Coverage of individual EU member states.
A British father received an unexpected delivery when a parenting magazine arrived 19 years after he ordered it. By the time it reached his doorstep, his baby had already grown into an adult.
A Russian Geran-2 drone, part of an overnight assault on Ukraine, crashed into an apartment block in Galati, eastern Romania, on 29 May 2026, injuring two people. It was the most serious airspace incident for the NATO member since 2022; Bucharest expelled the Russian consul and summoned Moscow’s ambassador.
Reform UK consolidated its polling lead at between 28% and 33% nationally on 27 May 2026, while the wealth tax debate intensified inside the Labour Party amid Sir Tony Blair’s broadside against Sir Keir Starmer. With Andy Burnham’s Westminster path now formally open, the political landscape is fracturing at unprecedented speed across the four UK nations.
Three weeks after Nigel Farage posed with winning Reform UK councillors outside Havering Town Hall on 8 May, the political map of England has visibly shifted. Reform UK is consistently polling first nationally, taking control of councils across the Midlands and the North, and posing a structural challenge to both Labour and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election.
At a Strasbourg ceremony on Tuesday 19 May 2026, the European Parliament honoured the inaugural recipients of the European Order of Merit, among them former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish President and Solidarność leader Lech Wałęsa, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Two and a half years into Robert Fico’s fourth term as Slovak prime minister, the institutional architecture of anti-corruption enforcement constructed during the 2020-2023 Hegerova governments has been largely dismantled. The European Parliament’s forthcoming resolution on Thursday sets out a detailed catalogue of grievances.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Liuzhou in China’s Guangxi region in the early hours of Monday 18 May 2026, killing two, injuring four, collapsing 13 buildings and forcing evacuation of more than 7,000 residents.
Romania’s political parties met President Nicusor Dan in Cotroceni on Monday 18 May 2026 for consultations on a new prime minister after the Bolojan government fell on 5 May. PSD rejected another Bolojan-led cabinet; PNL ruled out any coalition with PSD; AUR said it was ready to govern.
More than 90 Labour MPs have publicly called for Keir Starmer to resign following the party’s catastrophic local election defeat to Reform UK. Brussels is monitoring the crisis with concern given Starmer’s deliberate strategy of re-engagement with the EU since 2024.
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to resign on Thursday 14 May 2026 to mount a Labour leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer, after 93 Labour MPs publicly called for the Prime Minister to step down. The political turbulence overshadows the King’s Speech and arrives amid acute gilt-market pressure.
