Author: staff

Published on 14/08/2026 – 20:54 GMT+2 Russian authorities acknowledged on Friday that some regions face new petrol shortages, as Ukraine steps up attacks on the country’s oil refineries. Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s energy sites with drones and missiles for months, hoping to hit a vital source of revenue for the Russian army. Russia has shut down one major refinery at Orsk, around 1,300 kilometres from the front line, for six months after it was attacked this week. “The situation remains tense in several regions of the country regarding fuel supplies to service stations,” the government said in a social…

Published on 14/08/2026 – 21:41 GMT+2 The EU pushed back at renewed trade pressure from the United States on Friday, as Washington said the bloc was enabling Chinese evasion of US tariffs and stepped up calls for it to roll back flagship green rules on businesses. Washington’s ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, called on the bloc to “align” the provisions of two landmark new laws on environmental and human rights supply chain standards with the EU-US trade deal struck last year. “Now it’s time for the EU to deliver,” Puzder posted on X, along with a US government document…

The Trump administration has accused major world economies of routing exports through more than 40 third countries to avoid US tariffs, claiming in a report on Thursday that the practice results in annual tax revenue losses of between $19 billion (€16.4bn) and $26 billion (€22.4bn). Pointing a finger at China and India, Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser, told reporters the administration would incorporate anti-transhipment clauses into new trade rules, and that partners found enabling the practice would face consequences. He said US Customs and Border Protection had begun using AI to identify transshipped goods, and warned that importers…

As temperatures soar across Rome, the Colosseum is keeping its doors open later into the evening, with guided tours now running until 11pm four nights a week. Up to 275 visitors can join each tour on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and the summer programme is already fully booked. After dark, visitors can explore the arena floor and underground passages away from the worst of the heat. The monument previously offered night tours on just two evenings a week, but the schedule has been doubled for the summer. Simone Quilici, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, said the extension was…

Published on 14/08/2026 – 18:51 GMT+2 Paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth over $10.4 million (€8.9 million) which were stolen from an Italian museum in March have been recovered, Italian police said on Friday. The paintings were taken by thieves from the villa of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, near Parma in northern Italy, in a heist that lasted under three minutes. Parma chief of police Andrea Pagliaro said the investigation centred around a gang of nine Moldovan suspects. Five are accused of carrying out the theft, he said. Video footage released by police showed two thieves wearing headlamps and with…

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Friday that Britain must face up to the changing climate and accelerate its move to clean energy as he visited a town where a wildfire gutted homes. In Stourbridge near the UK’s second largest city of Birmingham, smoke rose from smouldering ruins of several roofless houses as firefighters sprayed water on the wreckage Friday. The West Midlands Fire Service said 19 houses were completely destroyed and 18 others damaged in the town. Meeting firefighters after viewing the scene, Burnham sounded shocked as he said the “combustible situation” was related to climate change and showed…

Emergency crews worked through the night on Friday to rescue residents trapped under rubble and extinguish fires after eight FAB‑250 guided aerial bombs hit the city, local authorities said. Several private homes and a garage caught fire, while an apartment building suffered extensive damage. The strike caused sections of the ten‑storey apartment building from the first to the sixth floors to collapse, the emergency service said. Rescuers were filmed pulling a woman and a man from the rubble and helping residents leave damaged buildings. Firefighters also tackled flames at several sites across the city, while cars were damaged near the…

Shipping companies Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd moved another major Asia–Europe container service through the Suez Canal, marking a further step in the gradual return of shipping to the route. The AE19 service, operated jointly under the companies’ Gemini Cooperation, connects Asia, the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia and Europe. It had previously been sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. The two carriers announced on Monday that the change would take effect immediately, beginning with the westbound voyage of the Berlin Maersk. Hapag-Lloyd told Euronews that the AE19 switch is expected to save around four weeks compared with sailing around the Cape of…

The dispute centers on two pillars of the EU’s corporate sustainability rulebook: the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which requires large companies to address human rights and environmental harms linked to their operations and supply chains, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires companies to disclose sustainability-related information. Brussels has scaled back both laws in its drive to cut red tape, but has stopped short of Washington’s demand to shield U.S. companies from their reach. Last week, Puzder similarly attacked the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism as a tariff on U.S. exporters. On Thursday, the White House also accused…

A wildfire on Croatia’s coast has left at least 10 people in intensive care and dozens more injured after fire crews battled overnight with “one of the worst” blazes in the country’s history, according to officials. Around 2,000 had been evacuated from nearby villages as the fire ripped through the surrounding hills, damaging homes and destroying cars in the early hours of Friday. As access reopened mid-morning, the AFP news agency saw the blackened remains of several burnt out cars along roads near Omiš, some ringed by silver puddles of metal that had melted under the intense heat of the…