Swiss local authorities admit inspections failure at burnt-out bar
Swiss local authorities admitted Tuesday they failed to conduct periodic fire and safety inspections over the past five years at a bar where an inferno killed 40…
Politics
Latest reporting and analysis on politics.
Head of Ukraine’s Security Service ousted after corruption scandal
Vasyl Maliuk, the former head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), has been removed from his position amid a widening corruption scandal that has rocked President…
Who will benefit from Venezuelan oil?
The US intervention in Venezuela reopened a question that goes beyond geopolitics: Who stands to gain if the country’s oil sector is revived — and who does not?
Putin and EU, watch and learn: How to take Venezuela in two hours
The raid on Caracas that landed Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre has surely focused minds in the Kremlin.
Orwell prize for journalists: For writers who loathe their own English culture
Reading about the Orwellian threat of sanctions likely to be imposed on the Swiss journalist Roger Köppel, the thought occurred to me that just about the only media…
Switzerland identifies victims of Crans-Montana ski fire, with half of them children
Four days after a catastrophic fire tore through a Swiss bar during New Year's Eve celebrations, Valais cantonal police confirmed all 40 people who died have now…
Spain joins left-wing Latin American countries in condemning US ouster of Maduro
Spain aligned itself with a group of five left-wing Latin American nations in issuing a joint statement rejecting the United States' unilateral military operation…
France says it will not support EU agriculture policy reform
France will not support a proposed reform of the European Union’s agricultural policy, with its farmers facing a worsening cattle disease outbreak and renewed…
45,000 Berlin households left without electricity for days after Antifa destroys power line
Large areas of Berlin’s Southwest were left without electricity for several days in sub-zero temperatures after an attack claimed by hard-left group Antifa on…
US considers sanctions on German intelligence officials over AfD surveillance
The Trump administration is reportedly considering targeted sanctions against senior officials of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz…
How Brussels is moving to bailout Europe’s left-wing NGO industry
Brussels is panicking—and for once, the reason has nothing to do with Russian tanks or climate deadlines. The real crisis is informational.
German secret service allegedly wire-tapped US President Obama for five years
Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (the Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND) allegedly ran a wire-tap on former US President Barack Obama during five of his years…
Polish Government calls on Brussels to stop TikTok videos calling for ‘Polexit’
Poland’s government has asked the European Union to take measures against the social media platform TikTok after allegedly AI-generated clips appeared on the platform…
Trump says Iran will ‘get hit very hard’ if protesters killed
US President Donald Trump warned Iran yesterday that it would get "hit very hard" by the US if more protesters die during demonstrations that have entered a second…
‘Shut up’, they explained
The Brussels Effect is the hopeful notion that the EU would become the “regulatory superpower” by creating new governance structures for the world, which would…
Moody’s lowers city of Budapest’s rating to junk
Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the city of Budapest's credit rating to junk level late Monday, pointing to weak liquidity and an increased default risk amid a…
France to deploy 10,000 security forces in Paris to deter New Year’s Eve riots
French authorities are mobilising a massive police presence in anticipation of violence and rioting during New Year's Eve celebrations in Paris and around the country.
Austria’s Conservatives demand total ban on Islamic Sharia law
Austria’s ruling People’s Party (ÖVP) has called for a total ban of the use of Islamic law, Sharia, in Austria.
Conservative TV channel claims top spot in French news, despite criticisms
CNews, a conservative television channel owned by right-wing billionaire Vincent Bolloré, has emerged as France’s most-watched news outlet despite criticism and…
Censorship: EU online regulation is not about protection, it is about narrative control
It has been a tumultuous end of the year for transatlantic relations.
Greece and Cyprus to intensify military cooperation with Israel in Eastern Mediterranean
Greece, Israel, and Cyprus agreed to increase their joint air and naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean significantly starting in 2026, as part of a broader…
‘Grotesque’ criminal case against former AfD MEP implodes in court
A long-running criminal case against Gunnar Beck, a former Member of the European Parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has imploded before a Neuss…
Swiss journalist Roger Köppel facing EU sanctions over alleged pro-Russian narratives
Roger Köppel, the Swiss journalist and editor-in-chief of the weekly Die Weltwoche, could be added to a European Union sanctions list amid concerns that his reporting…
Germany ‘joint borrowing’ for Ukraine is like France borrowing for American revolution
The events in Brussels at the end of this year confirm what many of us have been warning about for years: The EU is sleepwalking into a self-inflicted historical…
Italian conservatives slam Meloni for inaction on cultural issues
Over Christmas, a group of conservative intellectuals have opened a controversy by saying Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her government have failed to…
France split over Bardot tribute
French politicians were divided today over how to pay tribute to the late Brigitte Bardot, who despite her screen legend courted controversy and convictions in later…
EU leaders want security guarantees after Trump-Zelensky peace meeting
EU leaders welcomed renewed momentum in US-led peace talks between Ukraine and Russia after a meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr…
AfD invited to 2026 Munich Security Conference after two-year hiatus
Members of Germany’s biggest opposition party, the right-wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), have been invited to participate in the Munich Security Conference…
Polish ambassador to France suspended after being detained in diploma fraud probe
Poland’s ambassador to France was relieved of his duties after Polish anti-corruption authorities detained him as part of an investigation into a fake-diploma…
Brussels sanctions, fertiliser wars and European farmers paying the price
The tractors returned to Brussels before Christmas. Farmers once again blocked streets, surrounded EU buildings, and made their anger impossible to ignore.