Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called for a face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter, saying he was also ready for a “full ceasefire”. In response, the Kremlin said Zelensky could meet Putin in Moscow "any time".

from Liberty Sentinel by Alex Newman : TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, is facing mounting resistance from protesters in Albania, angered by its environmental impact and doubts about its legality. Here's what we know.

A number of European Union member states are pushing the European Commission to put forward legislation that makes it easier to deny tourist visas to Russian citizens over Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On 3 May 2026, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced the creation of a Council for a New Constitution. The initiative, framed as a response to chronic institutional deadlock, has opened a debate that reaches far beyond technical constitutional reform. It touches the core question quietly confronting much of Central and Eastern Europe: whether governance architectures […]

Apple unveiled plans to open a facility for developers in Berlin, Germany, a site intended to help European companies in creating and improving apps for the iPhone-maker’s devices.

The developer centre will be Apple’s first of its type in Europe. It runs similar facilities in Singapore, Shanghai, Cupertino and Bengaluru.

It is set to host workshops for app developers, one-on-one appointments and other in-person sessions in an attempt to help companies elevate the design and performance of applications for iPhones, iPads, macs and other devices using its operating systems.

Apple added dedicated labs will also offer hands-on support across multiple languages.

The company’s VP worldwide developer relations Susan Prescott said Europe was “home to an extraordinary community of developers who are building apps that create connections, encourage creativity, and drive innovation”.

“We have always believed that when developers have the right tools and resources to do their best work, incredible things follow. That belief is what this centre is built on, and we look forward to seeing what the community continues to develop.”

The site, located in the Mitte district of the German capital, is due to open later this year.

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Russia has increased its pressure on Armenia ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, pulling out virtually all the stops linked to trade should its long-term ally persist in its ambitions to join the European Union. Moscow has threatened to raise gas prices, put measures in place to be able to restrict the Russian import of certain Armenian products and warned it may suspend the country from the Eurasian Economic Union.

At least four people have been killed in Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said on Thursday, a day after Kyiv targeted energy and military facilities in Saint Petersburg during Russia's flagship economic forum. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned of a "real" risk of escalation, while Ukraine described the attacks as justified retaliation for intensified Russian strikes on its territory.

The captain of the Tagor, a tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s “ghost fleet” that was boarded in the Atlantic Ocean by the French Navy, was taken into custody on Tuesday, announced Brest prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger.

The European Commission (EC) took the wraps off a sweeping new package outlining measures to boost the continent’s ambitions around semiconductors, AI, cloud and open source, as part of a bid to strengthen the bloc’s digital autonomy.

EC stated measures in the four areas will help Europe “become an AI continent”, established as a leader in research, development and adoption of AI.

It hopes the package will fast track ambitions around technology sovereignty and protect European digital independence, as part of a long-standing goal to reduce reliance on the US and Asia.

Starting with chips, the EC said it wants to secure the semiconductor base for Europe’s AI ambitions through the Chips Act 2.0, which is designed to speed up permitting, deepen cooperation with “like-minded partners” and introduce a new excellence label for Europe’s semiconductor regions.

It is an update of the original Chips Act, in force since 2023, which represented Europe’s response to vulnerabilities in the semiconductor supply chain.

Secondly, a new Cloud and AI Development Act is designed to aid the buildout of new data centres, streamline conditions for deploying facilities across the European Union (EU) and introduce a single EU-wide framework to assess cloud and AI sovereignty. The wider aim is to triple the region’s data centre capacity in the next five to seven years.

Through open source, the EC wants to strengthen digital autonomy, scaling up alternatives in priority areas, invest in skills, startups and digital infrastructure while support greater use of open source in public administration.

Finally, the EC put the focus on digitalising Europe’s energy system, pledging to define a roadmap in the sector to ensure data centres are integrated, while building sovereign and secure AI models.

Technological sovereignty
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission, said Europe “cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure”.

“This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices. Europe has the talent, the research excellence, the industrial base and the Single Market. Together, we must turn these strengths into technological sovereignty.”

Before the package is put into force, the proposal will be negotiated by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. The commission will also launch a consultation process with member states.

Investment will be made through existing grants until 2028, while future funding is to be confirmed in the next EU budget. The EC has previously estimated a combined public-private investment of €120 billion by 2035 to rejuvenate the continent’s chip industry.

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Ukrainian drone attacks in St. Petersburg targeted military and energy infrastructure overnight into Wednesday, setting ablaze a Russian warship and oil depots on the Baltic coast. This attack deep in Russian territory came on the opening day of Putin's three-day economic forum held in the city and as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit.

Ofcom called for a concerted effort from mobile operators, local authorities and other entities to improve coverage across the UK, as it published a study highlighting widespread mobile signal issues uncovered on the country’s railway network.

Its research assessed coverage on 24 segments of the UK’s key railway lines. A good performance was deemed to be a download speed of at least 5 Mb/s, 1.5 Mb/s upload, and a response time of 50 milliseconds or less.

It found EE met those standards on 42% of the lines, Virgin Media O2 hit 20%, Vodafone scored 17% and 3 UK 21%. The latter two are now the same company.

Ofcom noted the research “highlights the core problem that mobile signal from masts on the ground often isn’t strong enough around train lines and that some carriage types are difficult for signals to pass through”.

It also found on-board Wi-Fi by train companies was little help, performing well 1% of the time. This was blamed on “outdated technology” and speed caps.

Goals
Alongside the train-specific research, the regulator published a report detailing general aims to improve the quality of mobile coverage in the country.

Here, Ofcom called for a “national effort” to improve services, noting the roles of the mobile industry, local authorities, central government, building developers and landowners.

Highlighting a binding £11 billion investment commitment from VodafoneThree related to merger clearance, Ofcom expects “other networks to respond with their own investment, and collectively this will be a key driver of improvements”.

Ofcom also pointed to issues with infrastructure planning applications in some areas and the advantage of having dedicated indoor coverage systems within sites such as shopping centres.

On train-specific problems, it noted “competition between mobile networks alone won’t be enough to improve mobile signal on trains, and government is currently considering options for how it can help”.

“As well as providing technical advice to Government to help inform its approach, we’ll also look at whether more spectrum – the airwaves all wireless technology relies on – is required”.

Challenges
A statement issued by trade association Mobile UK on behalf of the country’s three mobile operators welcomed the Ofcom research, explaining it “highlights the unique structural and capacity challenges of delivering consistent connectivity on moving trains”.

Noting building the advanced infrastructure required needed “the right enabling environment” the organisation urged government action through the country’s Mobile Market Review and “planning reform to establish a supportive policy and regulatory framework”.

“Dedicated public investment is also critical to tackle complex trackside blackspots, as commercial rollout alone cannot bridge the gap on the rail network,” the statement added. “We look forward to working with Government and Ofcom to achieve this, balancing the need for major investment with Ofcom’s vital role in maintaining low costs for consumers.”

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NATO chief Mark Rutte said in Kyiv on Wednesday that Russia was growing desperate as it faced mounting military and economic difficulties in its four-year-long invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, Kyiv launched drone attacks on the Russian city of St. Petersburg where officials and visiting dignitaries were gathering for a flagship economic forum. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog.

Protesters in the southern British city of Southampton on Tuesday attacked police at the site of the murder of an 18-year-old student who was handcuffed as he lay dying in December from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack. Far-right firebrand figure Tommy Robinson addressed the crowd, with many of them waving Union Jack and England flags.

Tech giants and nations stepped up measures to protect young users online as Poland moved to ban mobile phones in primary schools and Meta Platforms separately beefed up teen content controls globally.

Poland’s proposed ban, due to take effect on 1 September 2026, will apply to children aged 7 to 15 on school premises, including during breaks. According to Reuters, the proposed bill will also give schools a legal basis to create storage deposits for handsets.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the restriction aims to give parents and teachers more control over pupils’ device use. “We propose a ban on cell phone use in primary schools during lessons and breaks,” he said, adding, “this is not a perfect solution, we have no illusions about that, but we must address this serious problem, which is addiction to phones and the internet”.

Another bill proposed by Poland’s minister for digital affairs also imposes new obligations on pornography websites to restrict access by children.

Poland’s proposals come as social media platforms face mounting scrutiny over child safety across the globe.

Meta moves
Earlier today (2 June), Meta announced it is expanding its 13+ content settings for teen accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger globally. The controls were initially launched in select countries in October last year and are designed to filter out content deemed inappropriate for underage users as the default for teenagers’ accounts.

A more restrictive “limited content” setting will also be made available on Facebook and Messenger later this year. In addition, Meta’s Instagram platform is also testing a feature to prevent teenage users from repeatedly seeing certain types of content to promote a more balanced social media feed.

In December, Australia became the world’s first country to ban social media for under-16s, while countries including the UK, Denmark, Greece, France, Malaysia, Norway and Spain are all weighing or advancing restrictions.

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Liberty Global appointed Stephen van Rooyen (pictured) to take charge of its newly formed telecoms company Ziggo Group, which will combine VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands with Telenet in Belgium.

Liberty Global stated van Rooyen, who is the current CEO of VodafoneZiggo, will take control of the joint entity on 1 September, ahead of planned listing of the company in Amsterdam in 2027.

The executive was credited by Liberty Global for leading “a turnaround at VodafoneZiggo over the past 18 months”, leaning on extensive European telecoms and media leadership experience.

He previously spent more than 17 years at Sky, serving as CEO of Sky UK & Ireland and CCO of Sky Group.

As part of preparations for the new entity, Liberty Global also named Jany Fruytier from its Swiss operator Sunrise as CFO. Fruytier has held the equivalent position at Sunrise since 2020, playing a key role in the growth and listing of listing of the business.

Liberty Global struck a deal to buy the 50% stake in VodafoneZiggo it did not own from Vodafone Group earlier this year.

It then declared it would set up Ziggo Group, which would own 100% of VodafoneZiggo and Telenet. As part of the buyout transaction, Vodafone took a 10% stake in Ziggo Group.

The joint entity will have 13 million customers, generating €6.6 billion in revenue.

Expertise and experience
Alongside his responsibilities at Ziggo Group, van Rooyen will retain his role at VodafoneZiggo.

Mike Fries, Liberty Global chairman and CEO said van Rooyen’s experience and Fruytier’s expertise gives it the right platform to deliver on the planned listing.

“Together, they will lead two highly complementary businesses, and we see significant opportunities in what these two strong brands can achieve together,” he said.

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SoftBank Group committed to an investment of up to €75 billion to bolster AI data centre infrastructure in France, with the first phase of the project set to deliver 3.1GW of capacity.

SoftBank announced the investment at the 2026 Choose France summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, marking the Japanese company’s largest AI infrastructure investments in Europe.

It has committed an initial €45 billion investment in the Hauts-de-France region, providing 3.1GW of capacity to data centres in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain. SoftBank will also develop additional sites, “reinforcing the country’s role as a leading European hub for next-generation digital infrastructure”.

For the Dunkirk deployment, SoftBank partnered with Schneider Electric to accelerate its buildout, while developing a large-scale industrial production cluster.

The cluster at the Port of Dunkirk will be a “key industrial pillar” for the company’s AI infrastructure programme in France, including the build out of two facilities. One will be operated by SoftBank to manufacture enclosures, while the other will be operated by Schneider Electric to integrate data centre power modules.

The duo explained the partnership will combine SoftBank’s robotics and automation capabilities with Schneider’s industrial expertise and local supply chain network to support the deployment of next-generation AI data centres at scale.

The industrial cluster is also designed to support Dunkirk’s ambition to become a leading hub for robotics, advanced manufacturing and industrial innovation.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said AI is entering a new era and countries that build infrastructure for this transformation “will shape the future of technology, industry and society”.

“SoftBank is proud to make this major commitment to France. With its industrial capabilities, talent base and national ambition, France is uniquely positioned to become a leading AI infrastructure hub in Europe.”

The company said it will also work with SB Energy and other strategic partners to deliver the projects.

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Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as the European Commission (EC) earmarked a large proportion of mobile satellite spectrum for homegrown players, Telenor unveiled a restructured operating model and SpaceX secured a $2.3 billion US military deal.

EC proposes local players get bulk of MSS spectrum

What happened: EC EVP Henna Virkkunen set out the regulator’s proposal to allocate the 2GHz mobile satellite services spectrum band across the European Union, with a large slice potentially being allocated to local players.

Why it matters: Under the plan, one third of the band would be reserved for government and critical communications with the rest allocated to commercial D2D and IoT services. Non-EU companies would only be able to apply for half of the allocation for commercial services and none of the public sector portion.

Virkkunen said the watchdog aims to “boost Europe’s competitiveness”, “strengthen Europe’s security” and embrace “new technological possibilities”, adding the plan reflects “the current changing geopolitical context”.

She rejected suggestions the move disproportionately targets US companies, stating the process is “very transparent and fair”. Yet, BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Sam McHugh told Reuters the plan could leave US players including SpaceX in a “structurally inferior” position. He added it is “a small positive for European telecom operators” because it further reduces the odds of SpaceX competing head-to-head with them.

Telenor pursues top-line gains with restructure

What happened: Telenor unveiled a group-wide restructure, replacing its Nordics, Asia, Amp and Infrastructure business units with a model focused on individual countries.

Why it matters: The plan aims to move decision making closer to customers and local markets. The operator stated the shift aligns with its long-term goals of pursuing top-line growth, greater efficiency and operational improvement. Under the new set-up, the chiefs of Telenor’s Nordics businesses will join group management, removing the current regional layer.

Telenor described the restructure as “simplified and sharpened”, adding it would “substantially reduce administrative costs” and accelerate long-term growth by improving cash flow and capital return in the coming years.

SpaceX bags $2.3B US military comms deal

What happened: The US Space Force (USSF) awarded SpaceX a $2.3 billion contract to build the backbone for a Space Data Network (SDN), a satellite communications system designed to connect military platforms and sensors.

Why it matters: USSF stated the SDN backbone will use low Earth orbit satellites to provide global connectivity for armed forces, acting as “an integrated network” delivering “robust, resilient, high-capacity and low-latency data transport”.

USSF acting portfolio acquisition executive for space-based sensing and targeting Colonel Ryan Frazier said the system would use “the best of commercial innovation” and provide “a strong foundation for the SDN mission” by acting as “a core communications layer” for USSF systems, delivering continuous, secure connectivity.

The deal comes at a pivotal moment for Elon Musk’s satellite venture, which recently submitted a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing detailing plans to launch a long-awaited IPO as early as next month.

The post The Friday File: MSS spectrum; Telenor; SpaceX appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Eight bottles of Chateau d'Yquem – one of the world's most expensive white wines – were among a collection of 136 bottles discovered under a Czech castle floor that were hidden by the owners after the end of World War II. They have now been restored by the original French winemakers in what the cellar master called a "magical experience" of preserving "liquid memory".