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Palestinians in south Gaza will now be forced into new safe zones, Israel's EU and Nato envoy has said, adding "there's no clean way" to destroy Hamas. "We need to go to the south [of Gaza]. It's a safe haven for them [Hamas], not all the south, some areas ...

Secrecy continues to shroud talks between the Spanish socialist party (PSOE) and Carles Puigdemont's pro-independence Catalan party, Junts — with neither side offering details on the dynamics of their political agreement. On Saturday (2 December), Junts, ...

The big end-of-year COP28 climate summit is a strange beast — thousands of similar-minded delegates in one space, rushing from meeting, to panel discussion, to negotiation, to press conference, gut-bacteria synced to the limited food offerings. (There are ...

Rescuing people from drowning in the Mediterranean and bringing them ashore could leave NGOs in Germany liable to criminal prosecution for "smuggling foreign nationals" into the EU — with concerns the offence would potentially be met with sentences of up ...

In a new diplomatic spat between Tel Aviv and Madrid, Israel recalled its ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, on Thursday (30 November) — after comments made by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez. Sánchez publicly questioned on state television ...

EU states may drop their 2019 position on a bill on returning rejected migrants and instead put forward new ideas that include "innovative solutions" to work around illegal pushbacks. The move comes as internal negotiations on the return directive at the ...

Germany and France currently hold the key to unblocking negotiations on the EU directive to combat violence against women and domestic violence, which have stalled over the inclusion of rape in the final text. "Only 'yes' means yes. This has to be clear, ...

This Thursday (30 November) is the kickoff of the planet's most-critical climate assembly in Dubai. It will last until mid-December, and the success of this year's summit will hinge on whether countries can agree on phasing-out fossil fuels and how to help ...

Since last week, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta corporation is forcing its European users to either accept their intrusive privacy practices — or pay €156 per year to access Facebook and Instagram without tracking advertising. For the EU, it is yet another test of ...

The EU has offered Turkey almost all it wanted in return for ratifying Sweden's Nato entry, amid signs the saga is drawing to its climax. The offer included launching new talks on modernising a 1995 EU-Turkey customs union and better visa-access to Europe ...

Russia on Wednesday (29 November) lost its seat on the board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for the first time in the organisation's history. Four countries — Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania — were competing for ...

Finland's closure of its land border crossing points with Russia likely violates both international and EU asylum laws, according to the executive director of the Finnish Refugee Council. "We will not now be entirely in line with our international ...

When the EU Commission released its so-called Breakfast Directive earlier this year, it seemed to pass under the radar, even though it includes a proposal which would give a free but misleading advertising slogan to food industry — "no added sugar." In ...

Europe's top diplomat won't meet Russia's foreign minister in Skopje, even though the Russian is getting special permits to bypass EU sanctions to reach there . "I have a certain experience of discussions with Mr Lavrov in difficult circumstances," said EU ...

The EU's forced labour regulation has stalled, as member states struggle to agree on a common position that would allow inter-institutional negotiations to begin — risking the text's adoption before the 2024 EU elections. The bill aims to create a ...

The EU has called for an increase in fuel supplies to Gaza, and a faster screening process for trucks crossing the Rafah border. EU commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarčič identified both as primary bottlenecks in delivering humanitarian aid to ...

The European Commission says migrant smuggling has never been so profitable or so deadly — despite a decade of policies and so-called action plans to crush the trade. "Never before has the smuggling business been so profitable, so deadly," said European ...

The EU Commission presented a list of 166 energy and power projects on Tuesday (28 November) that will lay the foundation for Europe's future energy system. "Today's list of cross-border projects draws the new energy map of Europe. The era of EU funding ...

Extreme rightwing parties in Europe seem to be making huge gains these days, with Geert Wilders' PVV in the Netherlands serving as the latest example. Who, many wonder, will follow? And what does this mean for Europe? Still, this picture is not entirely ...

After working with people in unusual employment situations for a decade, I thought I had seen it all as a union organiser. Then I began dealing with Uber. The extent to which Uber will go to avoid playing by the rules is unprecedented in the Netherlands. ...

After months of intense and often volatile debate, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) is near completion with a coalition of journalists and civil society groups calling on the European Parliament to hold firm on key issues as it negotiates the final ...

EU and Arab states have redoubled calls for the creation of a Palestinian state after the war, while voicing outrage at new Israeli settlements. "Almost all" the attendees at Gaza-war talks held in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday (27 November) agreed on the ...

On Tuesday (28 November), the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission will meet for the fifth time in the so-called trilogues to advance negotiations on the platform workers directive. The legislation, proposed by the EU executive in December ...

The resignation of Gom van Strien, the 'coalition scout' of the populist Dutch leader Geert Wilders on Monday (27 November), illustrates the challenges Wilders' PVV party faces in forming a government. Van Strien was appointed last Friday to explore ...

African and European officials are heading for a confrontation over the costs of a new carbon tax which could cut trade levels and complicate wider negotiations at the UN COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai starting on Thursday (30 November). South Africa and ...

Anyone claiming to know where Robert Fico's government will lead Slovakia is being, to put it mildly, rather audacious. At this stage, we simply don't know. What we do know is that he leans towards Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Fico has repeatedly ...

In Flanders, Russia's access to the Belgian far-right is facilitated by Kris Roman. What is far less known are his more than decade-long connections with Russian intelligence. "It was a pleasant evening with Flemish, Walloon, Dutch and Russian people, also ...

In the wake of more frequent extreme climate events and record-breaking temperatures, the world's nations are preparing for the upcoming UN high-level climate talks to assess progress towards the Paris Agreement's 1.5 °C target in 2030. The two-week COP28 ...

People who voted for Brexit tended to be less clever, new research shows, in findings that also shed light on the appeal of EU populists, such as Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Some 73 percent of people in the smartest top 10 percent of the British ...

Every year, on the fourth Friday of November, the American concept of 'Black Friday' kicks off the Christmas shopping season all around the world, offering discounts on a wide range of products. But since 2020, Black Friday has taken on a different kind of ...