Author: Olga Winter - EU Newsdesk

Olga Winter is a specialist editor writing about current affairs on the EU news desk for WTX News. Based in Brussels she ideally suited to the address the domestic and global affairs of the European continent, with assignments that include expose and In Review features for specialist reports..

On the opening day of an AI summit in Paris co-hosted by India, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday a European AI strategy would be unveiled the following day at the event. He declared that France was in the race for artificial intelligence development and called on attendees to choose Europe — broadly seen as lagging far behind the US and China in the sector — for their business needs. Speaking in English, he said “we…

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The lack of professionals and labor costs and the price of energy is killing the economy.  Entrepreneurs maintain the perception of global risk for this first semester of 2025 at the same levels as in the last six months of 2024, while a worsening is noted in the case of Spain. Specifically, 51.4% consider that it will remain in Aragon, while 29.4% points to improvement, which represents 1.4 percentage points more in relation to the…

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US President Donald Trump has placed new conditions on further financial and military aid to Ukraine. On Monday, he told reporters that Washington would only continue aiding Ukraine in warding off Russian aggression in exchange for rare earth minerals. Kyiv had already indicated it would be willing to trade access to these valuable natural resources for Western support. In fact, it was one of the points Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had outlined in the “victory plan” that…

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Protesters blocked roads across Serbia on Sunday, marking 100 days since the collapse of a canopy at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad. Hundreds of students blocked a major highway and bridge in the capital, Belgrade, for seven hours. The protest was accompanied by 15 minutes of silence for the victims, with protesters throwing 15 white roses that had been painted red into the Sava river that runs through Belgrade. Also…

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Is it a coincidence that the far right growth is linked to Trump’s presidency? The extremists enabling the far right expand its network on a global scale, shows the enemies are no longer Russia or China, they are from Wall Street. Enabling the far right to expand its network Representatives of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage from the UK were…

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Namibia’s founding father Sam Nujoma dies at 95. Sam Nujoma, the activist and guerilla leader who went on to become Namibia’s first elected president, died on Saturday at the age of 95. The Namibian Presidency made the announcement via social media on Sunday. Struggle against apartheid As the leader of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), he led guerrilla fighters in an armed struggle against apartheid South Africa Defence Forces from 1960 to 1989.…

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The United States was consolidated before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the main origin of the oil arrived in Spain in 2024, a period in which Brazil seconded him among the main countries of origin of the oil arrived in the country. According to the statistics of the Corporation of Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES), as in 2023 the United States led oil exports to Spain in 2024, by increasing its shipments to…

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No presidential election in 2025 in Ukraine despite being pushed by Trump. When will Ukraine hold a presidential election? It was postponed because of the war with Russia, but it is now almost three years since the start of the Russian invasion, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being asked about it more and more often. When will Ukraine hold a presidential election? He always gives the same response: “The hot phase of the war will end,…

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An American federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to suspend some 2,200 employees and eliminate the United States International Development Agency (USAID) on Friday to consider that it is a fraudulent agency. Two employee representatives had previously filed a lawsuit, arguing that Donald Trump’s government had no authority to suspend employees, as reported by US media such as ‘The New York Times’. The judge clarified that his ruling was provisional while the litigation continued.…

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What do USAID cutbacks mean for development aid. The decision by US President Donald Trump to suspend development aid has brought US-funded projects in around 130 countries to a standstill. This has had dramatic consequences for millions of people and humanitarian aid workers around the world. Trump has accused the development agency USAID of wastefulness. On February 6, he wrote on his “Truth Social” platform “Looks like billions of dollars have been stolen at USAID.” He…

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The Missing Alaska plane found, all 10 on board believed dead and all ten on board a passenger plane that went missing over Alaska are believed to be dead, the US Coast Guard said after locating the wreckage on sea ice about 34 miles southeast of Nome. The US Coast Guard initially reported that three bodies had been found inside the wreckage and then said the remaining seven were also believed to be inside the…

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The Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE) has published this Friday, February 7, the Order of the Minister of Finance and Public Administration, Elena Manzano, which sets the conditions and criteria for applying the extension of the General Budgets of The Community of Extremadura for 2024 in the exercise of 2025. The order includes the regulatory framework in which the automatic extension of the budgets approved by law 1/2024, of February 5, of general budgets of…

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Israeli forces said late Thursday it had struck two sites that allegedly contained weapons belonging to the Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally, despite a separate ceasefire deal in that country. Israel’s forces “conducted a precise strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons, which were in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the Israeli army said in a statement on social media platform X. Previously-sporadic fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October…

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Authorities in Greece on Thursday moved to declare a state of emergency on the island of Santorini as persistent tremors continued hiking fears of a possible bigger earthquake. The region has been rattled by thousands of tremors and more than a hundred earthquakes since January 26. Emergency measures in effect until March 3 The Greek Civil Protection Ministry issued the declaration that allows authorities to quickly mobilize heavy equipment and emergency personnel. The ministry said the declaration would…

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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa came out in defense of his country and said South Africa will not be bullied by Trump during a national address on Thursday, asserting that South Africa would not be bullied by the US administration and Elon Musk. Elon Musk is at odds with the South African government, primarily for domestic DEI issues but also because the are at odds over the Rwanda and DR Congo conflict. On the one…

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Is Ethiopia’s Tigray on the brink of a fresh conflict, is it ready to explode. Insecurity in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has noticeably increased in the last few days.  Many Tigrayans told WTX they are afraid that recent political tensions within the once-dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could lead to renewed violence — more than two years after one of Ethiopia’s deadliest conflicts claimed nearly 600,000 lives. Amid soaring prices, some Tigray locals have…

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The European Central Bank has a new reason to be optimistic. One of the last pieces that lack the ECB to be able to sing victory in its fight against inflation is to get salaries to moderate their growth in the euro zone, and these are already beginning to give encouraging signs for the Central Bank. The favorite ECB indicator to anticipate future movements in the salary front has given this week a great joy…

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The Aga Khan, imam of the Ismaili Muslims, has died “peacefully” at the age of 88 in Lisbon, his foundation announced on Tuesday. “His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), passed away peacefully in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, aged 88, surrounded by his family,” the Aga Khan Foundation posted on social media. “The announcement of his…

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The recovery plan announced by the Generalitat Valenciana and that has not yet been reflected in any document will have as main actors the PWC consultant and the state company Tragsatec. Both will jointly receive 4.5 million for consulting and assistance to prepare the road map to face the day after the DANA and try to recover the levels prior to destruction. The Second Vice Presidency and Department for the economic and social recovery occupied…

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US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he ordered military airstrikes on a senior “Islamic State” attack planner and others from the terror network in Somalia. “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.” Strikes coordinated with Somalia’s government The strikes were carried out in the Golis…

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Beethoven or birds — but no room on new euro notes for Irish cultural icons The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering using European cultural figures on the front of its next series of euro banknotes but 14 of the 20 countries that use the currency, including Ireland, will not be represented. In an update on this long-running plan to update the euro banknotes, the ECB announced that it has selected motifs to illustrate the two possible…

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President Zelensky says Russia attacking own civilians in Kursk. As Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a boarding school sheltering civilians in the Russian town of Sudzha, which is currently occupied by Ukraine. At the same time, Russian officials said Kyiv was behind the air strike, which they described as a “crime.” “Russian aviation struck a boarding school in the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, with a guided aerial bomb,” the Ukrainian army’s general staff said…

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Donald Trump’s approach is clear: make immigration and asylum more difficult, deport undocumented immigrants, close the borders. He has already signed several executive orders to implement his plans. Executive orders allow a US president to take action without the approval of Congress. Though Trump seems to be making particularly extensive use of this tool, they are not uncommon as a means of taking urgent measures or concretizing existing laws. What do Trump’s executive orders mean…

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What is happening in the DR Congo now? The M23 rebel group was advancing towards another city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a UN expert said on Friday, just days after seizing the key eastern city of Goma, which is close to the Rwandan border. Large parts of the city are now under rebel control in what’s considered the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade. The M23…

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