Latest Estonia News
news | ERR
Interior minister backs court oversight for phone, email account searches
The Ministry of the Interior is backing a proposal to require court oversight before authorities can search the contents of phones, email accounts or other digital devices.
news | ERR
Electronics prices soar as AI boom drives up demand for memory chips
Surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure is driving up memory chip prices, raising the cost of consumer electronics in Estonia.
Politics | ERR
Central bank economist: All parties contributed to Estonia's rising debt
Estonia's rising debt burden reflects years of decisions by every major ruling party, not just the current coalition, says Bank of Estonia economist Kaspar Oja.
Politics | ERR
Reform Party has no immediate plan to swap out chairman despite ratings slump
Former Reform Party leader Siim Kallas says the party needs a fresh direction and a clear platform ahead of the upcoming election and that the coalition will reach a consensus and elect Estonia's next president in the Riigikogu in early September.
Society | ERR
Interior minister backs court oversight for phone, email account searches
The Ministry of the Interior is backing a proposal to require court oversight before authorities can search the contents of phones, email accounts or other digital devices.
Society | ERR
Telia cuts TV channels but keeps prices unchanged as viewer habits shift
Telia is cutting several low-viewership TV channels from its packages without lowering monthly fees, citing changing viewer habits with streaming and bundled services.
Postimees
MAIT RUNGI ⟩ Putukas võib taimele olla külaline, kuller, kariloom või mõrtsukas
Taim seisab paigal, aga see ei tähenda, et ta oleks maailmast välja lülitatud. Vastupidi, paigal püsimine sunnib taime ümbrust täpselt kasutama. Ta ei saa ise minna tolmeldajat otsima, seemet kaugemale viima, kahjurit taga ajama ega surnud orgaanikat laiali lagundama. Selle asemel tuleb tööle panna teised: tuul, vesi, seened ja loomad, kirjutab ökoloog Mait Rungi.
Postimees
OTSEBLOGI ⟩ Kreeka ralli: Ogier jõudis lõunapausiks Neuville'ile päris kannule, Virveselt tugev hommik
Autoralli MM-hooaja kaheksas etapp peetakse kivistel Kreeka teedel. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) haaras esimese tõsise võistluspäevaga ohjad, hoidis neist kinni ka laupäeva hommikupoolikul, kuid teda hoiab tugeva surve all Sebastien Ogier (Toyota). WRC2-klassis võitleb võidu eest Robert Virves. Postimees vahendab rallit otseblogis
BBC News
Europe's deadly heatwave breaks German record and halts public events
Germany's highest ever temperature of 41.3C is recorded provisionally in Saarbrücken, over the border from France.
BBC News
Christmas market attacker jailed for life for murdering six in Germany
A nine-year-old and five women were killed when Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen drove into the market in 2024.
BBC News
Trump threatens 100% tariff on European nations over tech tax
The US president says "Numerous European countries" have been discussing bringing in such a levy.
BBC News
Three unusual things about the King's tax bill
King Charles paid £12.9m in tax for 2024-2025 - here's what we know about his unique tax situation.
POLITICO
Ein Spaziergang durch Kyjiw mit Botschafter Thoms
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Auf einem Spaziergang durch die ukrainische Hauptstadt zeigt Deutschlands Botschafter Heiko Thoms im Gespräch mit Gordon Repinski, wie der Drang nach Alltag für die Ukrainer zu einem bewussten Akt des Widerstands gegen die russische Aggression geworden ist. Thoms blickt auf den härtesten Winter seit Jahrzehnten zurück. Wochenlange zweistellige Minustemperaturen, systematische Angriffe auf die Energieinfrastruktur und das ständige Dröhnen der Generatoren sollten die Bevölkerung zermürben. Stattdessen stärkten diese Kriegsverbrechen den Widerstandswillen. Der Botschafter berichtet von den enormen psychischen und physischen Belastungen für seine ukrainischen Mitarbeiter. Er beschreibt aber auch die rasante militärische und technologische Entwicklung der Ukraine. Das Land ist längst vom reinen Sicherheitsempfänger zum Innovationsstandort geworden. Drohnenregimente, Angriffe auf russische Versorgungslinien und das Vorrücken der „Killzone“ zeigen, dass Kiew das Momentum nutzt. Trotz der militärischen Erfolge und ersten konkreten Verhandlungen bremst Thoms unrealistische Erwartungen an einen schnellen EU-Beitritt der Ukraine bis 2027. Er fordert tiefgreifende Reformen bei Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Korruptionsbekämpfung. Gleichzeitig warnt er davor, dass Deutschland aus dem ukrainischen Resilienz- und Innovationsschub lernen müsse, bevor man selbst in eine ähnliche Krise gerate. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 information@axelspringer.de Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna
POLITICO
Trump administration partially lifts Anthropic’s AI export ban
The Trump administration on Friday partially rescinded its export ban on Anthropic’s most advanced artificial intelligence model — deescalating a confrontation that has caused confusion across the American AI industry. The release clears the way for a select group of more than 100 companies and agencies to gain access to the Mythos 5 model, two weeks after the administration imposed restrictions amid fears that the software could be used to launch cyberattacks. But a second advanced Anthropic model, called Fable 5, remains blocked. Meanwhile, pressure from the White House led Anthropic’s leading competitor, OpenAI, to limit the release of its most advanced model this week because of similar cyber concerns. The series of back-and-forth actions on AI, from an administration that has promised to unleash American companies to dominate the technology, has caused concerns in the industry about how heavy a hand President Donald Trump plans to take in overseeing what kinds of products U.S. developers can release to the market. It’s been less than four weeks since Trump signed an executive order rejecting mandatory federal controls on AI, instead asking leading tech companies to submit new models to a voluntary government review before making them widely available. Conversations between Anthropic and the administration are expected to continue through the weekend on restoring access to Fable, according to a person who was granted anonymity to describe the private discussions. The conversations have also focused on determining a standardized framework to evaluate cases of suspected security bypasses in the future, the person said, beyond just addressing the recent episode. POLITICO reported last week on discussions of a technical assessment that would create ground rules for these kinds of disputes. “Since the issuance of my June 12 letter, Anthropic has worked with the U.S. government to address risks associated with the Covered Models,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wrote in a Friday letter to Anthropic’s chief compute officer Tom Brown, obtained by POLITICO. “These efforts have yielded significant progress.” Semafor first reported on the new letter Friday night. Anthropic, which has disputed the concerns about its cyber controls, issued a statement later Friday welcoming the administration’s turnabout.“We received notice from the U.S. government that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers,” the company said. “We are working to provision the approved set of providers and restore their access to Mythos 5 as quickly as possible. We are pleased to see this progress and continue to work with the government to expand access to Mythos 5 and make Fable 5 available for general use again.” But others across the industry have expressed a desire for more clarity about the administration’s long-term intentions. Those included OpenAI, which announced Friday that, at the administration’s request, it is making only a limited release of three versions of its new GPT‑5.6 model. “We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” OpenAI said in a blog post Friday. “It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.” Friday’s reversal on Mythos came after Anthropic staff and senior White House officials met over the last two weeks to discuss ways to defuse the dispute, including technical questions about whether the company had done enough to prevent its AI products from being used to launch cyberattacks. The action allows the company to restore access to its Mythos 5 models to a list of more than 100 “trusted partners,” including companies and federal agencies approved by the government, an administration official familiar with the move granted anonymity to discuss it said. “In just two weeks, we have worked diligently to ensure America remains the global leader in AI while safeguarding our security,” said Benno Kass, a Commerce Department spokesperson. The administration had slapped the export restrictions on Fable and Mythos, banning their use by foreign nationals, after a series of tense calls with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about whether the company’s safety guardrails were as solid as promised. Anthropic then announced it was cutting off access “for all our customers to ensure compliance” — while insisting that “we believe this is a misunderstanding.” Amodei and Trump later sat across from each other during a G7 lunch with allied leaders and AI executives last week in Évian-les-Bains, France. The administration’s frantic effort to address the safety issue raised a host of questions about how it would deal with future security concerns in the rapidly evolving AI industry, as well as whether Trump’s aides were unfairly singling out Anthropic after previous clashes with the company. It also left U.S. allies in Europe and Canada abruptly unable to use the new Anthropic models to identify and patch their own cybersecurity vulnerabilities, renewing calls for the EU to lessen its reliance on American technology. Meanwhile, reports of rapid advances in Chinese AI technology have raised worries across the industry about whether U.S. companies will lose their competitive advantage while waiting for administration approvals.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
Could Israel’s coming election see an end to Netanyahu’s political career?
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting political, legal and US pressure ahead of crucial elections.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
US, Iran trade strikes: What to know, will it unravel the MoU?
As the latest confrontations are aimed at control of the Strait of Hormuz, analysts say the deal is at risk of collapse.
Europe | The Guardian
Europe heatwave live: Germany braced for temperatures ‘well over 40C’; extreme heat warnings for England
Forecasters say hottest conditions spreading into central and eastern EuropeDespite repeated warnings and rising awareness, heatwaves still bring large parts of Europe to its knees.Several hospitals in England have declared critical incidents as a result of extreme heat, with cooling units breaking down and critical IT systems stalling, while schools, workplaces and railways have been thrown into chaos and wildfires have broken out. Continue reading...
Europe | The Guardian
Trump threatens 100% tariff on European countries that impose digital tax
US president says levy would be imposed immediately and supersede pre-existing trade deals with the country Donald Trump has threatened to place a 100% import tariff on any European country that imposes a tax on digital services from US companies.Writing on Truth Social on Friday, the US president said that “numerous European countries” had been discussing putting a digital services tax on American companies and that “some of these countries are close to actually doing this”. Continue reading...
Europe
Turkey launches security crackdown ahead of Nato summit
Activists have been arrested, journalist accreditations denied and public assemblies banned before July meeting
Europe
Baltic states urge EU to speed up ban on Russian oil imports
Talks about the phaseout stalled after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sparked concerns of an energy supply crisis