Aviacijos bazėje Šiauliuose trečiadienį vyks NATO integruotos oro ir priešraketinės gynybos pristatymas.

Rusija pradeda bombardavimo, diversijų ir politinio chaoso kampaniją prieš Ukrainos sostinę, remdamasis dviem aukšto rango Ukrainos pareigūnais, rašo „The Economist“.

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.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music On a special edition of Westminster Insider from Labour Party conference, Pat and Sascha sat down with the new Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bev Craig, at the POLITICO Pub in Liverpool. In a conversation recorded in front of a live audience on Tuesday, shortly before Andy Burnham’s conference speech, Craig opened up about what it’s really like taking over from her predecessor — and how she plans to make the job her own. Fresh from a trip to New York, she revealed what she learned from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and what Greater Manchester might borrow from his playbook. Craig told Westminster Insider about her plan for Donald Trump’s visit to Manchester next year. Plus, she faced Pat and Sascha’s quick-fire round. Westminster Insider returns in full on October 16.

LIVERPOOL, England — One of the most stinging criticisms thrown at Andy Burnham is that he is a people-pleaser who hates to pick a side. But on one of the most contentious issues facing Labour, he has done just that. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband made the shift clear in his speech to Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool this week — directly telling internal critics who had accused the governing party of failing to take strong enough action to defend Palestinians: “You were right.” Many of those internal critics now hope a shift in Labour policy — imposing trade sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank — will go some way to repair electoral damage done to the center-left party in recent years. But in addressing one of the most difficult fault lines in the party membership, Miliband has also sparked deep anger among some of his colleagues, particularly some Jewish Labour members, and charges of diplomatic recklessness. Miliband’s team has yet to respond to a request for comment on this piece. Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, was seen as flat-footed in his support for Gaza as Israel responded with force to the Oct. 7 2023 attacks, and slow in his decision to recognize Palestine. Under his leadership, constituencies with high Muslim populations turned away from the Labour Party in large numbers, either electing independents or preferring the Greens. But one of Miliband’s first acts as Burnham’s foreign secretary was to announce the sanctions — and accuse Israel’s government of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by settlers. It was a dramatic escalation of the British government’s rhetoric. Jess Phillips, a Labour former minister who is the MP for Birmingham Yardley, said: “I think it’s a beginning of building back trust with the vast majority. “I wouldn’t say there is a ticker tape parade or anything but an opportunity for a fair hearing.” Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “As far as I’m concerned, the only important consideration is that the government has finally done the right thing.” She told at the POLITICO Pub at party conference in Liverpool Tuesday: “If you’re a grown-up politician, you can say sometimes: ‘Well, we were wrong about that. We wished we’d listened to you.'” Even those on the left of the party who had been the most scathing about Labour’s approach to Gaza appear at least partly satisfied by Miliband’s actions — and think they have a message they can take back to angry voters. Labour MP Rachael Maskell said voters are “really engaging” with a policy shift which “is not about sides but values, and that is what people are latching onto.” With that in mind, Labour activists are now beginning to feel quietly optimistic about an upcoming by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, Keir Starmer’s former seat, where Labour had expected to face particular pressure from the Green Party over Gaza. “Because we have moved pretty much as far as we can now on Gaza — short of calling it a genocide — and that issue isn’t as dominating and fraught, we can talk about all sorts of issues and people feel up for listening,” said a Labour staffer.  Green officials dispute that — believing their consistency on the issue will help get candidate (and Green Party Leader) Zack Polanski over the line. “I get the sense that people don’t trust Labour on the issue,” a Green Party councillor involved in by-election campaigning — granted anonymity to speak frankly — said. “Burnham and Miliband’s words are nice and all, but it’s a little bit too late. Greens have had a position stronger and longer.” The Miliband factor Despite earning party plaudits, Miliband has, for some, pushed beyond what is diplomatically wise. Three people described a meeting with the foreign secretary before the sanctions announcement, in which he was urged to wait until after the Israeli elections because of concern Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would weaponize the move. They said Miliband was intransigent and kept repeating that it was a “moral emergency.” The same people, who were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said his refusal to wait forced them to conclude that his decision was partly influenced by the desire to announce the change in policy in time for the Labour conference and the by-election.  Burnham has stood firmly behind the West Bank sanctions since they were announced, but it’s clear that they have been driven to a large extent by Miliband. The prime minister heaped praise on his foreign secretary in his own address to the conference Tuesday, insisting Britain would be “principled in our leadership in securing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, as Ed Miliband has shown.” A one-time Labour leader who carries more political clout than most on the government front-benches, Miliband has indeed chosen to make this fight intensely personal, describing himself as a “proud British Jew,” with the “deepest gratitude” to the state of Israel for giving refuge to his grandmother who lost her husband, Miliband’s grandfather, and 60 other family members at the hands of the Nazis. Miliband’s sanctions move was followed by allies in fellow middle powers, Canada and France, making similar moves, and one U.K. minister argued Britain had opened international conversations at the United Nations General Assembly that had been impossible before. For now, the British government is relieved that the feared blowback from Israel has been reasonably restrained. While Israel announced that the British consulate in Jerusalem will be closed as part of a retaliation, ministers were assured that intelligence cooperation will continue. Donald Trump, whose relationship with Netanyahu has wavered during their war in Iran, has appeared uncharacteristically calm about the sanctions.  In Liverpool, some Labour MPs were still to be placated. Left-wing lawmaker Nadia Whittome told a Liverpool fringe event Tuesday night that Israel “needs to face a reckoning” — demanding that Britain impose a complete arms embargo and wider economic sanctions on the state. But for now, Miliband has at least made parts of the Labour faithful feel better about itself. MPs and party members making their way to the secure zone of the Labour conference in Liverpool have for years been confronted by demonstrations from pro-Palestinian protestors. “Ed said we were right,” one placard read on the Tuesday morning after his speech.

The resolution cites a 'lack of accountability' by Israel's government and an 'inability to secure justice' by the US.

Protesters block Orange Order route into Catholic area of Portadown after court allows march for first time in 28 years.

More than 400 detained as police and students clash over class sizes, exhausting timetables and staff shortagesMore than 400 people, most of them children, have been detained in France on Tuesday after teenagers across the country blockaded their schools in protest at class sizes, teacher shortages and long timetables.Interior minister Laurent Nunez told BFM TV: “440 were detained across national territory. We don’t have the final tally yet, but I’m told two-thirds led to police custody.” Continue reading...

President of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party faces calls to resign over comments he allegedly wrote as a teenagerJordan Bardella, the head of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN), has claimed a “total war” is being waged against his party as he faces a political storm after the publication of antisemitic comments he allegedly wrote as a young party member.Bardella, who is facing calls from political opponents to resign, said on Tuesday that the report by the investigative website Mediapart was false. To a standing ovation from his party’s lawmakers and senators at a meeting in parliament, he said the report was an attempt to damage his party as Le Pen tops the polls before the 2027 presidential election. Continue reading...

Bloc says it has spent an extra €100bn since the Iran war started as energy ministers meet in Dublin

Pedro Sánchez’s government responds to public outrage after 87-year-old was evicted by corporate landlord

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.