Author: Press Room
An Oslo court on Monday sentenced Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son to four years in prison on two counts of rape and other offences, in a high-profile scandal that has rocked the monarchy. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Marius Borg Høiby, 29, Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship prior to her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, was accused of 40 charges, from rape to traffic violations, carrying a maximum possible sentence of 16 years in prison. One of the rapes for which he was convicted took place at the crown prince couple’s official residence in 2018. Høiby, who is not formally part of…
The EU’s drug strategy is the Council’s ambitious response to growing concerns about European drug use and trafficking. The European Union Drugs Agency’s 9 of June report revealed at least 7.600 annual overdose deaths. Synthetic drug trafficking increased by over 1.000 percent in a decade. Organised crime networks are adapting to increased law enforcement by shifting cocaine shipments to secondary regional ports. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT This all means that over 29 million European adults are actively consuming illicit substances, driving more than 1 million law enforcement seizures annually The Council’s new framework, adopted by unanimous political consensus, will force major EU…
Published on 15/06/2026 – 9:00 GMT+2 Last Friday, one of the AI race leaders, Anthropic, pressed the “kill switch” on its most advanced models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Following a surprise directive from the Trump administration citing national security, the company was forced to ban all non-US citizens from its frontier technology. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Across the continent, research labs, tech firms, and even some hospitals have spent the last year piloting these US-made systems for core operations. Now, they have learned that their digital infrastructure can be unplugged overnight. European leaders across the spectrum—from France’s far-right presidential candidate Jordan…
Published on 15/06/2026 – 9:31 GMT+2•Updated 12:01 Children under the age of 16 won’t be able to access a range of social media platforms in the UK. In an expected announcement, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will fight back if technology companies resist. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Starmer did not immediately say what apps would be covered. He said it would take effect early next year. He says he is “not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children.” With this ban, the UK joins a growing global movement to tighten online safety for children. Australia, Canada,…
By Gael Camba & with AFP Published on 15/06/2026 – 13:38 GMT+2•Updated 14:04 London’s Appeals Court on Monday upheld a UK government ban on activist group Palestine Action that has seen thousands of people, from students to an 83-year-old retired vicar, arrested and carried away from protests by police. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The ban, which came into force on July 5, 2025, was imposed under the country’s Terrorism Act. It made membership of or support for the pro-Palestinian protest group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the terrorism legislation. The banning of the group had been challenged by…
The 2026 World Cup — jointly hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States — has been met with a barrage of criticism over costly ticket prices, which have been described as the most expensive in the tournament’s near-century-long history. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT FIFA tickets started at $140 (€121) for group-stage games, according to the Associated Press, while category 1 tickets — the most expensive general admission type — for the New Jersey final on 19 July started at $8,680, before rising to $10,990 in April and then an eyewatering $32,970 in May. For the first time, a dynamic pricing system…
A personal diary seized from Leire Díez, a former member of Spain’s ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), contains at least four references to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, according to a report by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The entries, contained in a 2025 notebook, range from meetings and requests for information to comments about the media and internal government affairs. In that report, the UCO said that the initials “P.S.” that appear repeatedly in Díez’s notebooks refer to Sánchez. That identification comes via an entry in which Díez herself refers to David Sánchez,…
Published on 15/06/2026 – 16:58 GMT+2 The Czech cabinet has signed off on legislation that would end licence fee funding for the country’s public broadcasters, replacing it with direct state budget financing — a shift that journalists, media freedom groups and tens of thousands of citizens say puts editorial independence at risk. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The bill, approved on Monday, affects Czech TV and Czech Radio, which would instead receive fixed annual sums broadly in line with the licence fee revenues they collected between 2008 and 2024 — before a previous centre-right administration increased them last year. Culture Minister Oto Klempir,…
Published on 15/06/2026 – 19:27 GMT+2•Updated 19:34 The European Union has been unable to reach unanimous agreement on imposing sanctions against Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the bloc’s top diplomat confirmed on Monday, even as a growing number of member states push for punitive measures against the far-right politician. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, made the announcement following a gathering of the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “Many member states have also proposed to sanction Minister Ben Gvir, but no consensus on that was reached today,” she said. EU sanctions require the unanimous…
The Albanian government has assured the European Commission that a controversial project linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will comply with environmental law, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We have received assurance from the government of Albania that a full environmental impact assessment will be carried out and that European environmental standards will be respected,” Kos told a press conference. Albania is currently a frontrunner for EU membership, widely considered the second most advanced of the current candidate countries, behind Montenegro. To complete accession, however, Tirana must align with the EU’s legal framework, including…