Author: staff

Five years after Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban as they captured Kabul, the International Criminal Court has reportedly split its investigation of Taliban crimes from the broader Afghanistan probe in a move that could ease pressure from Washington on the court. According to Middle East Eye, judges at the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II have ordered prosecutors to open a standalone investigation into alleged Taliban persecution of women, separating it from the court’s long-running Afghanistan investigation, which also covered alleged crimes by US personnel. The Chamber reportedly found that Taliban conduct since 2021 is “materially different” from the…

Organizations are embedding AI agents across the cyber stack, automating high-volume and repetitive tasks. This is not to replace human analysts, but to free them for the work that demands human judgment. Technology architecture matters too. Sprawling estates of disconnected security tools create operational and financial costs. Bringing logs, signals and alerts together in a unified platform can give teams a full, real-time picture of all activities and behaviors occurring across an IT architecture. The best of these platforms will incorporate AI capabilities to identify threats and automate analytical and management tasks, including reverse-engineering malware, compiling actionable case summaries and…

Fillon was found guilty in 2020 but appealed the decision. He and his wife Penelope, however, could not provide evidence that she had actually worked for her husband over the course of several contracts under which she was hired to be his parliamentary assistant during his time as an MP. The appeals court last year upheld the verdict, handing him a four-year suspended prison sentence and a €375,000 fine. The 72-year-old did not appeal that decision to a higher court. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, under whom Fillon served, was also stripped of his Légion d’honneur last year after being found…

Europe is in the middle of another summer heatwave. That is part of the reason the coming winter is shaping up to be an expensive one. Record temperatures are pushing up electricity demand while drought and heat are curbing hydro and nuclear generation. That is forcing gas-fired power stations to fill part of the gap just as Europe should be putting more gas into storage. That pressure is already showing up in wholesale gas prices. Dutch TTF futures, Europe’s main gas benchmark, have climbed roughly 120% since the start of 2026, reaching about €63.7 per megawatt-hour on August 18. Gas…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 6:51 GMT+2 Lebanon on Wednesday extradited a former Syrian military officer under ousted President Bashar Assad, who will be put on trial to be held to account for crimes committed against the Syrian people during Assad’s 14-year-long civil war, the Interior Ministry said. Major General Adel Issa is the first military officer to be turned over by Lebanon since Assad’s fall in December 2024. Beirut decided on Tuesday to deliver Issa to Syria, after questioning him over crimes he allegedly committed during Assad’s 24-year reign as president. Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had asked authorities in…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 8:19 GMT+2 Oil prices rose on Thursday, holding near their highest levels in weeks, as the deadlocked standoff between the United States and Iran kept supply concerns elevated in the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.3% to $91.90 a barrel, while US benchmark crude edged up 0.2% to $84.57 a barrel. Prices have climbed steadily since the start of August, when Brent was trading at around $87.38 a barrel, as the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz keeps supply concerns elevated even without any single new escalation. Both benchmarks remain well above the…

A group of seven frontline EU countries have called for funding from the bloc’s proposed €2 trillion Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to support their tourism sectors in regions affected by their proximity to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. In a letter to European Commissioners for Tourism and Cohesion, Apostolos Tzitzikostas and Raffaele Fitto, the tourism and finance ministers of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia outlined how their tourism sectors have been affected by “geopolitical developments and security concerns” linked to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, among other factors. “Tourism flows have declined considerably in most of these regions,”…

Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond in this Euronews news bulletin. In just a few minutes, our newsroom brings you the latest news and breaking news across world affairs, business, politics, culture, entertainment and travel, with the context you need to make sense of a fast-moving day. Reported with the independence and the European perspective that define Euronews, this regular round-up gives you a clear and reliable overview of the stories shaping our world right now, wherever you are watching from.

Published on 20/08/2026 – 6:21 GMT+2 The UK’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have decided to return to the United Kingdom for an extended stay starting this fall, but they won’t resume their roles as working members of the royal family, according to reports. The couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already enrolled at schools in the UK and will start classes in September, according to a person close to the Sussexes who was not authorised to speak publicly. The family plans to live at a private, non-royal residence outside of London, but plans to…

Not all airlines are equal, and while we all know budget carriers offer cheaper fares, there is quite a difference between national carriers, too. Research from AirAdvisor, a global flight and baggage compensation service, has examined the revenue per average seat kilometre (RASK) data to rank 23 European airlines by how much passenger revenue they generate for each kilometre flown per available seat. This data is an indication of how much passengers are paying to fly with an airline in relation to the distance travelled and seats available. It also includes the cost of extras such as luggage and seat…