In brief: NATO’s Nordic allies are strengthening military readiness and air defenses as tensions with Russia persist. Former Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod urged faster defense spending, closer regional cooperation and stronger protection of critical infrastructure. He said NATO exercises near Kaliningrad demonstrate readiness to respond, while stressing continued military and air-defense support for Ukraine.

The drought-hit river already forced the power producer to shut down one reactor in late July. The company has two 706-megawatt reactors in Cernavoda on the Danube, accounting for a fifth of the country’s power output.

Any forms submitted will got me and me only but the responses will be turned into data for my coursework

Poland has demanded that SpaceX reverse its decision to exclude the country from Starlink’s European roaming region, accusing Elon Musk’s company of treating Polish users as “second-class customers.” 

Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said that he had asked SpaceX to urgently restore equal treatment after new roaming rules left Polish customers facing higher costs for cross-border use.  

Hi everyone, Lucia here from EUobserver — and as a Slovak, this one caught my attention personally.

We’ve just published an opinion that makes a pretty bold argument: despite all the problems we talk about in Central and Eastern Europe, this may actually be one of the best periods our region has ever experienced.

CEE countries are closer to Western Europe than ever in terms of income and quality of life. Estonia and Lithuania are now ranking among some of the most attractive countries to live in, and countries across the region have seen huge improvements since joining the EU.

But there’s a catch.

That rapid convergence may be coming to an end. Ageing populations, emigration, weaker universities, low R&D and investment could mean that some countries never fully catch up with Western Europe.

Being from the region myself, I’m really curious how people here feel about this.

Do you think life in Central/Eastern Europe is better than we sometimes give it credit for? And are we still catching up with the West, or has that process started to stall?

"First milestone complete," Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point posted on the X platform on Thursday.  

It added that the new FP-7X interceptor missile "could enter mass production as early as August, once Fire Point receives German-made infrared seekers from Diehl Defence." 

The project, called Freyja and announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July following the creation of a pan-European anti-ballistic missile initiative, brings together major European defense firms including Eurosam, Leonardo, Thales and Saab. 

Hungarian companies and households have cut their power consumption this week in an unprecedented way, after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid a severe drought that people have described as a "wake-up call."

One of the plant’s two units was taken offline on Tuesday due to low water levels in the River Danube, which is used for cooling the plant, caused by a severe drought.  

The state-owned electricity company, which usually provides around a fifth of the country’s electricity needs, announced on Tuesday that it had started buying Ukrainian electricity via Moldovan energy firm Energocom through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023. 

A severe heatwave and exceptionally low water levels in the River Danube are straining electricity networks across Hungary, Romania and Serbia, reducing power production just as temperatures nearing 40°C are increase demand for air conditioning.