Headlines

EU takes aim at trafficking of illicit firearms

Illicit firearms pose a grave risk to public safety, fuelling terrorism, organized crime, gang violence and other serious offences. In the EU, it is currently difficult to combat firearms trafficking, given that current EU rules only cover the legal ownership and transfer of

Next EU budget is a 'defining moment for Europe’s future'

The proposed EU budget for 2028-2034 risks “weakening” Europe’s territories and undermining the Union’s cohesion, resilience and competitiveness, it has been claimed. The next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Negotiations took centrestage at a meeting of the Conference

China’s cheap AI designed to hook the world on its tech

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at a very Chinese time in its life. Recent moves from Chinese AI labs are throwing the dominance of American “frontier labs” such as Google and OpenAI into question. Last week ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, released an AI video-generating

Time to align waste policy with the EU carbon market

The EU runs the world’s largest carbon market. The Emissions Trading System (ETS) has reduced pollution from power plants, steel and heavy industry. Yet one major fossil fuel source remains largely outside its scope: waste incineration, write Anna Larsson and Janek Vahk. That

A strike is not a strategy — Iran will prove it

In certain quarters of Washington, one imagines the corks popping. The news flashes across screens: a coordinated American and Israeli strike has killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with senior commanders. The president posts a triumphant video in the

Like a horse, Belgium-China relations 'are strong'

China’s ambassador to Belgium has conceded that his country’s economy has faced “challenges”. But Fei Shengchao also stressed it was “still doing great”, was currently the second largest economy in the world and was one of the “major engines” of the global economy. Speaking at