The European Union is pressing ahead with legislation to heavily regulate companies like Apple, setting plans to force "gatekeepers" to open up access to hardware and software, and even set up an internal department to meet new rules, according to an endorsed agreement from the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee.

A floating solar farm of 12,000 solar panels will be ready to produce power in July of this year in Portugal’s Alqueva reservoir on the Guadiana River in Alentejo. This will be Europe’s largest floating solar park on a reservoir in Europe, the size of four football pitches. Built by EDP, a Portuguese electric utility company will generate 7.5 GWh a year and power around 1,500 households in the region, more than 30% of the families in the region. The project involves a total investment of 6 million euros.

When Prof Gavin Brown, pro vice-chancellor at Liverpool University, first made contact with academics at Sumy State University (SSU) in north-eastern Ukraine a few weeks ago, he did not expect to come off the call and start ordering new windows.

Spain could become the first Western country to allow women to take several days of "menstrual leave" from the workplace each month under new proposed legislation to be unveiled next week.

Poorer communities - who live and work in highly polluted areas - particularly need judicial protection.

As Europe vows to kick its reliance on Russian fossil fuels in response to Moscow's weaponization of its energy supply, climate advocates hope it could spur a more rapid transition to renewable energy. But experts say Europe's immediate priority is keeping the lights on, and that might require relying on dirtier sources of energy, at least in the short term.

New data showed that more than half of people in the European Union had at least basic digital skills in 2021. According to Eurostat, the "Statistical Office of the European Union", the Netherlands, Finland and Ireland scored the highest in eliminating "digital illiteracy", while the share of digital illiteracy was higher. Romania, Bulgaria and Poland least.

The EU has agreed on another ambitious piece of legislation to police the online world. Early Saturday morning after hours of negotiations, the bloc agreed on the broad terms of the Digital Services Act, or DSA, which will force tech companies to take greater responsibility for content that appears on their platforms. New obligations include removing illegal content and goods more quickly, explaining to users and researchers how their algorithms work, and taking stricter action on the spread of misinformation.

The EU’s new legislation is designed to explain the web to users

European lawmakers came to an agreement early Saturday in Brussels on a legislative package that will impose major new obligations on how Big Tech companies handle content on their platforms — and big fines if they fail to comply.

Amazon.com Inc.’s main European retail business reported 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of losses in 2021, which allowed the company to pay no income tax and receive 1 billion euros in tax credits, corporate filings seen by Bloomberg show.

More than 40 people have been arrested after violent clashes in Sweden between police and people angry at plans by a far-right group to burn copies of the Quran. Three people were injured in Norrkoping on Sunday when officers fired warning shots at rioters, police said. The violence was sparked by a series of rallies organised by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan.

Art therapy is helping children make some sense of what is happening to their country and their creations give heart to the soldiers on the frontline who receive them.

The new plans also want to make furniture and smartphones sold in Europe more durable and easier to repair.

Back in the day, just about everything that used a battery had a hatch or a hutch that you could open to pull it out and replace it if need be. Whether it was a radio, a cordless phone, or a cellphone, it was a cinch to swap out a battery.

Russia is not going to supply natural gas to European countries without paying for Russian gas supplies. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this in an interview with PBS , European Truth reports. "I don't know what will happen when they turn down this opportunity. So as soon as we have a final decision, we'll see what can be done. But, of course, we're not going to do charity work and send gas to Western Europe for free," he said.

The European Union late Thursday secured agreement on the detail of a major competition reform that will see the most powerful, intermediating tech platforms subject to a set of up-front rules on how they can and cannot operate — with the threat of fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover should they breach requirements (or even 20% for repeat violations).

European lawmakers have provisionally agreed upon a new law that would force Apple to allow user access to third-party app stores and permit the sideloading of apps on iPhones and iPads, among other sweeping changes designed to make the digital sector fairer and more competitive.

Russia has been the target of extensive economic sanctions in the weeks since its invasion of Ukraine, but Moscow’s space program has been largely unaffected until now. The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to postpone the ExoMars mission, a joint effort with Russia that was supposed to launch this year. Instead, the ESA will undertake a study to determine how it can launch ExoMars without Russia.