Author: staff
As the race to elect the next UN Secretary-General enters its final phase, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan retains a challenging lead, but a new contender is emerging, as UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh announced her candidacy this week. The growing excitement around the race is also fueled by the prospect of a female UN secretary-general, something that has never happened in the UN’s more than 80-year history. As part of a complex election process, an informal straw poll of officials in the deciding United Nations Security Council last week gave Grynspan a narrow lead over her…
Ukrainian drones struck five data centres belonging to Russia’s largest technology companies in October, causing widespread failures in cloud services, payment systems and navigation apps nationwide. The Ukrainian armed forces hit three Yandex facilities: in Sasovo in the Ryazan region on 7 October, in Kaluga on 9 October, and in Vladimir on 11 October. On 14 October a Sber data centre in Balakovo in the Saratov region was struck, and on 18 October a VKontakte data centre in the Leningrad region near St Petersburg came under attack. Yandex, Sber and VKontakte together run much of Russia’s consumer internet infrastructure, from…
Studio DRIFT, an Amsterdam-based artist duo founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, has unveiled Aeolus, a large-scale installation at London’s Ladbroke Hall that uses hundreds of glass rods and hidden lights to make the invisible movement of wind visible. We spoke to the co-founders about how the work captures a moment of wind in motion, the relationship between nature and technology, and the importance of reconnecting with the natural world through physical experiences of art. The studio is also preparing to open an 8,000-square-metre museum in Amsterdam in early 2027.
The incident is the latest in a string of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea. Dan told POLITICO last week that Russia’s intention was clearly to weaken Romania’s support for Ukraine in the war but vowed not to back down. NATO allies met Tuesday to discuss the threat to Black Sea shipping and Dan said Romania would receive “additional capabilities” to help defend the area. “Evidently, this is an incident within the broader process of escalation that Russia is pursuing in the context of its war in Ukraine,” the Romanian president said. European Commission President Ursula von…
A multi-storey building under construction collapsed in Nairobi’s Eastleigh district on Friday 23 October, leaving a vast heap of concrete rubble and twisted debris. The Kenya Red Cross said the structure came down at about 1:40 pm local time along Yusuf Haji Avenue and dispatched emergency response teams to assist search-and-rescue efforts. Footage from the Kenyan capital showed the scale of the destruction, with large sections of the unfinished structure reduced to piles of broken concrete. An excavator was deployed among the wreckage while Red Cross personnel worked at the site, urging the public to stay clear so rescuers could…
Moscow’s defense ministry also confirmed the exchange in a statement, saying Friday that the 270 exchanged Russian prisoners were in Belarus. A prisoner exchange deal was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in May. The process is expected to involve 2,000 prisoners of war in total, Zelenskyy said at the time. The latest wave of exchanges took place soon after the end of another round of negotiations in Oslo and St. Petersburg. “We express our gratitude to the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates, and in particular, we thank everyone who contributed to the release of…
Storm Austen, the first named storm of the 2026 autumn season, battered coastal areas of France and the UK on Friday 23 October, bringing powerful winds, heavy rain and towering waves. Brittany, Cornwall and Devon were among the hardest-hit regions, with gusts reaching 160 km/h at Pointe du Raz in Finistère, while winds of up to 80 mph were forecast for exposed headlands in south-west England. Along the Finistère coast, gusts of 120 to 140 km/h whipped up rough seas. At Lanildut harbour, waves several metres high crashed against a navigation marker, yachts rocked violently at their moorings and a…
When the European Central Bank (ECB) meets next Thursday, it is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, partly because rising government bond yields are already pushing up borrowing costs across the eurozone. ECB President Christine Lagarde has played down hopes of a rescue, saying the solution to France’s debt problems lies at home. The yield on France’s 10-year government bond traded above 5% on Friday after rising to that level on Wednesday for the first time since 2002. The gap with German 10-year bonds, the eurozone’s safest debt, was above 170 basis points. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield was at…
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the center-right European People’s Party over alleged misuse of funds in its contracts with two Greek consultants, a media consortium reported. The investigation centers on more than half a million euros awarded to two consultants ahead of the 2024 European election. The European Parliament, which finances European political parties, refused to reimburse the contracts in full after deeming the costs excessive. It covered only the initial €110,000 payments, leaving the EPP to pay roughly €350,000 itself, according to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, Dutch investigative outlet Follow the Money and Greece’s Inside Story. The consultants…
As Lyon and Orléans prepare for a weekend of demonstrations, shopkeepers are boarding up windows, removing valuable stock and reinforcing entrances. In Lyon, workers were filmed on Friday installing wooden panels and protective fencing outside City Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Chamber of Commerce. Shops along Rue de la République were also being secured, with carpenters cutting boards and covering windows. The precautions reflect fears of possible violence and property damage, although no such incidents during the upcoming demonstrations have been confirmed. In Orléans, businesses along the planned protest route are also taking precautions ahead of a…