The Latest Breaking News from European Union

Reform accused of targeting the most vulnerable with £50bn benefit cut

Robert Jenrick takes aim at disabled people and foreign nationals after saying UK guilty of ‘suicidal empathy’

The Guardian - UK · Aug 16

Reform criticised for ‘senseless and cruel’ ban on all foreign nationals claiming benefits

Nigel Farage’s party says there would be only a small number of exceptions, including the War Widows Pension and Armed Forces compensation

The Independent UK · Aug 16

Reform's pledge to ban foreign nationals from welfare system branded 'cowardly'

REFORM UK has pledged to ban most foreign nationals from claiming most types of welfare.

The National (Scotland) · Aug 16

Belgium's biggest wildfire on record heads towards Germany

Firefighters battled Belgium's largest wildfire, which burned 3,000 hectares of land. The blaze in the High Fens nature reserve spread towards the German border. European reinforcements arrived to assist with containing the significant and ongoing fire. Cooler, humid weather offered hope for efforts to control the flames. Residents evacuated from…

The Economic Times · Aug 16

From tourism to power generation and productivity, Europe feels economic cost of heatwaves

Low river levels have stalled German freight traffic and forced closure of nuclear plants in France

The Guardian - UK · Aug 16

Belgium wildfire scorches 3,000 hectares as villagers evacuate, EU sends aircraft

Firefighters in Belgium battled one of the country's worst-ever wildfires late on Saturday as a rapidly growing blaze scorched more than 3,000 hectares of land. The EU scrambled helicopters and water bombers as hundreds of villagers were under evacuation orders.

France 24 · Aug 16

Claude Is Putting Invisible Watermarks In AI-Generated Text. Even Your Human-Written Copy Could Get One

Anthropic is rolling out invisible watermarks designed to identify content generated by Claude. But even a human-written document could carry the AI signature if Claude was only used to proofread, translate or format it.

International Business Times · Aug 15

Zambia's vote marred by intimidation, counting pause: observers

LUSAKA - International observers of Zambia's elections said Saturday the poll was marred by claims of intimidation, abductions and an hours-long pause in the vote count.

Bangkok Post · Aug 15

EU asylum applications drop 22% in May 2026, Venezuelans lead first-time applicants

First-time asylum applications in the EU saw a notable decrease in May 2026. Venezuelans, Afghans, and Bangladeshis formed the largest groups of new applicants. Italy, Spain, France, and Germany received the majority of these first-time applications. Unaccompanied minors also applied for asylum, with Germany receiving the most cases. Overall, asylum…

The Economic Times · Aug 15

Wildfires continue to devastate Europe as thousands are forced to flee their homes

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday afternoon that Europe was on "high wildfire alert" and that there was increasing pressure on Eastern European nations.

Euronews · Aug 15