Poland's upcoming presidential election will be closely watched across the EU as more and more member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, succumb to populist governments, the Bloomberg agency noted yesterday. Sunday's vote can be seen as a barometer of the wave of populism in Europe, it estimated.more

A Melbourne council will permanently remove a Captain Cook memorial from a public park. Yarra City Council announced on Wednesday it would not restore the bronze and granite monument to avoid further repair costs caused by repeat vandalism at the site. The statue has been missing from Fitzroy’s Edinburgh Gardens since January 2024, when it was last vandalised.more

If a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine this year, Russia could rebuild its army and invade other European countries, including NATO countries, as early as 2027, the British newspaper "Times" reported today, citing a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank.more

Hundreds of homeless people and bedbugs in one of the terminals at Madrid's Barajas airport could damage Spain's image among tourists, regional authorities and Spanish media are warning.more

Around 66 million tourists, including almost 36 million from abroad, are expected in Italy this summer. It promises to be another record-breaking season, including an even larger than usual influx of Americans following the election of Pope Leo XIV.more

Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) has revealed the design details of the new S8000 Banderol missile used by the Russian side in attacks on Ukraine, "The Telegraph" newspaper reported yesterday. The missile is built with components from different countries and is launched by large Russian Orion drones.more

‘Freedom isn't free’ - is the title of a five-point defence plan for Europe, presented yesterday by former NATO Secretary General and former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. According to him, European countries' defence spending must increase to 4 per cent of GDP by 2028.more

French film star Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexual assaulting two women on a film set at a trial in Paris and given a suspended jail term of 18 months. The 76-year-old actor was accused by the two women of groping them during work on a film in 2021. Depardieu had denied the allegations against him and his lawyer said he would appeal.more

Conspiracy theories have emerged around the election of Pope Leo XIV. The media has been rife with suggestions that Donald Trump's supporters are bribing cardinals and trying to take control of the Vatican.more

Spain has allocated €1.6 million to investigate the possibility of connecting Africa with Europe via an underwater tunnel from the Iberian Peninsula to Morocco.more

Automaker Nissan, struggling with declining financial results, plans to further reduce its workforce by more than 10,000 people worldwide, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported today, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company has not confirmed the reports.more

The United States is viewed less and less positively in the world, with an image similar to Russia's and much worse than China's, according to a survey published by the foundation of former NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected Russia to agree to a full and permanent ceasefire in the war against his country on Monday. He also said he would personally wait for Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday.more

For months, a popular Australian radio station has used an AI-generated DJ to host one of its segments — and no one seemed to notice, as reported by the Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald. The show, called Workdays with Thy, offers a four-hour mix of hip hop, R&B, and pop, with no indication that the voice of its host, Thy, is AI-generated.more

Russian President Vladimir Putin today proposed to Ukraine to resume direct peace talks in Istanbul on 15 May without preconditions, global agencies reported.more

In the first quarter of 2025, our compatriots bought almost a thousand houses and flats on the Iberian Peninsula. This is almost a quarter more than a year earlier, reported ‘Puls Biznesu’.more

On Sunday, May 18, at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, the mass inaugurating the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV will begin, the Prefecture of the Papal Household announced yesterday.more

The Catholic Church has a new pope, the first from the United States. On the fourth ballot of the conclave, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected, who took the name Leo XIV. The new leader of 1.4 billion Catholics was prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Bishops until the death of Pope Francis.more

The UK and US have agreed a “breakthrough” trade deal slashing some of Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel and that the prime minister said would save thousands of British jobs. Keir Starmer said it was a “fantastic, historic day” as he announced the agreement, the first by the White House since Trump announced sweeping global tariffs last month.more

Each year, Resonance Consultancy prepares a detailed ranking to identify Europe's best cities. Places that stand out for their high quality of life, attractiveness and prosperity. London tops the list in 2025. Poland is also strongly represented with five cities. Warsaw was ranked 19th on the list.more

The new pope is Cardinal Robert Prevost from the United States, who took the name Leo XIV. The news of his election was announced on Thursday after 7 p.m. from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti.more

The Italian press today, in its summary of the first day of the conclave, which did not produce a result, points to the still existing divisions among the cardinals around the candidates to succeed Pope Francis. There is also the opinion that this is the first conclave of the era of the social media boom.more

Russia is demanding too much, but I wouldn't say that it is not interested in ending the war with Ukraine, US Vice President J.D. Vance stated yesterday at the Munich Security Conference meeting in Washington. He added that in the absence of Moscow's agreement to a 30-day truce, Washington wanted to focus on a ‘long-term solution’.more

The Spanish government yesterday approved the reduction of the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours. The approval of parliament, where the government does not have a majority and is seeking the support of Catalan nationalists, among others, is still needed to introduce the new legislation.more

Today at 10:00 the eagerly awaited conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin. This is the third conclave in over 20 years. The previous ones were held in 2005 after the death of John Paul II and in 2013 after the resignation of Benedict XVI. A record number of 133 electors will participate in the current one.more

Mohammed Khalid M., 18, who was convicted in March of murdering a 39-year-old Pole, changed his testimony yesterday at the Stockholm Court of Appeal. The teenager argued that the gun went off accidentally due to the intervention of the murder victim, Mikael (Michał).more

Law enforcers are overwhelmed and warn that a new generation of extremists is being radicalized online, writes "The Wall Street Journal". Terrorists in Europe are getting younger, and authorities are struggling to find them. In recent months, dozens of adolescents as young as 14 have been arrested across Europe for allegedly plotting attacks.more