TO BRIEF / news digest
Daily EU news digest
Eight stories per edition, selected from hundreds of European sources and written to be read in five minutes. TO BRIEF is a daily news digest that respects your time and shows its sources.
What a daily news digest is
A daily news digest is a different way to stay informed: instead of an endless scroll of front pages, alerts and repetition, you read one small, carefully selected set of stories once a day. At TO BRIEF that means eight articles per edition — not eighty. Selection is half the work: the system reads hundreds of articles from across Europe every day and keeps only what genuinely changes the picture.
Europe has a particular problem that a digest solves well: decisions made in Brussels, Frankfurt or a neighbouring capital affect you directly, yet most of us consume news inside national silos. Each digest story is written with that cross-border lens — what happened, how the same story reads in different countries, and why it matters beyond one border.
Every story is written from scratch with context and continuity: what led here, why it is happening now, what follows. We do not republish press releases and we do not chase clicks. The goal is that after five minutes you have the complete picture — not just more headlines.
The digest is published daily, and nothing disappears: the archive keeps every previous edition, day by day, so a missed morning costs you nothing.
How the digest is made
TO BRIEF is a newspaper written by artificial intelligence — stated plainly, not buried in the small print. The production line starts from same-day news feeds across European countries: the system detects which stories appear in multiple independent sources, opens research questions, and gathers material before the first sentence is written.
Each article then passes through a second model that re-reads it as a sceptic: claims, numbers and characterisations are checked before the text reaches you. The sources of every article are visible inside the article itself — you can always see where a claim came from and judge it yourself.
There is no prospective human review of each article before it is published, and we disclose that on every page. Whatever gets corrected, gets corrected in the open: there is a public corrections trail and a clear way to report an error. The whole production line is documented step by step on our methodology page.
Who is behind TO BRIEF
TO BRIEF was created by two technologists who go by their first names, Nikos and Vasilis — one works in AI privacy, the other in software engineering and cybersecurity. Their story, and the experiment of a newspaper without journalists, was covered by WIRED Greece.
Behind the product stands a registered company with public filings, a full transparency page, and a declared policy on the use of artificial intelligence. You will not find invented "editors-in-chief" — you will find an honest description of how the system works and who is responsible for it.
What you will find in every article
Every digest article has the same steady structure: what happened, the context that explains it, why you should care, and its sources. Most carry a timeline of how the story developed, and an audio edition for the hours when reading is not an option. If something is corrected after publication, the correction is noted on the article itself — errors are not silently erased.
The digest is an edition, not a feed: it has a beginning and an end, like a newspaper. You read it, you close it, you get on with your day — and tomorrow the next one is waiting. Below are today’s stories, exactly as published in the latest edition.
Today's stories
- VW plan drains four German factories
Management’s proposal would end vehicle production at Emden, Zwickau, Hannover and Audi Neckarsulm between 2031 and 2034 by assigning successor models elsewhere. The supervisory board will discuss the unconfirmed plan on September 3–4, opening a fight over whether model allocation lets VW bypass the two-thirds approval required for relocating production.
- EU’s €3 duty pushes goods into warehouses
Small-parcel arrivals in the Netherlands fell 46% after the EU imposed its new customs charge, yet demand for Chinese goods remains strong. Rising cargo tonnage at Liège and larger consignments suggest platforms are importing in bulk and distributing from EU warehouses, shifting the enforcement challenge from border customs to national product-safety authorities.
- EU power shift advances, veto reform stalls
Paris and Berlin’s workable reform would give Kaja Kallas access to more foreign-policy tools while placing her more firmly under Ursula von der Leyen. Eleven countries also want governments to curb obstructive vetoes, but that effort depends on unanimous consent. The October European Council will test whether faster coordination means concentrating power rather than changing how Europe decides.
- Italy’s 4.18% yield masks calmer risk
Italy’s borrowing costs are climbing, but investors are not singling it out for a debt crisis: the BTP-Bund spread remains near 84 basis points as yields rise worldwide. The danger lies in refinancing, with weak growth and a vast debt stock gradually replacing cheap bonds with expensive ones while the ECB has little reason to intervene.
- Romania’s 90% EU funds claim awaits Brussels
Romania has received about €13 billion, or 64% of its €20.1 billion recovery plan, despite projecting final grant absorption above 90%. Billions depend on two outstanding payment requests and Commission checks, while failed wage reform has already put €770 million at risk and extended coal operations could cost roughly €100 million more.
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