DE🇩🇪Germany
- Bavarian Verfassungsschutz may monitor the AfD — the court has ruled finally and without appeal; Germany and Poland are also giving young people 60,000 train tickets to mark the anniversary of the bilateral treaty Tagesspiegel ↗taz ↗
- G7 in Évian announces new sanctions against Russia and weapons for Ukraine — Macron speaks of Europe's "strategic awakening" Welt ↗Spiegel ↗n-tv ↗
- Interior ministers' conference: ministers want to make access to citizen's income (Bürgergeld) harder for EU foreigners, SPD minister wants to make deportations of criminal refugees easier n-tv ↗Welt ↗Tagesschau ↗
- Spain expected 500,000 residence applications from migrants - it received twice as many Welt ↗
- FBI thwarted a possible attack on Trump's birthday, according to Trump Tagesschau ↗
- Russian frigate fired warning shots at a yacht in the English Channel ZDF heute ↗
- KfW: municipalities are short of money, investment backlog has hit a record Tagesspiegel ↗
- Bundeswehr plans more projects involving animal testing Die Zeit ↗
PL🇵🇱Poland
- Bąkiewicz beaten in Berlin - Berlin police issued a statement, while the Sejm erupted (Kosiniak-Kamysz: "no approval for provocations"), and Prime Minister Tusk also reacts Do Rzeczy ↗TVN24 ↗
- ROG movement activists, including Robert Bąkiewicz, detained in Berlin — Kaczyński speaks of a "knife in the back", and the Polish consul is handling the case Onet ↗Wirtualna Polska ↗
- Zelensky will come to Poland despite the storm around the Ukrainian brigade "Heroes of the UPA" Wirtualna Polska ↗Do Rzeczy ↗
- PiS wants to get rid of MP Kalisz - motion submitted Wirtualna Polska ↗
- Ukrainian Su-24M bomber crashes in western Ukraine, two pilots dead Onet ↗Wirtualna Polska ↗
- A night-time moped ban has been introduced in Crimea - they are being mistaken for drones Onet ↗
- A Ukrainian model blew up Nord Stream 2? New media findings on the sabotage Wirtualna Polska ↗
HU🇭🇺Hungary
- "Golden convoy": the Supreme Prosecutor's Office broke its silence, Magyar ordered an immediate investigation at NAV and TEK — another extraordinary parliamentary session is being convened, and the case could also bring down the attorney general Portfolio ↗Index ↗Kyiv Independent ↗
- Tisza government: a business built on Hungarian citizenship — parliament debated tightening asset declarations Portfolio ↗
- The forint and Hungarian bonds at multi-year highs thanks to reports of peace with Iran Portfolio ↗Portfolio ↗
- Head of the Integrity Authority vs. the president of the State Audit Office, who is calling for his dismissal — "the last man of fallen power is carrying out a political mission" HVG ↗
- Cardinal Erdő Péter received Prime Minister Magyar Magyar Nemzet ↗
- EU commissioner: the country is heading in the right direction, but more time is still needed for a full rule-of-law reform Telex ↗
- Actor Gusztáv Molnár received a suspended sentence for endangering a minor Népszava ↗
- Geneva brothel: clients allegedly could even choose among children Magyar Nemzet ↗
AT🇦🇹Austria
- Fiscal Council tore apart the double budget: the government is short by 5.7 billion euros to reach its target and is missing its most important budget goal - another austerity package of almost 6 billion euros is needed Die Presse ↗Der Standard ↗ORF ↗
- The European Parliament voted on controversial "return hubs" — deportation centers outside the EU Der Standard ↗
- Operation Luxor: the first terror trial against an imam Der Standard ↗
- Neos are bringing in a model of voluntary military service Der Standard ↗
- BMW lowers its forecast - the crisis in China could hit the Steyr plant Kleine Zeitung ↗
- Die Presse: why Trump needs Europeans in the Strait of Hormuz ORF ↗
- The United Kingdom registered more than 700 boat migrants in a single day Der Standard ↗
- Court: three convictions in the forged will trial (1.2 million euros) Kurier ↗
UA🇺🇦Ukraine
- Rutte (NATO): Trump is playing a "very positive role", and the Ankara summit will bring "iron commitment" from the allies — the EU Council is preparing to open 2-4 accession clusters for Ukraine and Moldova, and Ukraine and France are launching a joint defence fund of 20 million euros Censor.NET ↗Ukrainska Pravda ↗Censor.NET ↗
- Defence Minister Fedorov: partial demobilisation of those serving since 2022 will begin in the autumn, Ukraine's "anti-ballistic shield" is aerodynamically ready, system integration is still needed Censor.NET ↗Interfax ↗
- A fuel crisis has hit most regions of Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda ↗
- Trump may back down on Ukraine in exchange for European help in Hormuz Ukrainska Pravda ↗Interfax ↗
- Merz: Europe and the US have aligned their approach to ending the war Censor.NET ↗
- Russia attacked Zaporizhzhia (1 dead, university damaged) and Sloviansk (3 dead) Kyiv Post ↗Interfax ↗
- Zelensky discussed the timetable for the next accession clusters with the EU leadership Censor.NET ↗
FR🇫🇷France
- France wants to use the G7 summit in Évian to push the West to reduce its dependence on China for rare earths — the fuel price cap during the Iran crisis cost TotalEnergies 200 million euros, and Libération describes the deal with Tehran as "Trump's surrender" BFM TV ↗BFM TV ↗Libération ↗
- The US struck a vessel suspected of drug smuggling, one dead Ouest-France ↗
- Europe is outlawing fake nude photos created by artificial intelligence La Tribune ↗
- Thwarted assassination attempt before an MMA fight at the White House Le Monde ↗
- Eduardo Bolsonaro sentenced to four years for lobbying for his father in Washington Le Monde ↗France 24 ↗
- Trump: less focused on Iran, now he wants to turn to the war in Ukraine Le Monde ↗
- Ghana hosts an international summit on reparations for slavery RFI ↗
- Parliament passed a law compensating the "Children of Creuse" — children from Réunion deported to metropolitan France Le Monde ↗
IT🇮🇹Italy
- Full text of the 14-point US-Iran agreement published — for Tehran, the lifting of all sanctions, oil exports and a 300-billion-dollar fund; signing on Friday, two Iranian tankers have already passed through Hormuz; Tehran says the "draft is inaccurate" Open ↗Il Fatto Quotidiano ↗Il Giornale ↗
- Italian anarchist cell: "you need young people for the action, we recruit from pro-Palestinian activists and obtain explosives" — intercepted plans of a network that admitted sabotaging high-speed trains and attacking the TAL oil pipeline Il Giornale ↗
- G7: Trump-Zelensky peace, "the war must end soon", sanctions on Putin's oil La Repubblica ↗
- The US-Iran deal will be signed in Lucerne, but the dispute over Tehran's uranium continues La Repubblica ↗
- Putin is waiting for US envoys and has called elections for September La Repubblica ↗
- "Melonellum": Meloni's party launched a vote on the electoral law, preferences are "bluff" La Repubblica ↗
- MP Bakkali: "Thousands of insults from Vannacci's squadristi", call for a pact against hatred La Repubblica ↗
- The Lega under siege: Salvini's offer, but coolness from Zaia and Fedriga La Repubblica ↗
- Sexist chat among Milan public transport drivers: first charge, operator ATM suspended six people La Repubblica ↗
- UniCredit rose to 55% in Commerzbank despite Berlin's opposition La Repubblica ↗
- Magnitude 6.7 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia La Repubblica ↗
CH🇨🇭Switzerland
- The G7 left Geneva companies with losses; vandals smashed the windows of the US consulate in Zurich (three detained) SRF ↗Tages-Anzeiger ↗
- Five men charged with planning an attack on Trump's birthday Neue Zürcher Zeitung ↗
- University of Zurich study: every fifth Swiss person considers violence legitimate and men superior Tages-Anzeiger ↗SRF ↗
- The upper house of parliament approved the 2026 army budget, including F-35 fighter jets SRF ↗
- Crans-Montana: municipal president Féraud apologised at the first assembly after the fire, and is being asked to resign Neue Zürcher Zeitung ↗
- A "cloud" regulatory gap? Debate over Google's deals with Israel SRF ↗
- Essay: why Eastern European leaders need an "expiration date" (against the intoxication of power) Tages-Anzeiger ↗
- Mercosur deal: controversy over environmental protection and sustainability SRF ↗
LU🇱🇺Luxembourg
- Lavrov called German minister Wadephul "a good pupil of Goebbels" Luxemburger Wort ↗
- Commentary: the debate about Andriy Melnyk needs more nuance Luxemburger Wort ↗
- EU lawmakers approved a trade deal with the US before Trump's deadline Luxembourg Times ↗
- New rights for air passengers Luxembourg Times ↗
- Fuel is getting cheaper - gasoline prices are falling Luxemburger Wort ↗
ES🇪🇸Spain
- Zapatero told the judge that he never influenced the rescue of Plus Ultra — a key testimony in a case that reaches into the PSOE leadership El País ↗
- Zapatero/PSOE case: a 14-hour raid by the UCO unit at Ferraz headquarters, questions about the origin of jewellery and the Plus Ultra case; Zapatero is considering a temporary suspension of his membership El Mundo ↗ABC ↗
- PSOE blocks a Congress vote on early elections El Español ↗
- El Español: the US used its own "shadow fleet" to extract oil from Hormuz — "they are imitating the techniques of China, Russia and Iran" El Español ↗
- A Russian intelligence agent paid two young migrants to set Starmer's house in London on fire El Español ↗
- Saving the Iberian lynx: from 94 individuals at the start of the century to today's 2,633 El Mundo ↗
- The absenteeism pandemic: 7% of employees are missing every day, costing 33 billion euros a year El Español ↗
BE🇧🇪Belgium
- Eduardo Bolsonaro was sentenced to four years in prison De Morgen ↗Het Laatste Nieuws ↗
- Three more drug criminals extradited from the Emirates to Belgium De Morgen ↗
- CD&V is pressuring N-VA over implementation of the Gaza agreement: "the entry ban remained symbolic" De Standaard ↗
- A dilapidated sewer system is causing sinkhole flooding in Brussels De Morgen ↗
- The nitrogen dispute: the state-appointed supervisor clashes with farmers from Kempen De Standaard ↗
PT🇵🇹Portugal
- 186 public managers are working without management contracts CM Jornal ↗
- The Socialists (PS) want to draft an economic proposal for the country RTP ↗
- Illegal care homes where four elderly women died of hunger charged 800 euros per client per month CM Jornal ↗
- Fake PJ officers are spreading terror in home robberies CM Jornal ↗
- Benfica vetoes the sale of "King of Chickens" shares to Americans CM Jornal ↗
IE🇮🇪Ireland
- Martin and Harris will support Sinn Féin's abortion law - frustration in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Irish Examiner ↗
- Trump criticises Israeli tactics in Lebanon; according to him Netanyahu is slowing peace with Iran RTÉ ↗The Irish Times ↗
- Formal state apology to the victims of Bill Kenneally The Irish Times ↗
- Water quality in Irish rivers and lakes remains "unsatisfactory" The Irish Times ↗
- Government urged to use the EU presidency to support Ukrainian soldiers returning to work The Irish Times ↗
NL🇳🇱Netherlands
- US justice is prosecuting five people for planning an attack on a cage fight at the White House AD ↗
- Eduardo Bolsonaro was sentenced to four years in prison NRC ↗de Volkskrant ↗
- The rental market for the "happy few": prices per square metre have doubled, supply has fallen sharply AD ↗
- Germany's ZDF edited its programme after Elon Musk's furious reaction (charge over the Belfast manhunt) NU.nl ↗
🌍 Other countries
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Streeting ready to launch a battle for Labour leadership, "King of the North" Andy Burnham is preparing to topple Starmer BBC News ↗Daily Mail ↗; FT: Trump's deal with Iran is a "humiliation", worse than Obama's Financial Times ↗; SpaceX has overtaken Amazon to become the world's fifth most valuable company BBC News ↗
- 🇷🇴 Romania: Ukrainian AI drones are changing the rules of war (they have overtaken HIMARS systems) Adevărul ↗; 19 hours in a row for 20 litres of petrol - the plan to isolate Crimea is starting to work Adevărul ↗; AUR wants to abolish the "Temu tax" Adevărul ↗
- 🇷🇸🇲🇰 The Balkans and EU enlargement: Lavrov - "Let Ukraine join the EU, and the Union would collapse" Politika ↗; Croatian MEP: Serbia and Montenegro cannot join the EU until they pay war reparations Slobodenpečat ↗; after CH and Albania, North Macedonia could be next Slobodenpečat ↗
- 🇲🇩 Moldova: joint declaration with Poland on EU accession Ziarul de Gardă ↗; Moldova is already producing and exporting drones - sales are growing tenfold each year Newsmaker ↗
- 🇸🇪 Sweden: "stopping Anthropic" is an urgent problem for the EU Aftonbladet ↗; BBC: Russia is behind the arson attack against Starmer Expressen ↗
- 🇫🇮 Finland: support for the Left Alliance and the Finns Party continues to grow (HS poll) Yle ↗; HS profiles the main Iranian negotiator - a former Trump favourite who joined the Guards as a teenager Helsingin Sanomat ↗
- 🇭🇷 Croatia: cyberattack on the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk — more than a terabyte of data stolen 24sata ↗; Merz revealed what happened behind closed doors at the G7 Večernji list ↗
- 🇮🇸 Iceland: cartoonist shot dead Vísir ↗
🔁 Cross-country themes
- G7 Évian: new sanctions on Russian oil and energy + weapons for Ukraine — 🇩🇪 DE · 🇫🇷 FR · 🇮🇹 IT · 🇨🇭 CH · 🇦🇹 AT · 🇺🇦 UA · 🇭🇷 HR
- US-Iran deal: signing on Friday in Bürgenstock, 300-billion-dollar fund, uranium dispute — 🇮🇹 IT · 🇪🇸 ES · 🇫🇷 FR · 🇷🇴 RO · 🇦🇹 AT · 🇲🇰 MK · 🇫🇮 FI
- Russian frigate fired warning shots near a British yacht in the English Channel — 🇩🇪 DE · 🇫🇷 FR · 🇦🇹 AT · 🇨🇭 CH · 🇱🇺 LU · 🇮🇪 IE
- Eduardo Bolsonaro: four years in prison for lobbying in the US — 🇫🇷 FR · 🇪🇸 ES · 🇧🇪 BE · 🇳🇱 NL · 🇵🇹 PT · 🇨🇭 CH
- FBI thwarted an assassination plot for Trump's birthday (five charged) — 🇩🇪 DE · 🇫🇷 FR · 🇨🇭 CH · 🇳🇱 NL · 🇺🇦 UA
- Hormuz as leverage: a shadow fleet and fears of naval mines — 🇪🇸 ES · 🇦🇹 AT · 🇺🇦 UA
- EU enlargement as a battlefield: Lavrov, Balkan reparations, Moldova — 🇷🇸 RS · 🇲🇰 MK · 🇲🇩 MD · 🇱🇺 LU · 🇺🇦 UA
- Russian fuel crisis and the isolation of Crimea — 🇺🇦 UA · 🇷🇴 RO
🔎 Another angle
- US "shadow fleet" extracts Iranian oil from Hormuz (El Español, Spain) — Madrid describes the paradox of the US imitating the techniques of China, Russia and Iran to bypass its own sanctions; it also adds context for why Trump "needs Europeans" in Hormuz.
- "Why Eastern European leaders need an expiration date" (Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerland) — an essay against the intoxication of power in the region that resonates with the current constitutional struggles in Hungary.
- EU enlargement as geopolitical leverage (Politika/Slobodenpečat, Serbia/North Macedonia) — from Lavrov's remark about the "collapse of the Union" through the Croatian blockade of the Balkans over war reparations to the Moldova-Poland declaration.
