17 h. ago Freedom from China? The mine at the centre of Europe’s push for rare earth metals

Swedish producer is trying to to accelerate the process of extracting the elements vital for hi-tech productsIt is deep winter with temperatures dropping to -20C. The sun never rises above the horizon, instead bathing Sweden’s most northerly town of Kiruna in a blue crepuscular light, or “civil twilight” as it is known, for two or three hours a day stretching visibility a few metres, notwithstanding heavy snow.But 900 metres below the arctic conditions, a team of 20 gather every day, forgoing the brief glimpse of natural light and spearheading the EU’s race to mine its own rare earths. Despite identification of several deposits around the continent, and some rare earth refineries including Solvay in France, there are no operational rare earth mines in Europe. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Europe faces a pincer attack from White House ideologues backed by Silicon Valley and its far

US tech bosses are exerting leverage on EU regulators via Trump and Vance. But Europe isn’t powerless, and it isn’t aloneThe US is advancing a new global order. Over the past eight decades Washington pursued – when it suited American interests – an order based on international law, liberalism, multilateralism and democratic values. The new one is based on autocracy and the use of force, and is underpinned by xenophobic nationalism.For the transatlantic relationship this is transformative: it means that coercive action now drives policy change. Europe’s security dependency on the US is leverage to be ruthlessly exploited. Silicon Valley tech firms’ business interests converge with those of the White House, and the US instrumentalises far-right politicians in Europe to achieve its foreign policy objectives.Armida van Rij is a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Weather tracker: Arctic air grips Europe as severe winds batter Corsica

Subzero temperatures, heavy snowfall and powerful gusts mark a harsh start to 2026 for manyIt has been a cold start to the year across much of Europe, particularly in central regions, where temperatures dropped to double-digit negatives. Heavy snowfall hit parts of eastern and central Europe on New Year’s Eve, notably in Poland and Ukraine, with similar conditions across the Alps on the first few days of the year.The cold is likely to continue this week as an Arctic air mass sinks south across Europe, pulling temperatures well below the seasonal average outside south-east Europe. Temperatures are expected to fall widely by about 5C (41F) below average, with some areas – such as parts of central and north-eastern Europe – up to 10C lower than the norm. When wind chill is taken into account, it will feel even colder. Continue reading...

Society

9 d. ago Bulgaria is joining the euro. Here's what it means for consumers and businesses

Bulgaria is welcoming a new year and a new currency

Politics

1 week ago Why I needed fireproof underwear for a leisurely spin through the Bavarian countryside

I was lucky enough to have been invited to sit alongside former World Rally Champion Ott Tanak during a shakedown session on the first day of the WRC's Central European Rally in Bavaria.

Events

1 week ago Xi steps up crackdown on press freedom in China: ‘Even moderate voices are being silenced’

Speaking to Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, the son of a jailed veteran state media journalist calls on US and European governments to pressure Beijing for his release

Politics

1 week ago Pensions timebomb: why Europe’s social contract is becoming unsustainable

Ageing populations and falling birthrates have left ever fewer workers to support growing number of retireesIt has played a starring role in one of the worst periods of political turmoil in France since the 1960s. In Germany, it threatens the future of the coalition government. In Spain, thousands have taken to the streets to demand change.The right to a decent state pension has been a central plank of the European social contract for decades, but people are living longer, birthrates are falling, and the continent’s pension systems are, increasingly, unsustainable. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Hungary's 'water guardian' farmers fight back against desertification

Southern Hungary landowner Oszkár Nagyapáti has been battling severe drought on his land

Politics

2 w. ago Falling price of cocaine forces drug traffickers to reuse narco

Previously vessels would be sunk once they had completed their cargo runs from South America to EuropeThe plummeting price of cocaine is forcing drug-traffickers to reuse the “narco-submarines” they would previously have scuttled once the custom-built vessels had completed their cargo runs from South America to Europe, according to a senior Spanish police officer.While semi-submersible vehicles have been used regularly in Colombia and other parts of South and Central America since the 1980s, they were not detected in European waters until 2006, when an abandoned sub was found in an estuary in the north-west Spanish region of Galicia. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Friedrich Merz wants Berlin to be a geopolitical hub. Will German voters reward him?

The chancellor is pursuing a risky quest for European leadership, and last week’s setback over Russian reparations is unlikely to knock him off courseFriedrich Merz’s three-month bid to catapult Germany into the role of undisputed leader of Europe has come unstuck.His call for Europe to hand Ukraine access to €201bn (£176bn) in frozen Russian central bank assets via a reparations loan was rejected at a decisive European Council meeting in Brussels. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Which story popularised the eating of turkey at Christmas? The Saturday quiz

From the Yule Cat and Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur to Taylor Swift and John Everett Millais, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Where does the Yule Cat devour people who don’t have new clothes?2 Who successfully answered the radio advert: “Astronauts wanted, no experience required”?3 Which story popularised the eating of turkey at Christmas?4 Who signed his letters to Queen Elizabeth I as “007”?5 What is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust?6 Which Olympic athletics record is still standing from 1968?7 Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur is the smallest of which order of mammals?8 Where do the Rockettes dance each Christmas?What links: 9 Alps in Slovenia; dates after 45BC; month of Quintilis; 42% of English births?10 Taylor Swift; Friedrich Heyser; John Everett Millais?11 Killed Baldr in Norse myth; Harry Potter’s wand; annual commemoration of Parnell?12 MLA; MP; MS; MSP?13 Stan Laurel; Mick McCarthy; Paul Raymond; Martin Sixsmith; Tony Wilson?14 M (3); V (6); E (8); M (13);...

Politics

3 w. ago Modest but steady economic growth lets Europe get by without an interest rate cut

Interest rates in Europe are going to stay right where they are at a meeting of European Central Bank officials

Economics

3 w. ago Ten years of fortress Europe has served only cruelty, profiteers and racists. The next decade is up to us | Maurice Stierl

The hard right and far right are the political winners from the migration ‘crisis’, but only because centrist parties keep legitimising themFor a decade, Europe has remained suspended in a perpetual state of migration crisis. While the Greek word krisis refers to an exceptional moment that disrupts the normal order of things, since 2015 it has become an enduring condition in contemporary Europe. That year, 1 million people sought refuge in Europe, fleeing wars and persecution. In the ensuing decade, the issue of migration has been so thoroughly weaponised that one can hardly remember a time when it was not considered a crisis.The idea of a permanent state of emergency does not reflect a reality whereby Europe genuinely cannot cope with new arrivals. Rather, it reflects the fact that there are simply too many who profit from manufacturing a sense of crisis.Dr Maurice Stierl is a migration and border researcher at the University of Osnabrück, Germany Continue reading...

Politics