Ukrainos sostinėje per Rusijos smūgius naktį žuvo du žmonės, dar keturi buvo sužeisti, trečiadienį pranešė pareigūnai.

Marijampolėje antradienį pavogtas automobilis „Peugeot“ tą pačią dieną buvo rastas Skaisčiūnų kaime. Paaiškėjo, kad jį vairavo neblaivus ir teisės vairuoti neturintis vyras.

The ban is part of a number of proposals that must be approved in parliament within 30 days.

Students have been protesting conditions and resources in high schools since last week.

A typical household faces an annual gas and electricity bill of £1,999 from January, based on a key forecast.

I had expected him to try to forge a political consensus on this thorny issue at this stage, but he has gone further than that.

Presented by EFPIA By CLAUDIA CHIAPPA with DOMINIC GIANNINI PRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audio Want to receive this newsletter straight to your inbox? Sign up here to receive the reporting and intel from the Gastein Health Forum. SNEAK PEEK — Don’t shy away from regulating food, alcohol and tobacco to tackle Europe’s biggest threat to society — chronic diseases — says the head of Austria’s food and drugs agency. — An expert panel in Germany hands down a proposal to reward pharmaceutical companies that invest in Germany through clinical trials or manufacturing. — One MEP remains unconvinced on a critical patent proposal on the table for the Biotech Act following a roundtable of industry and European officials. Welcome to Wednesday’s Morning Health Care! Seven coffees, two schnitzels, two paninis, a lemon tart and a heaping of scrambled eggs later, and that’s a wrap on our first 24 hours in Gastein. Another week like this and Claudia and I might need to take a closer look at the Commission’s heart health screening recommendations we’ve written so much about after we get back to Brussels … Get in touch: cchiappa@politico.eu, dgiannini@politico.eu. Follow us on X: @chiappa_claudia,@domgiannini_   DRIVING THE DAY RAMPING UP PREVENTION: Governments should focus on regulating key unhealthy ingredients instead of getting caught up in the “complex” debate on ultra-processed foods, according to Johannes Pleiner-Duxneuner, managing director of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety.  Prevention: Preventing growing rates of chronic diseases is one of the main areas governments should focus on “because non-communicable diseases, diabetes, obesity are the main threats for our society,” he told Morning Health Care on the sidelines of the European Health Forum in Gastein, Austria.  But but but: discussions on prevention can get complicated, he said, for example when trying to tackle ultra-processed foods. The key is to keep it simple, Pleiner-Duxneuner said. “We should focus on sugar, salt, alcohol, tobacco. I think these are the main killers.” Zooming out: Brussels is currently a hotspot for the prevention debate, with discussions on how to tackle ill health caused by industries such as food, alcohol and tobacco often heating up. Earlier this week, MEPs clashed over language describing the impact of alcohol on cancer in a parliamentary cancer report. Some lawmakers argued industry profits were being put before people’s health. But it’s not just alcohol: Lawmakers are struggling to figure out how to nail down the best measures to reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods and tobacco. The debate on UPFs is gaining momentum, with the European Commission recently asking its Scientific Advice Mechanism to assess how UPFs should be defined, their health effects and consumption patterns. And tobacco regulation continues to divide countries as the EU mulls a proposal to raise taxes on cigarettes and set minimum levies for vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. The sugar debate: More countries are introducing sugary drink taxes in an attempt to curb consumption amid soaring obesity rates, particularly among children. The measures are backed by the World Health Organization, which says “… taxes are one of the strongest tools we have for promoting health and preventing disease.” The German government is planning to introduce a new tax on sugary drinks starting in 2027, while the U.K., for example, has had one for years. Pleiner-Duxneuner said he’s a “fan” of the U.K.’s sugar tax: “From a scientific clinical point of view, there is no reason not to implement it in other European countries.” Tricky: Though Austria does not currently have a sugar tax, the topic often enters the public and political debate — though it receives pushback from industry, Pleiner-Duxneuner said. “Definitely no one wants to damage the industry, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s not a hot topic at the moment,” he said. “But I think it is one of the tools that you can [use] to reduce sugar consumption.” Don’t forget education: It’s key to pair regulation with educational programs targeting children, starting as early as kindergarten. “Austrian figures show that it’s seven times more effective if you do education in kindergarten or early school pupils rather than doing it with teenagers,” he said. And it’s key to meet children where they are: social media. “This is something we’re looking at — advertisements also on social media, not only TV commercials.” POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor: European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) The political advertisement is linked to the EU Biotech Act More information about political advertising here. GERMANY WHO’S GOING TO COUGH UP FOR THE BONUS? A proposal to reward pharmaceutical companies that invest in Germany, through clinical trials or manufacturing, has left the hardest question unanswered — how to pay for the industry incentives, our colleague Louis Westendarp writes in. An expert panel handed over its plan on Tuesday to two state secretaries — one from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and one from the Ministry of Health. The government promised to deliver the proposal by the end of the month, after concluding sweeping health care reforms in July, including cutting drug prices by more than doubling mandated discounts. At the same time: Germany is under U.S. pressure to increase its drug prices, and many are watching to see if this proposal will also appease Trump administration officials. Closed-door talks between the two countries are ongoing. Will it be enough? As our Berlin colleagues reported at the start of the month, the offer is to phase out the scheduled 8.5 percentage points increase in the manufacturer discount from 7 percent to 15.5 percent — with a 2 percentage point cut for adhering to collective bargaining agreements, 3 percentage points for local research and development, and 3.5 for German production. The cost: The scheme costs approximately €1.3 billion, according to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband). However, it remains unclear who will cover this expense. The report merely outlined several financing options, also scooped by our Berlin colleagues. Proposal 1: Pharmaceutical companies that do not meet the bonus criteria should bear the cost of the scheme through a higher price discount. However, the expert panel deemed this proposal “ineffective,” according to the report. Proposal 2: Funds for the bonus could be saved elsewhere within the statutory health insurance system. This would require a further review of the finance commission’s report. Proposals 3 and 4: The regulation could pay for itself through macroeconomic effects, or the bonus could be funded via the federal budget. No decision reached: The matter has been left for others to decide — specifically, the coalition parties, people close to the panel told Louis. “We will now examine it in greater detail and proceed to implementation as quickly as possible,” Frank Wetzel, State Secretary at the economic affairs ministry, said. Ahem: It’s not the only tricky financial issue Germany is trying to resolve right now, with long-term care, pensions, and the fuel tax rebate also up for debate. POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT **A message from EFPIA: More clinical trials in Europe mean earlier access to innovative therapies for patients, and more investment, expertise and cutting-edge research for Europe. The Biotech Act can make clinical trials faster and easier to set up. Imagine if Europe became the world-leading destination for clinical research. Read more.** Sponsor: European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) The political advertisement is linked to the EU Biotech Act More information about political advertising here. DRUG PRICING BAND OF BROTHERS: Back at Gastein, Pleiner-Duxneuner revealed that Austria is working on a reimbursement model with Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries with similar pricing systems, as pharma companies were becoming increasingly willing to walk away from talks. Companies were instead opting to maintain higher prices in the U.S. to avoid Trump policies that copy lower prices in Europe, said Pleiner-Duxneuner. Changing track: “In the past years, the companies were fighting actually to get access in Austria, and what we see more and more is that actually they’re leaving the table: ‘No, we are not launching it with that price … otherwise we would have an average price that is ruining also the U.S. market price’,” Pleiner-Duxneuner told Morning Health Care. This has already happened for a handful of medicines including those for orphan diseases and cancer, he said.  ** Every weekday afternoon, the Brussels Playbook Capitals newsletter draws on our reporting across national capitals to look ahead at what is shaping the EU agenda next. Sign up here.** BIOTECH ACT STAYING PUT: A roundtable of industry and European officials to thrash out the pros and cons of extending patents for certain biotech drugs failed to convince one of the MEPs critical of the proposal in the Biotech Act to change his mind.  What’s this about? Leading MEPs on the law hosted the meeting Tuesday to address concerns from some lawmakers that no independent impact assessment had been conducted on the bill. The proposed patent extension — known as a supplementary protection certificate — is one of the main sticking points in negotiations between MEPs. The one-year extension is designed to entice drug developers to test and manufacture in Europe. No thanks: Socialists and Democrats MEP Tiemo Wölken — who is leading the legal affairs committee opinion on the law — said he didn’t hear anything to change his mind on granting patent extensions. “The Union cannot afford to grant additional patent protection without securing tangible benefits in return,” he told Morning Health Care. His amendments have sought to remove the patent offering. Conditional: Some in industry have lobbied to remove the clinical trial and manufacturing conditions for the patent. “Multi-country clinical trials and the significant production within the Union are the only real added value in the Commission’s proposal, and we must safeguard them,” Wölken said. “Anyone seeking to weaken or remove these criteria is working against the Union’s interests.” He said it would have been good to hear from patient groups about the impacts as well.  They agree: Several NGOs expressed disappointment to Morning Health Care that they weren’t invited, arguing the panel was too industry-heavy. “We are particularly surprised and concerned that civil society representatives, especially patient representatives, were not invited to this meeting,” the European Patients’ Forum said. “Patients and their representatives have an essential role to play in this debate. We also have important perspectives to contribute on the Biotech Act and the extension of Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), particularly as patients will be directly affected by its consequences.” Patients first: The European Patients’ Forum wants to scrap the patent extension proposal, “because of its impact on timely patient access to medicines and the sustainability of healthcare systems,” it said. The EPF also doesn’t want clinical trial timelines to be further reduced so that patients’ rights and safety remain the priority.  Moving too fast: The forum also raised concerns about the pace of negotiations, as MEPs are trying to agree on a compromise text by December. “This is particularly important given the exceptionally fast pace of negotiations, which raises concerns that key issues may not receive the in-depth consideration they require, particularly in a broader political context where competitiveness is increasingly being prioritised over public health objectives,” EPF added. You can see all their asks here. CLIMATE-HEALTH INCREASED SPREAD: Climate change is spurring the spread of diseases like dengue and chikungunya through vectors such as mosquitoes, ticks, and bugs as temperatures warm and new places become at risk, delegates at Gastein were warned Tuesday.  Speedy: One mosquito in Europe moves 60 kilometers farther north each year, and outbreaks and local transmission of dengue and chikungunya are moving even faster, reaching up to 120 kilometers farther north than before, said Jan Semenza, an environmental epidemiologist at Heidelberg University. This is putting tens of millions more people at risk every year, he said. You can’t say we didn’t know: The world might have been caught off guard by the coronavirus and the ongoing outbreak of the Bundibugyo ebolavirus in the Congo, but it can see the rise of vector-borne diseases, HERA Deputy Head Laurent Muschel told a panel at the European Health Forum in Gastein. This was growing “slowly but surely,” which means Europe shouldn’t be caught out, he said. “We have a bit of time, but not so much, and it’s time to invest.”  Underprepared: Gaps in the European system included a lack of medical contingencies for most vector-borne diseases, including insufficient antivirals and vaccines that cover a broad spectrum, Muschel said. Diagnostics also needed to improve, he added.  WHAT WE’RE READING A 1-year-old baby has been euthanized in the Netherlands, the Telegraph reports. Novo to pay up to $2.6 billion for the rights to an experimental weight loss pill, reports Reuters. Want to receive this newsletter straight to your inbox? Sign up here to receive the reporting and intel from the Gastein Health Forum. POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT **A message from EFPIA: Europe’s share of global clinical research is falling. Over the past decade, while the number of clinical trials globally increased by 38%, Europe lost around 60,000 trial places. The Biotech Act can help reverse this trend. Reducing the time it takes to authorise a trial from 106 to 75 days, strengthening coordination between Member States and reducing duplicative assessments would make it faster and more predictable to conduct research in Europe. This matters for patients and for competitiveness. Clinical trials can give people access to innovative therapies years before they become widely available, while bringing investment, expertise and cutting-edge research into European healthcare systems. Read more.** Sponsor: European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) The political advertisement is linked to the EU Biotech Act More information about political advertising here.

The European Union has shielded data centers from public scrutiny about how much energy they use, according to a formal complaint filed Monday against the European Commission. The complaint lodged this week by Lighthouse Reports, and first reported by POLITICO, accuses the EU executive of setting up rules keeping the public from seeing how much energy and water are used by individual data centers. This comes as public opposition to power-hungry AI data centers grows across Europe, while energy prices rise. Lighthouse Reports, a Netherlands-based non-profit conducting cross-border investigations of alleged government and corporate wrongdoing, accuses the Commission of building a “wall of silence” about energy consumption. EU policymakers are determined “to deny or deter access to, and obfuscate understanding of, how data centers are performing,” reads the complaint filed under the Aarhus Convention, a legally binding international treaty that gives the public rights to information and participation in environmental decision-making. The challenge will face its first test in November, when the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee meets to decide whether it is admissible. Subsequently, Aarhus could find the EU in breach of its obligations under the convention. The Commission didn’t respond to POLITICO’s request for a comment. Big power As the boom in artificial intelligence drives rising energy demand, the EU has publicly declared its target of tripling data-center capacity in the coming years in a bid to keep pace with the U.S. and China. Meanwhile, as energy prices rise, public resistance to data centers is expanding around Europe. To limit the environmental costs, the Commission presented a new transparency label last week to drive investment towards greener facilities, with minimum performance standards expected to follow. “If we do not make sure that these big power consumers are indeed in line with our overall objectives… then they will risk undermining our ability to live up to our own targets,” the EU’s energy chief, Dan Jørgensen, said in an interview with POLITICO. According to the Commission’s figures, Europe’s data centers used 20.7 terawatt-hours of electricity — about as much electricity as the entire nation of Croatia consumes — and more than 8 million cubic meters of water in 2025. That’s a 26% increase in electricity use and 52% in water use from 2024. But those numbers do not fully account for the sector’s actual use, as the totals are the result of incomplete data collected by the Commission. The data has only been published in aggregate, following a 2024 law that banned Brussels and EU capitals from disclosing “all information and key performance indicators for individual data centers” amid lobbying from tech giants, which cited commercial interests. Diego Solier, a conservative member of the European Parliament working on the EU’s legislative push to boost the bloc’s digital capacity, said Europe’s data center expansion must be accompanied by reliable information for citizens and policymakers about how much energy and water is being used. “Transparency should be the starting point,” said Solier, who didn’t comment on the complaint itself, which wasn’t yet public. “At the same time, transparency must be proportionate, and should not require companies to disclose genuinely commercially sensitive information.” Right to know Lighthouse Reports says the Commission “holds the primary responsibility [of] denying public knowledge of the effects of Europe’s massive data center build-out,” by allowing operators to keep details of their consumption under wraps and dodge scrutiny in the process — in breach of the Aarhus Convention, which the EU has been a party to since 2005. After failed efforts to force the Commission and national governments to disclose the data they hold, Lighthouse Reports is accusing them of wrongfully hiding behind secrecy carve-outs. “The Commission sits at the top of an edifice of non-disclosure encompassing the vast majority of the EU,” the report said. “Siding with commercial secrecy over the public’s right to know erodes legitimacy and damages trust further.” New efforts towards more transparency, including a rating label heavily criticized by industry groups, fall short of correcting course, the complainant added. The label will require operators to grade their energy efficiency, water usage and clean power uptake on a scale of A to G, starting from next summer. But Lighthouse Reports argued that the rules still conceal the total energy consumption and other key metrics to properly assess their carbon footprints. “The choice of ratios over actual consumption figures has no basis in technical constraints, it is a choice that favors the industry over public interest,” says the Lighthouse complaint.

Pentagon official says the plan will be announced in the defence secretary's 'State of the Force' address in Virginia.

Opposition leader dismisses Netanyahu's warning of possible attacks during next month's general election.

Relatives of Hollywood legend say her doppelganger could now be used for more glamorous rolesShe shimmered in Hollywood’s silent movie era and lit up the first talkies – now Greta Garbo may be about to star in cinema’s new AI age.More than a century after her screen debut and decades after her ashes were laid to rest in a Swedish woodland cemetery, the Hollywood superstar’s descendants are ready to consider an AI version of her taking a 21st-century film role. Continue reading...

Figure cited by minister highlights trade-offs Kyiv faces as it tries to keep normal life moving amid Russian strikesMissile alerts are costing Ukraine an estimated $45m (£34m) for every hour they bring business to a halt, according to the country’s economy minister, as Kyiv searches for ways to keep the economy running under an intensifying Russian bombardment.Russia has increasingly targeted the infrastructure underpinning Ukraine’s economy, striking industrial sites, warehouses, logistics hubs and datacentres in what Oleksandr Kravchenko, the minister for economy and the environment, described as an effort to “destroy pretty much the entire economy”. Continue reading...

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Finnish study adds to data suggesting people’s sleep pattern preferences can be linked to poorer health and workplace difficulties

At least three people, including a child, have died after Russia launched another round of strikes on Kyiv and its surrounding regions overnight to Wednesday, officials said. Several people were also wounded in the attacks. In Poland, two airports, in Lublin and Rzeszow, were briefly shut over “military aviation activity” during Russian attacks on Ukraine. Follow our liveblog for all the latest updates.

Heatwaves and wildfires helped expose 34 percent of the world’s population to “extremely poor” ozone air quality in the first eight months of 2026, according to a European Union report published Wednesday. Asia recorded the highest exposure, while ozone pollution remained difficult to curb despite decades of progress in reducing other harmful emissions.

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has been the mayor of Marrakesh for a number of years and also served as a minister in the previous coalition government.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has denied receiving advance knowledge of the 7 October 2023 offensive, claiming that security chiefs did not warn him.