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.

Varro Vooglaid's recent exit from the EKRE group means that the Riigikogu now has more unaffiliated or independent MPs than at any time before in the 21st century.

Varro Vooglaid's recent exit from the EKRE group means that the Riigikogu now has more unaffiliated or independent MPs than at any time before in the 21st century.

EKRE MP Rene Kokk refuted claims according to which whether he will run for the party again in 2027 is somehow connected to the fate of Varro Vooglaid.

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.

The government has approved new pet identification rules requiring dogs and cats to be microchipped and recorded in a nationwide registry.

Toredat nädalavahetust!

Täna algab Eesti korvpallimeistrivõistluste finaalseeria valitseva meistri BC Kalev/Cramo ning põhiturniiri võitja Tartu Ülikool Maks & Mooritsa vahel.

Mengele fled Europe after the war but for years there were rumours he spent time in Switzerland.

Among the victims in Kyiv was 12-year-old Lyubava Yakovleva, whose father was killed during the war.

Analysts say the moves have been fuelled by concerns a Burnham-led government would increase government borrowing.

The regulator say the energy supplier breached licence conditions aimed at protecting customers in vulnerable situations.

LONDON — Tommy Robinson, the far-right anti-Islam activist who will lead a march through London on Saturday, is broadly unpopular in Britain — except among voters supporting Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.  According to The POLITICO Poll by Public First, which questioned more than 2,000 people earlier this month, 36 percent of Reform UK voters have a “very” or “somewhat” positive view of Robinson. About as many Reform supporters — 31 percent — had a negative view of him.  Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has a history of criminal convictions for violence, fraud and possession of drugs, among other offenses, and co-founded the English Defence League. He is set to lead a “Unite the Kingdom” march of thousands of people through London on Saturday, to demonstrate for “national unity, free speech and Christian values.”  The march, and a pro-Palestinian demonstration expected to take place at the same time, drew intensive police planning, with 4,000 officers, armored vehicles, helicopters, drones and for the first time facial recognition technology deployed to keep order in the capital.  Nationally, Robinson is seen negatively by 47 percent of adults across all voter groups, compared to 17 percent who have a positive opinion of him. But the poll shows the extent to which Reform’s backers are sympathetic to the most extreme end of activism on the right.  With Reform now consistently topping opinion polls — and winning elections across the country — the opinions of its voters stand to influence how the country is run in years to come at local level and potentially from Westminster, too.  “Robinson has historically been a fringe figure in British politics, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed is that his supporters have, for the first time, coalesced around a party with a real shot at power,” said Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First.  “Half of those with positive views of Robinson would now vote Reform, and they make up roughly a third of Reform’s base,” said Wride. “If Reform achieves the political power its recent electoral performance suggests, a substantial chunk of its coalition will sit at the edge of what many voters consider acceptable politics, with real sway over who the party has to court to hold itself together.” Farage has sought to distance himself from Robinson in the past, saying he is not welcome in his party.  And the poll suggests that Reform’s surge in popularity over the past two years — from a fringe party before the 2024 election to polling dominance today — has diluted the support for Robinson within its voting base.  Among voters who backed Reform at the 2024 general election, 41 percent said they had a generally favorable view of Robinson, though that falls to 36 percent of people who said they would vote for Farage’s party today. Similarly, Reform voters today are more likely to have a critical view of Robinson than those who backed Reform two years ago — 31 percent, compared to 27 percent.  “Reform’s base today is much broader than it was in 2024,” said Wride. “Robinson’s supporters may have found a home in Reform, but they now share it with a far more diverse coalition. If anything, Reform’s challenge now is building a platform that can hold together those with positive views of Robinson alongside voters whose disappointment with the two main governing parties is much more mainstream.” More than half of respondents believe more people support Robinson’s protests than feel they can admit it. This doesn’t mean people secretly support the activist, according to Wride, but shows “how many people see his marches as the tip of an iceberg.”  “Voters from every main party, including Greens (who are his clearest opponents) feel Robinson has silent supporters out there,” Wride said.  The POLITICO Poll also sheds light on how public protests polarize opinion.  In addition to Robinson’s march at the weekend, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators will take to the streets of London. Respondents to the survey, which was run before the weekend’s events, were asked for their views on Israeli and Palestinian marches.  When it comes to sympathy for protesters’ motives, there tends to be a clear partisan split. More than half of Labour voters — 53 percent — said they agreed or strongly agreed with the idea behind protests “against the actions of Israel in Gaza.” For Conservatives, the figure was 26 percent, and among Reform UK voters, 22 percent.  Nationally, 36 percent of respondents said they agreed with the idea behind the Israeli and Palestinian protests, and 28 percent said they disagreed. The remainder said they did not know, or neither agreed nor disagreed.  The POLITICO Poll by Public First surveyed 2,031 adults from May 8 to 11 across the U.K. 

MADRID — Sunday’s election in Spain’s most populous region — Andalusia — will set the tone for what kind of conservatives will be in pole position to confront Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in next year’s general election. The center-right People’s Party is currently ahead in national polls but this weekend’s contest in the crucial southern region of 9 million people — with a bigger population than EU countries such as Bulgaria, Denmark or Ireland — will probably determine whether it will pursue a more moderate or hard-line course into the 2027 race. The lead candidate for the People’s Party in Andalusia is its current regional president, Juanma Moreno. He represents the moderate wing of the party and his expected victory on Sunday is likely to set it on a more centrist course for 2027 if he wins outright, as polls suggest is possible. If he doesn’t do so well and is forced into a coalition with the far-right Vox, that could boost the more right-wing camp in the party, which is represented by the maverick populist Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is currently locked in a fierce spat with Mexico’s left-wing government. “Moreno has done well in Andalusia precisely because he has distanced himself from Vox. He’s much more moderate,” said political scientist Fernando Vallespín at Madrid’s Autonomous University. By contrast, he added, “Ayuso has a majority in Madrid because she has an image that is close to that of Vox” and which has successfully limited the ultranationalists’ electoral appeal there. Colonial clash Still, despite Moreno’s apparent strength on the campaign trail in Andalusia, the political debate in Spain around the People’s Party has been somewhat overshadowed by Ayuso’s nationalistic showdown with Mexico. In recent months, Ayuso has described Mexico as a “narco-state” and cast its government as an authoritarian regime comparable to that of Cuba.  Ayuso’s visit there this month began with controversy, when she attended an event in Mexico City that paid tribute to Hernán Cortés, the 16th-century Spanish conquistador responsible for what many Mexicans regard as a genocidal campaign against indigenous people.  In a speech, Ayuso described mestizaje, the blending of cultures and people that followed the Spanish conquest, as “the message of hope and happiness.” The Spanish musician Nacho Cano, an ally of Ayuso, who was also present, went as far as saying: “Without Cortés there would be no Mexico.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum hit back in a speech just hours later, saying: “Those who hark back to the conquest as a salvation are destined for defeat.” Ayuso eventually cut short her 10-day trip, claiming that protests against her by Mexicans had been part of a plan orchestrated by Sheinbaum, in league with Sánchez, which he has denied. Ayuso attends the “El Barco De Vapor” and “Gran Angular” Youth Literature Awards at the Real Casa de Correos on May 12, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. | Paolo Blocco/WireImage via Getty Images On her return, Ayuso doubled down. “Mexico did not exist until the Spaniards arrived,” she told the Madrid regional parliament, to jeers from the left-wing opposition. She also accused the Sheinbaum government of “living off poverty, which is what communism always does.” The legacy of the Spanish conquest and colonization of the New World has been a source of tensions between Spain and Mexico for several years.  Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, demanded an apology from Spain for human rights violations committed during that era. In 2024, the current president did not invite King Felipe to her inauguration, saying neither he nor the Spanish government had responded to the request. However, comments last October by the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, acknowledging there had been “pain and injustice” in the two countries’ shared history, appeared to improve relations. The king went further in March, when he told the Mexican ambassador in Spain that there had been “a lot of abuse” during the conquest, which “cannot make us feel proud.” Those comments drew a positive response from the Mexican government, although they angered some on Spain’s right, which tends to be more defensive about the country’s colonial history. Backing the moderate The People’s Party’s national leadership, which has frequently been wrong-footed by Ayuso’s outbursts, has steered clear of her Mexican dispute. Instead, on the campaign trail in Andalusia, party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo praised Moreno’s measured image, telling supporters in Málaga that “it’s more important than ever…to have moderate and centrist politics.” Polls show the Socialists are in a distant second place ahead of Sunday’s vote. The death of two civil guards in a high-speed pursuit of drug traffickers in waters off Huelva appeared to hurt the party. The Socialist candidate, María Jesús Montero, described the incident as a “workplace accident” in language that played badly.

At least seven Palestinians were killed when Israeli air strikes hit a residential building and a vehicle in Gaza City.

UK artist Matthew Collings says his exhibition “Drawings Against Genocide” has been falsely depicted as anti-Semitic.

All 46 Council of Europe members sign agreement ‘deplored’ by human rights organisations The UK and 45 other European countries have signed an agreement that explicitly endorses plans to send unwanted asylum seekers to third country hubs.A political declaration from the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR), said states had an “undeniable sovereign right” to control their borders. Continue reading...

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Alliance chief Mark Rutte set to meet defence groups at meeting in Brussels next week

The bizarre system of credit scoring can punish the prudent and indebted alike