High-level Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt, loyal to the previous PiS (ECR) government, has requested political asylum in Belarus on Monday, calling it an act of “protest against Poland’s unjust and harmful policy” towards Moscow and Minsk.

Journalists at Italy's public broadcaster RAI went on strike on Monday to protest against staff shortages, budget cuts and the denial of fair contracts for those working on the network's news programmes - or what they called "suffocating control" by the government.

Ukrainian refugees under temporary protection in Sweden will be able to register much faster and receive a higher settlement allowance, the Swedish government announced on Monday, much to the dismay of the far right.

German State Minister for Europe Anna Lührmann (Greens) on Monday stressed the need to move to qualified majority voting to prepare for EU enlargement, citing lessons to be learned from Polish history.

Petr Mach, leader of the Czech far-right coalition for the upcoming European elections, is ready to support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president - but only if she is ready to accept a revote on the Green Deal and the Migration and Asylum Pact, Mach told Euractiv Czechia in an interview.

Friedrich Merz was re-elected as leader of Germany's conservative CDU on Monday, but the party's annual conference showed that it remains uncertain whether Merz will ultimately win the chancellorship.

China’s Xi Jinping and France’s Emmanuel Macron had “frank” discussions over all things trade tensions and war in Ukraine in Paris on Monday, but beneath a veneer of politeness and respect, significant divisions lie.

Malta’s former prime minister Joseph Muscat and current Prime Minister Robert Abela have been called out for attacking the judiciary as charges have been filed against the former in the latest instalment of a money laundering scandal that has sent shockwaves through the country and the Malta Labour Party (PES).

The European Socialists, Greens, and Liberals have all shut the door to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s reelection if she decides to cooperate with the hard-right ECR party after June’s EU elections. 

Money invested in cutting agrifood emissions should increase 18-fold and reach around €240 billion per year if we want to halve emissions and put the world on track for net zero emissions by 2050, according to a World Bank study published on Tuesday (7 April). 

Euractiv's Transport Brief brings you the latest on the transport sector in Europe. This week, a successful time for cycling policy, but challenges remain for implementation.

The Capitals

A US soldier who was detained in Russia on charges of criminal misconduct was arrested by a Vladivostok court on theft charges, Russia's RIA state news agency reported on Tuesday (7 May).

At least one of the four suspects involved in beating SPD’s EU lead candidate for Saxony, Matthias Ecke, on Saturday is considered to have an extreme right-wing association.

Russia said on Monday (6 May) it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what the Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Belgrade on Tuesday (7 May) has raised eyebrows at a time when Serbia's President Aleksander Vučić has continued to resist increasing pressure to align foreign policy with the West, in particular the EU.

While most EU members, as well as the US, UK and Canada, are expected to boycott the fifth inauguration ceremony of President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (7 May), France, Hungary and Slovakia are set to send representatives.

A shortage of transformers is putting Europe's grid build-out at risk, stretching project lead times and adding to a price surge that will be felt on consumers' bills, researchers and experts have warned.

After the European Parliament elections in June, the fate of 119 legislative files unfinished in this mandate will hang in the balance.

Palestinian militant group Hamasagreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.