Author: staff
Published on 01/05/2026 – 21:11 GMT+2 France and Germany sent firefighting units to the Netherlands on Friday to help battle woodland blazes flaring in several areas. Many of the fires, which broke out on Wednesday and Thursday, were raging in land used for military training, including an artillery range, in the south. Stretched Dutch authorities requested help facing the emergency through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with France and Germany responding. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in a post on X that Paris had despatched 41 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles. A total of 67 firefighters, 21 vehicles…
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is “not satisfied” with a new Iranian negotiating proposal, with peace talks between the two sides frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire. Iran delivered the text of the proposal to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, the IRNA news agency reported, without offering details about its contents. “At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” Trump told reporters, laying blame for the stalled talks with Iran due to “tremendous discord” within its leadership. “Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever or…
Published on 01/05/2026 – 20:13 GMT+2 A new Russian medium-class launch vehicle Soyuz-5, was launched overnight on Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as part of its first flight tests, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said. According to Roscosmos, the Soyuz-5 is equipped with what it described as the world’s most powerful liquid-fuelled rocket engine. The launch marked the first test flight of the new-generation rocket. Roscosmos said the first and second stages operated normally and that a payload mock-up was placed on a planned suborbital trajectory before falling into the Pacific Ocean. The space agency said the new…
What’s changing? The agreement will gradually eliminate duties on more than 90 percent of EU exports, including on cars, pharmaceuticals, wine and spirits, and olive oil. Some so-called non-tariff barriers — such as on labeling — will be removed. Public procurement markets will open up, allowing EU companies to bid for government contracts. The Commission estimates that EU exports to the Mercosur region will grow by 39 percent through 2040, to €50 billion. “The benefits are real and visible as of now,” von der Leyen said in a post on X. “Tariffs start falling. Companies are gaining access to new markets.…
Published on 01/05/2026 – 16:25 GMT+2•Updated 16:28 Israeli police said on Friday that they had arrested a 36-year-old man caught on video attacking a Catholic nun in the latest incident near Jerusalem’s Old City. Police said the unnamed man was arrested after the attack near David’s Tomb, a holy site outside Zion’s Gate on the southern side of the Old City, “on suspicion of a racially motivated attack,” and remained in custody. Police video showed the nun bruised and the attacker wearing tzitzit, a fringed undergarment worn by some observant Jewish men. The nun, a French national, suffered injuries including…
International travel demand for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is building across the United States, Canada and Mexico, but new data suggests the benefits will be uneven – both in where visitors go and how much host cities ultimately gain. Analysis from Data Appeal and Mabrian, in collaboration with PredictHQ, shows international travel intent is rising across all three host nations, though at different speeds. Mexico is seeing the most consistent growth so far in 2026, while the US recorded a sharper late surge in demand during the first quarter. Canada’s growth has been steadier but more gradual. At city…
The incoming prime minister initially unveiled his first seven ministerial picks in April, only days after defeating Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party and ending his 16-year rule. The rest of his governing team was announced Thursday. Magyar also met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier this week as he races to unfreeze billions in EU funds blocked over rule-of-law concerns. Officials in Brussels expect Hungary to stay aligned on Ukraine and demonstrate progress on those issues to release the cash. In the video posted on X, Magyar argues that his brother-in-law has been a part of the Tisza movement…
Around 245 global news organisations across nine countries are attempting to block the Internet Archive’s crawlers. These are automated software bots that capture, display and archive content from web pages in the Internet Archive’s public-facing interface, the Wayback Machine. The Archive holds over one trillion web pages dating all the way back to 1996, making it one of the biggest collective public information resources in the world. This includes past articles from major news organisations such as CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today. These web pages are used for a variety of purposes, for example, as…
The US-Israel attack on Iran has impacted the travel industry around the globe, with flight cancellations and airlines shuttering as jet fuel prices soar. While airlines won’t retroactively add surcharges onto flights you’ve already paid for, you are likely to see flight price increases on future bookings. Some carriers in the United States, including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta, have increased the cost of checked bags as a way to recoup some of the additional costs. However, the same cannot be said for package holiday providers. This is because the operator is not directly providing the service and so…
The kiwi, New Zealand’s sacred national bird, vanished from the hills around Wellington more than a century ago. Now the capital’s residents are waging an improbable citizen campaign to return the endangered flightless birds to the city. On a hill wreathed in mist above the dark sea that runs between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, Ward and others crossed rugged farmland late on Tuesday night, carrying seven crates in silence by dim red torchlight. Ward and his friends set their crates down in pairs, slid them open and gently tilted the boxes. Inside each one nestled a kiwi, including…