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

President Alar Karis met Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Kadriorg on Saturday and stressed that Moldova belongs in the European Union.

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.

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.

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.

Uut pangakaarti tellides soovib neljandik klientidest virtuaalkaarti, jättes plastkaardi tellimata, selgub Coop Panga klientide statistikast. Valdav enamus tehinguid tehakse virtuaalkaardiga kaardimakseterminalides, järgnevad e-poodide ostud.

Tartus lõpevad täna 107. ujumise Eesti meistrivõistlused, Postimees näitab võistluspäeva koostöös Eesti Ujumisliiduga otseülekandes.

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.

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.  

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the Ebola outbreak that has killed a suspected 80 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Neighboring countries sharing land borders with the DRC are at “high risk for further spread,” the WHO warned.  The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo virus, which is harder to treat and for which there is no vaccine. There were 246 suspected cases in the DRC as of May 16, the WHO said. Uganda has reported two lab-confirmed cases, including one death, in individuals who had traveled from the DRC. The WHO typically only declares a public health emergency of international concern — one rung below pandemic in its alert system — after consulting with an expert committee. In this case, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the call himself, citing the “extraordinary” situation and how little was known for sure about the true spread of the virus. “The event requires international coordination and cooperation to understand the extent of the outbreak, to coordinate surveillance, prevention and response efforts, to scale up and strengthen operations and ensure ability to implement control measures,” a statement from the WHO said. The alert comes on the eve of the WHO’s annual decision-making assembly in Geneva, where countries were due to finalize a treaty to protect the world from pandemic threats. Instead, negotiators will ask for more time after failing to resolve their differences on the sharing of pathogen samples and data, as well as drugs and vaccines.

Bill Cassidy is among seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Javier Bardem says condemning the Gaza genocide has led to more work

Wave of almost 600 drones launched across 14 regions, after Moscow’s deadly three-day attack on Ukraine last weekAt least four people have been killed in a large-scale retaliatory strike by Ukraine on Russia’s regions, including Moscow, Russian authorities have said.The wave of almost 600 Ukrainian drones struck overnight across 14 Russian regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula and the Black and Azov seas, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday, with the region around the capital among the worst-hit. Continue reading...

Conservatives expected to keep majority as socialists face drubbing and ballot tests trajectory of far-right Vox partyVoters in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía are casting their ballots in an election that is likely to deliver an absolute majority to the conservative People’s party (PP) and inflict another debilitating defeat on Pedro Sánchez’s embattled socialists in what was previously one of their proudest strongholds.Sunday’s election in Spain’s most populous region – the last big poll before next year’s general election – will serve as a barometer of wider electoral opinion and could also reveal whether the popularity of the far-right Vox party is beginning to peak. Continue reading...

Brussels’ proposed quota reduction could cost Kyiv up to €1bn in lost export revenue

Europe’s largest local authority has no leadership after the political scene fragmented in this month’s local elections