission hopes the technical discussions will deliver “tangible” results by October, when EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is expected to travel to China. However, talks launched by the Commission and Beijing in June have become strained in recent weeks after China barred companies from providing information to Brussels in investigations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, the EU’s…

The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the liberal Renew Europe group urged the European Commission on Tuesday to consider freezing €770 million in EU funds earmarked for Romania. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen seen by Euronews, the leaders of the two groups, Manfred Weber and Valérie Hayer, called for money from the EU’s post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to be withheld, arguing that it could “inadvertently contribute to undermining Romanian democracy.” At the heart of their concerns is a disputed law that they say could target liberal leader and Timișoara Mayor…

Published on 25/08/2026 – 9:45 GMT+2 French schools will add questions on sexual and gender-based violence to an annual questionnaire completed by millions of pupils, Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Geffray said he expected the survey to produce “seismic results” because of the scale of the problem. Around 10 million pupils, from the final year of pre-school through to the end of secondary education, will be asked about sexual or gender-based violence they may have experienced, Geffray told several French regional newspapers. “One child in 10 is a victim of sexual violence in France,” he said.…

Will the European Union’s 27 leaders overcome their red lines and unanimously agree a new common budget by the end of the year? ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT António Costa is keen to find out. The European Council president, who is set to steer the tempestuous negotiations on the 2028-2034 EU budget, has embarked on a four-week tour of the bloc to meet leaders in their home capitals and assess their willingness to compromise. Sweden will be excluded because of its upcoming general election. Costa’s first meetings will be with Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Estonia’s Kristen Michal on Tuesday, followed by Latvia’s Andris…

Published on 25/08/2026 – 9:22 GMT+2 The Vatican’s most senior diplomat began a visit to Russia on Monday, aimed at maintaining dialogue with Moscow against a background of particularly tense international relations. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, is the most senior Vatican official to visit the country since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Gallagher will hold talks on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The programme for his visit, which is due to last until Thursday, includes meetings with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and with the small, local…

The detention of a German rescue ship in Italy has reignited a long-running dispute over the role of private vessels rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean. Italian authorities detained the Sea-Watch 5 for 45 days last weekend and fined the German organisation operating it €7,500. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT On 13 August, the vessel rescued six people in the Mediterranean and, according to Sea-Watch, encountered an unidentified armed boat and documented the deaths of eight people. The Italian Interior Ministry said the vessel was detained for failing to inform the Libyan coastguard about the rescue operation. Sea-Watch said it planned to appeal against…

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham will visit Ukraine on Monday on his first international visit since taking office last month. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Labour Party leader’s visit comes as he announced that the United Kingdom will help support Kyiv with its domestic production of long-range missiles. The UK has “agreed that defence firm MBDA can release classified information on Brtish-made components for the long-range missile, SCALP, to establish local assembly lines in Ukraine,” a statement said. The decision to release the classified information on the missile, which uses both British and French technology, would allow France and Ukraine to move…