Pirmosios instancijos teismas turės iš naujo nagrinėti bylą dėl Kauno miesto mero Visvaldo Matijošaičio teisės susipažinti su prieš pusantrų metų nutraukto ikiteisminio tyrimo medžiaga.

Jungtinių Tautų (JT) branduolinės priežiūros institucijos valdytojų taryba trečiadienį patvirtino Vakarų šalių parengtą rezoliuciją, kurioje reikalaujama, kad Iranas nedelsdamas pateiktų informaciją apie savo urano atsargas ir gamybos įrenginius.

Thr ruling overturns a lower court's decision on Monday ordering the release of the crown princess's 29-year-old son.

Poland is threatening to strip Ukraine's president of a state honour over the naming Ukrainian military unit after controversial World War Two fighters.

The majority of billpayers are unaware of special tariffs for water and broadband, the spending watchdog says.

Consumers are increasingly feeling the strain of the US Israel war in Iran.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Iran will “pay the price” for refusing to accept a deal, as peace negotiations between the two nations remain stalled. In a post to social media, Trump declared that Iran’s military is “a complete and total mess” and that much of it “doesn’t even exist anymore.” “They have been completely defeated,” the president wrote. “Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!” Trump did not provide additional details in his post, but he told Fox News that he is “getting close” to ordering new strikes against Iranian power plants and bridges. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a senior White House official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive international conversations, said that “talks still continue” and the president “will keep exerting maximum pressure to get a deal done.” “They should believe every word he says,” the official said. “They know what happens if there’s no deal.” The president’s threats come after the U.S. launched new strikes at Iran on Tuesday evening after Tehran shot down a military helicopter. Iran responded by firing at U.S. targets across Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. In recent days, Trump and Vice President JD Vance had both insisted a peace deal was near. “We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” Trump said Tuesday. Meanwhile, Vance told CBS News that a deal would “absolutely” come before November’s critical midterm elections. “Look, I think that the deal could happen in the next week, but the deal could also happen months from now,” Vance said. It’s not the first time administration officials have vowed a deal is imminent. Late last month, Trump said the U.S. and Iran had a near-finalized deal in place, though few details of that purported agreement were released. However, Trump has made clear a deal will not be signed unless Iran agrees to relinquish all nuclear capabilities. As negotiations continue to stall, the U.S. joined New Zealand, Australia, Canada and European allies on Wednesday in a joint statement condemning attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against “Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities.” The statement, released by the State Department, urged Iran to end such attacks. “Attempts to kill, kidnap, harass, intimidate, or otherwise attack people on our soil, undermines national sovereignty and international norms,” the countries stated. “These actions must stop immediately. We commend the work of countries to counter these activities, and we are together resolved to undertake further measures to halt them.” Megan Messerly contributed to this report.

For more than two decades, EU Regulation EC261 has been one of Europe’s clearest consumer success stories. It transformed air passenger rights from vague promises into enforceable protections, while creating powerful incentives for airlines to improve operational reliability. The results are measurable: EU passengers today are 70 percent less likely to face delays exceeding three hours and face 20 percent less same-day cancellations than travellers in the United States, where no comparable system exists. It is a framework that successfully prevents an estimated 8,400 hours of flight delays every year. Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history. That is precisely why the European Parliament is right to stand firm and draw a definitive red line against weakening these protections. Moving beyond false compromises As legislative discussions continue, the European Parliament has consistently resisted regressive proposals, including those advanced during the Cypriot Council Presidency, which sought to drastically reduce compensation levels. Under the proposal, baseline compensation for delays over three hours could fall from €250 to as little as €83, cutting payouts for delays between three and seven hours by up to 66%. Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history. By holding firm on its red line and defending the existing three-hour delay threshold, Parliament is protecting one of Europe’s most important consumer rights frameworks. If the goal is genuine modernization, the focus should be on strengthening the effectiveness of passenger protections, not weakening them. Restoring the real value of EC261 The real value of EC261 compensation has eroded substantially since the regulation entered into force in February 2005. Cumulative inflation over this period has been 58.6 percent, according to the European Central Bank. In 2005 values, the current €250 compensation is now worth less than €160 and the €600 compensation is worth just under €380. Passengers therefore already receive significantly less effective protection than when the regulation was introduced, while airlines have benefited from the declining real cost of compensation over time. Compensation levels must be indexed to ensure EC261 remains effective. The economic reality of diluted rights Reducing compensation to symbolic amounts strips the regulation of its primary purpose: consumer protection and accountability. An independent economic analysis by Dr. Hinnerk Gnutzmann and Dr. Piotr Śpiewanowski confirms the scale of this risk. Their study concludes that under these proposed changes, total compensation actually paid to passengers would fall by 74 percent, while approximately 83 percent of delay claims would become effectively unenforceable. EC261 is effective because it creates a clear financial incentive for airlines to minimize avoidable disruption and resolve claims properly. This is not a theoretical concern. Airlines already reject 52 percent of valid initial claims, forcing many passengers to rely on legal representatives or consumer bodies to enforce their rights. If compensation levels fall to €83, pursuing claims would become economically unviable at scale, effectively shutting passengers out of meaningful enforcement. Rights may remain on paper, but access to justice would steadily disappear in practice. But the consequences would extend far beyond compensation itself. EC261 is effective because it creates a clear financial incentive for airlines to minimize avoidable disruption and resolve claims properly. Weakening that deterrent would reduce pressure on airlines to maintain punctuality, while increasing the incentive to reject valid claims in the expectation that few passengers will be able to challenge those decisions. The illusion of automated forms To offset these reductions, the Council has placed significant political faith in automated compensation forms, framing them as a technological solution that can simplify claim filings. While digitization is a welcome step, automated paperwork cannot replace substantive legal rights. Even if these forms could make a positive impact, they lose all efficacy if compensation amounts decrease. Simplifying the filing process is entirely meaningless if the underlying claim is financially unviable to pursue; if compensation is cut to symbolic levels, meaningful enforcement becomes impossible, rendering any new paperwork system useless. Preserving a global standard EC261 has become the global gold standard for air passenger rights because it successfully balances strong consumer protection with a thriving aviation market. Its principles have been mirrored worldwide by nations seeking to replicate Europe’s high standards of punctuality and accountability. The European Parliament’s unified resistance is the only barrier protecting passengers from a severe loss of rights. If the EU council refuses to put citizens first and continues to offer trade-offs that favor airline balance sheets over consumer protection, the path forward is clear: it is better to let this regressive proposal fall entirely and maintain the current, working rules of EC261. Weakening a global benchmark is a step backward that Europe’s travellers cannot afford. About APRA The Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA), founded in 2017 by the world’s leading air passenger compensation companies, represents the interests of air passengers to provide maximum protection. The association actively engages in constructive dialogue with European and national institutions, airlines, airports, national law enforcement agencies and other key stakeholders. APRA offers a combination of robust data, in-depth analysis and collective knowledge to inform policymakers and promote the interests of European air passengers. www.apra-eu.com POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT The sponsor is Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA) The entity ultimately controlling the sponsor is Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA) The political advertisement is linked to advocacy regarding EU Regulation EC261 – opinion. More information here.

Ofcom tells sites to take action over content that may incite violence as Northern Ireland braces for further unrest

Rahel Kesselring, recently appointed at Switzerland’s Fondation Beyeler, is focused on how art can help us improve our sensitivity to the environment

Kenya saw fresh unrest on 9 June as protesters defied a court order and clashed with police near Laikipia Air Base over plans for a US funded Ebola quarantine facility, fuelling fears about the virus and prompting arrests.

Lebanon's death toll from months of Israeli attacks has climbed to 3,666, with more than 11,300 wounded, as fresh airstrikes and drone attacks killed at least a dozen people in the south. The renewed violence comes despite a ceasefire agreement reached earlier this month.