LONDON — In  1992, having weathered royal divorce and fire, the late Queen Elizabeth II memorably described her year as an “annus horribilis.” Three decades on, the Latin phrase, literally translating as “horrible year,” could have been rolled out again by the royals, as they battled devastating health scares, family schisms and vicious social media rumor-mongering. Now, finally, there is some brighter news, with Britain’s head of state King Charles III announcing Friday night that he’s heading back to work — even if questions linger about the extent of his recovery. Charles — who only as ..read more

LONDON — King Charles III will resume some public-facing duties as his treatment for cancer continues, Buckingham Palace announced Friday night. In an update carefully-choreographed for the U.K.’s 6 p.m. broadcast news bulletins, Buckingham Palace said the U.K. head of state’s treatment for cancer isn’t over, but that doctors are “very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the King’s continued recovery.” Charles — who ascended to the throne following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 — first sought treatment for an enlarged prostate in January, with ..read more

The European Union announced Friday it is stepping up funding for Palestinians in response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza strip. “We are witnessing a true humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. The critical condition of Palestinians in extreme peril is getting disastrous beyond words,” said European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič. “The dramatic death toll and injuries among civilians, of which mostly women and children, the destruction of vital infrastructures and the impending famine in Gaza must be a wakeup call for the entire international ..read more

The amount of methane that leaked out of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in 2022 is unlikely to have any detectable impact on the climate worldwide, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said Friday. In September 2022, three of the four pipes making up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 undersea gas pipelines from Russia to Germany exploded. This caused methane to bubble up through the Baltic Sea and be released into the environment — triggering fears of environmental disaster. On Friday, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said that while the amount of methane released — 330 kilotons, at their estimate — w ..read more

Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan — the host of the U.N.’s next climate talks — used a major address Friday to send Europe a pointed message: you need our gas. The country’s fossil fuel reserves were “a gift of the gods,” Aliyev told a gathering of ministers in Berlin on Friday — and, he added, divine aid for Europe as it shifts off Russian energy supplies.  Azerbaijan’s hosting of the COP29 talks in November has drawn attention to its plans to massively expand natural gas extraction. An analysis from NGO Global Witness, seen by POLITICO, suggests the country’s plans would genera ..read more

Paul Dallison writes Declassified, a weekly satirical column. Spare a thought for Louis Sarkozy, the son of former French president and legal trouble enthusiast Nicolas Sarkozy. He has a tough life. Sarkozy the younger was this week featured in the Financial Times’ How To Spend It section (which no one will ever convince me is not a spoof) and gave a guide to the delights of Washington. It’s ever-so relatable. Here are some of the best bits (incidentally, Louis’ mom Cécilia Attias tweeted out the story and later deleted the tweet for reasons that are unknown, but presumably involve the wo ..read more

OXFORD, England — As protests over the war in Gaza continue to roil U.S. college campuses, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met her own opposition at England’s prestigious University of Oxford Thursday night. The senior Democrat was in town to debate a motion by the university’s Oxford Union that “This house believes populism is a threat to democracy.” But as she took the podium — her first minutes mostly lost to broken microphones — two students wearing “Youth Demand” T-shirts walked in, holding up Palestinian flags, and stood in front of her. On X, the campaign group called her a “genocide ..read more

LONDON — Two British men have been charged with helping Russian intelligence after a suspected arson attack on a business linked to Ukraine. Prosecutors announced Friday that Dylan Earl, aged 20, and Jake Reeves, 22, had been charged with national security offenses after a blaze at a warehouse in east London in March. A statement from the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Earl, who was arrested earlier this month, had been charged with “assisting a foreign intelligence service,” as well as aggravated arson and planning conduct which could endanger life or create “a serious risk to th ..read more

Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended three days of meetings in China on Friday with a stark warning to China’s leadership — stop exporting materials that allow Russia to rebuild its industrial base or face U.S. sanctions. Chinese state-owned firms are providing key components for Russia’s defense industrial base, including microelectronics and machine tools that have “a material effect against Ukraine” and constitute “a growing threat that Russia poses to countries in Europe,” Blinken told reporters in a press briefing in Beijing on Friday. Blinken said that, in his meetings with China ..read more

BRUSSELS — Chinese fashion app Shein will face stringent rules on how it handles content on its platform starting in late August, the European Commission said Friday. The move to oversee the popular but controversial platform, previously reported by POLITICO, comes as Europe has tightened its scrutiny of China-based tech companies. TikTok this week suspended a feature considered by the EU as “addictive” and potentially in breach of the bloc’s content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU executive said Shein was large enough to fall under more DSA rules, like detailed external ..read more