The Estonian Defense Forces will be granted the right to collect blood during crises and share reserves with allies during wartime if supply chains are disrupted under new legislation.

Tallinn will offer up to €20 million to a private developer to build a long-planned swim and spa complex in Lasnamäe. Opposition leaders say the city should build it itself.

A campaign post featuring EKRE founder Mart Helme was removed from social media after using Alo Mattiisen's 1988 hit "Isamaa ilu hoieldes" unauthorized.

Isamaa and the Center Party remained Estonia's two most popular parties in June, with ratings separated by less than the latest poll's margin of error, Emor said Friday.

The Estonian Defense Forces will be granted the right to collect blood during crises and share reserves with allies during wartime if supply chains are disrupted under new legislation.

Tallinn will offer up to €20 million to a private developer to build a long-planned swim and spa complex in Lasnamäe. Opposition leaders say the city should build it itself.

Na Se-bin ei taju enam absoluutselt raha väärtust.

Viis eestlast seadsid eesmärgiks jõuda Põhja-Ameerika kõrgeima mäe, 6190 meetri kõrguse Denali tippu. «Vahepealsed traagilised juhtumid tuletasid meelde, et see on mägi, kus eksimusteks jääb väga vähe ruumi,» tõdes seltskonna ainus naisliige Elis Kaurson.

The US president earlier questioned Meloni's popularity after suggesting she "begged" for a photo at G7 summit

Ukraine's president said his country was open to "engagement" about "difficult and painful chapters of our shared past".

Sales agreements will be legally binding sooner and making sellers provide more home information up front are part of the planned changes.

The Ryanair boss extends his contract to 2032, in a deal featuring a bonus scheme that could earn him more than €150m (£130m).

Climate activists are planning protests Sunday against FIFA’s sponsorship deal with Saudi state-owned oil and gas giant Aramco at World Cup sites and fan zones across the country. Organizer Zan Dubin told POLITICO the protests are aimed at pressuring FIFA to drop Aramco while calling attention to the way oil company advertising becomes part of fans’ World Cup memories, a practice she called “sportswashing,” even as greenhouse gas emissions from oil use drive global temperatures higher. The main action is set to take place outside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles ahead of the Belgium-Iran match there. The protest represents an extension of a crosstown campaign known as Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels, a Los Angeles-based campaign that has gathered nearly 30,000 signatures urging Dodgers owner Mark Walter to drop oil company Phillips 66. FIFA announced Aramco as a major worldwide partner in 2024, giving the company sponsorship rights across several tournaments, including the 2026 Men’s World Cup and the 2027 Women’s World Cup. The deal drew pushback from climate and human rights groups, and more than 100 professional women’s soccer players later urged FIFA to drop it. Aramco’s logo appears prominently in stadiums and on global match broadcasts. The Los Angeles protest is being organized by a local chapter of the Sierra Club and Third Act SoCal and is expected to include Extinction Rebellion Lamenters, street-theater demonstrators dressed in sackcloth. Dubin said she was also in touch with protesters planning to show up at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami before a match there, as well as at fan sites in New Jersey, Seattle and Dallas.

Iran is again planning to close the Strait of Hormuz, according to an Iranian consulate and reports from Iranian state-owned media on Saturday, throwing yet another wrench into U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to sell his peace agreement with Tehran to a skeptical electorate. Iran’s Consulate-General in India wrote on X on Saturday that the closure will be partly “in response to the continuous violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon” and will come as the “first step as a response to the enemy’s breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken.” Iran did not provide a timeline for the planned closure. The announcement from Iran’s joint military command as reported by state-owned news agency Mehr cited Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon as a violation of the ceasefire deal. Israel did not sign the memorandum of understanding that paused hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, and Israel’s continued strikes in the region were cause for concern for Trump in the lead-up to his signing of the deal in Versailles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. “Why are you blowing up buildings?” the outlet reported Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of fear that Israel’s strikes in Lebanon could imperil the nearing deal. “Stop blowing up buildings.” Trump also publicly rebuked Netanyahu during the G7 press conference that day, calling on the Israeli leader to use a “softer touch” in Lebanon. Trump administration officials quickly cast doubt on the Saturday reports about Iran’s intent to close the strait. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News he was “skeptical” of the claims, saying the administration was not seeing evidence that Iran had actually shut down maritime traffic. Vance added that he may join special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for talks in Switzerland “as soon as tomorrow.” It was not immediately clear Saturday whether Iran had formally declared the strait closed or whether shipping companies had altered operations in response to the latest escalation. Maritime traffic through the waterway appeared to continue, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command released shortly after Iran’s announcement. “Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” CENTCOM wrote in a statement Saturday, without acknowledging reports of a planned closure. Trump proclaimed that the waterway, a critical trade route for some 20 percent of global oil transit, was open and operating toll-free shortly after he announced the MOU, ending the four-month-long conflict between the U.S. and Tehran, had been reached last week. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The president has consistently maintained that an end to the war is contingent on Iran reopening the strait and, prior to signing the MOU, threatened to continue “blasting Iran into oblivion” until it agreed to reopen the key waterway. The reported intent to block off global access to the strait raises immediate questions about the durability of that agreement and whether Tehran is prepared to uphold one of its most consequential provisions. Trump has touted the accord as a breakthrough that would avoid a wider regional war while protecting global commerce through one of the world’s most strategically important waterways. Any sustained disruption could have significant economic consequences. The narrow passage between Iran and Oman serves as the primary export route for major oil producers across the Persian Gulf, and previous threats to free passage through the strait earlier in the conflict have sent energy prices higher and rattled global markets. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait during periods of confrontation with the U.S. and its allies, viewing the waterway as one of its most potent sources of leverage. To some Democrats, that background meant Saturday’s announcement from Iran was less than unexpected. “The continuing price of Trump’s incompetence,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) charged on X on Saturday in response to reports that the strait will once again be closed. “Trump signed a ‘deal’ that was contingent on Israel ending it’s disastrous war in Lebanon and apparently he didn’t check that with Israel.”

The chief of the White House World Cup task force says it’s “pretty amazing” Iran’s football team has been given visas.

Two goals from Ayase Ueda, and one each from Daichi Kamada and Junya Ito, keep Asian giants Japan second in Group F.

Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the countryPhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists.From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena Continue reading...

Even voters for far-right and Eurosceptic parties back closer relations, polling saysTwo-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found.Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries felt UK membership was a very good, good or “neither a good nor a bad” idea. Continue reading...

Rebound across eastern Mediterranean as travellers reassess conflict’s threat and proximity

Ukraine’s innovations cut into Russia’s manpower advantage