Kauno apskrities viešojoje Ąžuolyno bibliotekoje antradienį vyks Kultūros politikos forumas, kuriame įvairių kultūros sričių atstovai apžvelgs svarbias Lietuvos kultūros sektoriaus aktualijas.

Latvijos Kraslavos rajone pirmadienio vakarą buvo įspėta dėl galimo oro pavojaus, bet vėliau, antradienio naktį, į gyventojų mobiliuosius telefonus buvo išsiuntinėtas pranešimas, kad galimas pavojus oro erdvėje baigėsi, nurodė Nacionalinės ginkluotosios pajėgos.

The chancellor has come under increasing pressure after resounding state election defeats, but says the results "go far beyond my own person"

Political shifts in Germany are being watched closely in Europe and beyond, Katya Adler writes.

Vets must also tell clients if cheaper medicine is available online as part of the rule updates which surgeries have the coming months to bring in.

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BRUSSELS — The EU must be prepared to work closely with Marine Le Pen if she wins the French election, a top Brussels ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told POLITICO. Nicola Procaccini said the EU institutions and the center-right European People’s Party must be “courageous” when it comes to working with the far-right Patriots party in Brussels, the European home of Le Pen’s National Rally, if she wins April’s presidential election, just as they were after Meloni’s victory in Rome in 2022. “There’s no way to apply the cordon sanitaire to the French Republic,” Procaccini, leader of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, said in an interview in his office, referring to the informal agreement among mainstream parties to shut far-right forces out of power. He said Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, an MEP who would be likely to become prime minister under a Le Pen presidency, “are reasonable people, pragmatic people, like Meloni.” Procaccini added that the French duo “will defend the national interest but without crazy things” such as hauling France out of the EU. A Le Pen victory would turn Europe’s far-right surge into power at the EU leaders’ table, placing one of the largest countries under a euroskeptic force, and forcing the EPP, which largely governs Brussels, to work out how to deal with far-right governments without fracturing the bloc. The last power shake-up in Brussels occurred when Meloni — whose Brothers of Italy party leads the ECR political family alongside Poland’s Law and Justice — came to power. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EPP chief Manfred Weber sought to build bridges with Meloni’s government to bring Rome into the Brussels fold. Procaccini said he hopes Le Pen will pick the “Meloni way” of dealing with the Commission, which he said means being “pragmatic, frank, open, honest and coherent.” He added that while “the French right historically is less pro-West than us, less pro-Europe” than Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, he is “optimistic” Le Pen will not be destructive in Brussels. That’s not how everyone sees it playing out, though. EPP vice chair and Romanian PM candidate Sigfried Mureșan said: “I believe under the leadership of Marine Le Pen, the anti-European party in France will radicalize in the next months.” Although the National Rally is a member of the Patriots group in the Parliament, the ECR would still gain an ally if Le Pen wins, helping it push a more Euroskeptic agenda. For example, National Rally’s proposal to halve its EU budget contribution does not concern Procaccini. On the contrary, he welcomed it, saying his group “doesn’t believe in a super-giant budget.” Right-wing majority Since the 2024 European election, the EPP has increasingly relied on votes from groupings to its right in Parliament to pass measures such as laws scrapping EU green rules and toughening migration policy. EPP chief Weber has repeatedly laid out his party’s three red lines for cooperation, which are being pro-European, supporting the rule of law, and backing Ukraine. Giorgia Meloni reacts during a joint speech with France’s President Emmanuel Macron. | Pool photo by Manon Cruz/AFP via Getty Images He and his lawmakers say the EPP does not negotiate with far-right groups, but insists that if they can pass their own positions with votes from the far-right, they will do so. In July, the EPP expelled a lawmaker who had organized an event with the far-right Patriots and Europe of Sovereign Nations groups at which they called for the dismantling of the cordon sanitaire. EPP lawmakers generally view cooperation with the Patriots and National Rally as difficult, if not impossible, given their fundamentally different visions for the EU’s future. In early September, the leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats in Parliament, Niclas Herbst, told POLITICO that the EPP should rule out any cooperation with the Patriots and instead build a strong centrist coalition to prevent populist forces from scoring victories in Parliament ahead of the 2029 EU election. Procaccini said the EPP still wanted to keep its center-left Social Democrat allies onside but argued that the EPP needs to be “courageous” and use the right-wing majority more openly to roll back parts of the Green Deal passed during the previous term. “They know very well that we need a center-right majority” to cut down the Green Deal legislation, he said, “but the problem is that the EPP doesn’t want to have a relationship with the Patriots.” Procaccini called the EPP’s refusal to engage formally with the Patriots anti-democratic, arguing that politicians should vote based on substance rather than ideology. He said ECR lawmakers sometimes negotiate with the Patriots and then with the EPP, acting as informal mediators because the EPP does not want to deal directly with the Patriots, “but there’s not a playbook, it happens sometimes, often, but it’s not a scheme,” Procaccini said. “I hope there’s no need [for] this role, but if there’s a need to be a sort of bridge, we are able to be the bridge” with the National Rally, he said. Until the 2029 EU election, the priority should be to continue rolling back parts of the Green Deal and boost competitiveness, Procaccini said. Gabriel Gavin contributed to this report.

BRIGHTON, England — The Liberal Democrats want to defeat Nigel Farage — just don’t mention working with Labour to do it. The third-largest party in Westminster has made opposing Reform UK central to its annual conference by the English coast this week. Yet what that actually might entail has been conspicuously absent from the discussion in Brighton. Neither Andy Burnham’s ruling Labour Party or Farage’s right-wing force — currently a close first and second in opinion polls — is on course to win a majority at the next general election, due by August 2029. It means both could be looking for a coalition partner. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey — who addresses the party faithful Tuesday — told ITV News on Monday he believes there is likely to be a hung parliament next time around. And he has already talked up the threat of a right-wing pact, warning that Farage and Conservative boss Kemi Badenoch could turn Britain into a “Trump-satellite state” — despite both of their repeated protestations that this isn’t on the cards. An “orange wall” of Lib Dem MPs “will not let [Farage and Badenoch] pass,” Davey has said. The subtext is that the Lib Dems will do whatever it takes to keep Reform’s hands off power — and in the U.K.’s first-past-the-post electoral system, that would most likely mean propping up a minority Labour administration. “Labour is open to working with us,” claimed one Lib Dem MP, citing Burnham and Davey’s collegiate relationship at prime minister’s questions and work on social care, though they were coy about whether that means in a future formal coalition when pushed. At least five other Lib Dems MPs POLITICO spoke with were also reluctant to discuss the prospect of a coalition with Labour. And while the Lib Dems are keen to show they would like to be in government again, it seems they would rather leave the realities of how they get there below the radar for now. Scars on their back   Mention of a coalition often sparks fear into the heart of a Lib Dem because of how the last one ended. “We got hammered in 2015,” a second Lib Dem MP said, recalling how the party crashed from 57 Westminster seats to just eight after five years as junior partner in the Tory-Lib Dem government. Though many Lib Dems will defend that government’s record, the 2015 thrashing means MPs would be cautious about jumping into a coalition again. “I always feel a bit icky when thinking [about coalition deals], because it’s not up to us,” said a third MP. “It’s up to the voters who end up with the numbers for those sorts of things to work.” Ed Davey talks with Keir Starmer in Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. | Pool photo by Richard Pohle via WPA/Getty Images The last coalition “did us a lot of damage for doing the right thing,” said a fourth MP. The party faced a huge backlash over its U-turn on increasing tuition fees, and its support for massive government spending cuts. Lib Dems are aware they would have to consider the compromises their activists — as well as voters — would accept as a price for power. A fifth MP called for the party to have three really clear policies identifiable in their manifesto that would serve as “red lines” going into any negotiations, warning “otherwise we go in with a weak hand.” One alternative — if Labour fell short of an overall majority — would be for the Lib Dems to enter a confidence and supply arrangement, where they would remain outside government, but influence government policy in return for supporting the government in budgets and votes of confidence. Clear red water  MPs believe there is peril for the party in being seen to be preparing for Labour tie-up — particularly when many of their voters used to be Conservatives. In 2024, the Lib Dems made gains in rural constituencies where former Conservative voters wanted to see the back of a Tory government they had once supported — and the party continues to target Conservatives voters disillusioned by Badenoch’s shift to the right. Davey has been careful not to rule out a future pact with the Tories — keeping his fire closely trained on Farage. But some Lib Dem MPs are beginning to think a more combative approach to Labour is needed. “The constructive opposition approach went on for far too long [under Keir Starmer],” said a sixth MP in a formerly Tory seat, who thinks the same thing is happening with Burnham who they claim has “no substance.” That MP suggested the more emollient approach should cut both ways, and “when a Tory frontbencher says something sensible, we should work with them.”  The Tories are leaping on Davey’s stance, branding the Lib Dems “Labour enablers” who are failing to hold the government to account. A seventh Lib Dem MP said they believe the party shouldn’t rule out working with the Tories — if they return to more moderate roots. A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “The chances of a hung parliament are greater than ever, and in that scenario, experience counts.” Cut through Beyond the coalition talk, Davey is facing bigger questions about whether his party is cutting through at a time when U.K. politics is in flux. “We’re not populist. We’re not going to say things for clicks,” the first MP quoted said, while admitting: “I’m not going to pretend there aren’t frustrations” about the party being heard more loudly and clearly.  The fifth MP quoted above agrees. There’s a frustration around the messaging being “all about who we’re against” rather than “standing up for our values” as the antithesis of Reform, they said. An eighth MP said they are concerned the repeated references to Reform could work against them because “naming those you want to do down doesn’t work, it does the opposite.” It frames Farage in voters’ minds and risks a self-fulfilling prophecy that fuels his success, they said. It is against this backdrop that questions have loomed at the Lib Dem gathering about whether Davey really is the right person to take on Farage and Burnham. Trouble at the top Julian Brazil, the Lib Dem leader of Devon County Council, told the BBC that “all the evidence” suggests Davey, who has led the party for six years, is no longer the right man for the job. Most of the MPs Playbook spoke to for this piece did not want to discuss defenestrating their leader — at least not publicly. Nigel Farage during day two of the Reform UK party conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, on Sept. 5, 2026. | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Yet plenty of delegates are asking fairly existential questions about what the party stands for in the new era of a Burnham led-government in debates on the conference floor. Research published by More in Common has done little to improve the mood. Polling by the think tank found fewer people understand what the Lib Dems stand for than Restore — the hard-right party founded only a few months ago by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe. Asked to describe Davey, the two most common responses were “don’t know” and “not sure.” The fifth MP quoted above warned there is a disconnect between the leadership and the activist base. Those around Davey are “shocked” when confronted with how unpopular he is among some members, they said.  Davey’s told the Sunday Times’ he “shares” his critics’ frustration — but blamed the party’s lack of progress on the “crazy politics we’re in.” The Lib Dem spokesperson quoted above insists the party is in an “incredibly strong position” and has seen its “best result for a century, and achieved a record breaking streak of remarkable local election results” under Davey’s leadership. Bobby Dean, the Lib Dems’ shadow commons leader, told POLITICO: “Ed has all the ingredients to be a really powerful messenger.” He points to sections in the More in Common polling that shows among respondents who did know Davey, he was described as “likable” and “competent.”  “Those are like good building blocks to start from,” Dean says.   The problem for Davey is that, six years into the job, plenty in his party are starting to wonder how much longer the building work can go on.

Follow our live build-up, team news, score and text commentary stream from the match in Nisshin, Japan, at 05:00 GMT.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is running in October's election for a fourth non-consecutive term as Brazil's president.

US president tells Ukrainian leader in phone call it is all about ‘diesel, diesel, diesel’, according to officials

Also in today’s newsletter: China accuses ousted top generals of ‘disloyalty’ and SoftBank launches one of biggest junk bond deals

The United Kingdom and the United States have for the first time test-fired a torpedo from an uncrewed underwater vessel, marking a step forward in AUKUS efforts to develop autonomous naval technology.

EU countries failed Monday to reach a final deal that would remove Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the bloc's sanctions list, with diplomats set to resume talks Tuesday.

Over a decade after Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh was shot dead by police, Egypt has paid compensation to the poet and activist’s family. Al-Sabbagh was killed as she laid a wreath in memory of slain demonstrators.

Two South African women appeared in court on Monday over the killing of one of nine women found dead near Johannesburg; meanwhile police found a tenth body.