Although young people's loneliness is often discussed in public, demographer Mark Gortfelder rejected that notion. According to him, while people are still forming partnerships at the same rate, the main problem lies in the instability of relationships.

Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform) expects the EDF to present possible options by the end of the week for how Estonia could contribute to the mission protecting the Strait of Hormuz.

Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt (Reform) has completed a new version of the Climate Resilient Economy Act and plans to seek principled approval for it at the government's cabinet meeting on Thursday. The coalition plans to pass the law before next year's elections.

A bill that would define sexual intercourse without consent as rape has been sent to its second reading by the Riigikogu Legal Affairs Committee after additional amendments were added to define consent.

Although young people's loneliness is often discussed in public, demographer Mark Gortfelder rejected that notion. According to him, while people are still forming partnerships at the same rate, the main problem lies in the instability of relationships.

The Riigikogu on Wednesday passed a law with 76 votes in favor requiring all conscripts entering compulsory military service to have at least B1-level proficiency in Estonian starting at the beginning of 2027.

Eesti autosportlane Gregor Jeets, kes on varem sõitnud rahvusvahelisel tasemel rallit, liikus edasi ringrajale ning osaleb sel aastal Itaalia meeskonnaga Target Racing McLaren Trophy Europe sarjas.

Vanilla Ninja andis Eurovisiooni 1. poolfinaalis endast kõik, kuid jäi paraku finaali ukse taha ja selleks korraks on Eesti jaoks lauluvõistlus lõppenud. Meie esitluse puhul jäi aga osadele silma teleaps, mis ühe fänni sõnul võis kandvat rolli mängida ka telehääletuse tulemustes.

Attacks are continuing after Ukraine's president warned of "more waves" of Russian strikes throughout Wednesday.

The ship, which set sail from Belfast on Friday, is at port in Bordeaux after 49 people fell ill from gastrointestinal illness.

The travel operator says customers are delaying booking holidays over Iran war concerns.

A cyber security expert says deleting chat history could lead to a lack of accountability if things go wrong.

DUBLIN — Ireland’s former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has landed his party in electoral hot water by making unguarded anti-immigrant comments on the campaign trail. Ahern, who was Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, made the remarks in a surreptitiously recorded video as he canvassed door to door for the centrist Fianna Fáil party’s candidate in an upcoming Dublin parliamentary by-election. The video clip, promoted online by anti-immigration agitators, spread like wildfire Wednesday on social media. The footage shows Ahern, 74, talking to a potential voter, who blames him for “hordes of foreigners coming into our country” — and records his response using a phone concealed from his view. “I think there’s too many coming in. I think we have to take some in,” Ahern tells the unidentified woman. “I have no problem with the Ukrainians because, in fairness, Russia moved in and [there is] war in their country … but the ones I worry about are the Africans,” Ahern is recorded saying. “I agree with you on the Africans. We can’t be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there’s too many from those places.” When the woman expresses fears about Muslims, Ahern responds: “I don’t worry about this generation of Muslims. The next generation of the kids growing up, that’s when I think the problem will be.” Ahern on Wednesday confirmed to reporters he’d made the comments — but sought to distance himself from them, arguing he’d been trying to parry the woman’s racist diatribe, not amplify it. “I was trying to calm it all down,” he told the Irish Independent. “I’ve no problem with people from the Congo or Africa,” he told the Irish Times. Current Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Ireland’s current Taoiseach, told lawmakers that Ahern’s critical comments on Africans and Muslims did not reflect the policies of his own center-right coalition government or of today’s Fianna Fáil. “I want to be very clear, from my perspective and the party’s perspective, we do not approve of those specific comments,” Martin said in response to opposition attacks. Rising immigration has become a recurring flashpoint issue in Ireland since 2023, when an Algerian migrant stabbed three young children, one critically, along with an adult carer outside their central Dublin school. That attack triggered rioting and fanned a wave of arson attacks and protests nationwide against housing for people seeking asylum. Arguments over immigration are again a feature of the May 22 by-election for a vacant parliamentary seat in largely working-class Dublin Central, the most ethnically diverse constituency in Ireland. Several candidates in the 14-strong field represent left-wing opposition parties that defend the rights of immigrants. Fianna Fáil’s candidate, John Stephens, wasn’t expected to win the Dublin Central seat even before the sudden spotlight on Ahern, who once dominated the politics of the area but has been a party outcast since resigning amid a corruption scandal in 2008. Ahern admitted Wednesday that his love of door-to-door canvassing, honed to maximum effect in the early days of the internet, has become politically perilous in a smartphone-armed society. “It’s a different world, this social media thing,” he said. “You talk to people at doors and you don’t expect people to be taping you.”

Europe’s disease agency chief said EU cooperation on hantavirus had been “very, very strong” after the French Prime Minister called on ministers to work closer together in their response. “There were meetings every day” between countries and technical experts since the outbreak was reported May 2, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, told reporters today. It was an example of “good European teamwork,” she added. There have been 11 confirmed cases and three deaths from the current outbreak from the cruise ship MV Hondius so far. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu asked ministers on Tuesday to “immediately strengthen cooperation” and push for “closer coordination” of EU health protocols. Today, meanwhile, EU ambassadors will discuss a joint strategy on hantavirus for the first time at diplomatic level. Rendi-Wagner said the ECDC was taking a “no regrets” approach to hantavirus and that the agency’s approach was informed by the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic. ECDC has also taken a more cautious line than its U.S. colleagues on potential transmission by asymptomatic patients. EU epidemiologist Gianfranco Spiteri warned there “might be some risk” since the virus can be detected in the blood before symptoms appear. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, said May 7 that “hantavirus is not spread by people without symptoms.” In an alert the next day, the CDC said transmission “typically required” close contact with a symptomatic person.

If found guilty, the right-wing populist could be suspended from the House ⁠of Commons for a period of time.

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No 10 confirms Streeting is still health secretary despite reports he could launch a leadership bid as early as tomorrowStreeting to resign and challenge Starmer, allies sayFarage faces inquiry over £5m gift from crypto billionaireLibby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.An odd dispute of interpretation has emerged overnight between the Scottish and UK governments. Yesterday evening a Scottish government spokesperson announced that, during a call between first minister John Swinney and prime minister Kier Starmer, both parties agreed to meet face to face next month to discuss a referendum on independence.It is particularly welcome that the prime minister agreed to meet next month to discuss a referendum on independence.The PM committed to meeting to discussed shared issues including the cost of living.As the PM told the first minister, the manifesto this government was elected on was unambiguous that ‘Labour does not support independence or another referendum’. Our position remains unchanged.We, in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, had a devastating set of election results and we were simply unable to articulate our offering, or indeed critique, of the SNP government because of the noise created at the centre.Therefore, we became, and the prime minister became, the inadvertent midwife of a fifth-term SNP government. And that scenario you saw then, people waiting for a speech to try and articulate his new direction, a strategy, and it simply was not forthcoming.This is not one faction of the Labour party. This is about the Labour party articulating, I think, now a commonly held view that this is unsustainable and unstable. Continue reading...

New rules would enable single-ticket bookings across multiple rail operators throughout EuropeCross-border train journeys through several European countries are the stuff of many a holidaymaker’s dreams.But the reality of trying to buy the tickets navigating multiple websites without knowing who can help if a connection is missed – can prove less than relaxing. As one MEP puts it, it can often require “five tabs, three apps and a prayer”. Continue reading...

Human rights groups say Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent back 50 people via Polish airport

Brussels seeks to replicate air travel bookings for trains, ferries and coaches