The European Union has delayed a massive free-trade deal with South American countries amid protests by EU farmers and as last-minute opposition by France and Italy threatened to derail the agreement. European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed on Thursday that the signing of the trade pact between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur will be postponed until January, further delaying a deal that had taken some 25 years to negotiate.
Data for the first three quarters of 2025 have shown that smaller German firms have borne the brunt of almost three years of economic downturn in Europe's biggest economy over the past three years. On December 12, the chief analyst at the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Volker Treier, told news agency Reuters that the "wave of insolvencies continues." He added that small and medium-sized enterprises in particular were "running into difficulties."
I grew up in a small place called Tana, where there were just 12 children in my school class. Of the five of us who were Sami, two came from families of reindeer herders. At the time, I believed the rest were Norwegian. Later, I learned that everyone in my class was Sami. Their parents had been pressured to hide who they were.
The Bureau of Prisons shut down FCI Dublin, a former minimum-security women's facility, in 2024 after news broke of the repeated sexual abuse of inmates, deteriorating and uninhabitable infrastructure, and cover-up and retaliation from the former prison's guards and staff. Felony charges were levied against the facility's warden, chaplain and several guards, who were suspected of running a rape club, resulting in nine convictions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) has arrived in Warsaw for meetings with his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki (left) and Polish Prime Minister Donald TuskImage: Kacper Pempel/REUTERS Skip next section What you need to know Zelenskyy is in Warsaw, seeking to shore up support from a key ally during a strategically crucial time Putin says he sees no 'readiness' from Ukraine for peace EU has agreed to fund a 90 billion loan for Ukraine
As I listened, it struck me that, while Europe's role in the Middle East has been severely damaged by its immoral stance on the Gaza war and its self-inflicted exclusion from Iran nuclear diplomacy, Europeans still have a role to play when it comes to its neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean.
I can't remember the first time I played the lottery I was probably quite young. I'm an optimist. If you don't play, you can't win, and somebody has to win the big prize. Why not me? To me, winning would mean freedom leave my job, have no debts and do exactly as I pleased. I live in Norway, and every few weeks I'd buy a lottery ticket. I'd occasionally win 100 kroner (7.50), which just covered the cost of the ticket.
Buoyed by immigration, the Spanish economy has enjoyed positive headline figures in recent years and will continue to lead the way in the bloc in 2026, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez admits the benefits aren't yet trickling down to locals. Immigration and services have spurred the Spanish economy to continent-leading headline figures, but even Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez admits that these macro gains are failing to trickle down and that the purchasing power of Spaniards "is still low".
Hoover will be one of the most productive and coveted players available, as he projects to have the most passing yards (9,629) and touchdown passes (71) of any player returning to college football next season. Hoover says he will not play in for TCU in the Alamo Bowl. Hoover has been TCU's starting quarterback since midway through the 2023 season, throwing for 439 yards and four touchdowns in his first start against BYU.
We call it integrated air and missile defence, and we have, over 30 years, not really faced a threat from the air in that way. "The threat has evolved, Russia 's capability and willingness to use ballistic and cruise missiles has become more apparent. "It's been become clear that that peace dividend needs to be reversed, and we need to invest more in our radar capability, in our airborne air defence, and also in, ultimately, our ability to shoot down these drones and cruise missiles.
The European Commission has contacted Swedish authorities after citizens from Ireland were told that their EU passports were not sufficient proof of identity in citizenship applications. Several Irish citizens have contacted The Local to complain of the problem, which has arisen as a result of an order given to the Migration Agency by the Swedish government in January, telling them to increase the security checks in citizenship applications.
In a statement earlier this week, the foundation announced that the project had been abandoned in light of the territorial, urban planning and environmental constraints and limitations. It added: New alternatives will be explored in order to face the challenge of elaborating a proposal that responds to the museum's objective of growing in order to remain a leading cultural institution internationally and a driving force in the Basque Country's cultural, economic and social scene.
The president of the European Economic and Social Committee, tells Mary McCarthy about how much he enjoys his work - and how he still makes time to help on the farm at weekends In October, I was elected president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), one of the five EU institutions created by the Treaty of Rome in the 1950s.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Thursday said the government in Berlin is keen to fly some 565 Afghan refugees with standing admission approval to Germany as soon as possible. "We have an interest in ensuring that this is dealt with as quickly as possible and are in contact with the Pakistani authorities," Dobrindt said. "We want to conclude this as far as possible in December. But there may still be some cases that need to be handled in the new year."
The incident took place on the N21 at Ballymurragh West in Templeglantine at around 12.50am. One of the drivers, a man in his 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick, where a postmortem examination is due to be carried out. Three teenagers, two female juveniles and an adult male, were taken to University Hospital Limerick and University Hospital Kerry for treatment of serious injuries.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is on borrowed time, according to multiple Fianna Fáil sources, following a bruising party meeting and a review into its presidential campaign that many TDs believe failed to answer key questions around his handling of the debacle.
Frozen assets are financial funds or property that the owner cannot access or use for any transaction or transfer because of restrictions imposed by a government or bloc such as the European Union. In Russia's case, sovereign assets in the form of cash, bonds and securities held abroad as well as private assets such as yachts and real estate owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires were frozen. Assets are usually frozen via sanctions.
Sandra Barry (40) of Tor an Ri, Balgaddy, Co, Lucan Dublin pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin charged with threatening or grossly offensive communication to Simon Harris with intent to cause harm.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has long been accused of exercising total control over the Western Balkan country. Now he has embarked on a new field of activity: He has declared that he will personally file criminal charges against all those he accuses of the "economic sabotage of Serbia." This was prompted by news from the United States that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and close confidant of US President Donald Trump, has canceled a huge, much-vaunted planned investment in Belgrade.
In the quiet village of Kozubivka in Ukraine's Poltava region, Nelia and her husband Oleksandr open their home to people displaced from Kharkiv, where bombing and shelling have forced thousands to flee. But rebuilding a life in rural Ukraine is not easy. City people must learn to navigate unfamiliar routines on the farm, endure physical labour and bear the emotional weight of displacement.
Hundreds of tractors have clogged the streets of Brussels as farmers converged on the Belgian capital to protest against the contentious trade agreement between the European Union and South American nations they say will destroy their livelihoods. The demonstrations erupted on Thursday as EU leaders gathered for a summit where the fate of the Mercosur deal hung in the balance. More than 150 tractors blocked central Brussels, with an estimated 10,000 protesters expected in the European quarter, according to farm lobby Copa-Cogeca.
While laptops and Wi-Fi made location independence possible, immigration systems remain built around assumptions that no longer fit modern work. Most countries that offer remote work or digital nomad visas do so cautiously, relying on one blunt tool to manage risk: income thresholds. If you can prove you earn a fixed amount every month, you're welcome. If your income fluctuates, arrives in bursts, or doesn't fit neatly into payroll documents, the door often closes even if you are financially stable in practice.
In 1954, an issue of Manhua, a state-sponsored satirical magazine in China, declared: Some architects blindly worship the formalist styles of western bourgeois design. As a result, grotesque and reactionary buildings have appeared. China's strangest buildings, from pairs of pants to ping-pong bats Beneath the headline Ugly Architecture, humorous cartoons of weird buildings fill the page. There is a modernist cylinder with a neoclassical portico bolted on to the front. Another blobby building is framed by an arc of ice-cream cone-shaped columns. An experimental bus stop features a bench beneath an impractical cuboid canopy, unable to protect you from wind, rain or sun, as a passerby observes. Why don't these buildings adopt the Chinese national style? asks another bewildered figure, as he cowers beneath a looming glass tower that bears all the hallmarks of the corrupt, capitalist west.
