Rusija ketvirtadienį nurodė uždaryti Rumunijos konsulatą Sankt Peterburge ir išsiunčia jo generalinį konsulą, nurodydama, kad tai atsakomasis žingsnis po Rusijos atstovybės uždarymo Rumunijos uostamiestyje Konstancoje.

Prezidentas Gitanas Nausėda ketvirtadienį Seimui pateikė socialdemokratų vedlio Mindaugo Sinkevičiaus kandidatūrą į premjero pareigas.

Temperatures in Germany could hit 40C in some areas while French officials say deaths linked to the heat are being seen among young people.

Ukraine's Volodmyr Zelensky skips major conference aimed at rebuilding his country after being stripped of a Polish state honour.

The airline had typically charged adults a fee of £8 each way to sit with their young children.

Signs that traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route is gradually resuming has helped to push the oil price down.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Joana Lehner und Rasmus Buchsteiner analysieren die Vorschläge der Rentenkommission. Kanzler Friedrich Merz will das Paket offenbar eins zu eins umsetzen. Neben dem Aus für die Rente mit 63 steht die neue kapitalgedeckte Rente im Fokus. Aber wie realistisch ist es, dass diese Vorschläge in den Reformprozess gehen und exakt so als Gesetz wieder rauskommen? Im Policy Talk befragt Tom Schmidtgen die Mittelstandsbeauftragte Gitta Connemann (CDU) zur schlechten Stimmung in den Betrieben. Die Schuld bei den hohen Energiepreisen sieht sie auch in der Politik des früheren grünen Wirtschaftsministers Robert Habeck. SPD-Ideen wie einem „KI-Gutschein“ erteilt sie wegen zu viel Bürokratie eine Absage. Stattdessen fordert sie breite steuerliche Entlastungen und bessere Wettbewerbsbedingungen. Forderungen nach einer Reichen- oder Vermögenssteuer lehnt Connemann ebenfalls ab, weil es nicht Milliardäre, sondern Handwerker und Freiberufler treffen würde. „Power & Policy“ zeigt jede Woche, wo und wie die Entscheidungen in der Wirtschaftspolitik fallen. ⁠Jürgen Klöckner⁠ und ⁠Joana Lehner⁠ von POLITICO sprechen mit Top-Entscheidern und liefern Off-the-Record-Einblicke aus der Redaktion und Machtzentren. Präzise Analysen, lange bevor Gesetze beschlossen sind. Der Podcast für alle in Wirtschaft und Politik, die einen Wissensvorsprung brauchen — immer donnerstags. Für Policy-Profis: Abonnieren und die Pro-Newsletter ⁠Industrie & Handel⁠, ⁠Energie & Klima ⁠und ⁠Gesundheit⁠. Jetzt kostenlos testen. Fragen und Feedback gern an ⁠powerandpolicy@politico.eu⁠ POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 ⁠information@axelspringer.de⁠ Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

LONDON — Keir Starmer is expected to ignore calls — including from his likely successor as prime minister — for the U.K. to sign up to a multilateral defense bank championed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at next month’s NATO summit. Two allies of Andy Burnham, who will take over as the new British prime minister mid-July barring an upset, said he and his advisers supported the idea of the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) and saw the Ankara meeting as the best chance to get it signed. The U.K. government has been locked in a desperate hunt for cash to boost the armed forces, while Starmer is still pushing to finish the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan before he leaves office. Burnham will face similar spending difficulties if he enters Downing Street, and has already acknowledged the need to cut other departmental funding to plug gaps. He and his team see DSRB as a worthwhile way to help inject more money into rearmament, according to the same two allies. However, Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have long been cool on the idea and have so far resisted overtures from Ottawa to join when the bank is founded at the NATO gathering. Gordon Brown, the former prime minister who Starmer has brought back as his global finance envoy, has been in discussions with Carney, but the Treasury now appears to be focused on merging the DSRB with the U.K.’s Multilateral Defence Mechanism with Finland and the Netherlands. Reeves told the Commons this week: “We are … working closely with Canada on how we can bring the MDM and DSRB together so we can have one model that helps us better fund defense in our country and across Europe.” Supporters of the bank say such a merger would delay it beyond the Ankara summit. One MP familiar with the discussions said, “these things are working on completely different timescales,” and that DSRB is “ready to go,” whereas “there is no detail on MDM at all, so it’s impossible to talk about merging without stalling DSRB.” An official from one of the U.K.’s partner countries in MDM said it was “very much still in the early stages.” Meanwhile, a defense industry representative said that No.10 was “wholly focused” on delivering the DIP and inclined to leave new defense financing initiatives to Burnham. A spokesperson for the Treasury said the department would not comment on hypotheticals, while Downing Street declined to comment.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports three people killed after an Israeli attack on a car in Nabatieh.

Al Jazeera’s Robert McBride brings you the latest from Beirut as people return to the south of Lebanon.

‘London is cooking’, says UN secretary-general, as temperatures reach a new record for June

Jarosław Kaczyński calls on government to block Kyiv’s EU accession talks

Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday and rescue teams raced to the areas hardest hit by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked northern Venezuela, killing at least 164 people with many more feared dead.

Many people assume that organic agriculture is expensive and hard to produce on a massive scale. But a group of 10 farmers in France's western Vendée region want to prove that chemical-free farming can feed a whole country. Their co-operative is 100 percent organic and local. Their vegetables are sold to schools, supermarkets and restaurants. The co-op's yields are on par with those of conventional farming. Our Down to Earth team reports.

As pledges of aid pour in from around the world, acting President Delcy Rodríguez has declared a state of emergency.

New images from La Guaira on 25 June revealed widespread destruction after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela's Caribbean coast, damaging buildings, roads and key public infrastructure.