Published on 16/10/2026 – 19:25 GMT+2 Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama called for calm on Friday, blaming unnamed “foreign hands” for the unrest as protesters demanded his resignation for a fourth consecutive day. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “These are foreign hands that do not wish for Albania to be at peace,” he…

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday rejected criticism from several European leaders over Spain’s migration policy and defended his government’s approach to tackling irregular immigration and managing migration flows. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “If you look at the facts, at the figures – which is kind of always what happens with…

Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, calling for a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine while recovering in hospital from lung cancer surgery. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Vatican said that Pope Leo “expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in…

Romanian President Nicușor Dan has said the Black Sea would only become safe after Russia’s war in Ukraine ends, as he called for greater NATO oversight in the region following drone strikes on commercial vessels in an interview with Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “I’m very optimistic that we’ll have the support…

EU leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday and Friday with a packed agenda, from the long-term budget and financial support for Ukraine to migration, energy and China. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The summit alternated between entrenched positions on the bloc’s budget, a warm welcome for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and clashes over…

The world’s official time standard will stop adding leap seconds from 20 May 2027. The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) decided to end the practice on Thursday 15 October 2026. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The resolution was adopted at the conference’s 28th meeting in Versailles, where delegates discussed the future…

The Vatican has released the first photographs of Pope Leo XIV since he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The images, published on Friday, show the pontiff celebrating Mass at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is recovering following the operation. The Vatican said…

France and Germany struck a deal on Friday to soften the European Union’s effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035 in exchange for tougher rules favouring European-made products. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Berlin has long opposed the 2035 rules, seeking to protect its automotive industry, while Paris has pushed for strict…

The European Union’s carbon market emerged as one of the most contested topics at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday – just days after high-level political talks between EU environment ministers revealed deep splits on the issue. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In lengthy debates that dragged late…

EPP MEP Dirk Gotink believes the European Union should stop issuing the “full range of visas” to Russian citizens while Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Gotink said the EU should “go further” in signalling to Russian elites that the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is “also their…