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.

Tommy Cash tõmbab Viini eurokülas käima tõelise peo – Rathausplatz täitus muusikafännidega üle Euroopa. Vaata otsefotosid melust ja artisti kauaoodatud etteastest Eurovisiooni linna südames.

Nagu nimekiri neist, keda tulevaks sügiseks klassi ette õpetama leida, polnuks juba piisavalt pikk, täienes see kahe ja poole saja õpilasega Kanepi gümnaasiumis Põlvamaal hiljuti veelgi – üks sealne õpetaja osteti lihtsalt üle.

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

Passengers on the ship showing no symptoms are allowed to leave, authorities say, after 49 people fell ill from gastrointestinal sickness.

Kevin Warsh was confirmed by the narrowest margin since the role required a Senate confirmation vote.

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

President Donald Trump has said that energy is one of the key topics he’ll raise in an otherwise trade-focused trip to Beijing that starts today – but the trip isn’t likely to address an uncomfortable truth: the Iran war may be among the best clean energy salesmen China’s had. Indeed, the 10 weeks of global oil market convulsions caused by the U.S. war against Iran has swept into China’s arms countries looking to replace lost crude shipments with clean energy tech. If the Iran war’s impact on energy prices and supplies was on his mind ahead of the trip, Trump didn’t show it – on Tuesday he told reporters that he did not expect the Iran war to be a major topic of his discussions with Xi because “we have Iran very much under control.” The Trump administration’s war of choice against Iran has boosted China’s sales of electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries to countries facing volatile oil markets and fuel shortages, recent trade data shows. The two countries’ leaders will meet at a moment that offers starkly contrasting energy world views as both aim to expand their influence and economies amid the worst energy crisis in decades. “The Iranian energy crisis is going to turbo charge the global energy transition away from oil and gas from the Middle East and a pivot to clean technologies — wind, solar, electric vehicles — that China is a very significant leader on,” said Li Shuo, director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s of China Climate Hub. Energy analysts agree that while the war is spurring costs increases and driving some countries to double down on fossil fuels, it is also reinforcing the strategic role renewables can play in energy security. “In this context, China’s aggressive push in clean energy and technology exports is steadily eroding U.S. energy dominance, especially as the U.S. focuses more on hydrocarbons while China cements its leadership in the global clean energy supply chain,” Vegard Wiik Vollset, a renewables and power markets analyst at Rystad Energy, said in an email. The Iran war has given the U.S. a short-term boost in the energy export cold war. Its companies are selling record volumes of oil and liquid fuel to countries experiencing shortages after Iran all but halted the flow of oil tankers leaving the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint for crude leaving the Middle East. But China is also seeing its own surge in green energy exports as oil prices, currently at $103 a barrel, make record swings and fuel shortages appear in southeast Asia. Every cargo container of renewable energy technology or cheap EVs could ultimately help customers make an end run around America’s fossil fuel bounty and erode the U.S. hold on “energy dominance.” The Chinese are “offering something very different from the United States,” said Jon B. Alterman, a senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration who is now a chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.. In the Iran war, China has successfully harnessed a newfound power in mitigating energy challenges, Alterman said. It has shown that “fossil fuels are unstable” in comparison to clean energy and that “buying Chinese products that get you off the fossil fuel freight train…provide more stable electricity than any other source.” Even before the US-Israel attacks on Iran sent global oil prices skyrocketing, China’s exports of solar panels, EVs and batteries were soaring – in the 12 months prior to March , China exported $243 billion worth of clean tech goods, according to Ember. The war has only supercharged that trend, experts said. Last month, Chinese passenger EV and hybrid vehicles surged to 53 percent of all exports, up more than 100 percent in the last year, and outpacing vehicles with internal combustion engines, according to the China Passenger Car Association. That trend has only accelerated. Those exports are largely headed to Asia and Europe – America’s stiff tariffs on Chinese autos has so far mostly kept them out of the U.S. market. China’s solar exports in March doubled the previous month to reach 68 gigawatts “amid high energy prices due to the US-Israel war with Iran and an additional boost from changes to Chinese tax rebates,” according to clean tech think tank Ember. Fifty countries set all-time records for Chinese solar imports in March 2026, the group’s report said. Battery exports were also up 44 percent in March. Orders for Chinese-manufactured wind turbines have also seen a surge in recent years, growing from 6.9 GW in 2023 to 14.3 GW last year, according to research firm Bloomberg NEF. In the first quarter of 2026, the export of wind turbines and parts is up 45 percent, Chinese state media reported. The energy focus for the world’s two largest economies and energy producers have been diverging for some time. Trump himself has openly mocked the renewable energy technology and electric vehicles that China has succeeded in selling to the world, and his administration has actively sought to quash or stall green energy spending, including for building out EV charging infrastructure. “China makes almost all the windmills and yet I haven’t been able to find any wind farms in China. Do you ever think of that?” Trump told the audience of global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the month before the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran. In reality, China has more wind and solar capacity than any other nation, and installed about half of all the wind and solar energy in the world in 2025. That has blunted the Iran war’s effect on the Chinese economy. Trump is expected to discuss energy issues on his trip, but the White House did not provide further details. Trump has in the past focused on deals that would encourage China to buy more U.S. natural gas. The U.S. is now providing relief to other countries by ramping up energy exports, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. Asked about China’s rising role as a major energy provider, she disputed any assertion that U.S. dominance as an energy superpower had been diminished by the war. “Thanks to President Trump unleashing American energy dominance, our country is stabilizing global energy markets and helping fuel the free world,” she said in a statement. “Right now, America is the top producer and exporter of oil and gas, which is why ships have lined up in the Gulf of America.” There are fears that a more prolonged Iran war could dull that high, however. Some U.S. companies are preparing to deal with the possibility that the Trump administration slams the door on exports as prices spike and voter sentiment worsens. Countries feeling the pinch of the Iran war more severely are already looking beyond American energy and toward a greater reliance on the sort of energy technology produced by China. “I think, from China’s perspective, you know, ‘hey, the world is shifting from one in which energy supply security is based on physical resources, to a world in which it’s based on technology,’” said Erica Downs, who focuses on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “And that’s a world that’s very well suited to us,” she added, referring to China.  The longer the war goes on, the more advantageous it could be for Beijing, analysts said, especially if it drives more countries to its clean energy products as a way to wean themselves from fossil fuels, which America produces in greater amounts than anywhere else. That posture has allowed it to become somewhat of a safe harbor for energy supplies that it can share with other nations. Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group, said China views energy as a strategic asset. “Through [natural gas] re-exports, refined fuel supplies, and expanded solar exports, China can offer countries relief from war-driven shocks while deepening long-term political and economic dependence,” he said. “Beijing’s message is simple: while the United States brings volatility to the region, China can provide continuity, infrastructure, and economic resilience.” In the short term, the U.S. stands to benefit from a jump in fuel exports, say experts, and Trump is expected to push Beijing to restart imports of LNG. China, for its part, carries some leverage with Iran and has a more long-term advantage as countries consider accelerating the shift to clean energy. For now, China is re-exporting desperately needed jet fuel to Asian countries after some appealed to Beijing for assistance. It is also supplying liquefied natural gas to Asia, where some countries have idled factories, issued work-from-home requirements and implemented four-day work weeks. That benefits China economically and raises its profile, particularly in the region, including among neighbors like the Philippines with whom they’ve had past conflicts, said David M Hart, a senior fellow for climate and energy at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I think they have a transactional approach, but they also have a longer-term perspective,” he said. “In this particular moment, they’re building some capital as well for the long run.” China has long planned for the type of major energy disruption that the closure of Hormuz has now unleashed. The country’s oil stockpiles now exceed those of the U.S. and it is adding more wind and solar than the rest of the world combined. That posture has allowed it to become somewhat of a safe harbor for energy supplies that it can share with other nations. Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group, said China views energy as a strategic asset. “Through LNG re-exports, refined fuel supplies, and expanded solar exports, China can offer countries relief from war-driven shocks while deepening long-term political and economic dependence,” he said. “Beijing’s message is simple: while the United States brings volatility to the region, China can provide continuity, infrastructure, and economic resilience.” That doesn’t mean China isn’t feeling the pinch. Trump’s battle over control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass, has significantly restricted the amount of crude going to China, which puts strains on its stockpile. The Trump administration is also imposing sanctions on China’s “teapot” refineries that process about 90 percent of Iran’s total crude exports – although China has pushed back. Trump’s visit comes after a cast of Western leaders have made stops in China in recent months to shore up their relationship with Beijing and seek greater cooperation on green technology. In January, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a trade deal to boost imports of Chinese EVs in return for tariff relief on major agricultural exports and the promise of more Chinese investment. While China may have the upper hand, the U.S. isn’t without leverage, say experts. China has played the role of neutral arbiter, encouraging both sides to wind down the conflict, said Alterman, the senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration. Still, he said, China’s “diplomatic muscle is relatively undeveloped,” and it has no experience helping two countries at odds reach a common agreement, nor does it offer the Middle East the same security protections that the U.S. has provided for decades. “It’s a commercial relationship, but it’s not a strategic relationship, and the Chinese don’t really have the diplomatic chops to forge difficult peace agreements,” he said. “Countries want relationships with China, but they’re not going to turn away from the United States.” Phelim Kine contributed to this report.

As the world’s two most powerful leaders prepare to meet, the usual chorus of Republican warnings about the perils of dealing with Beijing has disappeared. The silence is a culmination of President Donald Trump’s stifling of GOP orthodoxy on China, which has washed away years of hawkish policy on everything from tech to defense. He has green-lighted the sale of advanced AI chips to Beijing, even as Congress warned about espionage risks. He signed off on a deal to allow Chinese-founded TikTok to continue operating in the U.S., despite intelligence concerns. And his National Defense Strategy abandoned tough rhetoric on China for a more conciliatory tone as the administration focuses on protecting the homeland. Now, as the president begins a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — accompanied by tech executives, family members and Cabinet officials — Trump aims to make new deals on tech, trade and possibly even Taiwan. But senior Republicans inside the administration and on Capitol Hill have gone quiet, bowing to Trump’s vision for closer cooperation between once fierce rivals. “Donald Trump is the key dove,” said Dan Blumenthal, a former Defense Department official under George. W. Bush and U.S.-China Economic and Security Review commissioner. “He wants stability. He’s just very impressed with Chinese power and doesn’t believe that we’re in any position at the moment to win a strategic competition.” The shift from Trump’s first administration has been significant. The president, ahead of Wednesday’s summit, told reporters he would speak with Xi about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. That would repudiate longstanding American policy that has held across seven previous administrations — including the first Trump term — that the U.S. does not consult with Beijing on weapons transfers to Taipei. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hitched a last-second ride on Trump’s plane to Beijing, just months after the U.S. approved the company’s sales of H200 artificial intelligence chips to China. The move, lawmakers worry, could dent America’s lead in the AI race. Within the White House, voices that would have argued against those changes are gone. China hawks in Trump’s previous administration — from former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to John Bolton and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo — all had a seat at the table. They’ve been replaced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and White House AI adviser David Sacks, who have been quick to accommodate Trump’s newfound desire for deals with Beijing above all else. Sacks in particular has lobbied against bipartisan legislation pushing for tighter export controls on semiconductors. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment. Still, there is a recognition within the upper echelons at the Pentagon that China remains the largest military threat facing the nation. “It is a pacing threat, precisely that,” said Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s top research and engineering official, at POLITICO’s Global Security summit, using a defense term that describes how an opponent — in this case China — helps set the pace for American strategy and weapons development. Michael, along with other Trump administration officials, has pressed for ways to counter Beijing, including efforts to reduce dependency on China’s supply of rare earths and drone technologies by backing American startups in those industries. And some lawmakers still remain wary of Trump’s moves. The president’s decision to approve sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, which was made a month following his last meeting with Xi in South Korea, was swiftly countered by a broad bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to limit exports of more advanced AI chips and expand congressional power over them. Several bills have advanced to the floor, but none has passed. Administration officials have since said none of those chips has actually been sold. And since Trump’s first term, China has constructed seven major artificial islands in the South China Sea, built the world’s largest Navy and established an arsenal of long-range missiles. “China was a main feature of the foreign policy of the first [Trump] administration,” said Ely Ratner, who led the Indo-Pacific Security Affairs office in the Pentagon under the Biden administration. “But the views within the administration are much more varied all around [in Trump’s second term]. All of this comes together to create this softer policy we see now, philosophically this group appears geared toward a more accommodationist approach to China.” Many of the GOP’s China hawks appear to be standing behind Trump, despite previous concerns. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who has been involved in bipartisan efforts to crack down on China’s access to advanced chips, said Wednesday he backed exporting some U.S. tech to Beijing. “If you can get into China and allow them some so that they’re using ours rather than creating their own, that gives us a technological advantage, even though they may be able to continue months behind us,” Rounds said in an interview. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who was part of a recent delegation visit to China, said he was “thrilled” that Huang would be in attendance. The CEO is “one of the greatest thought leaders” when it comes to chips, he said. “Jensen needs to be at the table.” But when Trump sits down with Xi, it may not matter who has counseled him. “The policy process is different with President Trump feeling much more confident, less willing to listen to his advisers,” said Blumenthal, the former Bush administration official. “There’s less input, and everybody who’s serving him knows that he’s going to make the decisions, particularly on China.”

Venturella will helm the immigration enforcement agency after previously serving in an executive role at GEO Group.

Hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of two Lebanese paramedics killed by an Israeli strike

Brand owner Mondelēz was accused of reducing weight of Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the packagingMany chocolate lovers consider shrinkflation a serious crime – and they have been vindicated after a German court ruled that the makers of Milka cheated consumers by cutting the bar’s size, while keeping the wrapper the same.The three-week case in a regional court was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office. It accused the chocolate brand’s US owner Mondelēz of deceiving shoppers by cutting the weight of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the distinctive purple packaging. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here:Streeting to resign and challenge Starmer, allies sayLibby 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...

Fast-growing market comes under greater scrutiny for potential risks after series of setbacks

Study suggests Neanderthals had cognitive ability, dexterity and social support comparable with modern humans