Author: staff

Drone footage reveals the scale of destruction caused by a deadly wildfire in Spain’s Almería province, where at least 12 people died and around 7,000 hectares were burned. The fast-moving blaze swept through the Los Gallardos area during an extreme heatwave, trapping some victims in their vehicles. Officials say the fire has now been brought under control, allowing around 1,500 evacuated residents to begin returning home. Investigators believe a damaged power line may have sparked the fire.

Published on 13/07/2026 – 12:21 GMT+2 The Odyssey is soon upon us, with Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan adapting Homer’s ancient Greek epic into the blockbuster event of 2026. The filmmaker’s follow up to Oppenheimer is not only the most expensive film of his career – with an estimated budget of $250 million – but also the first feature to be shot entirely on IMAX’s 70mm film cameras. Prior to its worldwide release on Friday, Nolan has shared that he is hopeful for the future of filmmaking… without the use of AI. A prominent critic of the continued push to rely…

“The European Commission has finally proposed some options over two pages,” Prévot told journalists on his way into the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. “So this is the feeling they have thrown out a bone to chew on rather than any real will to go forward.” Prévot went on to say that the measures were “largely insufficient compared to the need to be a credible actor on the geopolitical level in the Israeli-Palestinian situation — which, I regret to say, the European Union has not been for some time.” The push to clamp down on Israel’s illegal settlements was…

For more than four years, Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine and providing aid to soldiers of the aggressor state is widely regarded as an extremely controversial and morally repugnant act. The reports concerning Krzysztof Tołwiński – a former member of the Polish parliament in its sixth term and former deputy state treasury minister in Jarosław Kaczyński’s government – have caused particular alarm. The politician published a video in which he announced that he had given first-aid kits to Russian soldiers, triggering a wave of criticism in the media and among the public. What did Krzysztof Tołwiński…

Three hundred and sixty kilograms of peanut butter have been spread across the floor at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to honour Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers, who died on 10 June 2026. Famous for his absurd works and for voicing Ernie and Kermit the Frog in the Dutch version of Sesame Street, the artist first presented “Pindakaasvloer”, or “Peanut Butter Floor”, in 1969. Through his unconventional artworks, he challenged people’s perception of what art is. “Isn’t it fantastic that we are all standing here looking at peanut butter?” Schippers asked journalists at the exhibition at the…

France will also summon the Russian ambassador over the hacking campaigns, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told broadcaster BFMTV on Monday morning. The latest listing refers to the EU’s cyber sanctions regime, first used in 2020 against Russian officers of the military intelligence service GRU that conducted attacks including a global outbreak of NotPetya malware and a hack of the German Bundestag. Brussels has expanded the list of sanctioned hackers to include more GRU officers over attacks on Estonia. It has also sanctioned people involved in Russia’s hybrid aggression, like sabotage and disinformation. According to the French government, Turla compromized…

Published on 13/07/2026 – 11:12 GMT+2 During construction work at the Nordholz naval air base in Lower Saxony, an extraordinary Second World War find has come to light: a well-preserved Sturmgeschütz III assault gun of the Wehrmacht was found hidden in sandy soil for more than 80 years. According to public broadcaster NDR, citing the Federal Agency for Real Estate (BImA), the tracked vehicle was discovered back in April 2026 during excavator work. The find was publicly confirmed in mid-May. The vehicle is a Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III), the most widely produced fully tracked vehicle of the Wehrmacht. Unlike a…

Technology race Ukraine’s advantage remains fragile. Moscow’s economy is still on a war footing, Russia has expanded drone production, and its forces have repeatedly found ways to counter Ukrainian innovations. That’s why Kyiv is pressing allies to move faster with financing and procurement. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told POLITICO this month that Kyiv needs billions more in military aid to sustain the current momentum. “If we have enough resources to launch a new cycle of war innovations before Russia adapts to the current one, we will get another six months,” Fedorov said. The defense ministers of Sweden, the Netherlands,…

Hungarian lawmakers are set to vote on changing the constitution on Monday to oust the president, as Prime Minister Péter Magyar pushes to loosen nationalist ex-leader Viktor Orbán’s grip on the country. Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April on the promise of “regime change” from Orbán’s 16-year rule, has accused unpopular President Tamás Sulyok and other top state officials of being his predecessor’s “puppets.” His push to remove Sulyok comes as the pro-European conservative rushes to undo the concentration of power that marked Orbán’s self-styled “illiberal” premiership, which won praise from US President Donald Trump but was widely…

A night on a European cruise is taxed almost half as much as a night in a hotel despite their high environmental costs and contribution to overtourism, a new study has found. The NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) found that a loophole allows cruise liners to avoid paying VAT and fuel taxes, among other things. The organisation is calling for tax reforms to ensure that ships “pay their fair share”. Cruises have ‘same benefits as freight transport’ A night on a cruise ship is taxed 40% less than a hotel, the T&E study shows. That is despite their high environmental…