Latest Estonia News
news | ERR
Education Ministry's new high school admissions system still facing concerns
Despite the June 9 deadline for publishing admissions lists, school leaders have warned that uncertainty and long waits for high school places may persist.
news | ERR
ERR to carry FIFA World Cup 2026 matches live
The FIFA World Cup starts soon, and ERR's channels are covering the final, all the matches in the knockout rounds, and many of the group games — some consolation for Estonia not qualifying.
Politics | ERR
Narva fires school principal amid deepening local political dispute
The City of Narva dismissed a high school principal Friday over alleged management violations, drawing opposition criticism as a power struggle in city leadership continues.
Politics | ERR
Valdo Randpere: on octopuses, criticism, and politics
The claim that the EKRE–Isamaa–Center Party coalition coming to power once more in Estonia is merely a theoretical possibility — since Isamaa and the Center Party could together secure enough votes to govern — is naïve self-comfort, writes Valdo Randpere.
Society | ERR
Education Ministry's new high school admissions system still facing concerns
Despite the June 9 deadline for publishing admissions lists, school leaders have warned that uncertainty and long waits for high school places may persist.
Society | ERR
Hiiumaa Literature Festival returns for three-day run in June
The Hiiumaa Literature Festival is back again June 5–7, bringing writers, musicians and readers together for three days of talks, performances and island-themed events.
Postimees
Need taimed oskavad herilastele «helistada» kui häda lahti
Mis juhtub siis, kui näiliselt kaitsetu oataim satub näljaste röövikute rünnaku alla? Esmapilgul ei midagi erilist, kuid taime sees võib samal ajal käivituda peen bioloogiline süsteem. Selle tulemusel hakkavad sündmused arenema viisil, mis muudab kogu olukorra jõuvahekordi. Teadlased on nüüd samm-sammult välja selgitanud, kuidas see protsess alguse saab. Vastus peitub detailis, mida palja silmaga märgata ei õnnestu.
Postimees
Hilinenud arve ei päästnud patsienti maksmisest
Kas rohkem kui kuu aega hiljem saadetud arve on õiglane, kui patsient väidab, et talle ei öeldud uuringu hinda enne selle tegemist? Just selline vaidlus jõudis tarbijavaidluste komisjoni ette pärast seda, kui Medicumi patsient sai arve alles 37 päeva pärast uuringut.
BBC News
Nato and EU condemn Russia after drone hits Romanian residential block
Romania says the Russian drone was likely hit over Ukraine by its air defences and altered its trajectory.
BBC News
Ukraine using AI drones to strike vital convoys supplying Russian troops
BBC Verify has analysed videos of attacks in occupied Ukraine on Russian trucks carrying ammunition, fuel and food.
BBC News
Only three-quarters of first class mail delivered on time
Royal Mail says its service is improving and that it is on track to hit the regulator Ofcom's reduced targets
BBC News
Universal rejects billionaire Bill Ackman's takeover bid
The music giant said Pershing Square's offer fundamentally undervalued the business.
POLITICO
Attal highlights break with Macron in first rally in French presidential bid
Gabriel Attal on Saturday kicked off his presidential election campaign with a major rally in Paris, vowing to move beyond the Macron era and reform a system he said is no longer delivering for the French people. “For decades, we have been trapped in a system that patches up the failures of the past instead of preparing for the future. By constantly chasing the past, this system is exhausting itself, and exhausting the country,” Attal told hundreds of cheering supporters at Paris Expo. He said past French governments have been taken hostage by an “obsession” to pay for yesterday’s spending while forgetting about investing in the future. “We must embrace the future … because the system is currently sacrificing it,” Attal said. “The risk, if we remain trapped in this model, is a generational fracture.” His campaign mirrors the very successful campaign of centrist liberal Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten in October 2025, which focused on optimism about the future and prioritizing the young generations, while exalting a sense of national pride. “My first promise is that we will once again become Europe’s leading power within six years. That is our rank, our place, our destiny,” he said, also vowing to make France the leading European country in artificial intelligence. Attal is following incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron as the presidential candidate of the centrist liberal Renaissance party, which he heads. After almost 10 years of Macron governments and dwindling popularity, Attal is seeking to distance himself from Macron to frame his candidacy as one of change and reform. The 37-year-old politician served as prime minister under Macron from January-September 2024. He was the youngest prime minister in French history and the first openly gay. The latest polls put Attal in fourth place at 13 percent of popular vote, preceded by far-right French Rally candidate Jordan Bardella, center-right Édouard Philippe, and radical left France Unbowed head Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Attal on Saturday said his priorities would be to strengthen education and increase purchasing power by raising wages and boosting business as well as investing in research and innovation. His third priority are be tighter border controls, a clear attempt to win back voters who have drifted to the right and far right, where immigration and border security have become dominant political issues. “A country that no longer controls its borders no longer controls its destiny,” Attal said, adding that his objective is to “welcome fewer people in order to welcome them better.” The fourth priority, he said, is to boost development of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. The young politician announced his bid on May 22 in the southern French countryside, which reflects his desire to distance himself from the Parisian elite and the French capital where he grew up. Attal already had started publicly distancing himself after Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve parliament in 2024. Attal, who was prime minister at the time, was not consulted and was eventually forced to leave as head of government. And during France’s political crisis in the fall of 2025, Attal said publicly that he “no longer understands” Macron’s decisions and accused his former mentor of “wanting to hold onto power” despite having lost the snap elections. The first round of the election is slated for April 2027.
POLITICO
Trump wants to ‘manage’ China trade. Businesses see a tariff opening.
President Donald Trump says he wants to create a new “board of trade” to manage commerce with China. Business groups aren’t sure exactly how it would work, but they know they want to get in on the action. K Street lobbyists are growing increasingly optimistic that the administration’s vague proposal for a body to oversee trade with China, an idea first teased by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in March, could evolve into a major channel for tariff relief between the world’s two largest economies. It’s the latest signal the administration is pulling back from its all-out trade war on China that occupied much of Trump’s first year in office. Businesses and their lobbyists are now racing to capitalize on that opening. “It’s pretty clear in our view that the posture in the administration has changed,” said one official from a major industry group, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations. “There is no longer that push to fundamentally overhaul China’s … economic modus operandi.” The Trump administration is expected to soon release more public guidance on the new body, which will include both U.S. and Chinese officials, and give the public an opportunity to comment on the idea. Trade groups and companies are already preparing to submit their feedback, according to more than half a dozen industry group leaders and CEOs who spoke with POLITICO, and are ramping up private outreach to administration officials, as well. The agreement to form a “board of trade” was one of the few tangible results from Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month. According to the White House, the board will manage trade in what they described as “non-sensitive” goods between the two countries. China’s Commerce Ministry described the proposal more tentatively in its own readout of the summit, saying the two sides had only “agreed in principle” to discuss a broader framework for reciprocal tariff reductions. The discussions, both countries said, will cover $30 billion or more in exports from each country, representing a sizable chunk of the more than $650 billion worth of U.S.-China trade in goods and services, according to U.S. data from 2024. But additional details are scant. “To me, it’s a positive step,” Greer said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday. “My assumption is that there is some amount, some minimum amount on each side that we agree, ‘yeah, we should trade this.’” Since first introducing the idea, Trump administration officials have floated several concepts tied to the program, describing a system that would slash tariffs on mutually favored categories of goods, while maintaining higher barriers on others, according to three people briefed by U.S. officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss developing plans. Officials discussed prioritizing low-tech and consumer goods for tariff reductions, the people said, though officials had also floated more traditional managed-trade mechanisms — such as Chinese purchase commitments, quotas and other tools to balance trade flows. Talks with the Chinese remain fluid, the people stressed, adding that the administration is still ironing out elements of the framework — a signal the clarity industry is searching for is unlikely to come all at once. “The administration looks forward to engaging more with the business community on this historic policy that reflects our commitment to better manage trade between the U.S. and China,” said a White House official, who was granted anonymity to discuss developing plans. “Further details to come,” the official added. A key question industry groups are eager to weigh in on: which products will qualify for the new tariff reductions. The administration hasn’t shared details publicly or with the private sector, either, several industry leaders say. “We don’t know what they mean by ‘non-sensitive goods,’” said Ed Brzytwa, vice president of international trade at the Consumer Technology Association, which represents the likes of Apple, Google and Meta. “I think Ambassador Greer hasn’t been particularly clear about it, neither have the Chinese.” Brzytwa said his group plans to push for tariff relief for the “full range” of consumer tech products, including phones, laptops, monitors and video game consoles to qualify under the framework. “Are those non-sensitive? We would argue they are,” Brzytwa said. Stephen Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, which represents more than 1,100 apparel and footwear brands, said his member companies are also pushing for a broad interpretation of the term. “‘Non-sensitive’ could mean items that are just simply not made here,” Lamar said, pointing to companies seeking relief for imported manufacturing inputs and equipment used to support U.S. production. “We have a long list there, too.” One potential starting point: using the list of products that were spared Trump’s first-term duties on China — things like apparel, footwear, toys, and home goods — said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, which represents companies such as Walmart and Macy’s. At the CFR event, Greer suggested the administration’s approach toward the world’s second-largest economy is evolving, even as it maintains steep tariffs on China compared with other countries. “We’ve just come to terms with the fact that there’s not going to be some giant comprehensive reform of the way the Chinese political system works, including all these economic elements of it,” Greer said. “But we can have some managed trade, we can maybe have some reform around the edges of that managed trade in the interest of stability and continued economic peace between our countries.” Trump’s own trade policies could make it harder to define which products qualify for relief. Since his first term, the administration has rapidly expanded the definition of “national security” to cover a much broader range of products than what’s typically considered sensitive, said Ed Gresser, vice president and director for trade and global markets at the Progressive Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. He pointed to Commerce Department decisions that subjected even products like steel coffins to national security tariffs. “Everything would be a lot simpler if we kept to the idea that national security things are really systemically important and limited, rather than anything can be national security on any given day,” Gresser said. The administration will have to make some decisions on that front in the next few months if it wants to get ahead of Trump’s next summit with Xi scheduled for September in Washington. Trump has “three and a half months to get this thing up and running,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior U.S. trade negotiator. “There will be pressure to show progress,” Cutler added, particularly “given how few deliverables came out of this last summit meeting.”
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
Confirmed Ebola cases nearly double in days as WHO chief visits DR Congo
WHO's Tedros calls for a community-led fight as a rare Ebola strain spreads rapidly through conflict-hit eastern DRC.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
‘Opposite visions’: What to know about Colombia’s presidential election
Senator Ivan Cepeda is leading two right-wing rivals in the first round of an election dominated by security concerns.
Europe | The Guardian
Three climbers die and one rescued after fall on Alaska’s Mount McKinley
Four were part of seven-person group that had traveled to US to ascend North America’s tallest mountainThree people have died after falling while climbing Alaska’s Mount McKinley, according to officials. A fourth climber has been rescued.The four were part of a seven-person group that had traveled to the United States to ascend Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, North America’s tallest mountain, according to information released by the Latvian Mountaineering Association. Continue reading...
Europe | The Guardian
Anthropic’s alliance with pope on AI harms: all in good faith or ‘Vatican-washing?’
Experts say AI firm’s engagement with Vatican risks creating ‘feelgood’ discourse that lacks critical examinationWhy did Anthropic’s founder sit beside the pope during a warning about AI?In the first major written teaching of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV took artificial intelligence to task. The pontiff delineated the technology’s most concerning threats to humanity: replacing workers, accelerating war and exploiting the environment. At a ceremony honoring the holy teaching the day of its release at the Vatican, the pope was flanked by an unusual guest speaker: Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, one of the people behind the AI boom so worrying Leo. Continue reading...
Europe
It is time for a European Security Council
Increasing US disengagement and continued Russian aggression have given the idea fresh impetus
Europe
Submit your questions: Ten years on, what’s next for Brexit?
Take part in a live Ask an Expert Q&A with the FT’s Europe editor Ben Hall and Peter Foster, the FT’s World trade editor, on Thursday June 4, at 1pm BST