Author: Fotoula Andreli

Budapest (5/7 – 11.11) Former European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker defended U.S. President Joe Biden after his disastrous debate performance last week and warned of his rival Donald Trump’s “incomplete mind and flawed reasoning,” in an interview with Brussels Playbook. Juncker, who was Commission president from 2014 to 2019 during much of Trump’s presidency, said he had yet to watch last week’s debate, which triggered calls for Biden to step aside and make room for someone else to run as the Democratic presidential candidate. Still, Juncker insisted that “one can be of a certain age … and do a good job.” But Juncker…

Rome (9/07 – 66.7) Fortune-telling is now a criminal act in the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, amidst the teetering economies. The Economist Intelligence Unit, for instance, says “the risk of sovereign default” in Kyrgyzstan is high, while adding that “poverty, unemployment, austerity, power shortages and political oppression are possible sources of destabilization in 2024-25” in Tajikistan. Despite the two countries’ myriad economic challenges, lawmakers and law-enforcers in both Central Asian states are making time to crack down on sorcery and fortune-telling. In Tajikistan, authorities literally went on a witch hunt, resulting in the arrest of more than 50 alleged practitioners…

Berlin/Singapore (1/3 – 38.46). Russian propagandists have published a recording of a “conversation between four senior German officers”. In it, they discuss the possible supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The recording is authentic, the Bundeswehr has since confirmed. “This is a very serious matter and that is why it is now the subject of a very meticulous, in-depth and rapid investigation,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. On Friday afternoon, a half-hour recording of the conversation, which reportedly dates to Monday, Feb. 19, circulated on Russian propaganda channels. Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia’s state broadcaster RT, then published…

The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.” The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.” Months later, Nazis occupied their country and waged war in Europe and around the world for seven more years, killing tens of millions. To many today, Ukraine is the next Sudetenland as it…

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday (31 March). All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18. In July Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30…

The U.S. military should reassess its force posture in Europe and reduce its reliance on revolving door-style unit rotations, a major think tank’s analysts concluded in a Monday report. The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ transnational threat team based their study on official documents, open-source materials and interviews with subject-matter experts. The report’s authors recommend that the Army abandon the rotational armor brigade deployment model that “eats up … the Army’s force structure and long-term readiness.” Currently, two armor brigades are deployed to Europe. Instead, the report said, the service should permanently station an Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland to…

Kyriakos Mitsotakis expresses concern over growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza Greece seeks to build on recent positive steps taken with Türkiye, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday. Referring to the ongoing thaw between the two countries since last February, when twin earthquakes caused severe casualties and destruction in southeastern Türkiye, he said “I’m not naive. We have seen dramatic changes in Türkiye’s politics in recent years, but I want to be optimistic and I want us to build on the positive steps that both countries have taken in recent months” during a discussion with Ravi Agrawal, the editor-in-chief…

Poverty is worsening in France and women and children are the main victims, the charity Secours Catholique has warned in its annual report, highlighting the burden of inflation, childcare and entrenched gender inequality on single women and mothers The French charity released its annual survey of poverty in France on Tuesday, saying it catered to a record one million people in 2022, up from 780,000 the previous year, amid an inflation crisis that has hit low-income households hardest. Among the beneficiaries, single-adult households were over-represented (75%), including mainly single mothers (25.7%) and single women (20.9%). Secours Catholique said the findings reflected a…

When we hear the word pyramids, our minds immediately go to Egypt; however, there are pyramids scattered all over the world: America, Europe, Asia and India. What many do not realize is that the Ancient Greeks were constructing pyramids at the same time or even earlier than the Egyptians. Known as the Pyramids of Argolis, the ancient constructions can be found in the plains of Argolid in Greece, and date back up to 5,000 years ago. The most famous of the pyramids is known as the Pyramid of Hellinikon. The Pyramid of Hellinikon The Pyramid of Hellinikon was referenced by…

As part of a strategy to increase capacity for integrated software testing, Volvo Cars has opened a new software testing center in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fully electric Volvo cars, according to the company, are defined by software – as evidenced by new models such as EX90 SUV and the EX30 SUV, which are improved through regular OTA software updates. At a size of 22,000m2 and representing an initial investment of around Skr300m (US$27m), the testing facility is the new flagship in Volvo’s network of engineering centers and tech hubs around the world. Other software test centers are located in Lund, Sweden,…