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.

Venemaa president Vladimir Putin kohtus 12. mail majandusarengu ministri Maksim Rešetnikoviga, et arutada riigi majanduse olukorda ajal, mil sõjakulud, sanktsioonid ja aeglustuv kasv avaldavad Kremlile järjest suuremat survet.

Prantsusmaal on läinud ringlema kõlakas president Emmanuel Macroni lähedasest suhtest iraanlannast näitaja Golshifteh Farahaniga, kes on külastanud ka Eestit.

Six people have been killed after Zelensky warned of "more waves" of Russian strikes through 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.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will not enact an EU-wide ban on conversion therapy aimed at changing or suppressing the identity of LGBTQ+ people but will urge countries to outlaw it nationally, in response to a major citizens’ petition. “The European Commission is sending a very clear message, without ambiguity, to every member state in this union: ban conversion practices now,” said Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib on Wednesday while presenting Brussels’ response to the campaign. “This sends a powerful signal that these practices are harmful but also must be illegal.” The European Citizens’ Initiative, which collected more than 1.1 million signatures, called for a binding legal ban on conversion practices, defined as interventions aimed at “changing, repressing or suppressing the sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression of LGBTQ+ persons.” These practices can include verbal abuse, coercion, isolation, forced medication, electric shocks, and physical and sexual abuse, writes the Commission, and have “no therapeutic value.” But the Commission said Wednesday it plans instead to adopt a recommendation in 2027 calling on countries to enact a ban on conversion practices — a decision that campaign organizers saw as a “missed opportunity.” Through the recommendation, “the Commission will recognise the critical role that Member States play in this area and focus on supporting them in banning conversion practices, encouraging national action to extend the legal ban across the EU,” it said in its communication. “The responsibility lies mostly at the level of the member states, and if we wanted to adopt a binding legislation, unanimity would have been necessary,” Lahbib told reporters. Currently, only eight EU countries have banned conversion practices. “They have shown it can be done,” Lahbib said. “We are building on that momentum, on calling on the rest to follow, and with this recommendation in hand, I will personally advocate with ministers across our union to end these barbaric practices.” The petition also asked the Commission to add these practices to the list of “eurocrimes,” which are serious crimes with a cross-border dimension, and possibly amend the 2008 directive on equality to include a ban on these practices. It also wanted the executive to amend the Victims’ Rights Directive to establish minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of conversion practices. The Commission said Wednesday that extending the list of EU crimes would require a unanimous decision from countries, and for conversion practice to meet the criteria set out by the provision. And “although it cannot be excluded that certain forced conversion practices fulfill the criterion … only a small proportion of such practices are likely to do so,” it said. The organizers of the campaign see this as a “missed opportunity.” Mattéo Garguilo, co-president of the European Association Against Conversion Therapy and representative of the European Citizens’ Initiative, also criticized the Commission’s argument that a legal ban would have taken too long. “It’s going to take the same time with nonbinding resolution, because at the end of the day, if the state wants to ban, it bans; if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t,” Garguilo told POLITICO.

As the U.S. and other Western countries pull back from foreign aid, the European Union is trying to position itself as the grown-up still showing up. In a new global health strategy unveiled Wednesday, the European Commission cast the EU as a steady partner for developing countries at a moment when global health funding is shrinking and becoming increasingly transactional. “The EU has been and will remain a credible, reliable, principled and predictable partner on global health,” said Jozef Síkela, European commissioner for international partnerships. The message was aimed as much at Washington as at the developing world. President Donald Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid spending. Other European countries — including the U.K., France, Germany and the Netherlands — have also cut aid budgets as governments turn inward politically and fiscally. Oxfam warned the U.S. aid cuts alone could cause 3 million preventable deaths a year, mostly in children. Global leaders have since been scrambling to reshape their response to the health needs of developing countries to prioritize building resilient health systems rather than relying on a donor-recipient relationship. Without calling out the U.S. or other countries by name, Síkela said the EU “cannot fill the gap left behind by other partners.” But it “will not step back from its own commitments to health.” Helping overhaul this system is one of the key goals of the initiative, along with supporting countries as they build resilient health systems. The strategy also condemns the “instrumentalization” of health and says closing “the emerging gaps in global health resilience” is crucial. The U.S. has come under fire from global health advocates for offering funding deals with developing countries that formerly received USAID support, in return for them boosting disease surveillance and providing America with access to disease data and in some cases rare minerals. “Health is increasingly instrumentalised in the pursuit of geopolitical and geoeconomic interests,” writes the Commission. “Global health governance is shifting away from multilateral cooperation and humanitarian principles towards at times overtly transactional bilateral approaches.” Staying the course The Commission wants to help strengthen countries’ health systems, fight fake news and tackle “dangerous dependencies” in supply chains — though it hasn’t announced any new funding for its plan. To boost prevention, preparedness and response to crises, the EU will invest in drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. It will also help set up a new global therapeutics development coalition and EU hubs for therapeutics and diagnostics. The EU will also help map global health spending, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. As part of the strategy, the Commission also wants to diversify global supply chains and manufacturing of critical health products, supporting manufacturing in partner countries. The strategy also touches on health misinformation and disinformation, though new action on this is limited — despite Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioning it as one of the drivers of the new strategy last year. The Commission says it will help improve access to reliable scientific data and work with partners on health communication. “We have seen that there is a higher risk of disinformation during health crisis. We need to do more to safeguard the integrity of the information space,” said Síkela. “We need to foster trust in science and countering disinformation, misinformation and foreign information, manipulation and interference.” He added that the Commission also plans “to support all initiatives which directly deal with misinformation, disinformation, fake news.”

After Department of Defense released files relating to UFOs, the internet combs through what is real and what isn’t.

Gujarat accounts for 75% of India’s output of salt, produced under punishing conditions by tens of thousands of workers.

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...

Moscow and Kyiv lose faith in Donald Trump’s diplomacy even in the event of Iran war ending

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