Reuters UK/EU - Squid Business

UK’s Starmer pledges to step up engagement in Middle East for long-term stability

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to step up the country’s engagement in the Middle East to support long-term stability, the government said on Monday. “The stability of the Middle East is paramount to delivering a foundation of security at home,” the statement cited Starmer as having said during his first …

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Dutch F-35s intercepted three Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch F-35 fighter jets intercepted three Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Friday and escorted them at a distance over international waters to the border of the NATO area of responsibility, the Dutch defence ministry said on Monday. Since December, Dutch F-35s have been patrolling NATO’s eastern border. As part of …

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Italy to test Starlink in January in bid to boost high-speed internet, sources say

By Elvira Pollina and Giuseppe Fonte MILAN (Reuters) – Italy plans to begin tests as early as January to see if the satellite-based connectivity offered by Elon Musk’s Starlink is a viable solution to boosting the rollout of high-speed internet in the country, two sources close to the matter said. Officials in Giorgia Meloni’s right …

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Irish centre-right parties to start coalition talks on Tuesday

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s two largest centre-right parties will begin talks on forming a new government this week before seeking support of a junior partner to reach a majority in parliament, their leaders said after a meeting on Monday. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, Ireland’s dominant parties who led the outgoing government, fell just two …

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Clear grounds for sanctions amid Georgia protests, EU envoy says

TBILISI (Reuters) – Violent clashes in Georgia between the police and protesters in recent weeks and “unacceptable” police brutality against the demonstrators present clear grounds for the European Union to impose sanctions, the EU ambassador to Georgia said on Monday. “What has been happening in Georgia over the last 12 days clearly calls for sanctions …

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Catalan separatists threaten ending support for Spain’s PM, want confidence vote

MADRID (Reuters) – Catalan separatist party Junts introduced a measure in Spain’s lower house on Monday urging Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to submit to a motion of confidence, further straining the fragile minority government that relies on Junts backing to pass laws. Junts – which locked horns with Madrid over a failed 2017 bid to …

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The pressure’s on: Five questions for the ECB

By Dhara Ranasinghe and Stefano Rebaudo LONDON (Reuters) -The European Central Bank looks set to cut rates again on Thursday as inflation heads down, and financial markets are keen for a sense of whether a more challenging environment will spark speedier moves ahead. Since the October meeting, a U.S. election win for Donald Trump has …

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Stand aside Harry Potter, blazing brooms light up Spanish festival

JARANDILLA DE LA VERA, Spain (Reuters) – Processions of people wielding flaming brooms may sound like something out of magic tales, but those used to light up a Spanish town every year are the real thing – and there is no witchcraft involved, just fun. Every year on Dec. 7, the inhabitants of Jarandilla de …

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EU must find billions for arms within a year, defence chief says

By Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe needs to find ways within the next year to fund hundreds of billions of euros in extra military spending to defend against any attack from Russia by the end of the decade, the European Union’s new defence commissioner has said. Andrius Kubilius, a former prime …

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2024 is the hottest year on record, EU scientists say

By Kate Abnett and Alison Withers BRUSSELS (Reuters) -This year will be the world’s warmest since records began, with extraordinarily high temperatures expected to persist into at least the first few months of 2025, European Union scientists said on Monday. The data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) comes two weeks after U.N. …

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