Daily Digest Online

A quiet storage facility in Vienna. A rural property in Orbaek, Denmark. A roadside plot outside Plovdiv, Bulgaria. For years, these unassuming locations across Europe held a deadly secret: buried caches of Kalashnikov rifles, pistols, silencers, and ammunition. These were not the weapons of local criminals but part of a long-term, strategic contingency plan laid by Hamas, designed to give the group the capacity to strike far beyond the borders of Gaza and the West Bank. For decades, Hamas's military operations were geographically confined, focusing on Israel and the Palestinian territories. However, a series of high-profile arrests, disrupted plots, and intelligence disclosures over the past two years reveal a decisive and dangerous shift.  European and Israeli security officials now assess that Hamas, with its capabilities in Gaza severely degraded by war, has taken a strategic decision to "go global," actively plotting attacks on European soil. ...

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and owner of the social media platform X, has publicly called for the dissolution of the European Union, arguing that power should be returned to individual member states. In a post on X on Saturday, Musk stated: "The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries so that governments can better represent their people." The provocative statement did not include further elaboration or a detailed policy proposal. Context: Ongoing Friction with EU Regulation Musk's remarks are the latest in a series of public criticisms he has directed at the European Union, primarily focusing on its regulatory approach to technology and digital platforms. The relationship has been notably strained over the past year. *   Content Moderation and "DSA" Fines: In July 2024, the European Commission levied its first major financial penalty under the Digital Services Act (DSA) against X, fining the p...

A significant demographic imbalance in Latvia, with women outnumbering men by 15.5%, has led to a unique social trend where single women are increasingly hiring handymen for household chores through services marketed as "husband for an hour." A striking gender gap in the Baltic nation of Latvia is reshaping daily life and household management. According to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, women outnumber men in Latvia by 15.5%—a rate more than three times the EU average. This demographic reality is driving a practical response: the rise of services that allow women to rent a handyman, often advertised with the playful tagline "husband for an hour." Local women cite the shortage as a tangible social issue. "There's nothing wrong with that… but just for the good balance, you would want to have some more men to flirt or chat with," Dania, a festival worker, told *The Sun*. She noted that 98% of her colleagues a...

The commander of Germany’s army has disclosed that direct communication channels with the Pentagon were severed by the Trump administration, raising alarm in Berlin over the future of U.S. commitment to European security. Germany’s top military officer has issued a stark warning about deteriorating trust between Europe and the United States under the Trump administration, citing a severance of high-level communication as a critical concern. General Christian Freuding, the Inspector of the German Army and former head of the Ukraine desk at Germany’s Defence Ministry, revealed that his direct line to the Pentagon has been “completely cut off.” He described the move as a “warning sign” of shifting U.S. priorities under President Trump. In an interview with The Atlantic , Freuding explained that the previously open and daily contact with U.S. counterparts had abruptly ended. He pointed to Washington’s recent suspension of certain arms shipments to Ukrain...