Last year, the Ministry of Defense assured members of the Riigikogu that Estonia had not assumed any obligations under EU arms procurement agreements. A new National Audit Office audit has found that this was not the case.

Estonia's basketball team slumped to an 85:67 defeat away to Hungary in their FIBA World Cup qualifier, their fourth loss in seven games, as the offense stalled badly in the second half.

Two decades on, Toivo Tootsen, Jaanus Männik and Randel Länts look back at the heated 2006 presidential election and the political maneuvering that ultimately brought Toomas Hendrik Ilves to Kadriorg.

Rain Rosimannus and Tõnis Arro recall some of the key nuances of the 2001 presidential election.

Last year, the Ministry of Defense assured members of the Riigikogu that Estonia had not assumed any obligations under EU arms procurement agreements. A new National Audit Office audit has found that this was not the case.

More than half of Estonian and Latvian rescue workers struggle with excess weight and sleep deprivation, according to a new study.

Sel nädalavahetusel sõidetakse autoralli MM-sarja hooaja 11. etapp Paraguays. Lisaks tippklassile on WRC2s stardis kaks Eesti ekipaaži – Robert Virves ja Jakko Viilo (Škoda) ning Romet Jürgenson ja Siim Oja (Ford). Testikatse võitis Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), Rally2 arvestuses oli kiireim Jürgenson. Reedel algab esimene katse kl 15.03, Postimees vahendab sündmusi otseblogis.

3.–6. septembril toimuva muusika- ja linnafestivali Station Narva avab neljapäeval, 3. septembril kontsert «Eesti Gruuv» Narva kultuurimaja Rugodiv suures saalis. Aastakümnete tagust funki, souli ja diskot meie levimuusika kullafondist esitavad solistid Rita Ray ja Robert Linna koos vokaaltrioga TripleTone ja Narva linna sümfooniaorkestriga.

The late king, who reigned for 35 years, broke with tradition by marrying a commoner and was widely loved by Norwegians.

He was jailed for life in 2017 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the wars in the ex-Yugoslavia in 1992-95.

Hundreds of former UK service personnel have had their pensions cut after being overpaid.

The AI startup has been at loggerheads with the Pentagon over the use of AI by the US military.

Elon Musk’s xAI has adopted an unusual and aggressive strategy to fend off lawsuits over child sexual abuse material allegedly created by its AI chatbot, Grok. The company recently sued two of its users, saying they violated X’s terms of service by using Grok to create explicit images of children. xAI is the parent company of the social media platform X, where Grok is housed. Both of the men xAI has sued are also facing criminal charges. The company’s lawsuits seek to hold those users responsible for “all reasonable expenses” xAI incurs defending itself against lawsuits their alleged victims file against the company, including damages for “reputational harm.” Late last month, SpaceXAI sued Russell Bloodworth, an Arkansas photographer who is facing more than 100 criminal charges for allegedly using Grok to alter his professional photos of children into child sexual abuse material. .Bloodworth has pleaded not guilty. “[Bloodworth’s] actions were a calculated scheme to weaponize Plaintiff’s tool for criminal ends, exposing real victims to profound and lasting harm, while exposing Plaintiff to significant legal risk and reputational damage,” xAI wrote in its complaint. The company is being sued by alleged victims of Bloodworth over images he’s accused of creating with Grok. It asked the court to rule that Bloodworth should have to cover its legal fees in that litigation because Bloodworth violated X’s terms of service to create the allegedly unlawful and abusive images. Even in instances of criminal conduct, it’s extremely rare for businesses to enforce their terms of service by suing a user. “It’s not something you really see any other companies doing,” said John Coyle, a law professor at the University of North Carolina and an expert on business contracts and corporate litigation. “The reason why most companies don’t engage in this kind of behavior is because, first, it’s not great for their brand.” Generally, xAI has enforced X’s terms of service through suspensions, terminating accounts and making legally required reports of suspected child sex abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The company has made nearly 74,000 such reports in 2026 alone, resulting in more than 240 arrests, it said in court filings. xAI has not said why it’s turning to litigation in certain cases or how it decides when to do so. The company did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. About two weeks before suing Bloodworth, xAI sued Terry Wayne Harwood, a South Carolina man also accused of using Grok to create CSAM. Harwood has also been criminally charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. The lawsuit makes the same allegations of breach of contract and uses language included verbatim in the later complaint against Bloodworth. xAI is defending itself in multiple lawsuits over nude or explicit images generated by Grok without the subject’s consent, including the creation of child sexual abuse material. One class action includes a plaintiff, referred to as South Carolina Roe, who claims that the perpetrator who used Grok to “nudify” images of her as a child was her father. South Carolina Roe’s attorney, Sophia Rios, told POLITICO that xAI’s lawsuit against Harwood is “too little, too late.” The number of reports regarding Grok-created child sexual abuse material “indicates to me that the actual problem is with their product, which they should fix to prevent this conduct from happening in the first place,” she said. xAI says in its complaints that the company “builds in technological safeguards to prevent bad actors from engaging in illegal, harmful, or abusive conduct, or otherwise attempting to violate its rules.” The company is facing at least two other class actions regarding nudification. The company is also defending against at least four individual suits based on Bloodworth’s alleged crimes, with more expected, according to Derek Potts, an attorney representing alleged victims of Bloodworth. All of the cases essentially claim that xAI fails to use industry-standard safeguards used by other AI businesses to prevent the creation of sexualized, non-consensual deepfakes. Potts told POLITICO the company’s lawsuits against the alleged perpetrators are an attempt to “try to point the finger elsewhere,” adding that he doubts the company can recover a significant sum from Bloodworth and Harwood.

The Iran war is undermining the Pentagon’s ability to project power in other regions of the world — and leaving allies and former defense officials questioning whether Washington can effectively deter its adversaries. To focus resources in the Middle East, the Pentagon has pulled key air defenses and its last remaining aircraft carrier out of the Pacific. It has largely stopped maritime missions in the South China Sea aimed at curbing China’s territorial ambitions. And it has limited fighter jet rotations around Europe that defend NATO’s borders with Russia. The notably reduced U.S. military presence in the Pacific and in Europe — and President Donald Trump’s conciliatory approach to traditional foes such as Russia and North Korea — has threatened the Pentagon’s influence around the world, according to five former defense officials and a person familiar with Defense Department planning. “The obvious question that nobody seems to want to overly press the administration on right now is: Do we still have a credible deterrent?” said one of the officials. “Given where the resources are at, there’s a pretty big gap.” The Pentagon’s inability to subdue Tehran, coupled with drastically reduced stockpiles of missile interceptors and other key munitions, has fueled an increasing consensus that the U.S. military is losing the clout it once held with allies. “There’s just a real hollowing out of confidence,” said a second former defense official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues. The U.S. still has substantial resources in the Middle East. More than 50,000 American troops, a dozen warships and hundreds of aircraft all stand ready to resume fighting if Trump decides to do so. But America’s distancing from allies — including trashing Canada and canceling military exercises with South Korea — has left traditional partners feeling exposed. This is especially true in Asia, where Trump has appeared to embrace Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un. “The president’s apparent interest in accommodation with China is creating a perfect storm that increases [allies’] vulnerability,” the second former official said. The White House has turned to economic pressure on Tehran as the Iran war hits a stalemate, a potentially risky move for global markets. But the Pentagon has largely welcomed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s shift from air strikes to sanctions, given how difficult it has been to come up with a strategy to wrap up the war, according to the person familiar with Pentagon planning. “Wars are hard to get out of, no matter how easy they might be to get into,” the person said. “You can’t always get a Venezuela.” The Pentagon denied any threat to the country’s prestige. “America’s military remains the most powerful fighting force on earth,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. “We have already executed successful operations while maintaining a deep, ready arsenal to defend our people and our interests. Any adversary who confuses media noise with American weakness will discover the truth the hard way.” The White House argued the U.S. continues to have the ability to achieve any of the president’s goals. “As Operation Epic Fury demonstrated, America’s military might is stronger than it’s ever been,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, referencing the government’s name for the campaign against Tehran. The Iran war has led to a musical chairs of sorts with weapon supplies. Gen. Xavier Brunson, who leads U.S. forces in Korea, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in April that the Pentagon had removed munitions from the peninsula for the military conflict with Iran. He said, though, that the region’s main missile defense system, known as THAAD, remained in place. But allies from Australia to Taiwan are voicing concerns they won’t have the U.S. munitions they need if a conflict occurs in the region. Beijing has kept up a steady drumbeat of incursions into Taiwan’s airspace in recent months. “There’s deep anxiety,” said an official in the Pacific. “I personally find the lack of urgency shocking.” But it’s the smaller Asian countries who are going to feel the most impact, said Bryan Clark, a former Navy officer and now an expert on naval operations with the conservative Hudson Institute think tank. “Not being there with a carrier while China is [there], is not going to help our case.” The Iran war has also put enormous demands on the U.S. Navy. Two key aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln, are just returning from record-breaking deployments and in need of maintenance work. The USS Theodore Roosevelt will leave San Diego in coming weeks, and officials have already said it will face a longer deployment than the usual seven months. “I typically am not a fan of extensions,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s top officer, said this week. “I push back hard on that. But the enemy gets a vote.” Signs of American retrenchment are occurring in Europe as well. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in June announced a six-month review of troops in Europe. And he has removed several top officers who played key roles in assisting with Ukraine’s war against Russia. U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander Gen. Christopher Donahue, who Hegseth relieved in July, helped equip tech companies that work with the Army on drone programs. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s new acting chief of staff, also recently stopped a joint training program between U.S. and Ukrainian troops on drone warfare. “We’re about to lose an enormous amount of knowledge about how major wars are being fought from people doing the fighting,” said a U.S. official. Even in the Middle East, the U.S. is finding it has fewer safe options. Navy warships have had to resupply far beyond the range of Iranian weapons. “They can’t operate out of any of the ports that are close to Iran that they’re used to operating out of, and so they’re doing all the resupply from Diego Garcia, which is like two or 3,000 miles back,” said a person close to the Pentagon. The problem would be magnified, the person said, in a war against China since it has large enough arsenals to hammer U.S. bases repeatedly with ballistic missiles. All of these dynamics have dealt reputational damage to U.S. credibility. “What’s more important is the message that’s being sent quietly by diplomats behind closed doors, which is that the United States is unreliable, the United States is unfocused, and China is focused,” said the second former defense official. “It’s here, and it’s not going away.”

Sulaiman and Kasim Khan are increasingly worried after hearing their father is 'agitated' and suffering from anxiety.

Liverpool struggled to 2-2 draw at Newcastle in first league game of season, while Forest lost to Leeds twice this week.

Monarch’s death comes at turbulent time for royal family over association of crown princess with Jeffrey EpsteinKing Harald V of Norway, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, has died aged 89, the royal palace in Oslo has announced. He will be succeeded by his son King Haakon VIII.“It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University hospital on Friday 28 August 28 at 6.35am,” the palace said in a statement. Continue reading...

Coroner finds 31-year-old deviated from a walking track as dusk fell, four days before the winter solsticeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOverlapping errors, including a lack of preparation in near-freezing winter weather, contributed to the death of a Belgian tourist on a wilderness track.Celine Cremer set off on a walk at Philosopher Falls in Tasmania’s remote north-west on 17 June 2023 and was reported missing almost 10 days later. Continue reading...

Death of Europe’s oldest reigning monarch comes at a time of turmoil for Norwegian royal family

Also in this newsletter: The EU’s rich states call for a drastically smaller shared budget