The prime minister told MPs the current UK-EU relationship is not good enough and promised to push for agreements on food trade, youth mobility and emissions trading. He says deals reached at the summit could add £10bn a year to the economy by 2040.
A working group meets in Brussels on 14 October to discuss visas restricting Russian nationals to named countries rather than the full Schengen area. Finland's prime minister plans to push for a complete tourist visa ban at an EU summit the following day.
Von der Leyen pushed all 27 member states for stronger border controls ahead of the Brussels summit. Leaders agreed to use trade, aid and visa policy as leverage — and backed Poland's plan to suspend asylum claims from migrants pushed across its border by Belarus and Russia.
Voters in Germany, France, Italy and Spain go to the polls in a sequence that could pull the EU sharply rightward. In Germany, the AfD is already positioned to become the first far-right party to govern a state since 1945.
Gender-based violence against women candidates and officials was recorded in at least 22 countries. Overall election quality stayed broadly stable, but democratic safeguards have been eroding since 2020.
Foreign Minister Kėstutis Budrys wants the designation in place before EU ministers meet on 12 October. No Russian entity has ever appeared on the EU terrorist list, which currently includes Hamas, Islamic State and the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
Ten warrant officers completed a 19-week course at Fort Bragg to become the inaugural class of a new specialty focused on autonomous systems. The Army created the role after finding that units couldn't integrate robotic systems fast enough without dedicated experts.
The Prime Minister announced five areas for negotiation, including food trade, energy and youth mobility, projecting gains by 2040. Conservatives say he has shown his hand too early and the EU will not offer a better deal.
A coalition led by Austria wants Brussels to spend twelve months implementing existing rules rather than writing new ones. The group is calling the plan a "Year of Simplification" and says it is deep cleaning, not deregulation.
An inspector general's report found the war exposed strategic inventory shortfalls. The Pentagon is now seeking a supplemental budget of around $50 billion to restock, but a shortage of Patriot interceptors is already leaving Ukrainian cities exposed.
The Finnish prime minister will take the proposal to an EU summit, warning that Russia could use tourist access to organise sabotage in Europe. European countries issued 800,000 tourist visas to Russians last year; Finland issued none.
The British prime minister said he asked for an intelligence assessment after taking office in July and received 'the clear answer that, yes, there was' involvement. No sitting UK prime minister had previously said so in public.
Wes Streeting said Britain would not back the US agreement with Moscow, and that Ukrainians alone should choose their leader. Zelenskyy warned the deal would hand Russia money for more weapons.
Defra convenes the Met Office, the Environment Agency, local authorities and industry on Wednesday to assess how ready the country is for this winter. Last winter brought 42% more rain than average; forecasters now expect a wetter than average autumn, driven partly by El Niño.
The update includes a New York Army National Guard officer who died in March but was only now added to the official list. A Navy woman who died in September is also included, with her cause of death still pending.
A presidential decree moves both legislative and presidential votes from November 2026 to September 11, 2027. Palestinians have not held national elections since 2005–2006, and Abbas has ruled by decree since his mandate expired in 2009.
The National Intelligence Bureau opened in Tokyo on 31 July with around 700 staff and a remit to coordinate information across government agencies. A separate foreign intelligence service is also in preparation.
The Omnibus X package would scrap reviews every 10 to 15 years, leaving pesticides authorised by default unless regulators move to ban them. Scientists, doctors and families affected by pesticide-related illness warn the change could delay removing harmful products when new evidence emerges.
The US Treasury has suspended sanctions on Russian diesel exports until 7 April after Trump agreed to take 300,000 tonnes immediately, with millions more to follow. Zelensky called the deal a gift to Putin that would prolong the war.
Scott Bessent made the announcement at the Newsmax Policy Summit on Thursday, saying authorities know where the assets are. The move extends a sanctions campaign that has already frozen hundreds of millions in Iranian crypto holdings.
The measures freeze the court's US assets and give American companies six months to cut ties with it. The EU says it may use a blocking mechanism to shield European firms from having to comply.
Electricity prices jumped 7.42% in September after a one-off discount from the Itaipu hydroelectric plant faded, pushing the 12-month consumer price index to the top of the central bank's target band. The timing hands Flávio Bolsonaro fresh ammunition, as the cost of living has been his sharpest line of attack against President Lula.
The plan aims to cut the deficit from 5.4% of output to 5% by 2027, but France's fiscal watchdog calls the effort limited. Student protests over school conditions are adding to the pressure on Lecornu's government.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures will ban transactions with the court and could punish companies that provide services to it. The ICC said the sanctions are intended to obstruct an independent judicial body, and that its work will continue.
Senator Richard Blumenthal has sent Cantor Fitzgerald's chairman 13 requests covering the firm's stake in and custody work for Tether. He alleges the stake rose from $600 million to $10 billion since Trump returned to office, and that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick received more than $250 million in the same period.
Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and three other wealthy member states have called for reductions of hundreds of billions of euros. The European Parliament wants a bigger budget and protected funding for farming and regional development — putting the two sides far apart.
Treasury says the ships moved Iranian crude, gas and chemicals to China, India and Pakistan despite existing sanctions. The action forms part of Operation Economic Outcast, Washington's ongoing pressure campaign against Tehran's oil revenues.
Islamabad agreed to the rapid deployment at an emergency meeting in Riyadh, invoking a joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey for the first time. It is a sharp reversal of the restraint parliament imposed in 2015, when it voted to keep Pakistan out of the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
The British prime minister told the Labour Party conference Britain should consider all options, from closer EU ties to rejoining outright. France's finance minister responded immediately: "Come back, anytime."
Canada, Lithuania and the EU's diplomatic service covered their logos on conference materials at #Disinfo2026 in Vilnius. The State Department had contacted multiple governments over panels describing the United States as a source of information manipulation in Europe.
Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was denied access to Al Udeid Air Base during an October trip to the Middle East. The Pentagon says it applied travel guidance issued by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth evenly.
Chris LaCivita and James Blair spent a weekend in Republika Srpska advising its government on election integrity, each receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Trump said he would terminate them immediately if he found a conflict of interest.
Péter Szijjártó faced three hours of closed questioning before the National Security Committee about whether his new role at the Chinese carmaker poses a security risk. He helped broker the deal that brought BYD's factory to Hungary, which came with 20 billion forints in state support.
The far-right leader says she would cut spending by €140 billion by 2032 and bring the deficit below the EU's 3 percent limit by 2030 if elected next year. The announcement came as she sought to regain ground after antisemitism accusations against her top ally, Jordan Bardella.
The draft allocates 17.1 trillion rubles ($205.2 billion) to defence — 375 percent above the pre-war level. Adding security and law enforcement, nearly half of all federal spending would go to the war effort.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham made the announcement at the UN General Assembly, saying Russian agencies had copied the branding of 28 British organisations and tried to interfere in the 2019 general election.
The spending review had been expected in spring, but October 2027 is now the working assumption. Britain's finance minister must also close a £4.7 billion gap in the existing defence plan when he delivers his first budget on 28 October.
Brett McGurk says the administration was weighing what he called 'pretty draconian measures' after an Israeli strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. An intelligence warning of an Iranian aerial assault — 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and 30 cruise missiles — forced a sudden change of course.
The European Commission wants incoming members to give up the power to block some Council decisions for as long as 15 years, with voting rights removable if they breach EU values. The rules would not apply to existing member states, making backsliding by older members harder to punish. EU leaders debate the plan at a Brussels summit on 15-16 October.
The European Commission's enlargement proposals, published on 6 October, include restrictions on agricultural support for Ukraine even after accession. Brussels hopes the terms will ease fears in Poland, France and Italy, where farmers have long protested the flow of cheaper Ukrainian grain.
The 471 billion rubles came after a closed-door Kremlin meeting where wealthy Russians were asked to contribute to the war effort. Without the money, Russia's 2026 budget deficit would have been 3.4% of GDP rather than 3.2%.
The ruling ends a legal block placed by a Falklands War veterans' group, leaving Milei's 2023 deregulation decree in force. Both houses of Congress must reject it to overturn it — the Senate already has, but the lower house has never voted.
The Seimas took the first of three required steps to strike Article 137 from the constitution, which has barred weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases since the Soviet army left. Two further votes are needed, in October and January, each requiring a two-thirds supermajority.
The Justice Department says all 40 concealed criminal histories or other material facts when applying for citizenship. Cases include a navy sailor convicted of passing secrets to China and a man convicted of sexual offences against a minor.
The three nationally broadcast spots, due to air before November's congressional elections, had drawn criticism from ethics experts and lawmakers on both sides who said they could breach rules against government propaganda. The underlying question of whether federal money can fund ads celebrating a president remains unresolved.
Monthly immigrant visas and refugee admissions from 45 majority-Muslim nations dropped from 21,096 to 808 between December 2024 and February 2026. Refugee arrivals from those countries fell to zero, and roughly 13,000 healthcare workers were among those blocked.
The alert, part of Operation Economic Outcast, threatens civil and criminal penalties and loss of access to US dollar clearing. Treasury said it tracked roughly $9 billion in Iranian-linked funds moving through American banks in 2024.
The right-wing senator took 47% to the president's 45%, with neither reaching the majority needed for an outright win. The two will meet again on October 25, with Bolsonaro also pledging amnesty for his jailed father if elected.
Spain's prime minister made the move after right-wing parties blocked emergency measures on evictions and speculation. Polls point to a People's Party-led government backed by Vox — which would be the first time a far-right party has entered central government since the end of the Franco dictatorship.
The strategy, called the 'Theory of Victory', pairs conventional forces with low-cost drones and AI-enabled targeting. It goes before member states in Poland on 12 October, as European allies debate how much of their rising defence budgets should go to new technology rather than tanks.
Members backed the motion 1,022 to 813 at the Brighton conference. Four of the party's five MPs opposed it, and the chair of Jewish Greens said she could consider her future in the party.
The council halted its fire-and-rehire plan after talks broke down when Unison refused to ballot its members on the pay offer. Negotiations are due to resume early next week.
The agency named the China General Technology Research Institute as a front for Chinese state intelligence, saying it secretly financed British research into AI, cyber-security and covert communications. Universities have been told to cut all ties, with criminal charges possible for those who do not.
Around 3.4 million voters chose members of the presidency and national Parliament. Technical problems with new digital voting technology delayed the opening of several polling places on Sunday morning.
The UK Conservatives say removing the £100,000 threshold would cost £700 million a year. They plan to cover it by cutting staff at public bodies such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed 21 bills targeting federal immigration enforcement in the state. The package also bans shock gloves for all officers in California, including federal immigration agents.
Lula cut deforestation by 45% after it surged 60% under Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. Now polls show his son Flávio in a virtual tie with Lula — and experts warn a Bolsonaro win could undo those gains.
China now holds more than half of global shipbuilding capacity, up from five percent in 1999. The US builds less than one percent of the world's commercial ships, and all eight yards capable of building large vessels are fully committed.
The Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, is due to be operational by October next year. It will have its own manpower, budget and acquisition authorities, and Hegseth called it the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.
A California-led coalition says the new federal standard — 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031 — falls far below the legal requirement to set the highest feasible limit. The plaintiffs argue drivers will lose nearly $220 billion in fuel savings as a result.
The existing guarantee will stay in place until April 2030, in line with Labour's last manifesto pledge. After that, the annual earnings link will go, saving an estimated £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s — money Burnham says will pay for a new National Care Service.
Both measures fell at Friday's vote, with the Catalan separatist party Junts joining the opposition to defeat them. The government is now weighing whether to dissolve parliament.
More than 400 schools and colleges were closed on Friday as demonstrations over teacher shortages and crumbling classrooms spread nationwide. Fires broke out at schools in Nantes and Rouen, 305 police officers were injured in a single day, and one region alone recorded €25 million in damage.
The Prime Minister told the BBC his government could seek full membership, not just a closer trading arrangement. France and Spain welcomed the prospect, though the terms of any return remain unresolved.
A bipartisan group of representatives warned that relief would strengthen Moscow and prolong the war. The pushback comes as the administration weighs offering sanctions relief in exchange for the release of political prisoners.
The 47-53 vote defeated a resolution by Democrat Chris Van Hollen that would have required the State Department to report on nine American killings and the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. Only one Democrat crossed party lines — to vote against it.
The Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on Cuba, cutting off Cuban businesses from US bank accounts and requiring approval for cultural exchanges, people-to-people visits and business travel. An oil blockade against Cuba has been in place since January.
The proposal, put forward by special envoy John Coale, would offer Moscow sanctions relief and a return to trade without waiting for the war in Ukraine to end. Zelensky says he will do everything he can to block it.
The new rules set a fleet average of 34.5 mpg by 2031, down from 50.4 mpg under Biden. Projections tied to an earlier proposal suggested the shift could add 100 billion gallons of fuel consumption through 2050 — though the final rule has yet to be published.
A referendum on 27 September would write 'perpetual and armed' neutrality into the constitution, potentially forcing Switzerland to unwind its existing sanctions against Russia. Polls show around two-thirds of voters opposed, but the outcome is not certain.
Xi Jinping made his second formal state visit to the US, meeting Donald Trump for talks on AI, Taiwan and trade. The two sides agreed to extend their one-year trade truce by two months before it was due to expire in November.
The administration has legally obligated $307 million so far, with the remaining $93 million due before the fiscal year ends on 30 September. Initial deliveries, including offensive weapons and armoured vehicle parts, began this month, with the rest expected by 2029.
Member states and national regulators say tariff design must stay local, not move to Brussels. The dispute goes to a deeper question about who controls the costs of modernising Europe's power grid.
The Central Elections Committee voted to exclude Ra'am and the Joint List, and separately disqualified two Arab legislators. The decisions have no final effect yet — the Supreme Court must approve them, and appeals are expected next week.
The two leaders discussed AI safeguards and the war in Iran, though no broad agreement was expected. On Wednesday, the countries agreed to extend their trade truce for two more months beyond its November deadline.
Delcy Rodríguez told the UN General Assembly a vote would come as part of a transition to "full democracy". She gave no date, the opposition is pressing for 2027, and the country's most prominent opposition figure remains barred from the talks.
Xi Jinping arrived at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, greeted on the tarmac by Trump in an unusual diplomatic gesture. The two sides also agreed to extend their tariff pause, which had been due to expire on November 10, giving both governments more time for talks.
Israel's prime minister used his UN General Assembly address to defend the military campaign in Gaza and attack New York's mayor as an antisemite. A UN inquiry and genocide scholars have concluded Israel committed genocide; the International Court of Justice case is unresolved.
The Israeli prime minister rejected genocide accusations over Gaza and praised US-Israeli strikes on Iran, as dozens left the chamber in protest. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put the opposing case by video link after being denied a US visa.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the invitation after meeting Russia's foreign minister in New York. The Kremlin says no decision has been made — and Putin has an active International Criminal Court warrant for crimes against humanity.
The money is being redirected from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The State Department says it will help secure the Panama Canal and counter Chinese influence in the region.
United Russia is projected to take 355 of 450 seats — its strongest result ever, and enough to change the constitution. Every party on the ballot backed the Kremlin and the war; genuine opposition parties were barred from competing.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer sat down with He Lifeng at JPMorgan's Manhattan headquarters on Sunday. Both sides described the talks as groundwork for a planned Washington summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping later this week.
Preparatory talks in New York ended without progress on restoring rare-earth flows that Washington says China has failed to deliver under the trade truce. The two sides also discussed a new AI safety dialogue, with a notification mechanism proposed for the presidents to consider when they meet this week.
A six-month inquiry led by Forbidden Stories found the US has struck secret deals with 35 countries to take deportees, paying out $410 million to governments and UN agencies. Many of those removed had legal protection against being sent back to their home countries and had lived in the US for decades.
The administration is preparing sanctions that would bar US citizens and companies from providing money, goods or services to the court without a Treasury licence. They would take effect after a grace period of six to seven months, potentially disrupting the ICC's technology, insurance and payroll.
Aleema, Uzma and Noreen Khan were held for 30 days under a public order law and sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. Their detention comes a week before PTI supporters are due to march on the capital in a nationwide protest the government has declared illegal.
United Russia took 355 of 450 seats, around 20 more than it currently holds. It was the first parliamentary election since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the only parties allowed to stand were those backing Putin and the war.
The government wants to cut the deficit to 5% by 2027 through spending freezes, new taxes and pension curbs. But parliament is divided and unions have already called a public-sector strike for 29 September.
The president announced the conversion on Sunday, saying the military had requested space for drones, snipers and ammunition storage. The Pentagon offered no details beyond his statement, and final planning approval for the arch is still pending.
Italy's prime minister announced the measures at her party's youth conference on Sunday. She gave no figures for the proposed classroom cap, which would sit alongside a 30 per cent limit already on the books since 2010.
A 49-page opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel says the 1968 restriction on licensed dealers selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds violates the Second Amendment. The law stays on the books — Congress has not repealed it — but federal prosecutors have been told not to bring cases.
The House passed the measure 262-159, with broad Republican support. It targets Russian officials, banks and energy revenues, and directs Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top importers of Russian oil and gas.
The president is expected to sit down with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders or foreign ministers on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The talks come after Gulf states suffered Iranian attacks and heavy economic losses from disrupted oil and gas exports during the seven-month conflict.
The deal, set to be signed at the UN General Assembly next week, gives Washington unilateral authority to build military structures on the island. Greenland stays under Danish sovereignty, but many details — including financial terms and the full text — have not been made public.
The three-day election for 450 State Duma seats opened on Friday with the opposition barred and United Russia almost certain to keep its grip on the chamber. Voting extends to four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Moscow, which Kyiv and the European Commission have called illegal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures target those involved in race-based discrimination against white Afrikaners. South Africa says the move is based on mischaracterisations pushed by fringe groups.
Magdalena Andersson's bloc is projected to win 176 seats in the Riksdag to 173 for the outgoing right-wing government. Andersson, who was prime minister until 2022, has begun coalition talks, though ideological differences among her partners could slow the formation of a new government.
The US president called the proposal a potential hostile act, warning of 'very serious tariffs' if it goes ahead. The move pulls Europe into what had been Washington's bitter dispute with Ottawa.
Spencer alleges the King made the remark in an angry phone call days after Diana's death in 1997. The Palace called the words inconsistent with his character — and suggested grief can distort memory.
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