Global Pulse

标签： Europe

欧洲

  • Armenia’s pro-West government wins election despite Russian pressure

    Armenia’s pro-West government wins election despite Russian pressure

    Armenia’s 2026 parliamentary election has delivered a decisive mandate for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his centrist Civil Contract Party, cementing the country’s trajectory toward deeper integration with the West even as traditional ally Russia wields economic pressure to alter its course. The final vote count released by Armenia’s electoral commission confirmed Civil Contract won 49.8% of the popular vote, a clear lead that will give the party a dominant majority in the national assembly. Trailing far behind were the pro-Russian Strong Armenia Alliance at 23.2%, the also pro-Russia Armenia Alliance at 9.9%, and conservative Prosperous Armenia with just 4% of the vote, with most of the 19 competing parties and blocs failing to clear the threshold for parliamentary representation. Overall voter turnout hit 59%, in line with pre-election projections.

    This vote marked the first general election Armenia has held since its 2023 crushing military defeat to neighboring Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a conflict that reshaped the country’s domestic political landscape and foreign policy priorities. Widely framed as a de facto referendum on Armenia’s geopolitical alignment, the election outcome is set to shape the small South Caucasus nation’s ties with both Moscow and Western capitals for years to come.

    Pashinyan, who first rose to power in 2018 on a wave of mass anti-establishment protests against former leader Serzh Sargysan, declared victory early Monday morning, as preliminary results pointed to his party’s clear win. In his victory address, Pashinyan framed the outcome as a popular mandate for cross-border cooperation and regional stability. “Armenian people voted for peace, regional prosperity and cooperation,” he told supporters. He also clarified that while his administration would continue advancing its pro-Western rapprochement agenda, Armenia would remain an active member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the customs bloc that has long delivered tangible economic benefits to the country.

    The result has drawn swift reaction from across the globe, with European Union leadership and France among the first Western powers to extend congratulations, praising both the democratic conduct of the vote and Armenia’s ongoing efforts to deepen ties with European institutions. U.S. President Donald Trump has also previously endorsed Pashinyan’s accelerated peace talks with Azerbaijan, brokered through U.S. mediation.

    What makes this victory particularly notable is that it comes despite a marked decline in Pashinyan’s domestic approval ratings in recent years. Public opinion polling puts his current support at roughly 30%, down from 54% in the 2021 election. The erosion of popularity is largely tied to the fallout of the 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which ended with Azerbaijan retaking full control of the mountainous enclave that had been home to 100,000 ethnic Armenians. Pashinyan’s critics across the political spectrum have refused to forgive his diplomatic concessions to Azerbaijan to advance peace, including his refusal to advocate aggressively for the release of former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders imprisoned in Baku. Even with the victory, the ongoing peace process with Azerbaijan remains deeply divisive among Armenians, with one recent poll showing 44% support and 41% opposition to the proposed framework.

    In the lead-up to the vote, Russian leadership made clear its opposition to Pashinyan’s pro-Western shift, repeatedly pressuring the Armenian government to clarify its geopolitical alignment. In late May, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an immediate public referendum on whether Armenia would pivot to European integration or remain within the Russian-led EAEU, pointing out the steep economic costs of a Western shift. Last month, Putin explicitly warned Armenia that moving closer to the West would carry the same kind of crisis that followed Ukraine’s own efforts to pursue EU accession, highlighting that Russia currently supplies Armenia with natural gas at $177.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, a heavily discounted rate far below the European market price of over $600 per 1,000 cubic meters. In the final two weeks before election day, Moscow ramped up economic pressure further by banning exports of key Armenian goods including flowers, cognac, mineral water, and fresh produce, a move widely seen as an attempt to sway voter sentiment against Pashinyan.

    Pashinyan has spent the last several years deliberately steering Armenia away from Moscow’s sphere of influence: his administration has passed formal legislation to launch the EU accession process, hosted a high-profile summit of EU leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Yerevan earlier this year, and advanced U.S.-brokered peace talks with Azerbaijan. Despite these steps, European integration remains a long-term goal: Armenia has not yet been granted EU candidate status, and full membership is still years, if not decades, away. For now, the election result confirms that a majority of Armenian voters back Pashinyan’s balancing act: deepening ties with the West while maintaining existing economic and political arrangements within Russian-led blocs.

  • Eriksen ‘doing well’ and expected to leave the hospital after on-field collapse, Denmark team says

    Eriksen ‘doing well’ and expected to leave the hospital after on-field collapse, Denmark team says

    ODENSE, Denmark — Less than 24 hours after experiencing a second on-field collapse during an international friendly against Ukraine, Danish star midfielder Christian Eriksen is recovering well and on track to be released from hospital imminently, according to the Danish men’s national football team’s chief physician.

    The 34-year-old veteran collapsed to the turf in the 65th minute of Sunday’s match hosted in Odense, after grabbing his chest with both hands while not in possession of the ball. Contrary to initial concerns sparked by his 2021 life-threatening incident, Eriksen was able to leave the pitch unassisted following on-site evaluation from medical teams, the Danish Football Association confirmed after the final whistle. He was transferred to Odense University Hospital for further observation and diagnostic testing.

    In an official health update shared Monday morning, Denmark team physician Morten Boesen shared encouraging news about Eriksen’s condition. “I spoke with Christian this morning, and he is doing well,” Boesen said in the statement. “He is with his family and is in good spirits. The expectation is that he will be discharged soon and can return home.” Boesen added that the football association is prioritizing support for all players and staff connected to the incident, maintaining regular check-ins with the group.

    This collapse marks the second time Eriksen has been taken to hospital after falling unconscious during a match, three and a half years after his widely publicized cardiac arrest during Denmark’s opening group stage match at UEFA Euro 2020. Following that 2021 incident, Eriksen received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator to regulate his heart rhythm. In a remarkable comeback, he returned to top-flight professional football less than a year after the near-fatal event.

    Currently, Eriksen plies his trade with German Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg, where he is under contract through the 2026-27 season. Denmark failed to secure qualification for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending the nation’s campaign early ahead of this summer’s tournament in North America.

  • Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claims victory following general election

    Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claims victory following general election

    In the early hours of Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared victory in the country’s snap general election, after official preliminary results confirmed his ruling Civil Contract Party secured a dominant first-place finish with 49.81% of the popular vote. The outcome of Sunday’s vote is widely viewed as a defining mandate for Pashinyan’s proposed new geopolitical trajectory for Armenia, a small South Caucasus former Soviet republic that has increasingly sought to distance itself from long-standing ally Moscow and advance its membership aspirations with the European Union.

    Preliminary data from Armenia’s Central Election Commission shows that three opposition blocs crossed the 4% vote threshold required to secure seats in the new national parliament. The runner-up position went to the Strong Armenia bloc, led by imprisoned billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who captured 23.29% of the vote. Karapetyan, who amassed his business fortune in Russia, is currently under house arrest on charges of plotting to overthrow the sitting government — allegations he has repeatedly dismissed as a politically motivated fabrication targeting his opposition. His bloc’s platform centers on rebuilding and expanding deep economic and political ties with Russia, and it has openly accused Pashinyan of reckless actions that risk triggering direct conflict with the Kremlin.

    Two smaller parties also won parliamentary representation: the pro-Russia Armenia bloc took 9.94% of the vote, while Blossoming Armenia secured exactly the 4% threshold needed to enter the legislature. Final official data put overall voter turnout at 59.97%, a correction from an earlier erroneous report that incorrectly cited a 97% turnout figure.

    Speaking to reporters at his campaign headquarters shortly before official results were confirmed, Pashinyan asserted his party had secured a historic landslide win and planned to form a single-party majority government without needing to enter a coalition with opposition groups.

    The election outcome drew immediate congratulatory responses from top European Union leaders, who frame the contest as a critical litmus test for Russian influence across the post-Soviet space. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the enduring legacy of Pashinyan’s 2018 Velvet Revolution, the mass protest movement he led that ousted long-time pro-Russian leader Serzh Sargsyan. In a public social media statement Monday, von der Leyen said, “The spirit of the Velvet Revolution you led in 2018 is alive and well. We deeply value our partnership with a democratic Armenia that is drawing ever closer to Europe. Armenia can count on us.”

    European Council President António Costa also extended his congratulations, emphasizing the EU’s growing strategic interest in the South Caucasus, a region that connects European energy markets to vast fossil fuel reserves in Central Asia. “Together, the EU and Armenia are building stronger links between people and creating new opportunities in energy, trade, and digitalization. Our strong partnership is an investment in a more peaceful and prosperous future for the region as a whole,” Costa wrote in a post on the social platform X.

    The result comes amid mounting pressure from Moscow on Yerevan, with the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union previously threatening to suspend Armenia’s membership over its push to deepen ties with Brussels. The election confirms a clear popular mandate for Pashinyan’s pro-Western shift, setting the stage for new geopolitical realignment in the volatile South Caucasus region.

  • Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea

    Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea

    In a remarkable and unexpected encounter that has marine biologists buzzing, a volunteer diver has shared unprecedented footage of an endangered great white shark spotted in the Mediterranean Sea, between the coastlines of Tunisia and Sicily. The diver, who asked not to be named, recalled experiencing intense shaking as he came face-to-face with the massive predator, an encounter that most divers only ever dream of. Great white sharks are rarely documented in this part of the Mediterranean, making the new footage a significant contribution to marine ecological research. Sightings of the species have dropped sharply across the globe in recent decades due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and accidental bycatch, leading to their classification as an endangered species by major conservation organizations. Marine researchers say this rare documentation offers a critical new clue about the species’ range and potential habitats in the Mediterranean, a body of water that has long been understudied when it comes to large predatory sharks. Conservation teams are now hopeful that this sighting will highlight the need for stronger protections for marine biodiversity in the region, and help scientists better understand how endangered shark populations are adapting to changing ocean conditions.

  • As Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion, some regions see a rise in premature births

    As Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion, some regions see a rise in premature births

    In the frontline-adjacent Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, Marharyta Nekhoroshyva knows all too well the dual terror of raising a child in a war zone. When her son Mark was born at just 26 weeks gestation, weighing a mere 940 grams, Nekhoroshyva — a self-described non-believer — found herself praying desperately for his survival. Now nine months old, Mark is active, but he lives with chronic respiratory conditions that require frequent hospitalizations. What makes her struggle even heavier is that she bears it alone: her husband is on the front lines fighting Russian forces, and Russian missile and glide bomb strikes are a constant threat that has left local hospitals boarding up windows to mitigate blast damage.

    Mark’s story is far from unique. Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, official United Nations data and independent scientific research have confirmed a stark, alarming trend: while the total number of births across Ukraine has fallen sharply due to mass displacement, wartime emigration and economic uncertainty, the share of babies born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) has jumped dramatically, almost doubling in some of the regions closest to active combat.

    Data compiled by the U.N. tracks the sharp escalation across hard-hit regions: in southern Ukraine’s Kherson, where frontline combat and regular strikes on civilian infrastructure have devastated communities, the preterm birth rate climbed from 5.4% in pre-war 2019 to 9.8% in 2025. In neighboring Zaporizhzhia, another frontline southern region, the rate rose from 5.7% to 7.6% over the same period. Even in Poltava, a northeastern region further from active ground combat but regularly targeted by Russian airstrikes, the rate grew from 7.7% to 9.8% between 2019 and 2025.

    Medical experts explain that while multiple factors contribute to preterm birth, the unrelenting psychological and physical stress of living through a full-scale invasion is a key driver of this upward trend. Dr. Andrew Weeks, a professor of international maternal healthcare at the University of Liverpool, notes that existing research has long linked prolonged psychological strain to elevated preterm birth risk, particularly because stress can increase vulnerability to infections — a well-documented trigger for premature labor. Access to timely, appropriate diagnosis and treatment for these infections is often severely limited in war zones, further pushing up risk. Beyond premature births, the U.N. Population Fund has also recorded increases in emergency cesarean sections and other life-threatening pregnancy complications across Ukraine. Isaac Hurskin, a spokesperson for the fund, says the data makes the connection clear: acute wartime stress directly correlates to poor pregnancy outcomes.

    This public health crisis risks deepening Ukraine’s already severe demographic crisis. Hurskin notes that Ukraine’s national fertility rate has plummeted to roughly one child per woman, one of the lowest rates in the world and far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to sustain a stable population.

    Providing life-sustaining care to these fragile preterm infants is an extraordinary challenge amid constant conflict. At Zaporizhzhia’s maternity hospital neonatal intensive care unit, a 30-week gestational newborn weighing just 700 grams — well below the World Health Organization’s 2,500 gram threshold for low birth weight — lies in a temperature-controlled incubator, sustained by IV nutrients, medication and a mechanical ventilator. A blanket is draped over the incubator to protect the baby’s developing eyes from harsh ward lighting. Dr. Andrii Lobanov, head of neonatology at Zaporizhzhia’s children’s hospital, explains that even minor missteps in care, such as improper oxygen level management, can cause permanent damage like blindness. Many preterm infants require lifelong care for respiratory, neurological, developmental or immune system conditions, placing a massive financial strain on Ukraine’s war-budgeted healthcare system.

    “It is very expensive and of course a country in a war situation has to decide what it’s going to spend on, so hospital services invariably get hit. Both literally and metaphorically,” Weeks said.

    Air raid sirens are now a constant background presence in neonatal intensive care units across frontline regions. When alerts sound, doctors do not evacuate the most fragile infants to underground shelters: moving the incubator-bound newborns would be far more dangerous than remaining in place, and sirens sound too frequently to halt care every time. Dr. Nataliia Bohuslavska, head of the neonatal unit at Zaporizhzhia’s maternity hospital, who has worked at the facility for 26 years and was born there herself, recalls a recent typical day: it began with incoming missile alerts, and by afternoon a Russian glide bomb had struck a local commercial district, killing 12 civilians. Through it all, care continued: doctors performed two cesarean sections, delivered a full-term infant, and treated a 42-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage after witnessing the airstrike. The next day, a black mourning flag hung at the hospital entrance.

    Bohuslavska knows every mother on her ward personally, aware of their fears and their unique struggles. Many, like Nekhoroshyva, are going through the experience alone while their partners fight on the front lines. For some, the trauma goes even deeper: when a mother calls to report her husband has been killed in combat, Bohuslavska’s only promise is that the hospital team will stand by her. “We have to support her constantly, so that even in the midst of this terrible loss, she can find the strength to give new life a chance and save her baby,” she said.

    Not all stories end in despair, however. For Mariia Skladan, who was told her rare liver disease made conception almost impossible, the birth of her daughter Elina at 26 weeks in January was already a miracle. After five months of intensive care, Elina grew to a healthy 3.5 kilograms, and doctors cleared her for discharge. When Skladan walked out of the hospital with her daughter, her family waited outside with flowers, and Skladan wept tears of joy. “If there’s a war, what does it mean? Not to live?” she said. “You want to keep going.” But even this small victory was fragile: just one day after going home, Elina was readmitted to intensive care after contracting a viral infection, a reminder that the fight for these preterm infants is never over.

  • Ten dead after migrant boat capsizes near Malta, Italian coastguard says

    Ten dead after migrant boat capsizes near Malta, Italian coastguard says

    A deadly maritime disaster has unfolded off the coast of Malta, where an overloaded vessel carrying migrants capsized, leaving at least 10 people dead and dozens more rescued, according to statements from Italy’s coast guard. The ill-fated boat, which departed from Libya’s northern coastline, was carrying approximately 60 migrants when it overturned in the Central Mediterranean, one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.

    After the vessel capsized left multiple people struggling in open water, Maltese authorities formally requested assistance from Italian search and rescue teams to respond to the emergency. An Italian coastal patrol craft was immediately deployed to the incident site, where it joined a nearby fishing vessel that had arrived first on the scene. By the time initial rescue efforts wrapped up, the fishing boat had pulled around 48 surviving migrants from the water, authorities confirmed.

    As of Sunday afternoon, search operations were still active across the area, with rescue teams working to locate any additional passengers who may still be missing amid rough open waters.

    This latest tragedy underscores the persistent human cost of irregular migration across the Central Mediterranean. Data from the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) shows that at least 827 people have already lost their lives attempting this dangerous crossing in 2023 alone. Last year, the total death toll for the route, which stretches from North African departure points to destinations in Italy and Malta, surpassed 1,330, cementing its status as one of the deadliest migration corridors on Earth.

  • World Cup by the numbers: 104 matches, 48 teams and 3 countries make this the largest ever

    World Cup by the numbers: 104 matches, 48 teams and 3 countries make this the largest ever

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup, set to kick off across North America, is poised to make history as the largest and most expansive edition of men’s soccer’s flagship tournament ever staged. Marking the first major format shift since 1998, this iteration has expanded the participating field from the long-standing 32 teams to 48, spread across three co-host nations: the United States, Canada and Mexico. Over a 39-day competition window, a record 104 matches will take place across 16 purpose-selected stadiums, redefining the scale of the global sporting event.

    This historic expansion has reshaped the tournament’s structure: the group stage now includes four additional groups, and a new 32-team knockout round has been added to the competition schedule. The 1998 World Cup marked the last expansion, which grew the field from 24 to 32 teams – a format that remained in place for seven consecutive tournaments. This 2026 edition is also only the second time the World Cup has been hosted by multiple countries, following the co-hosting arrangement between Japan and South Korea in 2002.

    The distribution of matches across the three North American nations reflects the host countries’ varying sizes and infrastructure. The United States will host the vast majority of fixtures, with 78 matches across 11 different host cities. The U.S. campaign opens on June 12 in the Los Angeles area, where the American men’s national team will face Paraguay. All knockout fixtures from the quarterfinals onward will take place on U.S. soil, with the World Cup final scheduled to be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Both Mexico and Canada will each host 13 matches, including three knockout round fixtures apiece. Mexico’s tournament gets underway on June 11 in Mexico City, with the host nation facing South Africa in the competition’s opening match, while Canada kicks off its campaign on June 12 in Toronto against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    Beyond the tournament structure, a wealth of new historic milestones and record-breaking stats will define this 2026 edition. Overall, 1,248 players from 48 national rosters will take the pitch, drawn from 449 domestic clubs across 71 nations. Of that group, just 357 have prior World Cup experience, meaning 891 players will make their World Cup debuts this year. When sorted by club league, England’s Premier League leads all competitions with 200 of its players featuring on national rosters, followed by Germany’s Bundesliga with 109, and Ligue 1 (France) and La Liga (Spain) tied at 86 apiece. Major League Soccer (MLS) will set a new participation record, with 44 active MLS players set to compete, while 103 total rostered players have prior experience in the North American league. At the club level, England’s Manchester City tops the rankings, sending a record 19 players to the tournament, followed by Bayern Munich (18), Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal (16 each), and Barcelona (15).

    Several of the sport’s biggest global legends are set to add to their already historic World Cup legacies. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo enters the tournament with 226 international caps – more than any other men’s player in history – and will join Argentina’s Lionel Messi as only the second player to compete in six different World Cups. Ronaldo already holds the unique record of scoring in five separate World Cup tournaments, with eight career goals across 22 matches. Messi holds the record for the most career World Cup appearances (26), and needs just two more caps to join the elite club of men’s players with 200 or more international appearances, a group that already includes Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa. Mexico’s iconic goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa will also be named to a sixth World Cup roster, though he did not feature in matches during the 2006 and 2010 tournaments.

    The all-time World Cup goal scoring record, held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose at 16 career goals, is under threat this year. Messi enters the 2026 tournament with 13 career World Cup goals, trailing only Klose, Brazil’s Ronaldo (15) and Gerd Müller (14). France’s star forward Kylian Mbappé is also well within striking distance, having already notched 12 goals across the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

    Looking at historical team context, only eight nations in the 96-year history of the World Cup have ever lifted the trophy, and just six of those have won multiple titles. Brazil leads all countries with five championships, and the only first-time winners in the last 11 editions have been France (1998) and Spain (2010). Only two nations have ever successfully defended their World Cup title: Brazil won back-to-back trophies in 1958 and 1962, and Italy repeated as champions in 1934 and 1938. Three other defending champions have reached the final, most recently France in 2022, which fell to Argentina. Six defending champions have failed to advance out of the group stage, including three of the last four tournaments. France, which won in 2018 and reached the final in 2022, will attempt to become just the third nation in history to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, a feat only previously achieved by West Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) and Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002).

    Brazil also holds another unbroken record: it is the only nation to have qualified for every World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1930, spanning 23 editions total. The Brazilians also lead all competitors in total World Cup wins (76), total goals scored (237), and overall goal differential (+129). Germany ranks second in all three categories, with 21 appearances, 232 goals and a +102 goal differential, counting 10 tournament appearances as West Germany prior to reunification. This year, four nations will make their World Cup debuts: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan. Their participation pushes the all-time total of nations that have competed in the World Cup to 84.

    In terms of historical struggling, Egypt enters the 2026 tournament having played seven World Cup matches without ever recording a win, holding a 0-5-2 all-time record. The North African side will get a chance to break that drought when they face Belgium on June 15. The only nation with more winless World Cup matches is Honduras, which failed to qualify for the 2026 tournament.

    For overall goal scoring, the 22 prior World Cups have combined for 2,720 goals across 964 matches. With 40 additional matches added in this expanded format, the single-tournament goal record of 172, set at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, is almost certain to be broken. However, the 1954 tournament’s record of 5.38 combined goals per game is expected to remain intact. The 2026 tournament also boasts the largest age gap between its oldest and youngest player in history, spanning more than 25 years. Scotland’s goalkeeper Craig Gordon will be 43 years and 162 days old on tournament opening day, while Mexico’s teen prospect Gilbert Mora will be just 17 years and 240 days old.

  • ‘No dead ends’: What the Dutch can teach us about tackling youth unemployment

    ‘No dead ends’: What the Dutch can teach us about tackling youth unemployment

    A landmark recent report has laid bare a growing crisis across the United Kingdom: nearly one in eight 16 to 24-year-olds are classified as NEET – not in education, employment, or training – and that figure is projected to climb to one in six within five years without urgent systemic reform. That warning, delivered by former UK Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the report’s lead author, has opened a urgent national conversation: what structural changes can Britain make to reverse this worrying trend, and could the Netherlands – which boasts one of the world’s lowest NEET rates – hold the blueprint for success?

    The Netherlands’ youth education and employment policy is built around one simple, foundational philosophy: “no dead ends”. Every stage of a young person’s academic and professional journey is intentionally designed to lead to a next step, rather than leaving vulnerable young people adrift without support or options. This core principle shapes every layer of the nation’s system, starting with compulsory education: all children between 5 and 16 must attend school, and they are required to stay in education or training until they earn a recognized qualification or turn 18, regardless of their path.

    A central policy driving the Netherlands’ success is the kwalificatieplicht, or mandatory qualification requirement, which has cut national school dropout rates dramatically. At around age 12, Dutch students are sorted into one of three secondary education tracks based on primary school performance and teacher input: the practical VMBO track that feeds directly into vocational training, the mid-tier HAVO that prepares students for applied science universities, and the academic VWO track for students bound for traditional research universities. While early streaming remains controversial, with critics arguing it can harm vulnerable students’ confidence and limit social mobility, the system is built to accommodate flexible switches between tracks, eliminating permanent dead ends for young people who change their goals or outgrow their initial placement.

    Compare this framework to the fragmented system across the UK. While all young people can leave school at 16, rules for post-16 participation vary drastically by nation. England requires young people to stay in education or training until 18, whether through full-time study, an apprenticeship, or part-time learning alongside work. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have no equivalent legal mandate, even as public bodies encourage continued participation. This uneven structure leaves gaps that can push disconnected young people into NEET status.

    The human impact of the Dutch “no dead ends” model is clear in the experience of Amelie, a 20-year-old trainee teaching assistant from The Hague. Assigned to the vocational VMBO track at age 10, Amelie initially saw her confidence shaken by the stigma attached to non-academic paths. By age 12, when she began exploring hands-on training options, she regained optimism, but still hit a setback when she struggled to find an internship and left her fashion course at 17. After six months of working and traveling, she faced a crossroads: if she had lived in the UK, dropping out of education entirely would have been a legal option, and she might have taken it. But under Dutch law, she could not leave education without a qualifying credential, so she was pushed to find a new path.

    Amelie ultimately enrolled in the beroepsbegeleidende leerweg, the Dutch vocational training pathway that lets students over 16 combine part-time coursework – just one to two days per week – with paid part-time work in their chosen field. The Dutch system integrates employers deeply: businesses can partner with colleges to create custom training programs tailored to their staffing needs, and vocational graduates in high-demand trades often find multiple job offers waiting for them upon completion. Asja van der Helm, a secondary school teacher in The Hague, explains that the system frames skilled trades as valuable, aspirational careers: with electricians, carpenters, and technicians earning strong salaries and facing constant labor demand, young people can see clear, rewarding paths forward rather than viewing vocational training as a consolation prize.

    For young people who struggle to fit into formal pathways, the Netherlands has built a layered, proactive safety net to prevent disengagement. State funding allocated to schools for student health and well-being can be used to partner with specialist external organizations that support at-risk youth. One such group is Mooi Jong, a Hague-based non-profit that works with students referred by schools who face a high risk of dropping out and becoming NEET. Founder Alexander Koppelle describes the system as a web: every potential exit point for a struggling young person has a backup intervention, another organization, and another chance to stay engaged. Schools track every absence, intervene early for repeated lateness, and activate support before a young person drops out entirely. Even students who need to step back for mental health reasons remain connected: they are classified as thuis zitters (home-stayers), and schools retain their funding to pay for external support while they wait for specialized care. Unjustified truancy triggers progressive sanctions, from fines to community service, but the system prioritizes re-engagement over punishment.

    Migration to the Netherlands from low-opportunity regions further highlights the model’s strengths. Destiny, who moved to the Netherlands from the Caribbean island of Bonaire, found a clear path through a beauty therapy course, which turned an internship into paid full-time work at a local salon. Her seamless transition from education to full-time work is exactly what Dutch policymakers aim to achieve: keeping young people connected to opportunity before they become disconnected from the workforce entirely. For unemployed young people who do fall out of education, the government operates a one-stop support service through the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), which administers benefits, connects job seekers with employers, and provides tailored guidance to help young people return to work or training.

    Even with these successful structures, the Dutch model is not perfect: youth unemployment has begun to rise in recent years, and policymakers continue to tweak the system to address emerging gaps. Still, national data tells a clear story: just 4.9% of 18 to 24-year-olds in the Netherlands are NEET, compared to 15.1% in the UK. That gap has led Milburn and other experts to argue that British policymakers have much to learn from the Dutch approach. For Amelie, who now trains to become a teaching assistant to support other young people facing the same challenges she overcame, the model’s greatest strength is its flexibility and its refusal to write off any young person. “Without the option to change path along the way, I would have dropped out altogether,” she says. For the UK, that lesson could be the key to reversing its growing NEET crisis.

  • Spain’s visitor numbers hit new highs as tourists avoid Middle East

    Spain’s visitor numbers hit new highs as tourists avoid Middle East

    Standing on a sun-drenched hotel rooftop in Benidorm, Fede Fuster, president of the city’s local tourism association, gazes out over a skyline of high-rises stretching toward the iconic sweeping Mediterranean coastline. A third-generation tourism industry leader – his family was among the first to build a hotel here in the 1950s – Fuster says of the resort, “With all its virtues and its defects this is a place we feel proud of. It’s a place of opportunities.”

    Benidorm, a permanent home to just 77,000 residents, regularly swells to five times that population at the peak of summer, making it one of Spain’s most valuable coastal tourism hubs. Like destinations across the country, it has staged a remarkable comeback since the Covid-19 pandemic left resorts empty and the national tourism industry at a complete standstill. Since borders reopened, annual international visitor arrivals have broken records year after year, hitting 97 million in 2025. Today, Spain ranks as the world’s second most popular tourist destination, trailing only France, and industry leaders are gearing up for an even stronger 2026.

    Fuster is bullish on the coming year, predicting Spain will hit the historic milestone of 100 million international visitors and claim the top global ranking before long. What was originally projected to be a year of modest growth has been boosted by an unexpected tailwind: escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S.-Israeli coalition and Iran have driven holidaymakers away from traditional Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean destinations, turning Spain into a safe alternative. Fuster notes that this pattern is not new – demand for Spanish holidays jumped during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings – though he emphasizes he would rather compete on equal footing than gain market share from global instability.

    Francisco Femenia-Serra, a geography lecturer at Madrid’s Complutense University, explains that the safety dividend reshapes tourist flows across the region. “In these moments of crisis, of military strikes or wars, the bookings always increase,” he says, adding that price-sensitive travelers who would normally visit lower-cost destinations like Turkey or Egypt are now diverting to Spain. Official national visitor data backs this up: Spain welcomed 9.1 million international travelers in April 2026, a new all-time high for the month, representing a 5.2% increase (450,000 additional visitors) over April 2025. By contrast, Dubai International Airport reported a 66% drop in passenger numbers in March 2026, as flight cancellations and canceled bookings hammered the emirate’s travel sector in the wake of escalating tensions.

    For Spain’s national economy, the tourism boom could not come at a better time: the sector directly contributes 13% of national GDP, and has driven overall economic growth that has outpaced major European peers including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in recent years. But despite the record-breaking numbers, two major threats loom on the horizon that could undermine the industry’s momentum. The first is a global risk: rising fuel costs that could push up airfares and discourage Europeans from taking international holidays. The second is a growing domestic crisis: rising public anger among local residents over the negative impacts of mass tourism on daily life.

    Public opinion has shifted dramatically over the past decade. “Tourism was always accepted as a positive economic sector for Spain,” says Femenia-Serra. “That changed from 2016, 2017, with the label of over-tourism being put on some cities, like Barcelona. And now, most young Spaniards under 45 have a different image of tourism. They see it as a sector that obviously has a positive impact but also some negative outcomes in their lives.”

    Since 2024, summer protests against excessive visitor numbers have spread across popular tourist destinations, from Mediterranean coastal hubs to the Balearic and Canary Islands. A 2024 Europe-wide YouGov poll found that 28% of Spaniards hold a negative view of foreign tourism – the highest share of any European country by a wide margin – and two-thirds of respondents sympathized with anti-over-tourism protests.

    Local grievances center on three core issues: chronic congestion in city centers, increased environmental strain, and most critically, the role of short-term tourist accommodation in worsening Spain’s ongoing housing affordability crisis. In recent weeks, a new wave of protests has targeted soaring residential rents, with tourism repeatedly singled out as a key driver of the problem.

    In a central Valencia bookshop, members of the local tenants’ union Sindicat de Llogateres gather regularly to help local residents navigate rental disputes. Many attendees have faced sharp rent hikes when their contracts come up for renewal, as landlords increasingly pivot to higher-yield short-term tourist stays. “When it comes to renewing rental contracts, the owners of properties no longer think about setting rents according to local salaries, but rather the salaries of people visiting from abroad, which might be three or four times higher,” says union representative Jordi Vila. “So local people end up getting pushed out of their homes.”

    Vila points to Barcelona as the clearest example of this displacement, describing the city’s historic center as “a kind of theme park” where the proliferation of short-term tourist rentals has pushed long-term residents out to suburban areas. Even in smaller, northern destinations like Asturias, anger has boiled over into direct action: graffiti targeting holiday rental properties has appeared in recent days, bearing the slogan “Your business, our ruin.”

    Both national and local governments have moved to address public anger, implementing new rules to curb the growth of unregulated short-term accommodation. In 2025, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government warned that “there are too many Airbnbs and not enough homes,” and later fined the short-term rental platform €65 million ($75.5 million) for advertising unlicensed properties. Local authorities have gone further: many city councils have halted the issuance of new permits for tourist apartments, and Barcelona has announced plans to revoke licenses for all 10,000 of its existing short-term rental units by 2028, while doubling the city’s tourist tax to €8 for short-stay cruise ship visitors.

    While tenant activists and protest groups have welcomed these measures, they say far more action is needed to protect local communities. But the tourism industry has pushed back against aggressive regulation. Exceltur, Spain’s leading national tourism industry association, has called for “the reparation of the links between the tourism sector and local residents,” warning that overly strict rules will harm both jobs and economic growth. The short-term rental sector has cited a PwC analysis of Barcelona’s license revocation plan, which warns the policy could erode the city’s tourism competitiveness and lead to the loss of thousands of local jobs.

    Femenia-Serra notes that policymakers are still struggling to find a balanced solution that addresses local grievances without damaging the critical tourism economy. “We have measures that try to alleviate the impact that tourism has and that try to distribute tourists in cities in a different way,” he says. “But we still haven’t seen a single measure that is effective in reducing the number of tourists.”

    Back in Benidorm, as Fuster prepares for what is projected to be another record-breaking summer, he acknowledges the legitimacy of local discontent and says the industry must adapt to retain social license. “We say we are the industry of happiness,” he says. “But we also have to realise that we impact the normal life of citizens. The way we welcome people and we care about them and our happiness, the way we live, I think that’s something the tourist really appreciates – that’s the key. That’s why we have to work a lot in these places, mostly in cities, where there is a feeling of not welcoming tourists. It’s very important for us because if we lose that, we’re dead.” To Fuster, making visitors feel welcome while respecting the needs of local communities is not just a social good – it is the foundation of the industry’s long-term survival.

  • Denmark says soccer star Christian Eriksen ‘conscious’ after collapsing on field again in match

    Denmark says soccer star Christian Eriksen ‘conscious’ after collapsing on field again in match

    ODENSE, Denmark — A frightening echo of a 2021 medical emergency unfolded at Odense’s Nature Energy Park on Sunday, as Danish soccer star Christian Eriksen collapsed for the second time on an international pitch during a friendly fixture against Ukraine, leaving the global soccer community holding its breath. The 34-year-old midfielder, who already survived a life-threatening cardiac arrest at the 2020 European Championships, was seen clutching his chest with both hands during an off-the-ball play in the 65th minute of the match. Moments later, he fell to the turf, immediately surrounded by concerned teammates and opponents, with Ukraine’s coaching staff rushing to flag for medical support.

    The Danish Football Association confirmed in an update posted to X shortly after the incident that Eriksen remained conscious and was in stable condition given the circumstances. In a more detailed statement released 10 minutes after the initial alert, Denmark team physician Morten Boesen shared that the player had left the playing field on his own power, and that the pacemaker he has relied on since 2021 was functioning as intended. “He was briefly unconscious, but he regained consciousness very quickly, and we were able to establish contact with him right away,” Boesen explained. “He is now heading to hospital for extensive testing to identify what triggered this latest incident. We are maintaining constant communication with Christian and the hospital’s medical team, and he asked me to pass along a message to all his teammates: he is okay.”

    The referee officially abandoned the match in the 79th minute, when Denmark held a 2-1 lead, following consultations with both national team coaching staff and player groups. As Eriksen received on-site treatment, the stadium fell silent at first before a steady, loud chant of “Eriksen, Eriksen” rose from the stands to support the fan favorite. After the match was called off, players from both Denmark and Ukraine formed a collective circle around the two head coaches in one half of the pitch to discuss the situation, before both squads walked a lap of the field to acknowledge the crowd’s support, with several players visibly emotional.

    Sunday’s incident brings back traumatic memories of Eriksen’s first on-field collapse, which shocked global soccer during Denmark’s opening Euro 2021 group stage match against Finland in Copenhagen. At that time, Eriksen was clinically dead for five minutes before prompt emergency medical intervention saved his life. After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, the midfielder made a remarkable return to professional soccer just 259 days later. He went on to play for English clubs Brentford and Manchester United before signing with German side VfL Wolfsburg in 2025, where he is under contract through the 2026-27 season. Neither Denmark nor Ukraine have secured qualification for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.