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Russian Security Council deputy chair and former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday Russia would "seriously reinforce" its defences and naval forces in the Gulf of Finland, and around the Baltic states, if Sweden and Finland joined Nato. "If this is done, no non-nuclear status of the Baltic is possible," Medvedev said, threatening that "Iskanders, hypersonic weapons and nuclear-armed ships [would] literally be at arm's length from their own homes."

Tesla chief executive and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday that he had made an offer to buy Twitter — for more than €37bn. Musk, the world's richest person, refused earlier this month to join the company's board of directors — a few days after he bought 9.2 percent of Twitter in stock. Twitter shares jumped 11 percent in pre-market trading on Thursday, according to The Guardian.

The EU's much-publicised Global Gateway connectivity initiative is not universally welcomed in Africa. Here's why.

Increasing nuclear energy capacity has re-emerged as an option to help Europe cut dependence on Russian fossil fuels. But the age-old debate on nuclear safety is still alive — and divisive.

A new trove of financial data released as part of the Pandora Paper showed how Russian billionaires shifted their money to tax havens just before or soon after Western sanctions.

The United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) has slammed the UK government's matching system for refugees fleeing the war after claims of sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women, The Guardian reported. "[The] UNHCR believes that a more appropriate matching process could be put in place by ensuring that women and women with children are matched with families or couples, rather than with single men," the UN agency said.

Investigators said on Wednesday a drone that crashed near Zagreb last month was armed with an explosive device, Reuters reported. A total of 40 parked cars were damaged in the explosion, but no injuries. Before entering Croatia, the six-tonne drone had entered Hungary via Romania's air space — after being first detected over Ukraine. The incident took place two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the city of Mariupol, Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday. Surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 Febuary. If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol.

Russia will find substitute markets for its energy amid threats by Europe and the US to find alternatives, Russian president Vladimir Putin said during a televised government meeting on Wednesday. "The refusal of a number of western countries to cooperate . . . has already hit millions of Europeans," the Russian leader said "Of course, we also face problems, but alternative opportunities open up for us," he said.

A delegation from the European Parliament headed by Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský visited Bulgaria this week to inspect corruption and misuse of public funds.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a system to protect the intellectual property of regional industries and craft products, inspired by the success of the similar protected geographical 'tag' used for wines, spirits, and agricultural products. It will cover products such as Murano glass, Donegal tweed, Porcelaine de Limoges, Solingen cutlery and Boleslawiec pottery. The proposal aims to enhance action against fake products and provide dedicated support for SMEs.

Sweden's prime minister Magdalena Andersson wants to join Nato in June, the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reported on Wednesday. The application is expected to be formally submitted at a Nato meeting in Madrid at the end of June. Sweden's ruling Social Democrat party launched on Monday an "internal party dialogue" over national security, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with a decision expected to be made in mid-May.

Germany remains the main obstacle to European sanctions on the Russian oil & gas industry. When will the Zeitenwende ['turning point' in German energy policy] finally deliver?

The European Commission has pledged to support investigations into potential war crimes in Ukraine — following reports of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in Bucha, Irpin, and other Ukrainian cities.

EU ambassadors agreed on Wednesday to ease the exchange of Ukraine's hryvnia banknotes into EU currencies, to help people fleeing Ukraine, under similar conditions across the bloc. This system will allow refugees, including children, to exchange up to 10,000 hryvnias [€310] per person, free of charges and following the official exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine. Several countries already have such a system in place.

A case study: red tape, "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBYs), and Green vs Green conflicts are putting brake on Germany's rapid wind expansion.

The EU's decision to include natural gas and nuclear power as "transitional activities" in its sustainable investments guidelines for green finance continues to generate massive controversy. Critics call it the "biggest greenwash ever."

Ukraine reported on Tuesday an attempt by Russian hackers to disable a number of facilities, including electricity substations, Reuters reported. "They did not succeed, and we're investigating," said Ukraine's government spokesman Victor Zhora, who added the attack was carried out by a hacking team dubbed 'Sandworm'. The attack is likely part of efforts to support Russian military action in the east of Ukraine, Zhora said.

Hungary said the EU should demonstrate unity — instead of policing internal rule-of-law breaches. But top EU officials have defended ongoing procedures against Hungary and Poland over concerns of judicial independence and democratic backsliding.

Russia's war against Ukraine and, before that, Covid 19 risk derailing the EU's ambitious Green Deal. Instead, as Wester Van Gaal explains, both external shocks have supercharged the project — at least for now.