From Beer to Baritone

Filiae

Brussels Cathedral is set to vibrate – in an unusual way – in a homage to a Middle Ages Saint Hildegard Von Bingen. The city centre cathedral will play host to a musical “tribute” to Hildegard Von Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine Saint. Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of…

Greens Call to Expedite Espionage Investigations

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Photo by Devin Kaselnak on Unsplash The European Greens are insisting that the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, “speeds up” the Parliament’s investigation into possible links between MEPs and foreign powers. This comes, it says, in response to reports that German police have arrested a parliamentary assistant on suspicion of being an agent of the Chinese…

Celebrating Balkans Culture

The Ukrainian rap group that won Eurovision is among the headline acts performing at this week’s Balkan Trafik! jamboree in Brussels. Kalush Orchestra,which performs hip-hop music in the Ukrainian language, won the Eurovision song contest in 2022, scoring the highest number of televote points in the history of the competition.  The band, which topped the…

Copernicus Publishes State of Climate Report

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The EU Copernicus Climate Change Service has published jointly with the UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) its  state of the climate report. It came out on Monday: Earth Day 2024. The report is based on scientific data and analysis and showcases the “continued alarming trend” of rising temperatures and climate change impacts across…

Lyra McKee Remembered

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Photo by Eve Maier on Unsplash The NUJ is among those who have remembered journalist Lyra McKee on the fifth anniversary of her death. The 29-year-old freelance journalist was shot dead while observing a riot in Northern Ireland in 2019. Tribute to her was paid by Seamus Dooley, NUJ Irish secretary. On Monday, he said: “The thoughts of…

Taiwan Resilient Democracy

Photo by Lisanto 李奕良 on Unsplash

Photo by Lisanto 李奕良 on Unsplash Taiwan’s elections in January demonstrated the “resilience” of a democratic society. That was one of the messages to emerge from an event in the European Parliament on Friday. The hearing in Brussels was organised by the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium along with three cross-party MEPs. They were:Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe), Vladimír Bilčík (EPP), and Markéta Gregorová(Greens/EFA). They…

Final Plenary Session of the Current Parliament

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Photo by Yellow Cactus on Unsplash From CAP to Iran – MEPs face a packed programme in the last plenary of the current term The Greens/EFA Group says it objects to the Commission’s proposal to re-open the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The group says this will weaken the CAP’s environmental conditionality rules and “remove essential ecological and agronomic…

EU Summit Unwavering in Support for Ukraine

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Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash EU leaders  have given their “full unwavering support to Ukraine.” This came on the first day of a two days summit in Brussels. On Thursday, a statement was issued which also sought to underline EU “determination to closely monitor and contain any risks stemming from disinformation, including through artificial intelligence, as well…

Can the IAEA Stop Putin’s Nuclear Blackmail?

The likelihood that the Russian military and Rosatom experts will go for an act of sabotage at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (Enerhodar) with potentially catastrophic consequences remains at its highest. Nuclear terrorism is part of Russia’s standard toolkit. The Kremlin has repeatedly threatened the world with nuclear weapons while Russian invasion forces have turned…