Estonia's bogs are among the country's most valuable ecosystems, offering striking landscapes while storing and filtering water, Climate Ministry adviser Hanno Zingel said.

The volume of loans and leases held by Estonian households surpassed €16 billion this June. Compared with the same period a year earlier, the increase is 8.6 percent, Bank of Estonia said. Corporate loan and lease volumes have grown at a similarly brisk pace.

The Estonian government has rejected a proposal to impose a cooling-off period before senior public officials can take jobs in industries they previously oversaw.

Reform Party support climbed in July, placing the prime minister's party alongside EKRE and the Social Democrats as Isamaa held its lead in Emor's latest nationwide survey.

Estonia's bogs are among the country's most valuable ecosystems, offering striking landscapes while storing and filtering water, Climate Ministry adviser Hanno Zingel said.

On August 12, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from Estonia just before sunset, but viewers will need a clear western horizon to catch the event.

Levinud arusaam, et Euroopa suurimad võlgnikud elavad Vahemere maades, ei pea paika. Eurostati värsked andmed näitavad, et kõige suurem leibkondade võlakoormus on hoopis Põhja- ja Lääne-Euroopa jõukates riikides. Eesti jääb küll euroala keskmisest madalama võlakoormusega riikide hulka, kuid viimastel aastatel on märgata laenukoormuse kasvu.

1976 - Hiinas asuvat Tangshani linna tabas 7,8-magnituudiline maavärin.

Thomas Cazenave says they are preparing if further evacuations are issued, as the mayor of a nearby town called the situation "catastrophic".

A blaze near Bordeaux has torn through more than 162 sq miles (420 sq km) in less than four days, while the Madrid region is seeing its worst fires ever.

The government wants pupils to take subjects like AI and manufacturing which are linked to local jobs.

The proposed settlement aims to close a years-long legal battle over claims its talcs products cause cancer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington this week having made initial headway courting the MAGA movement that has long complicated his push to keep U.S. support flowing for Ukraine’s war against Russia. But if he wants to get the anti-interventionist wing of the Republican party on his side, Zelenskyy will have a lot more convincing to do during his time in the U.S. The most public MAGA-figure-turned-Ukraine-backer has been conservative activist Laura Loomer, who visited Ukraine last week, interviewed Zelenskyy and said she now fully supports Kyiv. While the social media influencer stressed that she made the trip of her own accord, she said in an interview that it was the Ukrainian president who approached her about the sit-down, rather than the other way around. “Zelenskyy saw that I was in the country, and then he reached out and asked if I would come” to meet him, Loomer said. There have been other signs that Ukraine is getting traction with the anti-interventionist crowd in recent weeks — including Vice President JD Vance, who recently praised Ukraine’s defensive strategy and argued that Kyiv’s battlefield performance could help create the conditions for peace. Ukrainian officials and their supporters have long hoped to bring a wider swath of the Republican Party on board to back their four-year war against Russia — in the hopes of persuading President Donald Trump to stand by Kyiv. Zelenskyy has arrived in Washington with a list of requests for Trump and is trying to seize the moment provided by new backers and the battlefield wins Ukraine has made in recent months against Russia. A person familiar with the Ukrainian president’s plans said the topics he wanted to discuss, in order of priority, were: sanctions, a drone deal, Patriots and peace talks. The person was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive briefings. But scores of hard-line America First Trump allies on Capitol Hill do not share Loomer’s change of heart. That’s especially true of a band of House Republicans who have long pressed GOP leadership to cut off U.S. military and economic assistance to Ukraine. “I can’t speak for MAGA but I’m not” coming around to supporting Ukraine, said Rep. Tim Burchett, an America First and MAGA-aligned Republican from Tennessee. Other MAGA-aligned Hill Republicans argued they believe Loomer is getting paid to push her new Ukraine-friendly position and that no Republican lawmaker has changed their mind about Ukraine. “X doesn’t make foreign policy,” said a House Republican lawmaker, referring to the spate of social media posts from former Ukraine skeptics in the GOP. The individual was granted anonymity to speak about internal discussions. Asked who paid for her trip to Ukraine, Loomer said it was not the Ukrainian government, but did not provide more details. Loomer also stressed that she initiated the trip. “I had no idea people were going to, like, freak out about me being in Ukraine,” Loomer said. “It became like a national news story in the country. I didn’t plan for it to be this way. I just came to Ukraine, and like everybody wanted to meet me, and it just turned out that way.” Zelenskyy’s meeting with Loomer was not originally intended to be an interview but the Ukrainian president “appreciated that she has taken her time” to get firsthand reporting of the war, a Ukrainian official said. Trump remains committed to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House said in a statement when asked about the Zelenskyy meeting. “The president and his team remain committed to continuing to play a constructive role in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done,” the statement said. The White House didn’t respond to further inquiries about Ukraine and MAGA or Vance’s stance. Some close to the White House question the sincerity of Loomer’s about-face. “Foreign governments and foreign aligned interests have infiltrated the right-wing media ecosystem in America … it’s a space that’s gotten completely out of control,” said one person close to the White House, who was granted anonymity to discuss foreign government influence on right-wing media. Zelenskyy is trying to sway Republicans skeptical of U.S. engagement in Ukraine with a few key points, including emerging evidence that Russia has been backing Iran. Such messaging could land with the MAGA base that has been broadly supportive of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, even if that support is fading. Trump, though, was unmoved when asked about Zelenskyy’s claims on Monday. “Well, we’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin about it,” he said. “We’ll find out.” Zelenskyy is also expected to try and make more inroads on Capitol Hill on this trip. His visit to Washington is timed so he can attend the funeral of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ukraine’s most forceful advocate in Congress. Graham’s death strips Zelenskyy of one of the few voices pushing Trump to go harder against Russia from within his own party. Graham’s influence, however, never fully moved Trump’s position to begin with. Zelenskyy does have another very concrete argument to make to Trump — that Ukraine is showing it can win the war. The Ukrainian military has made inroads into Russian defenses with repeated drone attacks in recent months that have put Moscow on the back foot. “Trump sees that Putin is losing, and he sees that Zelenskyy has actually pulled this all together and is winning.” said Kurt Volker, who served as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations during Trump’s first term. “So that has, I think, then colored his attitude.” Volker called Trump’s declaration that he has a “good relationship” with Zelenskyy at this month’s NATO summit in Ankara — where he also backed Ukrainian production of Patriot interceptor missiles — “a signal to the MAGA world that it’s OK to support Ukraine.” Volker now is an adviser to Ukrainian energy company DTEK. NATO alliance leaders noted a shift in Ankara from previous dire predictions about the course of the war and Trump administration skepticism. “I heard a different tone in the room,” Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden’s foreign affairs minister said. “Yes, Ukraine has momentum, and we must increase the support, because now they have a possibility to change things and make sure that Russia actually comes to the negotiation table for real.” In his time on the Hill this week, Zelenskyy is expected to have some smaller meetings as well as address a meeting of the full Senate on Tuesday evening, according to a Republican aide, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Ukraine’s priority push on sanctions is about getting Congress to finally move on long-stalled legislation that Graham had spearheaded. Now formally named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctions Act on Russia, the bill would impose sanctions on Moscow and its enablers, potentially including tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian energy. It gained the White House’s backing shortly before Graham died unexpectedly earlier this month. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the bill would get its first vote Tuesday. Trump has so far been reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia. “I hope the motion to get on it will be a very big vote, a very big bipartisan vote, and if it I think that will at least set up a path to get it done and maybe create an opportunity to get a limited time agreement,” Thune told reporters on Monday. Still, it’s unclear whether other MAGA figures are anywhere near giving Kyiv the kind of vociferous support for Ukraine that Loomer has voiced. Prominent conservative podcaster Tim Pool, previously an outspoken critic of Ukraine, raised eyebrows when he said in a post on X last week that Ukraine was “fighting for its very existence against an evil dictator” and wrote that he now understood the importance of a Ukrainian victory over Russia. It was unclear whether he was commenting seriously or not. On Monday, Pool suggested that those who support Ukraine receive more media attention. Pool did not respond to a request for comment. Others who support a more isolationist foreign policy say the messaging shift is the result of Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to swiftly end the war. “Trump is allowing this war to fester and activists like Loomer are entering the gap,” said Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine. Veronika Melkozerova, Paul McLeary, Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

LONDON — Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, is playing the Greens at their own game.  Zack Polanski’s party had been basking in the glow of unprecedented local election wins in May after capitalizing on Labour’s tanking support under the centrist Keir Starmer.  But Labour’s charismatic new leader in No. 10 Downing Street is stopping them in their tracks.  An opinion poll by More in Common published Monday put Labour on top for the first time since March 2025, with its surge coming at the expense of the Greens, who recorded their lowest share of the vote since October last year when Polanski became leader. A separate YouGov poll also released Monday showed no change from last week, though it noted the party is down eight points from a February peak. Polanski insists he is the “opposite of worried about Andy Burnham,” predicting Labour MPs’ “last roll of the dice” in switching leader won’t improve things. But a senior Green Party local politician, granted anonymity to speak frankly, acknowledged: “It’s going to be difficult, there is going to be a Burnham bounce,” warning the party needs to “sharpen those key lines that give us differentiation.” The party is already attacking Burnham for employing corporate lobbyists like his chief of staff James Purnell, and claiming the new prime minister’s rhetoric on Gaza, public ownership and homelessness is hollow, and does not represent a change from Starmer.  It is also on a drive to find more polished spokespeople to hit the airwaves. Drawing the battle lines  One area where the Greens see a dividing line with Burnham is over Gaza.  Starmer’s response to Israel’s military action in Gaza — not calling for an immediate ceasefire, and saying in an interview Israel had the “right” to cut off the supply of power and water to Gaza — saw desertions to the Greens, especially in Muslim communities which had traditionally voted Labour. Burnham tried to distance himself from that response even before becoming prime minister, apologizing and saying the party “didn’t get it right.”  But Polanski argues this does not go far enough.  Burnham delivers his inaugural speech as U.K.’s new prime minister, in London on July 20, 2026. | Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images “I just think there’s a pattern over and over again of saying the right thing but then not doing the right thing,” the Green leader said in an interview with POLITICO last week.  “What are you materially going to change? And we’ve not heard any talk about ending arms sales with Israel, ending intelligence, or ending trade with illegal settlements,” he added.  The Greens also see immigration as another battle line after Burnham backed controversial asylum changes in a parliamentary vote before becoming prime minister. In Gorton and Denton, where the Greens overturned Labour’s 2024 majority of 13,415 at a by-election in February, campaigners said that opposing “cruel” immigration policies was a vote-winner.  Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East, a Green target for the next election, said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms — including changes to indefinite leave to remain —  are a point of contention in her constituency.  The rhetoric coming out of the Home Office “creates a one-way narrative, that we are only about control and are not capable of compassion,” she said.  “It goes to voters’ values,” she warned. “And our messaging doesn’t land with Reform voters — they will never believe that we are trying to bring down immigration, even when we’ve actually been remarkably successful at doing so — but it does land with Green voters, who think we’re being really harsh.”  All about the likes   Polanski also appears to have met his match when it comes to digital communication.  The Green Party leader’s political broadcasts that racked up millions of likes and shares across social media were seen as a departure from the stale videos coming out of Labour HQ under Starmer.  Burnham is already pumping out more engaging online content, including him chatting to people in Cardiff, joking with supporters, and giving an inside view into his No. 10 North office.  The Greens also claim Burnham’s message of hope has been taken from their playbook, with Polanski quipping that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But he warned: “People aren’t just going to get hopeful. They’re going to get hopeful when their bills come down, when their wages go up, when the cost of living reduces.”  More than 150,000 people have joined the Green Party since Polanski took over last year. | Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images Green strategists are conscious they can’t just have Polanski out on the airwaves, and they are working on building up a roster of people who can do a broadcast round.  The senior Green party local politician quoted above said too many MPs “don’t like doing the comms or don’t care about it.”  “We need a revamped comms strategy from our elected representatives,” that politician added. “It is really important that in our selection processes that we get people over the line that will do that work communicating and cutting through.”  Green party activist and political economist Ashok Kumar, who frequently appears on the right-wing GB News channel, said the Greens need to be better at engaging Reform voters.  “People are pissed, people are furious. They have no money, and we can’t just be tinkering on the side of Labour. We have to go hard,” he said.  More members  The Greens also think they have the edge on members. More than 150,000 people have joined since Polanski took over last year, while Labour has lost more than 200,000 members since the end of 2019.  Enthusiastic campaigners made all the difference in Gorton and Denton, according to Frank Adlington-Stringer, a staffer who worked in new MP Hannah Spencer’s office.  “You need to have members who actually believe in the cause enough to come out time and time again,” Adlington-Stringer added. “They are the ones that make sure you get across the line.”  McCarthy said her Labour party should be “taking seriously” the threat from the Greens. She warned: “The Greens are good at their pavement politics.”  The Greens hope they can stop their new recruits returning to Labour under Burnham.  “What happens when they replace Burnham?” said Adlington-Stringer. “The Labour party just swings between Left and Right when it’s convenient. I hope members that have joined the Greens recently from Labour understand that we are a different kind of political party.”  Track record  With the Greens now controlling more than 20 councils in England and Wales — putting them in charge of vital local services like adult social care, housing, and education — they will have a track record to defend by the next general election, due in 2029.  “Hopefully we will have some wins under our belt,” said Eva Tabbasam, who is deputy leader of Waltham Forest council, where the Green Party shot from zero councilors to 31 in May. “Residents know we are Greens with no experience. They took a chance on us and that was on a mandate of hope and a plan,” she added.“We have to make hard choices — the budget was in a bad place — but we said that we will be honest about those decisions.” But securing more elected posts has meant increased scrutiny for the Greens.  At least five candidates were dropped over anti-semitic social media posts before local elections in May, and eight costly by-elections were triggered after the May result because councilors stood down or realized they were not eligible to actually be in post.  Polanski said that the party had now hired an external consultant to review its vetting process.  ‘We win either way’ For now, Green campaigners and politicians are putting a brave face on the Burnham coronation, arguing they win whether he is successful or not.  “We’d love re-nationalized water, and we’d love no new oil, shut down all the licenses,” Kumar said. “Amazing, we love that. But if you don’t, then we bolster our membership.”  Polanski said Burnham should be trying to out-Green the Greens, and if he does, he will retire.  “I’m not in politics for politics’ sake. I’m in politics because I want to see the changes,” he said. 

US regulator warns of Boeing 737 MAX seat safety concerns, calls for inspection of 453 US-registered jets.

US President Donald Trump says talks with Iran are continuing during a pause in US military strikes

Coming days are ‘absolutely critical’ for firefighters before temperatures rise again this week, officials say Firefighters in France and Spain are racing to bring huge wildfires under control before another heatwave this week that will complicate efforts to tame the flames.Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday, prompting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, to warn: “We face difficult hours, complex hours” ahead. Continue reading...

Since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the war in Ukraine has changed dramatically. The Guardian's Luke Harding looks at who has the advantage in the war now and how Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's strategy has shifted Continue reading...

French President Emmanuel Macron warns ‘weeks ahead will be hard’ on visit to firefighting centre in the Gironde region

Researchers hit out at budget cuts affecting world-famous radio telescope outside Manchester