The government has approved amendments to the protection rules for Alutaguse National Park, aimed at merging existing protected areas and species habitats into a single functioning whole. The park will expand by 24,749 hectares, bringing its total area to 69,768 hectares.

The European Central Bank's latest rate hike is already reflected in the six‑month Euribor that shapes most Estonians' loan payments, meaning borrowers are unlikely to see higher monthly costs this year — but a spring increase could still push payments up.

Parties outside parliament are weighing bids for next spring's Riigikogu elections, with some already committing and others still undecided, but all face the same major hurdle: raising the candidate deposit required to get on the ballot.

At its Thursday session, the government dismissed Ministry of Defense permanent secretary Kaimo Kuusk from his position.

The government has approved amendments to the protection rules for Alutaguse National Park, aimed at merging existing protected areas and species habitats into a single functioning whole. The park will expand by 24,749 hectares, bringing its total area to 69,768 hectares.

A hunter captured on film an interesting and unusual spectacle as both a lynx and a moose were spotted in the same field.

Poola välisminister Radosław Sikorski reageeris teravalt Kremli pealiku Vladimir Putini äsjasele ähvardusele, öeldes, et üksnes Ukrainal on õigus otsustada, millised väed selle territooriumil võivad viibida, mitte Venemaa režiimi juhil, vahendas portaal Unian.

Postimehe toimetuste kokkuvõte nädala tähtsamatest uudistest.

Nobody could have predicted that today's main global headline would be Trump's desire to see a unified Ireland.

Officials say a rail fragment was found on the tracks after Friday's crash of a passenger train that left 44 people injured.

Prices in the US rose 3.4% in the 12 months to August, according to the latest official report on inflation.

O'Leary has said airline passengers "can't afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe".

STOCKHOLM — Millions of Swedes will vote in a tense general election on Sunday that is set to deliver a new left-wing government or bring far-right ministers into power for the first time.  The Social Democrat-led left bloc enjoyed a comfortable lead for months but polls tightened significantly in the final two weeks of the campaign, with one 11th-hour survey suggesting a dead heat.  “Two or three weeks ago, we were saying this is a done deal,” said Gustav Karreskog Rehbinder, who is running results forecasts for Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT on election night. “Now it seems that it will be a more exciting night than expected.” The vote will have potentially significant consequences for security in Europe and the wider debate over integrating the far right into mainstream politics. Here is POLITICO’s guide to the contest, the candidates and the countdown to declaring a winner. How does the election work?  There are 349 seats in the Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, which is located in an imposing waterside building on an island in central Stockholm.  The country chooses its lawmakers every four years using a proportional representation voting system, meaning that if a party gets about 20% of the votes across Sweden, it will have about 20% of the seats in the Riksdag. Coalitions are the norm. But there’s a catch: Very small parties are eliminated and get no seats at all if they do not meet the minimum threshold for support of 4% of the national vote. This could be a vital element in a closely fought contest, when the smaller parties may hold the balance of power.  Nearly 8 million people are registered to vote and turnout tends to be high — more than 80%. This year, a record number of people are expected to have cast their ballots early, which they’ve been able to do since Aug. 26. If they change their minds, these early voters can vote again on Sunday, canceling their original choices. Regional and local elections take place at the same time. Who gets to govern?  After the last contest in 2022, eight parties were elected to parliament and they have been fighting this summer’s campaign in two blocs — one on the left and one on the right.  That means there are only two realistic candidates to be prime minister: the incumbent, conservative Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson; and Magdalena Andersson, the former PM who leads Sweden’s biggest party, the center-left Social Democrats.  Swedish Prime Minister and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson speaks to the media upon arrival to a televised election debate hosted by TV4 in Stockholm, Sweden, on September 10, 2026, three days ahead of the country’s general election. | Jonathan Nackstrand/ AFP via Getty Images Kristersson has run the right-wing coalition for the past four years thanks to influential support from the second biggest party, the far-right Sweden Democrats. They backed him in votes in parliament and drove policy in a hardline direction, including crackdowns on crime and especially immigration. But the Sweden Democrats did not join the coalition cabinet. That could now change.  Can the far right enter the government? Kristersson divided opinion in 2022 when he broke a decades-long taboo against working with the far right and did his deal with the Sweden Democrats, who had won 20% of the vote. The SD was founded in the 1980s and some members in those days had roots in neo-Nazi movements. The party has taken steps to clean up its act in recent years, though not to everyone’s satisfaction.  Now Kristersson says he will give the SD ministerial seats in government if his side wins on Sunday, as part of an agreement with the far-right leader, Jimmie Åkesson. That would be another huge step for Sweden and one that the opposition has seized on.  “Of course this would be a different country with a government with half of the ministers from the Sweden Democrats,” opposition leader Andersson told AP recently. “It would not be good for Sweden if they would get the keys to the ministry of defense or the ministry of foreign affairs.”  Kristersson insists he would still be in charge overall. He points to his work with Åkesson over the past four years which he says has revived the economy and cut rates of violent crime and immigration, both of which had been major public concerns. “I can guarantee you that it will only be very skilled and experienced and people with good judgment that would be part of my government,” he told POLITICO.  For his part, Åkesson says it’s time for the SD to take the next step and assume the responsibility of governing. He is eyeing up the chance of becoming prime minister himself at the next vote, due in 2030. The SD sums up its vision for the country with the phrase: “Sweden should be safe, free and Swedish.” What is at stake for Sweden and Europe?  Apart from the question of far-right power — which is a political preoccupation across the continent, especially after recent state elections in Germany — both the left and right leaders have traded blows on the question of security, and who will be strongest in standing up to Russia.  In a POLITICO interview Andersson demanded that Kristersson come clean after it was claimed that an SD official allegedly promoted pro-Russia narratives and linked up with a Russian state group inside Sweden. For his part, Kristersson in his own POLITICO interview questioned the left bloc’s commitment to NATO, which Sweden has only been a member of for two years.  Tim Ross/POLITICO One thing unites both candidates for prime minister: continuing Sweden’s support for Ukraine. In its long history, Sweden has been at war with Russia multiple times and the threat Moscow poses is seared into the national consciousness.   Otherwise, the campaign focused on consumer politics — helping ease the cost of living and improve Sweden’s famous welfare state. The two sides made competing promises of a better deal on taxes, housing, health and dental care costs, as well as warnings over the impact of their rivals’ migration policies.  When will we know who has won?  Swedish broadcasters will release exit poll findings when the voting ends at 8 p.m. local time on Sunday. Karreskog Rehbinder said he hoped to be able to give an early indication on SVT of how the election will unfold once 10% of the votes have been counted, which he expects to be around 9.15 p.m.  If the final tally is extremely close and it’s not clear which side is ahead in the first hours after the voting ends, he said it would likely not be clear until all the counting has finished — which isn’t expected until Wednesday 16 Sept. or later.  The Swedish Election Authority usually publishes “an initial provisional allocation of seats” in the Riksdag at around 10.30 p.m. on election night, if enough voting districts have reported their results by then. But even once the final results are known, it will take weeks or perhaps even longer before a new coalition is formed. And if the parliament cannot ultimately agree on a new prime minister, a fresh election could be called. Parties on the right are largely settled in their so-called Tidö alliance — named after the castle where their agreement was signed in 2022. But there have been deeper splits between some of the smaller parties in Andersson’s left bloc, which could prove a challenge to her attempt to stitch together a majority government.  “If you look at the prediction markets and polling aggregations, they say exactly the same thing — there’s about a 70% probability of a left-wing win, which is of course much narrower than it was three weeks ago,” said Karreskog Rehbinder, who is the founder and CEO of political tech startup Vera Policy. “That would still be my best guess but it is far from sure.”

ÉPREVILLE–EN-LIEUVIN, France – As European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde shook hands and tasted oysters on the bucolic grounds of a Norman manor on Saturday, some might have seen a presidential candidate in waiting. But, Lagarde swears, there is nothing to see here. Speaking as a special guest at the Fête de la Pomme, an apple-themed political gathering organized by Normandy’s regional president Hervé Morin, Lagarde dodged questions over her involvement in the French presidential race and her early departure from the ECB — despite mounting speculation on both matters. On stage, she even encouraged reporters who made the trip to Normandy to cover her potential political comeback to pack up early, promising that they would be disappointed. But there are signs suggesting that the ECB chief, who entered into politics during the presidency of France’s apple-loving Jacques Chirac, is increasingly willing to weigh in on the campaign. While she promised to stay at least until the end of the year, Lagarde previously refused to rule out leaving before the end of her term, which ends in October 2027. Earlier this week, she announced that she would publish her first autobiography, Lady First, in January. She also waded into the French presidential debate by rejecting French far-left presidential contender Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s proposal to wipe out government debt.  Her presence at the apple festival in the 15th-century Manoir de la Fortière — an unconventional locale for a central banker’s speech — might be yet another signal. Opening the event, Morin said that he tried to invite her for years but never managed to make it work. Until this year.  Christine Lagarde at the Fête de la Pomme, France, on September 12, 202. | Giorgio Leali/POLITICO “Everyone is happy to have you here and I realized to what extent you have an exceptional reputation,” said Morin, who worked with Lagarde when they both served as ministers under conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, including during the 2008 financial crisis.  While Lagarde declined to say whether she would become involved in the campaign, participants to Morin’s annual political rally didn’t rule that out. “Several people mention Lagarde as a presidential candidate, but she is the only one who can answer that question,” said centrist senator Catherine Morin-Desailly. “She is a Norman, French and European figure who must, of course, play an active role in helping to shape and develop future platforms for the presidential election. Good candidates will call on her expertise, and I hope they do.” With centrist candidates Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe competing against each other and Bruno Retailleau, the leader of the conservative Les Républicains, also taking part in the race, the center-right side of the presidential spectrum is already crowded. For Kristina Pluchet, a senator from Les Républicains who backs Retailleau, other candidates including Christine Lagarde could very well join the race, but they should compete in a primary election.  With French bond yields rising and the government led by Sébastien Lecornu struggling to cut the deficit, Lagarde’s financial résumé could prove to be an asset — although she complained to a local producer that the oysters she had during her time as the International Monetary Fund boss in Washington were washed with chlorine. The ECB President didn’t give any hint on her political future in her speech. Instead, she used repeated references to calvados, Normandy’s internationally famous apple brandy, to make the case for the benefits of EU membership. She said that calvados, which could be found on the stands of the fête, can be better exported across the world thanks to the EU’s trade policy and is protected by the bloc’s geographical indications. And, unlike calvados which can flow freely between member states without tariffs, capital and services still face internal barriers imposed by member countries, she added. “It is no surprise, then, that many of the people who want to build something new leave Europe altogether,” Lagarde said, calling for the emergence of a real capital markets union to rival the U.S.. As she walked back to a German-plated grey Mercedes S-Class, wearing a scarf with Normandy’s two-leopards flag, Lagarde stopped for selfies, but kept sidestepping questions about her future.

Yemen’s Houthis have seized the strategic Mayun Island as they cement control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Video shows passengers screaming as turbulence rocked a Tunisia-bound Turkish Airlines flight.

Thousands of people gathered in Dublin on Saturday to protest against US president Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland. Trump said earlier at a press conference that a unified Ireland would be ‘fantastic’, wading into a complex and politically charged subject during a weekend visit to a major tournament at his Irish golf course. Some of the protesters showed anger over his comment and some said he should not have been invitedDonald Trump says he would ‘love’ to see united Ireland Continue reading...

US president says on visit to republic that unification will happen eventually so ‘may as well happen now’Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see a united Ireland and that it “may as well happen now”.The US president appeared to endorse the push for constitutional change on the island at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland on Saturday. The unexpected intervention prompted a swift rebuttal from the UK government and Northern Ireland’s unionist leaders. Continue reading...

Off-the-cuff remarks from US president during a visit to Ireland anger pro-UK parties

Central bank balance sheets will stay large