Author: staff

“I’d made that Instagram post precisely to avoid questions … I hadn’t anticipated a newswire dispatch on the subject,” she said. Aubry said Thursday that she was “unlucky,” as France typically only sees about 150 similar venomous snake bites and two serious cases a year. “At the hospital where I was treated, they told me they hadn’t seen one in 10 years,” she said. The 36-year-old then struck a more positive tone, calling the meeting an important moment for her party’s leader and presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has gained momentum since announcing his candidacy in May. “I see a…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 17:10 GMT+2 Despite its rapid technological advances, AI still has not won people over. A new study by Pew Research shows that 52% of Americans are now more concerned than excited about its growing presence in daily life — up sharply from 37% in 2021. Just 9% feel more excited than concerned, while the remaining 37% are torn evenly between the two. That unease is even more pronounced among younger generations. For the first time since Pew began tracking the question, 55% of adults under 30 now say they are more concerned than excited about AI…

Italy has two migration centers in Albania, including one in the village of Gjadër that was set up in 2024. Initially built as a detention center for migrants intercepted in international waters, the government decided in 2025 to use it to house male asylum seekers who had been ordered to leave Italy and were awaiting deportation. According to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, more than 500 people have been sent there. According to the Amnesty report, 42 “critical” incidents were recorded between April 11 and May 16, 2025, in the Gjadër center, which it said included self-harm,…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 15:10 GMT+2•Updated 15:10 Four people doing weed control work on a railway track in Japan were killed after being hit by an express train as it entered a station where they were working, officials said on Thursday. The accident occurred at Shin-Kanuma Station, north of Tokyo, and involved the Tokyo-bound Spacia express train, the Tochigi prefectural police said. The four, three workers and a supervisor, were rushed to a hospital but later pronounced dead, according to police and train operator Tobu Railway Co. Six other people at the site, two other workers, three on lookout duty…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 14:36 GMT+2 Precious metals have become one of the standout trades of the month, clawing back losses suffered earlier in the year, silver even more sharply than gold. Gold touched an all-time high of $5,598 an ounce on 28 January, before a sharp pullback during the year dragged it down to around $3,942 by end of June, a decline of roughly 30% from its peak. Since that low, the metal has rebounded with the bulk of the move happening in August, and is trading around $4,466 at the time of writing. As it stands, gold is…

Meta is currently undergoing a landmark trial in Oakland, California, litigated by four US states — Colorado, California, New Jersey and Kentucky. The case could permanently change how popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are designed. The states accuse the social media giant of intentionally designing its platforms to addict younger users and hiding what it knew about the harmful effects on their mental health, claims Meta has consistently denied. The trial, which started on Tuesday, has been called the largest consumer protection lawsuit in American history by Kentucky’s attorney general, Russell Coleman. Testimony in the trial’s…

In 2025, France retained its title as the world’s most visited country, breaking its own national record for tourist numbers. The country welcomed 102 million international tourists, accounting for 743 million overnight stays, the country’s Economy Ministry said. Three-quarters (76%) of those foreign holidaymakers came from Europe. But close on its heels was Spain, with 96.8 million foreign tourists, a 3.2 per cent increase compared to 2024 when there were 94 million. Now, a new study predicts that Spain will overtake France to become the most visited destination by 2040. Spain set to be the most visited country in the…

With an estimated 33,922,381 monthly listeners on Spotify at the time this article was published, the artist Quevedo, who is closely identified with Canarian culture although he was born in Madrid and lived in Brazil until the age of four, has for the time being become the most listened-to artist both across the islands and on the Iberian Peninsula. The trap artist has overtaken Rosalía in the rankings (with 26,999,894 streams in the past month, according to the latest estimates) and Rels B (23,439,003). “I always write from the perspective of Las Palmas and the islands,” he said in a…

West is due to play two shows at St. Petersburg’s 70,000-capacity Gazprom Arena on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, making him one of the biggest Western music stars to perform in Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tickets, priced from 9,000 to 160,000 rubles (€92 to €1,642), sold out within hours. The rapper’s European tour has had a rockier run. Britain barred him from entering the country in April, prompting the cancellation of London’s Wireless Festival, and a Slovak festival featuring him was scrapped in July. Shows in France, Poland, Italy and the Czech Republic…

Published on 20/08/2026 – 14:45 GMT+2 A court on the Indonesian resort island of Bali sentenced a Swiss tourist to one year in prison on Thursday for insulting a sacred Balinese Hindu observance. Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, was found guilty of violating Indonesia’s new criminal code by posting social media messages about the Day of Silence, when people are required to stay home and are urged to remain silent and meditate. The Denpasar District Court determined that he posted the messages even after staff at the villa where he was staying informed him of the restrictions. “What the defendant did…