Plans for the fourth electricity connection between Estonia and Latvia have been postponed beyond the original 2038 completion date, and no final decisions have been made.

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.

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.

Tegusat neljapäeva!

Kui valida saaks ainult kahe presidendikandidaadi vahel, siis toetaks 70 protsenti vastanutest Alar Karist ning 15 protsenti Kersti Kaljulaidi, selgub Ühiskonnauuringute Instituudi tellimusel valminud Norstat Eesti küsitlusest.

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.

Flying by air will get more expensive as oil prices remain high after the US and Israel's conflict with Iran.

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

In the first hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was commercial satellites that showed the world what was happening inside the battle zone — filling the gap from a lack of sovereign space assets. These privately-owned and operated systems were, and still are, critical to Ukraine’s defense providing high-resolution imagery to track troop movements, damage and logistics. Four years later, with security concerns continuing near Europe’s borders and geopolitical developments unfolding in the Middle East, Europe is still watching much of its own security through someone else’s eyes. The brief interruption of intelligence flows from Washington to Kyiv in 2025 was a reminder that even the closest alliances operate within political cycles. As John le Carré observed in his spy novels, those who depend on the eyes of others depend on their judgement. In this Cold War world, the British service had a name for the Americans whose companies now operate many of these satellites: “the Cousins” — allies, who are generous with information, but always choose what falls inside the frame. The brief interruption of intelligence flows from Washington to Kyiv in 2025 was a reminder that even the closest alliances operate within political cycles. This situation is deeply uncomfortable for Europe, a continent striving for strategic autonomy. But we have the means to change it. Europe has world-class space companies. Large primes with decades of experience and the industrial muscle to deliver complex systems at scale. Younger companies, including ICEYE, that have learned to design, build and launch satellites in months rather than years. National agencies with deep technical expertise. A vibrant downstream sector turning data into operational decisions. What it lacks is speed. Across European technology, we have grown comfortable with delay, and uncomfortable with risk. Procurement cycles stretch across years, prioritizing process over outcomes. The result is familiar: Europe turns to non-European solutions not because it must, but because it did not move fast enough to build its own. This is a systemic issue and it requires a systemic response. Europe needs ambitious, well-designed flagship programs that pull the entire ecosystem forward at once: programs that combine the scale and reliability of established primes with the speed and agility of newer companies, and reward both for delivering operational capability quickly. Earlier this year, EU Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius reminded a Brussels audience that ‘without secure connectivity, there is no defense’. He is right. But the same logic applies, just as urgently, to the eyes Europe uses to see what is happening on the ground. The groundwork has already been laid. This week, ICEYE will officially hand over a fully operational sovereign space-based intelligence system to the Polish government, just 12 months from contract signature to full operational capability. To our knowledge, this will be the fastest deployment of a sovereign space system, not just in Europe, but the world, and demonstrates what is already possible in Europe, at scale. The model is simple: national assets remain under national control but can be used collectively when Europe needs them. The ICEYE satellites and ground segment, developed together with Polish industry for the Polish Armed Forces, offers an end-to-end operational system. It is also the first sovereign space capability that will serve their operational units — a system that will be working on European soil, with European technology, under European control. This is why Europe should be developing a concept that we call Constellation Europe: a federated network of more than 1,000 European-owned satellites, combining national systems, commercial assets and institutional capabilities into a true system of systems operated as a single framework. The model is simple: national assets remain under national control but can be used collectively when Europe needs them. The architecture brings together three key functional layers. First, there is a sensing layer combining electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar and signals intelligence satellites, giving Europe continuous coverage in all weather and around the clock, fused into one operational picture. Second, it features a secure data-transport layer that moves information between satellites and ground systems with the low latency and resilience that defense operations now demand. Finally, a broader sovereign operations layer covers space situational awareness, protection of critical assets in orbit, sovereign ground infrastructure, and AI-driven data processing and fusion, ensuring the system can operate securely, autonomously and at speed, and be rapidly deployed and replenished when needed. The question is no longer whether Europe can build space-based security at scale. It has begun. The question is whether Europe can deliver operational readiness in time. With the right political commitment, it could be operational by 2030. What we need is clear political leadership from the European Commission to prioritize space sovereignty by aligning policy, budget and requirements with haste, such that companies can objectively prove their ability to execute against an aggressive timeline. To start, the Commission must take three decisive steps. A federated, multi-layered constellation of 1,000 satellites is not science fiction. It is a necessary and achievable outcome for European security. First, incentivize member state cooperation with proactive policy. Discrete capabilities already exist in the form of independent sovereign programs. Space systems the likes of which ICEYE is currently building for seven member states are not today collaborative by design, but they can be. Second, funding must outpace the challenge. The next Multiannual Financial Framework must lock in predictable, multi-year funding for sovereign space systems like Constellation Europe. Not pilots. Not demos. Not exercises. Not stop-start cycles. Industrial capacity requires industrial certainty, full stop. Third, acquisition reform is the cornerstone of modernizing EU space security. Europe is not starting from zero. It is starting from legacy requirement processes that resulted in fragmentation. The European Commission, working with member states and the European Space Agency, must define a unified European space architecture. Specific roles and responsibilities, common procurement, shared standards and real interoperability that matches forecasted end-user needs. This cannot be achieved by committees over 10 years; it must be done within 10 months for any chance at fielding before the end of the decade. A federated, multi-layered constellation of 1,000 satellites is not science fiction. It is a necessary and achievable outcome for European security. In the next crisis, Europe will not be judged on what it could have built in orbit, but on whether it converted lessons learned in other theatres to real deterrence. Disclaimer POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT The sponsor is ICEYE. The advertisement is linked to the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), Space Shield, Space Act. More information here.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s sanctions against a United Nations official who has faced accusations of antisemitism over her calls for war crimes charges against Israeli officials over their actions in Gaza. Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, last July under an executive order President Donald Trump signed authorizing such actions against people “directly engaged” in the International Criminal Court’s investigations related to alleged atrocities in Gaza. However, in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the administration’s sanctions against Albanese violate the First Amendment because they’re based solely on her encouraging the ICC to investigate and prosecute. “Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in a 26-page decision salted with his trademark exclamation points. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions — they are nothing more than her opinion.” Justice Department lawyers argued that Albanese, an Italian citizen currently living with her family in Tunisia, has no First Amendment claim because she isn’t an American and she issued her statements from abroad. However, Leon said her “extensive connections” to the U.S., including a daughter born while the family lived in Washington and a home the family owns in Washington, gave Albanese a claim to free-speech protections. Albanese and her husband have complained that the U.S. sanctions designation essentially froze them out of the international banking network, made it impossible for them to travel to the U.S. and even led the family’s health insurer to deny payment for services received by Albanese. The Trump administration argued that licenses it issued allowing some transactions related to the family’s Washington property, as well as to provide “necessary” support for their U.S. citizen daughter, mitigated the impact of the sanctions. “Please!” the judge responded, calling the scope of those licenses too murky to give the U.S. government legal cover against the lawsuit filed in February by Albanese’s husband, World Bank economist Massimiliano Cali, and their daughter. Leon also found that the “parental license” the U.S. government issued interferes with Albanese’s “constitutionally protected” relationship with her daughter. “It is not clear from the record before me how plaintiffs would distinguish between necessary and unnecessary transactions in the context of their family relationships,” the judge wrote. Rubio’s designation of Albanese alleged she’d “spewed unabashed antisemitism.” She’s denied that and contends that some in Israel are using claims of antisemitism to justify war crimes. The Israeli government denies committing war crimes in Gaza and has denounced the International Criminal Court process as hopelessly biased. The White House referred a request for comment to the State Department, which did not immediately respond. The Justice Department also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Albanese said in a statement that Leon’s ruling had vindicated her trust in the American justice system. The ruling “that the sanctions appear to infringe on U.S. constitutional rights proves me right,” she said. “I am so grateful to my little daughter, L.C. and her amazing dad for taking the risk, and everyone who has come forward to help.”

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles, damaging several buildings, including one which par

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump say they’re looking forward to US-China talks.

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...

Fire Point is moving into space after developing drones and missiles, despite an ongoing probe for alleged graft

AfD tops opinion polls after tapping into voter anger at soaring fuel prices