National team basketball forward Henri Drell is having to don a mask during this week's FIBA World Cup qualifier away to Hungary, following an injury.

Former Internal Security Service Director General Arnold Sinisalu said the head of the U.S.' Central Intelligence Agency's visit to Russia this week does not necessarily mean a secret agreement is being made and it is worth remaining calm.

Center Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart cannot bar Riigikogu members from his party voting in next week's presidential election, one expert said.

A court has overturned a ruling which found a former minister and Reform Party MP guilty of expenses fraud when renting a Tallinn property.

Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) believes between 300 and 400 children will be missing from the school system by mid-September as Estonia introduces compulsory education until the age of 18.

Compared with other crimes, systematic thefts grew the fastest in the first half of this year, Justice Ministry says. They were registered a quarter more often than during the same period last year.

USA Luure Keskagentuuri (CIA) juhataja John Ratcliffe hoiatas sel nädalal toimunud Moskva-visiidi ajal Venemaa ametnikke pingete eskaleerimise eest NATO liikmesriikide ja eriti Eesti, Läti ja Leeduga, teatas mõjukas USA väljaanne Politico.

Eesti korvpallikoondis alustab 2027. aasta MM-valiksarja otsustavat faasi võõral väljakul Ungari vastu. Postimees vahendab Miskolcis kell 19 algavat partiid otseblogis.

John Ratcliffe travelled to the Russian capital on Tuesday in a rare and unannounced visit.

Fuel companies are urging customers not to linger at the pumps after a wave of deadly attacks.

Perhaps our days of doomscrolling are numbered, writes the BBC's technology editor Zoe Kleinman.

The UK government claimes panels could help homes "significantly cut" energy bills.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Die Fraktionsspitzen der großen Koalition suchen in Münster wohl auch sowas wie einen westfälischen Frieden. Maximilian Stascheit blickt auf das mächtige Führungstrio um Thorsten Frei (CDU), Alexander Hoffmann (CSU) und Matthias Miersch (SPD). Sie müssen nun beweisen, dass sie ohne Jens Spahn knappe Mehrheiten organisieren können. Maximilian Stascheit analysiert, welchen neuen Wind sie in die Koalition bringen könnten, welche Altlasten sie mit sich schleppen und wie auf „Love is in the Air“ gehofft wird. Dazu berichtet Rasmus Buchsteiner aus Münster über die neue Rolle für Thorsten Frei, der jetzt von Leisetreter auf Lautsprecher umstellen muss. Aus der Opposition kommen derweil harte Worte zur Performance der Regierung. Grünen-Chefin Franziska Brantner fordert im Interview ein sofortiges Ende der Streitereien zwischen Union und SPD. Ein rein rhetorisches Klima-Bekenntnis von Kanzler Friedrich Merz reiche angesichts der angespannten Wirtschaftslage nicht aus. Auf europäischer Ebene geht es zeitgleich um den Konflikt um das EU-Budget. Kanzler Merz schmiedet in Berlin eine Allianz mit den sparsamen Ländern, um den Brüsseler Etat nicht so sehr anwachsen zu lassen, wie es sich die Kommission das wünscht. Hans von der Burchard ordnet ein, wo die Konfliktlinien verlaufen, wenn es um den mehrjährigen Finanzrahmen für 2028 bis 2034 verlaufen, wie dem Kanzler ein Gipfel-Marathon dabei bevorsteht und wie es am Ende – mal wieder – alles kurz vor knapp werden könnte. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Rixa Fürsen, Maximilian Stascheit und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbHAxel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 BerlinTel: +49 (30) 2591 0information@axelspringer.deSitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 BUSt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390Geschäftsführer: Christoph Eck-Schmidt, Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

PARIS — France’s first presidential debate on Thursday should have been an opportunity for centrist and conservative candidates to shine. Taking place at the annual conference of MEDEF, France’s powerful employers’ lobby, on the burnt-orange clay of Roland-Garros, seven presidential contenders will be quizzed about what they’ll do to make France more business-friendly. Moderates offering a dose of economic realism historically have home-court advantage at Medef events. But this year’s conventional presidential candidates appear rudderless, riven by infighting and ceding ground to the political extremes — who in turn are setting the terms of the public debate on how to fix France’s financial mess. One of Medef’s most pressing concerns is Paris’ inability to rein in a stubbornly high budget deficit and reduce a massive pile of debt worth more than €3.5 trillion — or 117.5 percent of gross domestic product — even before the recent spike in global borrowing costs. The solution du jour comes from far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is calling for the European Central Bank to waive interest payments on its French bond holdings, a move likely to frighten the investors Paris depends on to purchase French sovereign debt. Mélenchon’s proposal is strongly opposed by centrists and the business community, including MEDEF chief Patrick Martin, yet it dominates the discourse on French public debt. And it’s the latest sign that as France’s economic outlook deteriorates, anti-establishment candidates are successfully pitching themselves as the ones who can fix France’s finances. “You’d think that it would be a moment … that would profit those who are credible on economic matters,” said lawmaker Erwan Balanant from the centrist Democratic Movement. “But I don’t know who is credible on the economy anymore.” Surveys continue to show far-right leader Marine Le Pen dominating the field of presidential hopefuls, and a poll released Monday showed Mélenchon on the rise and in a strong position to advance to the second round. The French presidential election goes to a two-candidate runoff if no one clears 50 percent of the vote — and a Le Pen-Mélenchon showdown would be a nightmare scenario for the European Union given their respective antipathy toward some of the bloc’s key pillars. But Monday’s poll isn’t triggering calls for unity from ideologically similar centrists like former prime ministers Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal as well as conservative leader Bruno Retailleau. It’s instead adding fuel to the vicious internecine battle, and senior centrist figures are increasingly alarmed. “You’ve seen the polls, let’s name what is happening: It is a collapse of all those who refuse the extremes,” former prime minister and veteran centrist François Bayrou said Tuesday in an interview with BFMTV. Fighting for match point In circles close to President Emmanuel Macron, fears are growing that Le Pen and Mélenchon are the only candidates with compelling political narratives. “Moderate forces need to come up with an innovative and original political offering,” said one of Macron’s close allies who, like others quoted in this piece, was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the state of the presidential race. Attal, who leads Macron’s Renaissance party, has campaigned throughout the summer promoting proposals on education, immigration and criminal justice reform. But on Tuesday he ruffled feathers by saying the centrist bloc didn’t have a front-runner despite most surveys — including one published Wednesday — showing Philippe ahead of Attal and the conservative Retailleau. Attal and Philippe have promised to eventually unite around whichever one of them is polling better — Philippe said that would happen between November and February — but their rivalry is getting nastier. An Attal aide on Monday said that the summer was the “collapse of Edouard Philippe,” to which a prominent Philippe supporter countered later that day: “Nothing [Attal does] shows that he wants unity.” “Lots of people are telling [Attal and Philippe] to reach an agreement, it won’t work,” said the Philippe supporter. Getting the conservative Retailleau or center-left MEP Raphaël Glucksmann to stand down in favor of a single moderate candidate will prove difficult as well, as they have serious policy and ideological disagreements with the two former prime ministers. Given those fractures, few expect reconciliation on center court Thursday afternoon in the name of combating the political extremes. Instead, it’s looking more likely that the prospect of an alliance bites the dust.

Sheikh Mohammed's visit comes as US-Israel war on Iran nears its sixth month with no diplomatic breakthrough in sight.

Palestinians have mourned prominent artist Sliman Mansour at a public funeral in the occupied West Bank.

Albanian criminal has cut bars, descended sheets and even used human pyramid in escapes in Italy and BelgiumPolice in Spain have arrested a dangerous Albanian criminal nicknamed the “escape wizard” who has managed to break out of four jails in Italy and Belgium by sawing through bars, clambering down knotted sheets and even using a human pyramid to breach prison walls.The fugitive, who has not been officially named, was arrested after officers from the Policía Nacional force discovered he was living in the north-eastern Spanish city of Tarragona. He was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by the Italian authorities. Continue reading...

Sophie Lainault, who worked for Air France, wins legal case linking illness to more than 12,600 hours on flightsA flight attendant in France has succeeded in having her breast cancer recognised as an occupational disease, a first for the country’s aviation industry, her lawyer and a trade union said.The ruling, which recognised that Sophie Lainault, a former flight attendant for Air France, had frequently worked at night and been exposed to passive smoking, could pave the way for similar claims, the lawyer and the CFDT union said. Continue reading...

FCA warns over widespread misapprehension that investors are protected when AI advice goes wrong

Higher rates have hit buying power but housing site Zoopla has nonetheless detected early signs of an ‘autumn bounce’