Euractiv.com

Ukraine's defence ministry urged military-age citizens to update their data at army enlistment offices and "overcome their fear" in a campaign launched on Thursday (17 August) as a summer counter-offensive grinds through its third month.

Firefighters on 17 August struggled to contain a wildfire that broke out in a mountainous national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife amid hot and dry weather, that prompted authorities to evacuate more 3,000 people during the day.

Russia detained Grigory Melkonyants, the co-chair of prominent independent vote-monitoring group Golos (Voice), the organisation said on its website on Thursday night (17 August).

Polish lawmakers passed a resolution on 17 August to hold a referendum on migration and three other issues on the same day as parliamentary elections on 15 October, in what analysts say is a government bid to mobilise its base.

Slovak police charged the country's spy master and other high-ranking officials in the security community with forming a criminal group and conspiring to abuse power, in a case that has emerged just weeks ahead of an early election.

German civil society has asked Berlin to back a controversial European Commission proposal to make renovating worst-performing buildings obligatory before buildings directive negotiations continue after the summer.

Ukraine and Russia should find a compromise to end the war, and internationally ratified referenda should be organised on whether currently-occupied territories remain under Moscow's control, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday (16 August).

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has sought to defuse recent tensions between Tirana and Athens while also condemning a protest led by Greek politicians in Himare, southern Albania, over the arrest of a Greek minority mayor for alleged vote buying.

Once a trendy outpost for Roman actors looking for a weekend of skiing and nightclubbing, the town of Pietracamela in central Italy’s Apennine range is now largely depopulated and confronted with a risk of social meltdown.

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh say it is getting harder to access food, medicines and other essential supplies as an Azerbaijani blockade of the breakaway region drags into its ninth month.

Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said on Wednesday (16 August) that he will be a candidate in Finland's presidential election due in January of 2024.

Germany's cabinet passed a contentious bill on Wednesday (16 August) to legalize recreational marijuana use and cultivation, one of the most liberal cannabis laws in Europe that could potentially provide further momentum for a similar worldwide trend.

BRICS leaders meet in South Africa next week to discuss how to turn a loose club of nations accounting for a quarter of the global economy into a geopolitical force that can challenge the West's dominance in world affairs.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday (16 August) he intended to seek the support of the lower house to form a new government after an inconclusive election on 23 July.

Spain's parliament reconvenes on Thursday (17 August) after an inconclusive July general election, with all eyes on the hardline Catalan separatist party JxCat which unexpectedly emerged as kingmaker.

Ukraine said Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight, but a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday (16 August) despite Moscow's threat to target shipping after it abandoned an export deal.

A UBS report revealed that the number of millionaires worldwide went down in 2022, though the number of French millionaires increased to 2.8 million, drawing heavy criticism from the left of Emmanuel Macron’s ‘pro-wealth’ policies.

A study found that almost one in three men worldwide is infected with at least one genital human papillomavirus (HPV), further evidencing the importance of including men in both national and EU-wide vaccination strategies.

A €6 billion tax break and relief package for companies was removed from a German government meeting agenda on Wednesday (16 August) after Family Minister Lisa Paus said she could not agree unless more money was earmarked for child benefits. 

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