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Europe
France
(Saturday), January 10, 2026 Roughly 60,000 allied forces, made up of French, British, and Turkish personnel took part in the initial landings in Crimea in September 1854 when the three nations - later joined by the Kingdom of Sardinia in western Italy - went to war with Russia. 'Total troop deployment during the Crimean War included more than 310,000 French soldiers and more than 111,300 British soldiers'. ' This month, the governments of the UK and France signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops to Ukraine only after war ends - if and when a ceasefire is ever reached to end the hostilities. During the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, both countries announced they would 'establish military hubs across Ukraine' intended to deter future invasions. The UK originally proposed sending 10,000 personnel to Ukraine on its own, but that number was deemed unsustainable inside the Ministry of Defence given the current size of the British Army, which had only 71,000 trained personnel, and could only be stretched to send 7,500 troops, The Times reported. The burden would fall on France, but it is also constrained by the personnel available. Estimates suggest that Britain and France could scrape together 15,000 troops for deployment in Ukraine. The coalition of the willing has to have real force and rules of engagement that allow it to immediately react and respond to any violations, General Hodges, US Army (Retired), told the Guardian. Captains can’t be having to call back to Paris or London to find out how to deal with a Russian drone, Hodges explained. ' 'The deployment of Western military units, military facilities, depots, and other infrastructure on Ukrainian territory will be classified as foreign intervention, posing a direct threat to the security of not only Russia but also other European countries,” the Russian government said in a statement on Thursday. 'All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate combat targets of the Russian Armed Forces,” the Kremlin added. 'The fresh militaristic declarations of the so-called coalition of the willing and the Kyiv regime constitute a veritable ‘axis of war.' (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
09/01/2026 - 14:49 EU chief der Leyen hailed the green light given to the bloc's trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur today, saying she looked forward to signing the accord ’soon’. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also hailed the agreement. The European Commission chief confirmed she would travel to Paraguay for the signing, without specifying a date. Argentina's foreign minister said the deal would be signed on January 17. But the European Commission, which negotiated the text, failed to win over all of the bloc's member states. In France, politicians are up in arms against a deal attacked as an assault on the country's influential farming sector. But Italy threw its weight behind the pact. A majority of the European Union's 27 nations overrode France and backed the long-delayed trade deal championed by business groups but loathed by many European farmers. Germany, Spain and others were strongly in favour, believing the deal will provide a welcome boost to their industries hampered by Chinese competition and tariffs in the United States. This will save EU businesses four billion euros ($4.6 billion) worth of duties per year and help exports of vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America, according to the EU. But France and other critics opposed it over concerns that their farmers would be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods, including meat, sugar, rice, honey and soybean, from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours. The deal is removing import tariffs on more than 90 percent of products. Over the past months, the commission stressed the accord is expected to boost EU agri-food exports to South America by 50 percent, in part by protecting more than 340 iconic European products – from Greek feta to French champagne – from local imitations. It also laid out plans to set up a €6.3 billion crisis fund and safeguards allowing for the suspension of preferential tariffs on agricultural products in case of a damaging surge in imports. The latter were tightened further at the last minute by member states lowering the threshold for action, in a late concession to Italy. The deal still needs approval from the European Parliament before it can definitively come into force. (Source: France 24 „with AFP’)
Ireland
Sat, 10 Jan, 2026 - 17:25 Today, the Independent Ireland party organised a large-scale protest in Athlone, Co Westmeath. Farmers and supporters staged a nationwide show of opposition amid fears the EU-Mercosur deal could undermine Irish agriculture. A convoy of about 1,000 tractors and vehicles travelled through the town, crossed the River Shannon and finished beside the TUS campus. An estimated 20,000 protesters gathered in Athlone on today to oppose the Mercosur agreement, the landmark trade deal ’between the EU and South America’. The Government voted against the deal in its current form, with senior Cabinet figures insisting negotiations have not concluded. Irish beef farmers fear the deal could threaten exports by opening the market to lower-cost Brazilian beef. The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) welcomed the Government’s decision to vote against the deal, saying the proposed safeguards do not provide assurances that Brazilian beef will meet EU standards. The march culminated in a rally inside a sports arena at TUS, where thousands listened to politicians and farming representatives deliver speeches opposing the deal. Some participants held placards criticising senior Government figures, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Harris, as well as European Commission President der Leyen. Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Kenny said the progression of the Mercosur agreement at EU level marked a bad day for Irish farming. Green Party senator Noonan said the protest highlighted the farmers’ anger at the manner in which the Irish Government flipped and flapped on the issue. ’They secured the nitrates derogation – were held up very favourably by Europe on that.’ And then waited to see what the vote was going to going to play out in Brussels, and then went against it. MEP Mullooly led the event and received a standing ovation. Earlier, he said he would call on all Irish MEPs to vote against the deal, adding: “There is opposition to this rotten trade deal right across the continent.” “Our message to MEPs is to follow suit with the Irish Government when they honoured the commitment in the Programme for Government to vote against this deal”, IFA president Gormman said speaking during the protest. “Our MEPs now have to do the same and also work with MEPs across the spectrum in the European Parliament to build alliances and make sure they can build a majority vote against this deal which will probably be tabled some time in early spring.” (Source: The Irish Examiner - Ireland)
Sat, 10 Jan 2026 - 06:06 Thousands of farmers from all over Ireland will converge on the Midlands today, for a mass protest over the EU's approval of the controversial Mercosur trade deal. Farmers drive tractors across the country to the rally at Institute of Technology (TUS) Athlone. As well as a march by participants, the tractors will form convoys that will snarl up the local roads. The protestors are determined to continue fighting against a deal that will see an influx of South American beef into the EU, including to Irish shelves. Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president Gorman said yesterday that Irish MEPs should lobby against the deal in the European Parliament. Gorman said countries including Ireland representing a sizeable proportion of the EU population - 31.3% - had not backed the deal in the ambassadors’ vote. When the result of the vote was confirmed it was met with protests in a number of parts of Europe including France and Poland. He pointed out that the deal still requires approval by the European Parliament. Irish farmers will renew their focus with their colleagues across the continent on securing a majority against the deal in the parliament, Gorman said. “The commission cannot ignore the scale of the opposition to the deal. "Our MEPs now have a crucial role to play in building alliances within their groupings and amongst colleagues from other countries to build opposition to the deal." “The Irish Government was not alone in expressing deep reservations about the deal and what it means for farmers and public health,” Mr Gorman said. Tánaiste Simon Harris also said the EU can’t take for granted that the deal will go ahead. “No officials, at any level, including the European Commission, should ever take for granted the decisions that the democratically-elected representatives right across the European Union may decide to make in the European Parliament,” said Mr Harris. He said the Government had not ruled out supporting the deal if changes and improvements are made around food safety and parity with environmental standards. Mr Harris said Ireland benefits from free trade but “it has to be free trade that doesn’t expect our farmers or our consumers to adopt a different set of standards”. If it were to be rubberstamped by the parliament, the deal will distort agricultural markets if EU farmers are forced to compete with lower-cost South American beef, farmers and others argue. Two Irish MEPs have publicly backed the deal - Fianna Fáil’s Andrews and Fine Gael’s Doherty. Mr Andrews argued that the debate on Mercosur lacked balance, saying groups like the pharmaceutical and drinks industries have remained silent on its benefits. Sinn Féin MEP Funchion described the European Council’s decision to back the deal as being bad for Irish farmers, the environment, and public health. Ms Funchion said it would force Irish farmers into unfair competition with Mercosur ranchers, who produce under far less strict regulation. (Source: The Irish Examiner - Ireland)
Poland
09.01.2026 President Nawrocki meets farmers’ representatives ahead of protest against draft EU trade deal with Mercosur. Rural groups warn agreement threatens livelihoods. Thousands of farmers converged on central Warsaw, blocking key streets around the Sejm and government buildings. Polish farmers argue the proposed EU-Mercosur pact would open the EU market to cheaper agricultural imports from countries they say operate with lower production standards and weaker environmental and labor regulations. The agreement would grant tariff concessions in exchange for improved access for European machinery, pharmaceuticals and industrial goods. Poland, along with France and Hungary, currently opposes approving the deal. Ambassadors from EU member states are due to vote today. Poland is Europe’s sixth-largest agricultural producer, and rural voters play a pivotal role in both national and EU politics. If approved, the agreement would still require ratification by individual member states. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Spain
Monday 12 January 2026 14:46 GMT Spanish police have made their largest-ever cocaine seizure on the high seas, on the Atlantic Ocean intercepting a Europe-bound merchant vessel - a container ship with 9,994 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a shipment of salt - en route from Brazil to Europe. The vessel, which ended up running out of fuel, had to be towed to port by coastguards in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. The seizure is the largest maritime cocaine bust since 1999. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)
11.01.2026 EU member states approved the EU–Mercosur agreement on Friday. due to farmer protests and opposition from countries including France, Italy, and Poland. Critics are warning that the deal could accelerate the collapse of small-scale agriculture across the EU. Spanish farmers have continued protests against a planned free trade agreement between the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur. The agreement, which is expected to be signed on Jan. 17 in Paraguay, aims to reduce tariffs on agricultural products such as beef, poultry, dairy, sugar and ethanol from Mercosur countries while opening up South American markets to European industry. Farmers in Spain argue that cheaper imports from Latin America, which they say are produced under lower standards, will lead to unfair competition and threaten the survival of many family farms. Similar concerns have been raised by farmers across Europe, particularly in France. Protests have intensified in Spain’s Catalonia region. Farmers have left tractors on the roads, sometimes weighed down with truck tires or tree trunks. Spain’s transport employers’ association, Fenadismer, said the protests have left more than 40,000 trucks stranded in Catalonia and the neighboring Basque Country. Farmers from Galicia and the Basque region have also joined the demonstrations in support. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Commission
08.01.2026 Farmers staged protests across several European countries today, blocking major roads, ports and border crossings with tractors, as the EU prepares to vote on a free trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc tomorrow. The European Commission has recently proposed advancing €45 billion in EU funding to farmers under the bloc's next seven-year budget and cutting import duties on some fertilizers ’in an effort to ease opposition’. In Belgium, the actions are expected to continue until the evening. In French-speaking Belgium, the Walloon Federation of Young Farmers (FJA) said it would block several strategic junctions with tractors. In France, farmers drove dozens of tractors into Paris early today, gathering near the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Farmers say trade agreements expose them to unfair competition, administrative requirements and EU rules weaken their competitiveness. Government spokesperson Bregeon said France remains opposed to the agreement in its current form. Germany supports the deal. In Greece, farmers have escalated nationwide protests, were blocking major highways, bypasses, and key crossings, and warned of a 96-hour strike if their demands are not met. The Athens-Lamia highway is fully closed to all traffic except emergency vehicles. Diversions are in place across Thessaloniki, Tempi Valley, and Western Macedonia, including the key customs posts. Hungary and Ireland have announced they will vote against the agreement, citing concerns over its impact on farmers. Italy has expressed conditional backing, calling for safeguards to protect vulnerable agricultural sectors. Poland is known to oppose the deal. Spain support the deal. Farmers in Catalonia disrupted access to the port of Tarragona,resumed road blockades, as nearly 100 tractors blocked several main roads. Protesters warned they would continue demonstrations indefinitely until the Mercosur agreement is withdrawn, arguing that it would lead to unfair competition and pose risks to consumer and animal health due to differences in phytosanitary standards. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
European Union
09.01.2026 EU states approve trade deal with South American bloc despite protests, divisions. Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Poland voted against the agreement, while Belgium abstained amid internal divisions. Enough members backed the European Commission's proposal, meeting the threshold of at least 15 countries representing 65% of the EU population. The trade deal now requires approval from the European Parliament, where a simple majority vote is needed. Earlier today, farmers once again staged protests across several European capitals, including Belgium, France, Poland, and Greece. The farmers argue that the agreement threatens domestic markets and endangers both agricultural livelihoods and food standards. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Russia
Jan. 9, 2026, 2:59 p.m. ET The Russian Defense Ministry said today that it had struck western Ukraine with a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)
Jan 9, 2026 4:58 pm KST Russia hit Ukraine with its hypersonic Oreshnik missile overnight after rejecting the latest post-war peacekeeping plan. Ukraine and its Western allies agreed this week that Europe would deploy troops after any ceasefire. But Moscow, which says it launched its February 2022 invasion in part to prevent an expansion of the NATO defence treaty, has repeatedly rejected the idea of any Western forces stationed in Ukraine. Such troops would be considered legitimate military targets, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Zakharova warned yesterday, branding Ukraine and its American and European allies an 'axis of war'. Russia's defence ministry said it had used the Oreshnik hypersonic missile on strategic targets overnight, saying the attacks were in response to a December drone strike on a resident of Russia's leader Putin. In Russia's Belgorod, the governor said more than half a million people were without power or heating after a Ukrainian attack targeted the region's utilities *. Nearly 200,000 people were also cut off from water supplies, Gladkov added. (Source: The Korea Times - South Korea)
* Note: A Russian power plant in the city of Oryol affected the water and heating systems. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
January 09, 2026 8:45 AM The governor of Ukraine's western Lviv region had earlier said that a Russian attack had struck an infrastructure target, which unverified social media reports said was a massive underground gas storage facility. The Ukrainian air force confirmed today that Russia had fired an Oreshnik missile launched from the Kapustin Yar test range near the Caspian Sea. The Russian military said it had fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile at a target in Ukraine in response to what it described as an attempted Ukrainian drone strike on one of President Putin's residences. The Russian Defence Ministry said the strike had targeted critical infrastucture in Ukraine. It said Russia had also used attack drones and high-precision long-range land and sea-based weapons. The strike's targets were hit. The targets included facilities producing unmanned aerial vehicles used in the terrorist attack (allegedly against the Putin residence), as well as energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine's military-industrial complex, the ministry said in a statement. (Source: AsiaOne - Singapore)
United Kingdom
Jan 12, 2026 15:00 IST The United Arab Emirates has decided to restrict state funding for Emirati students seeking to study at United Kingdom-based universities due to fears they might get radicalised by Islamic ideologies of the Muslim Brotherhood in British educational institutions. The UAE Ministry of Higher Education released a revised list of overseas universities eligible for government scholarships and official degree certification. The list included institutions across the US, Australia, France and Israel. The UAE has indicated it will not recognise degrees from institutions outside its approved list. Names of British universities were visibly excluded despite the UK being home to many of the world's top-ranked academic institutions. That could make British degrees less attractive for Emiratis. The exclusion was intentional. This comes after the British government's refusal to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist outfit by the UAE – which has long pushed European governments to follow suit - and several other Islamic countries. Abu Dhabi views the Muslim Brotherhood as a serious threat to its autocratic yet relatively secular political system. Dozens of suspected members have been jailed, and the UAE backed Egypt's military takeover in 2013 to remove President Morsi, who was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE has also supported factions in Libya and Sudan that it believes oppose the group. The Muslim Brotherhood or the Ikhwan al-Muslimun is a transnational Sunni Islamist organisation founded in 1928 in Ismailia, Egypt. Its core ideology views Islam as a complete system (’Islam is the solution’), promoting gradual reform through education, charity, and political participation in Sharia-governed societies. The 1967 Six Day War, Israel's military victory over Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria led to the decline of secular Pan-Arab Nationalism in favour of Islamism. In the 1970s, offshoots like Hamas emerged from a Brotherhood linked charity. The Muslim Brotherhood briefly held power in Egypt post-Arab Spring between 2011 and 2013, with Morsi elected president before a 2013 military coup led to severe repression, mass arrests, and designation as a terrorist group in Egypt. It retains influence via affiliates in Tunisia, Morocco, and exile networks, often backed by Qatar and Turkey. As of January 2026, it faces bans or terrorist designations in several countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE., and amid US efforts under the Trump administration to designate specific branches in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan as foreign terrorist organisations. Official data cited by the Financial Times shows that in the 2023 -24 academic year, 70 students out of nearly three million in higher education were reported for possible referral to the Prevent deradicalisation programme for signs of Islamist radicalisation. A UK enquiry launched by David Cameron's government, led by Jenkins in 2014 criticised the Brotherhood's ideology - and stopped short of recommending a ban. A comprehensive UK government review in 2015, after warnings from Saudi Arabia, concluded that while the group's beliefs were at odds with British values, it could not find any evidence linking it to terrorist activity in or against the UK. According to the Financial Times, ’far-right’ politician Farage has vowed to ban the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes prime minister and the UAE government paid for him to visit the country last year. (Source: India Today)
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