International

Finland’s president says EU should expand to 40 states — including Canada

His comments come as the Trump administration’s actions, alongside Russia’s war with Ukraine, prompt some countries to reconsider the benefits of EU membership.

Published

2 months ago

June 4, 2026

OCHEFA

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• Finland’s president Alexander Stubb

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has stressed the need for a much larger European Union, saying the 27-nation bloc should increase its membership to 40 states and named the U.K., Canada, Turkey, Norway and Iceland as potential candidates to join.

Stubb made the call at an energy conference in the Finnish capital on Wednesday.

His comments come as the Trump administration’s actions, alongside Russia’s war with Ukraine, prompt some countries to reconsider the benefits of EU membership.

Stubb told the Eurelectric Power Summit that “the window of opportunity” for EU enlargement “is quite short because when the war in Ukraine ends and perhaps when the U.S. administration changes, I don’t know, then people are going to take their foot off the gas pedal and start heckling about unnecessary stuff again.”

Stubb added that “European strategic autonomy or European geopolitical power” is “often based on size and scale and I think the best European policy ever has been European enlargement.”

“In this moment, we need to think big and geographically, we need to enlarge or at least create memberships which are flexible enough to bring in a sum total of 40 European states — or even non-European,” Stubb said.

Finland’s president said the EU should look to its western flank and bring the U.K., which left the bloc in 2020, back into the fold, or at least “as close as possible

.”Canada should be considered as another option, Stubb said. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if Canada was the 28th state of the European Union rather than the 51st state of the United States?”

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International

India’s Gen Z protesters force out education minister

The latest education protests erupted in May after NEET, India’s biggest medical entrance exam, was cancelled following a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million students to retake the test. More than 20 students died by suicide, with their families blaming the scandal.

Published

19 hours ago

July 27, 2026

OCHEFA

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Indian’s Gen Z protesters have forced out the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday, after more than a week of intense street protests.

In the words of 22-year-old Sakhi, a student activist in Delhi, “for the first time, it felt like we can make things happen through protests”.Soon after Pradhan quit, social media seized on an old video of a senior Modi minister boasting that “resignations do not happen in our government”, reflecting the confidence of the nationwide youth movement that had demanded his exit.

The outrage was channelled by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online campaign launched after India’s chief justice likened unemployed people with “fake and bogus degrees” to cockroaches.

Its founders staged a sit-in in Delhi, demanding Pradhan’s resignation, education reforms and compensation for the bereaved families.

International

Spain and France wildfires force more than 300,000 to flee as Macron calls crisis meeting

The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history.

Published

20 hours ago

July 27, 2026

OCHEFA

29 Views

•Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) and Castilla-y-Leon unit’s firefighters battle a fire in a forest next to La Atalaya residential area in El Tiemblo, 80 kms west of Madrid, on July 25, 2026. (Photo by Cesar MANSO / AFP via Getty Images)Cesar Manso | Afp | Getty Images

Wildfires are ravaging southern France and spreading into Spain, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee ahead of further expected heatwaves during the week.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday, while Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit areas hit by fires in Valencia, in the East of Spain.

The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history, according to French broadcaster France 24 and local news outlets.

The wildfires have also affected 77,000 hectares of the Avila and Toledo areas in Western Madrid.

The situation remains highly unfavorable,” France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X on Saturday, according to a Google translation.

“At the start of the night, in Gironde, the fire became extremely virulent and unpredictable again, generating its own wind and spreading erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. By the end of the night, it had calmed down somewhat.”

Source: CNBC

International

UK List Items Visitors Can And Cannot Bring

The updated guidance warned that failure to comply with customs regulations could lead to confiscation of goods, fines or even prosecution.

Published

22 hours ago

July 27, 2026

OCHEFA

26 Views

[File photo] UK PM, Andy Burnham

The United Kingdom has released updated lists of items travellers can and cannot bring into the country.

The updated guidance warned that failure to comply with customs regulations could lead to confiscation of goods, fines or even prosecution.

In the new listings while visitors are allowed to bring a range of personal belongings into the UK without paying customs duty or tax, strict limits apply to alcohol, tobacco and the value of other goods.

Certain items are also completely banned, while others require permits or licences before they can be imported.