Kristen Michal, chairman of the Reform Party, on Sunday said opposition conservative parties and their allies want to reverse Estonia's development, limit people's freedoms and distance the country from its allies and the party needs to act as a counterweight.

Former Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has ruled herself out of running for president of Estonia, saying it is not the job for her.

Kristen Michal, chairman of the Reform Party, on Sunday said opposition conservative parties and their allies want to reverse Estonia's development, limit people's freedoms and distance the country from its allies and the party needs to act as a counterweight.

President Alar Karis called for the Balkan accession process to be sped up during a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, saying the country had made significant progress towards joining the bloc.

A court has sentenced a teacher in South Estonia to seven years' prison time after finding him guilty of pedophile offenses, Lõuna Postimees reported.

The Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL) will demand during teachers' salary negotiations that the government fulfill its pre-election promises by raising teachers' minimum salary to 120 percent of the national average.

Ungari uue valitsuse esimesed välispoliitilised signaalid on tekitanud Euroopa Liidus ja analüütikute seas üha rohkem küsimusi.

Ma pikalt mõtlesin, kas reageerida arvamusloole pealkirjaga «Üliõpilaste seas levib ohtlik kapitalismivastasus», sest see loob eksitava pildi nii majandusteadusest kui ka tänaste noorte hoiakutest. Ühe aine kursuse kogemuse pealt ja arusaamata, mida täpselt õpetati, tehti üldistusi terve õppekeskkonna ja uue põlvkonna väärtuste kohta. Tartu Ülikooli majandusteaduskonna vilistlasena pean sellisele käsitlusele vastama, kirjutab Noorte Sotsiaaldemokraatide president Markus Meier.

Eight people were injured, four seriously, before passers-by gave chase and stopped the man.

Staff Sgt Mohamed Mahdhee died while diving in the search-and-rescue operation, the Maldives government tells the BBC.

The government is cracking down on third parties who use bots to buy tests and resell them at inflated prices.

John Hammond is one of 30 parents who told BBC Your Voice they'd experienced problems with the CMS.

Federal and local officials are still scrambling to prepare for potential drone threats at World Cup sites around the U.S., just weeks before the games begin. The reasons for the scramble are varied, including a shortage of equipment to track and use countermeasures against drones, a two-month Homeland Security department shutdown that hurt preparation, and new authorities governing drone use that many officials are still trying to understand. The gaps are adding to security worries about the once-every-four-years international soccer championship, which is expected to bring millions of fans to the United States, Mexico and Canada. And some — especially local officials in states like California — worry both about the threat and about who will get the blame should something go wrong. “If there’s an incident, or when there’s an incident, there’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing,” said a drone industry official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about law enforcement issues. “Everyone’s going to be looking for a scapegoat.” Safety officials are concerned about a range of potential drone threats, from nuisance flights that interrupt a soccer match to more serious attacks that put crowds at risk of injury, such as a dirty bomb. In April, Secret Service Director Sean Curran told lawmakers that his agency was having a tough time acquiring counter-drone technology. While he didn’t provide details on the shortage, typical countermeasures include portable or wearable detection or jamming tools, as well as radio frequency sensors or cameras. He faulted “supply chain issues” while noting that the agency spent more than $100 million in the past year and a half to get up to speed. Curran also said the Secret Service would lean on the Pentagon for support. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said earlier this month that “the threat level is extremely high,” especially in areas outside the stadiums, speaking broadly about the overall security environment. In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency is working “around the clock” with federal, state, local and international partners to ensure safety and security for players, fans and communities involved in the events — and will respond to any threats “in real time.” DHS accused Democrats of undermining preparations during the 76-day budget standoff that ended April 30, saying the lapse left the department unable to carry out operational preparations. The federal preparations involve Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Protective Service, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service. Curran also said the Los Angeles area, where eight out of 78 U.S.-based World Cup games will be played, was “not ready for drone detection and mitigation,” so the agency is coming in to train law enforcement personnel. (Local officials dispute this assertion.) The first game in the U.S. will be June 12 in Inglewood, California, between Paraguay and the United States. ‘The rules are still being written’ For years, the government has relied on a patchwork of agency-specific measures to detect, identify and track drones, while state and local governments pursued their own approaches. In December, that changed somewhat with the expansion of counter-drone authorities in the most recent defense policy bill. The new law, known as the Safer Skies Act, mandates that DHS and the Justice Department — working with the Pentagon and Transportation Department — develop and publish fresh rules for state and local law enforcement. “Now you have to actually implement the law, and the timing sucks because they’re trying to implement as they’re trying to execute at the same time — and that is challenging,” the drone industry official said.“The rules are still being written.” Officials are playing catch-up. The FBI’s drone training center in Alabama — which opened last year — is offering enhanced instruction for law enforcement and security personnel. The drone school in Huntsville has graduated 65 state police personnel, FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers on Tuesday. “The wait list is long,” Patel said during a Senate hearing on the FBI’s budget request. “Every single agency across the country wants their police officers there” for its advanced training capabilities at the center, he said. “They graduate a class every three weeks,” the drone official said. The FBI did not respond to questions on its training cadence, including information on graduation rates. Whether such last-ditch efforts will be enough to safeguard the large-scale events remains an open question. “The president looked at counter UAS drones as being a major, major threat, and realized that we need to put another 500 million [dollars] in terms of reimbursement into counter UAS,” White House World Cup task force executive director Andrew Giuliani said in an interview with POLITICO last month, using an abbreviation to refer to unmanned aircraft systems. In December, FEMA announced that $250 million would go to 11 states hosting the World Cup and the Washington region to prepare for the United States’ 250th anniversary. “On top of that, we pushed to get the Safer Skies Act in the [defense policy law] at the end of last year,” Giuliani said, adding that the legislation broadened the opportunity for state and local law enforcement “to be able to mitigate against drones.” “We want to make sure that states and locals have the ability to counter the emerging threats,” Giuliani said. DHS said it plans to use all available authorities, technologies and partnerships as part of its ongoing safeguard efforts. Technologies for counter-drone operations often range from radio-frequency systems that sever a drone’s connection to its operator to more advanced tools designed to track, jam or intercept aircraft. At times, they can also conflict with one another. In a Homeland Security-sponsored podcast, Alice Hong, the director of DHS’ National Urban Security Technology Laboratory, earlier this month said federal, state, local, and private stadium operators will be bringing their “counter-drone kits” to stadiums for the games, but that all these entities must be “highly coordinated” on a plan on surveying the skies. Otherwise, “these systems can actually interfere with one another and create gaps in coverage,” she said. Years of uneven efforts Aerospace and technology companies are now working to spin up supply of technologies that can help deal with drones, mostly because the lack of proper legislative authorities over the years has depressed demand for making these technologies. Trump’s executive orders intended to expand access to U.S.-manufactured drones and counter-drone technologies, and several companies have since announced domestic manufacturing expansion. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Michael Hackman, who heads the LAPD’s counter-drone program, disputed Curran’s assertion that local officials are unprepared. He said LAPD is “highly prepared,” and that its personnel have supported multiple counter-drone operations with the FBI’s Los Angeles office. The World Cup games in the Los Angeles area will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood — outside the police department’s jurisdiction — but LAPD will oversee security for the FIFA Fan Fest and several official Fan Zones nearby, Hackman said. “One of the primary challenges is public awareness,” Hackman said in response to emailed questions from POLITICO. “Ensuring that individuals understand and comply with drone restrictions — particularly during major events — is critical to preventing incidents before they occur.” In addition to event-based use, LAPD is also expanding permanent, citywide counter-drone infrastructure “to enhance situational awareness and readiness for rapid response,” he said. The LAPD uses a layered system to detect and track drones, combining remote ID — which works as a license plate for drones — radio frequency detection, radar, and camera technologies, Hackman said, and to respond, it employs cyber and electronic countermeasures alongside ground teams that can locate and address drones directly. Not everyone has as much leeway. The police department in Arlington, Texas — which has jurisdiction over the “Entertainment District” housing AT&T Stadium, where nine matches will be played — has long maintained drone-detection systems there that help officers locate unwanted drones on the ground. The department is now working to get more expansion to include ways to disable drones, and recently received more delegated local authority, the department said in a statement. Like LAPD, some Arlington personnel have completed specialized training at the FBI’s Alabama counter-drone training center, APD said. But the Arlington department said it does not yet have the infrastructure to carry out mitigation operations on its own. That shouldn’t come as a total surprise. For years, local law enforcement units haven’t had the proper tools to clear a drone from populated areas, namely because the responsibility for most counter-drone operations have largely been concentrated at the federal level. “[Congress] didn’t extend these authorities for many years,” the drone industry official added. For now, the focus at the moment is on “helping industry and government stay aligned over the next three months to get through this particularly intense period,” the drone official said. Sophia Cai contributed to this report.

VIENNA — Questions aren’t going away for the Eurovision Song Contest. No matter the result of Saturday night’s Eurovision grand finale, the broadcasting union behind the contest is facing tough questions about how countries are cleared to compete.  In a hair-raising finish last night, Bulgaria’s underdog entrant DARA leaped past Israel’s Noam Bettan to take the top prize.  The earworm dance anthem “Bangaranga” earned Bulgaria its first Eurovision win, produced the biggest victory margin ever seen at the song contest, and marked the first time in almost a decade that national juries and the public chose the same winner.   While this year’s final brought some incredible firsts, it also saw a repeat of last year, when Israel climbed to second place with a huge boost from the public vote. It also marks another year of the Eurovision contest that was overshadowed by controversy surrounding Israel’s participation.   Eurovision is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an alliance of 113 public service media across 56 countries, with all member broadcasters allowed to take part. Five countries boycotted the 2026 edition because they did not want to share a stage with Israel: Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland. Those national broadcasters say their decision is due to Israel’s war in Gaza — sparked by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants — and the resulting humanitarian crisis it triggered.  Just as the final began on Saturday night, Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE pushed out a message calling for “peace and justice for Palestine” and saying there is “no room for indifference” in the Eurovision Song Contest.   Seeking a reckoning Also moments before the final started, Belgium’s Flemish broadcaster VRT said it is unlikely it will send an artist to next year’s Eurovision stage in Sofia, unless there’s a reckoning within the EBU about how decisions are made on who gets to compete in the contest. “We ask for a clear framework for participation, an open debate and a direct vote among EBU members,” said VRT spokesperson Yasmine Van der Borght. She said VRT has not received an “adequate” answer from the EBU on this or a “signal that the EBU hears our concerns.”   Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, meanwhile, has warned about the dangers of a “cultural boycott” of Israel in Eurovision, which it said could harm “freedom of creation and freedom of expression.”  Amid the continuing criticism, Israel’s foreign ministry congratulated Bulgaria on its win in an X post on Sunday. “So much love from across Europe and around the world last night,” the post said, adding that “judging by the votes” it “looks like Europe couldn’t get ‘Michelle’ [Israel’s entry] out of their heads.” The EBU late last year avoided holding a full vote among members on Israel’s participation, and instead introduced an overhaul of the voting system to address concerns that countries could unfairly influence results. A New York Times article published this week made fresh allegations that Israel’s government orchestrated a campaign to garner votes in 2025, echoing concerns raised last year. Israel’s KAN broadcaster has emphasized that it was “not involved in any prohibited campaign intended to influence the results.”  VRT’s Van der Borght said the Flemish broadcaster’s comments are not targeted at Israel, but are more “general.” She said VRT expects the EBU to make a “clear statement against war and violence and for respect for human rights.”  Extra pressure The prospect of more country boycotts next year over Israel’s participation piles extra pressure on the EBU to be more consistent and clear in how it applies its own rules.   During the final week in Vienna, Eurovision officials became increasingly terse when fielding questions about Israel being allowed to participate, and whether it reflected a double standard given that Russia was banned from the contest in 2022 after it invaded Ukraine. A top EBU official explained the reasoning to POLITICO, that as long as national broadcasters follow EBU rules — like being sufficiently independent from the government — they should be allowed to compete. The official said Israel’s KAN is independent enough, while Russia’s RTR, Channel One and RDO are not.   That wasn’t the reasoning outlined in 2022, when Russia’s public broadcaster was expelled from the EBU and as a consequence banned from Eurovision. At the time, the EBU said that the decision was made “in light of ongoing events in Ukraine,” and the fact that allowing Russia to participate “would bring the competition into disrepute.”   In a press briefing ahead of Saturday’s final, Eurovision chief Martin Green acknowledged that the contest is “going through some challenging times,” and said organizers conducted a number of “listening sessions” with fans this week to hear their feedback. He said they will spend the summer “reviewing everything.”  Green also made a heartfelt appeal for viewers to “enjoy the show,” which is “about expressing yourself, about music, at the end of the day.”  “It’s a terrific, brilliant, wonderful, heartfelt show, with true emotion. It is an unbelievable spectacle, and just for a moment, or maybe four and a half hours, maybe close the curtains to the outside world and dream that something else is possible,” he said.   But for a self-proclaimed “apolitical” song contest that has long been hijacked by politics, the outside world is getting harder to ignore.  

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