The first stretch of an upgraded highway in central Estonia opens to traffic on Friday.

Despite being behind schedule, work is ongoing to electrify a stretch of rail line between Tartu and Tapa.

Political communication expert Annika Arras said that although parties should step up public discussion about the presidential election, the potential candidate should be someone who genuinely wants to run.

Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has said she has not given her consent to be a presidential candidate ahead of this autumn's elections.

A European Environment Agency report ranks Estonia's bathing water quality among Europe's poorest. However, a marine biologist says that does not mean the country's beaches are unsafe for swimming.

Andre Farm, a cheesemaker based in Tartu County, has stopped selling its cheese through most major retail chains, saying the retail sales system has become too costly.

Flora alistas täna õhtul Kuressaare linnastaadionil Eesti meistriliiga 18. vooru kohtumises Kuressaare meeskonna 3:0, teenides teise järjestikuse võidu.

Neljapäeva õhtul kell 22 kohtuvad 1/16-finaalis Hispaania ja Austria koondised. Postimees vahendab mängu otseblogis.

The latest barrage deployed the largest number of weapons on the capital and hit locations over a wide area.

Around 600,000 followers of the Society of Saint Pius X, a Catholic sect, are affected.

The government had initially said it would not relax licensing laws further for the World Cup.

The airline calls on European governments to postpone the EES system until after the summer holiday period.

Leader of Spain’s center-right People’s Party Alberto Núñez Feijóo alleged Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez aimed to use migrants to expand his voter base following the government’s recent mass migrant legalization effort. “If we add up the number of immigrants who have entered Spain between 2019 and 2025, it’s four million, and now we’re adding 1.3 million with this legalization drive, and the 2.5 million that the government calls grandchildren,” the conservative leader said. “Seven or eight million citizens in seven years — no country can withstand that from a social, welfare, or cultural perspective.” When asked to elaborate, Feijóo said his accusations were in relation to the unrelated, so-called grandchildren’s law passed by Sánchez’s previous government in 2022. That legislation grants citizenship to the grandchildren of Spaniards who fled Spain as a result of the country’s civil war and Francisco Franco’s brutal dictatorship. Sánchez’s government called Feijóo’s comments “profoundly irresponsible” and said he had deliberately conflated two different policies. The beneficiaries of the legalization process that has just concluded cannot vote in Spanish regional or national elections because they are being granted resident permits, and voting rights are reserved for citizens. After being criticized for his inconsistency, Feijóo on Thursday appeared to reverse course. “We agree that a grandchild, where there is a very clear line of descent, should be entitled to Spanish citizenship,” he said during a speech in Santander, but added that he still believed the government had failed to be transparent while doing so. While Feijóo backtracked, the far-right Vox party renewed its criticism of the government’s migration policies, which parliamentary spokesperson José María Figaredo said amounted to “silent electoral fraud.” The party on Thursday called for a review of the existing legislation, as well as the suspension of mail-in voting rights for Spaniards living abroad, arguing the process was susceptible to manipulation and could result in a “delayed coup d’état.” Nearly 1.2 million unauthorized migrants applied for legal status within the framework of Spain’s mass legalization drive, the Spanish Ministry of Migration announced on Thursday. According to the Ministry, 609,737 of the 1,174,968 that applied before the June 30 deadline had already had their applications admitted for processing and received provisional residence and work permits. Nearly 11,000 applicants have already been granted full legal status under the terms of the extraordinary royal decree approved by the Spanish government last April. Migration Minister Elma Saiz noted that 67 percent of the applications had been filed by migrants from Central and South America. Colombians accounted for the largest share of applicants, followed by migrants from Morocco, Venezuela and Peru. The scheme, she added, allows “hundreds of thousands of people who already reside in our country, but with fear and without rights, to face the future with enthusiasm and hope.” The total number of applications filed far exceeds the government’s expectations. When the royal decree was approved, authorities anticipated that around 500,000 unauthorized migrants would seek legal status under the terms of the measure, which applies to people who had been living in Spain for at least five months and had no criminal record.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Deezer Le podcast Playbook Paris se délocalise au parc Jourdan des Rencontres économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, où se bousculent les politiques et la plupart des candidats à la présidentielle — à l’exception notable des responsables du RN et de LFI. Malgré les sondages (et les échanges qui se multiplient entre les lepénistes et le patronat), ils ne sont pas les bienvenus sur scène. ⁠On en discute avec Jason Wiels et Paul de Villepin, envoyés spéciaux de POLITICO à Aix, auteurs de la newsletter Paris Influence.

Attention has turned to the humanitarian response after at least 2,295 people are confirmed dead, and 13,000 homeless.

Which host cities and matches face the biggest risks? What is FIFA doing to protect players and how can fans stay safe?

Yorgen Fenech said to have spent €400,000 on fees for men convicted of car bombing that killed investigative journalistA businessman accused of commissioning the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia spent more than €400,000 (£343,000) on legal fees for the hitmen convicted of her killing, prosecutors claim.Yorgen Fenech, the 44-year-old heir to one of Malta’s largest fortunes, arrived in court for the second day of his trial on Thursday in an unmarked armoured police vehicle. He is on house arrest having pledged a record bail estimated at €50m. Continue reading...

NCA says offenders arrange to sexually assault and film victims via online networks with crimes often taking place in trusting relationshipsCriminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted.The National Crime Agency [NCA] has said online networks, “many as yet unidentified by law enforcement”, were allowing offenders to arrange to rape and abuse victims or arrange for sexual assaults to be filmed. Continue reading...

Boys handed a four-year detention sentence after attorney-general’s referral to the Court of Appeal

UK financial watchdog also bans ‘double-dipping’ as it pushes to improve treatment of customers