World

Europeans are seething over US President Donald Trump's suggestion that billions in Russian assets frozen in European countries may be used to the benefit of the US government and firms. After a Trump proposal on how to end Russia's war in Ukraine that called on Ukraine to give up territory and reduce the size of its armed forces, Europeans rushed to damage control and have now floated a counter offer. "Every day with input it changes," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after meeting the Europeans on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Geneva.  But it is unclear if they will succeed in retaining control over how Russian frozen assets are spent.  Agathe Demarais, a senior policy fellow for geoeconomics at the ECFR, said billions in Russian assets appear to be Trump's key motivation in ...

The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled new proposals to ease regulations on AI and data privacy. The EU has for years sought to rein in tech companies on various issues, but is also attempting to balance this with the need to compete with tech firms in the United States and East Asia. Europe 'failing to keep up' in tech race — Commissioner "Europe has not so far reaped the full benefits of the digital revolution," EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. "And we cannot afford to pay the price for failing to keep up with demands of the changing world," he stressed. "By simplifying rules, reducing administrative burdens, and introducing more flexible and proportionate rules, we will continue delivering on our commitment to give EU businesses more space to innovate and gro...

Chemical poisoning — not foodborne disease — is now being investigated as the probable cause of the deaths of a German-Turkish family in Istanbul last week. It has again brought the role of phosphine-producing pesticides into focus, and follows several similar incidents in Turkey and around the world. Local newspaper Cumhuriyet has now reported the initial findings from forensic analyses performed on samples taken from the bodies of the mother and her two children who died between 13 and 14 November. The father and husband of the deceased passed away on 17 November. Excerpts from the initial report said "primarily, it is believed that they died as a result of chemical poisoning caused by the circumstances in the hotel where they were staying."  A pathological examination of the victims...

In its attempts to help rebuild Gaza and sustain the Palestinian Authority (PA) to allow the Palestinians to take charge of affairs in Gaza in time, the European Union (EU) is hosting a Palestinian donor conference on Thursday, November 20, with as many as 60 delegations, including some from Arab countries. Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa is also expected in Brussels, as donors seek an update on reforms that have been implemented, and those to still be implemented before they pledge further financial resources.  The EU is already the largest provider of aid to Palestinians and the PA, and says that disbursing a large part of the €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in aid announced for 2025 to 2027 will be linked to structural reforms.   "In order to receive money," sa...

Sixty years ago, Polish bishops approached their German counterparts with an unexpected message of reconciliation. To the majority of Poles, the gesture came as a shock. Twenty years after the end of World War Two, at the height of the Cold War, relations between Poland and then-West Germany were characterized by mistrust, hostility and lack of communication. The division of Germany had been finalized just four years earlier with the building of the Berlin Wall. Two irreconcilable ideological blocs — the capitalist West and the communist East — were now squaring up to each other on either side of the Iron Curtain. It would be another four years before West Germany introduced a policy of detente, after the arrival of the Social Democrat Willy Brandt as chancellor. The traumatic memory of ...

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, first elected in 2019, is running for a second term despite initially pledging to serve only one. Sissoco Embalo sought to remind voters how much he had done for the country: "I have given my all to give Guinea-Bissau a second chance at the future. Do you really want to hand the country over to someone who has no vision for the future?" he asked. In 2023, he dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament after armed clashes which he described as an attempted coup. But critics saw this move as an effort to extend his mandate. "Although Embalo's official term ended in February 2025, he remained in office and spent the following months systematically sidelining the opposition," the journalist Bacar Camara told DW.  Of the 14 parties competing for 102 parlia...

Leading United Nations diplomat Tom Fletcher was in Port Sudan on Tuesday for talks with the country's transitional military government, looking to secure aid better supply to the war-torn country that's partly controlled by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.  Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council shared a brief video on social media of Fletcher sitting in a room with President Abdel-Fattah Burhan and other officials. Fletcher, a veteran British diplomat and government advisor, meanwhile shared an image of the meeting online, and lauded the "positive" discussions early in his one-week visit to Sudan.  "Practical and positive exchange with General Burhan on continued dialogue and cooperation to improve humanitarian access across Sudan. The UN appreciates the clear commitmen...

The president of the United States could take Britain's national broadcaster to court amid a debate over editorial decisions at the BBC that has led to the resignation of two of its most senior executives. Contents of a memo sent to a BBC internal editorial standards committee by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser, was published by the Daily Telegraph newspaperbetween November 3-6. It raised concerns about the BBC's coverage of immigration, racism, historical content, transgender issues and BBC Arabic's coverage of the Gaza war. It also highlighted issues with an episode of the BBC's flagship current affairs program, "Panorama." Prescott cited problems with the show's depiction of Donald Trump's speech to supporters in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, as the US Congress p...

About 200 protesters demonstrated in front of the parliament building in Austria's capital Vienna on Tuesday evening. They were rallying against an event called the Dinghofer Symposium that they say is antisemitic. Parliamentary speaker Walter Rosenkranz, who hosted the event, had attracted massive criticism in the past weeks for going ahead with the symposium despite calls to cancel it. Some protesters held up placards that read "No place for antisemitism" or "Shame." "Dinghofer was an antisemite and a Nazi party member during World War II," said Lia Guttmann, co-president of the Austrian Union of Jewish Students group. Guttmann said the protesters were holding a "counter-symposium" outside parliament against what she called "historical amnesia."Protesters held a 'counter-symposium' ...