Author: staff
A German district court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for far-right Alternative for Germany lawmaker Maximilian Krah over unpaid legal fees stemming from a dispute with comedian Jan Böhmermann, according to various German media outlets. In 2024, Böhmermann read out a listener’s letter on his podcast alleging that Krah, a former member of the European Parliament, had ordered 200 bottles of Champagne for an entire tent at Munich’s Oktoberfest. Krah denied the claims and called the story “complete nonsense.” Böhmermann later said that his research indicated the number of bottles was likely only 50. Krah, who had already been…
Published on 13/08/2026 – 16:16 GMT+2•Updated 16:20 An explosion at the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Thursday killed at least one person and injured several others, city police said. Police said the blast at Europe’s biggest port happened late on Thursday morning and that a crime scene has been set up to try to establish what caused it. The explosion happened at a refinery and fuel terminal run by Gunvor Energy in an industrial section of the vast port premises. Dutch broadcaster NOS said that a maintenance team had been working on a section of pipes there. Rotterdam emergency services…
By Anna Flori & Acs Gabpr Published on 13/08/2026 – 16:03 GMT+2 The Hungarian Integrity Authority is setting up a register of economic operators excluded from public procurement after they were deemed to have committed criminal offences. This measure, which is essential for the resumption of EU funding, is intended not only to weed out abuses but also to offer a chance for self-cleaning, according to the government. Budapest argued on Thursday that those who can prove that they have “restored their trustworthiness” should have their names removed from the register. The Hungarian Integrity Authority is also launching the first registration procedures and…
Whether you’re an experienced traveller or a total novice, planning out a rail trip can be overwhelming. The EU’s newly announced ‘one journey, one ticket’ proposal should make things a lot easier, but for now, you still have to deal with multiple operators across countries, which can quickly get confusing. It’s a real barrier to such a sustainable way to get around – and that’s why travel company Byway has just launched a free course teaching people how to do it for themselves. While it might seem counterintuitive for a company that specialises in booking personalised trips by land and…
Cernavodă could stay offline for a while. “The forecast for the next 10 days shows a continuous decrease in the flow and level of the Danube,” plant director Romeo Urjan told Romanian news outlet Digi24 on Tuesday evening, saying officials did not expect to restart Unit 2 during that period. Emergency dredging, rock blasting and sunk barges had bought the reactor roughly another week of operation. The shutdown is the latest fallout from a drought emptying Europe’s rivers. Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images released last week showed the Danube shrinking dramatically compared with last summer, exposing sandbanks and parched countryside north…
The European Commission has deployed a team of migration experts to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, two weeks after around 80,000 migrants crossed into the territory from Morocco triggering an unprecedented humanitarian and political crisis, and amid reports that further large-scale attempts to cross into the enclave could be imminent. Speaking on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Commission said the mission was intended to “understand the first-hand needs on the ground” and how the EU can bolster its support for the Spanish authorities. Yet, the executive declined to say whether the visit would also cover preparations for a potential fresh…
Published on 13/08/2026 – 15:50 GMT+2 Iran’s military rejected as “lies” on Thursday remarks by US President Donald Trump claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the strategic waterway was fully under Iranian control. “The false claims of the United States that ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz normally…are nothing more than lies and fabrications,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran’s central military command. “The Strait of Hormuz is, as in the past, under the complete management and control of the Islamic Republic of Iran and no commercial ship or tanker without the permission and supervision…
Missed this year’s eclipse and have serious FOMO? Don’t worry, because there’s another one coming up in 2027 – and it’s being described as the ‘eclipse of the century’. Taking place on 2 August 2027, this eclipse will be the longest on easily accessible land until 2114, with totality lasting six minutes and 23 seconds at the point of the greatest eclipse in Egypt. For context, yesterday’s eclipse lasted for two minutes and 18 seconds at its maximum point. You don’t have to travel all the way to Egypt to see it either, as the path of totality will pass…
Published on 13/08/2026 – 15:01 GMT+2 Romania halted operations of its only nuclear power plant on Thursday, a rare shutdown due to a drought scorching Europe that has caused the Danube river, whose waters cool the plant, to fall to record lows. Much of Europe is facing another heatwave this summer amid droughts that have driven rivers to historic lows. The Cernavodă plant, which usually generates a fifth of Romania’s electricity, has been shut down just once before, in 2003, due to drought. The national nuclear energy company Nuclearelectrica had already shut down one of the plant’s two reactors last…
Azerbaijan exported €48.2 million worth of pomegranates and pomegranate products in 2025, making the fruit one of the country’s fastest-growing non-oil exports. Around 23,000 hectares of orchards now supply fresh fruit, juice, concentrate, wine and seed oil to 26 countries, from Gulf states to markets across Asia. That puts Azerbaijan up against established exporters such as Iran, Turkey and Spain, all of which sell pomegranates at scale. “For Azerbaijan, the pomegranate is an integral part of our nation’s cultural heritage, with a history spanning nearly 2,000 years, symbolising abundance, prosperity, and well-being,” Farhad Garashov, chairman of the Pomegranate Producers and…