Author: staff

Published on 19/08/2026 – 8:16 GMT+2•Updated 8:21 Firefighters managed overnight to fully surround Belgium’s largest wildfire in a century, but the situation on the ground “remains complicated” with several flare-ups overnight, authorities said on Wednesday. Crisis cell spokesperson Tony Hosmans said the fire raging in the High Fens nature reserve “has been encircled” and is not moving towards Germany, with the goal to bring it under control “if possible with aerial support.” “The situation remains complicated due to a number of flare-ups that have occurred in various parts of the site,” he added. Firefighters launched the decisive push to encircle…

Global food prices are expected to increase by 11.8% this year and by 4.8% in 2027, with the most severe impact expected to be on crops — grains, fruit and vegetables — and dairy, according to Oxford Economics. This comes as Europe’s extreme heat and drought have damaged crops, while farmers are also facing high energy and fertiliser prices, compounded by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Following Europe’s heatwave, Coceral, the Brussels-based European cereals and oilseeds trade association, issued an extraordinary update in July, cutting its forecast for the combined EU-27 and UK grain harvest from 295.5…

As life gets ever busier, many of us are hunting for holidays where we can really get away from it all. Research shows that searches for “quiet destinations” are up 1,268% year on year and the trend has even been given a name: “quietcation”. Now, BookRetreats.com, a leading retreat booking site, has released its Unspoilt Index, which used insight from silence researcher, author and psychology professor Olga V. Lehmann as well as satellite and mapping data for 100 islands across the globe to find where is still quiet. The index looked at the European Environment Agency’s benchmark for a quiet…

The European Union’s push to build a more integrated electricity grid is running into an increasingly familiar obstacle — geopolitics. The Great Sea Interconnector, a €1.9 billion project designed to link the electricity networks of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, has suffered repeated delays as maritime disputes in the eastern Mediterranean complicate work on the politically sensitive sections of the route. For Brussels, the stakes go beyond a single infrastructure project as the roughly 1,200-kilometre subsea cable would end Cyprus’s status as the EU’s only member state without an electricity interconnection to the bloc’s wider grid. The project would also strengthen…

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 19/08/2026 – 5:59 GMT+2 The South Korean and US militaries have agreed to shorten their drills at the Washington’s request, according to officialss in Seoul, a move that likely reflected President Donald Trump’s hopes to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but could undermine US-South Korean defence readiness. Earlier in the week, Trump had ordered his Pentagon chief to “substantially reduce” the allies’ summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, just before they began on Monday. Trump cited what he said was a “very good relationship” with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to join the US war against…

Global warming has also vastly expanded marine heat waves, the researchers found when comparing this year’s conditions to a simulated world without climate change. This year, 90 percent of the Bay of Biscay experienced hot temperatures and 80 percent of the Western Mediterranean; without global warming, only 40 percent of each region would have been affected. The difference is even more dramatic in the Eastern Mediterranean, where 70 percent of the seas experienced marine heat waves this year, a figure plunging to 9 percent in a world without climate change. Around Ireland, the extent drops from 80 percent to 30…

Sandro Garibaldi, a member of the regional council in Liguria for the League, was bitten on the hand by a wolf earlier this year. Garibaldi had interrupted the wolf in the process of killing some sheep. It’s not clear if the wolf in question was the same one that killed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s pet pony, Dolly. A flock of Lories, arboreal parrots make friends with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the bird park in Marlow. | Franzi Zoger/EPA Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel wasn’t bitten by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dog when she visited…

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the court of threatening American sovereignty, saying the administration was acting to protect its citizens from a “sham” institution and would never allow Americans to be “transported beyond seas to be tried for pretend offenses.” Tuesday’s sanctions are part of a campaign Washington launched last month to cripple the ICC. The U.S. has already sanctioned at least 11 ICC officials and has urged the court’s 125 member states to withdraw from the organization. The Hague-based ICC, established in 2002, prosecutes genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Its pursuit of charges against senior…

Mykhailo Fedorov has called for elections in Ukraine despite Russia’s ongoing invasion, after his firing as defense minister sparked nationwide protests against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The president has been under increasing pressure at home following the controversial government reshuffle last month in which he pushed out Fedorov, a popular minister credited with inspiring battlefield innovations. “People cannot endlessly live in a state where they do not understand why certain decisions are made,” Fedorov said in a video address Tuesday night, alluding to the reshuffle.