Author: staff

The fire broke out shortly after 3.30pm and had burned around 690 hectares by Wednesday morning, with flames spreading along a 17-kilometre perimeter. Fire engines, helicopters and aircraft were deployed as crews worked to contain the blaze in dense and difficult-to-reach vegetation. The Emergency Military Unit (UME) joined the operation overnight, using vehicles, drones and aircraft to monitor and tackle the fire. Footage filmed on 15 September showed firefighters clearing vegetation and working through the night to prevent the flames from spreading, particularly towards the Benagéber reservoir. Two forest firefighters suffered minor injuries. One was burned, while another sustained bruising…

People aren’t loving the shape of Ed Sheeran right now… All of the remaining support acts on the British singer’s US tour have quit, after the rapper Macklemore was dropped from the line-up for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. The Israeli American Council had launched a petition to remove Macklemore from the tour following the rapper’s “Free Palestine” comments at the MetLife Stadium on 4 September. Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Irish folk band Beoga, Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas, the brother of pop star Billie Eilish, all announced they were dropping out. Rowe said that Sheeran had been a…

Nach dem Wahlsieg in Sachsen-Anhalt steht AfD-Spitzenkandidat Ulrich Siegmund vor der Regierungsbildung – doch sein Vorgehen weckt Zweifel an seinen wahren Absichten. Anstatt Mehrheiten zu sondieren, brüskiert er potenzielle Partner wie das BSW und knüpft die Umsetzung von Wahlversprechen an unrealistische Bedingungen wie eine AfD-Alleinregierung. Die Analyse zeigt auf, ob die Partei in den Ländern tatsächlich Machtverantwortung anstrebt oder sich strategisch in der Oppositionsrolle einrichtet. Hinter verschlossenen Türen feilt der Arbeitskreis Außen der AfD-Bundestagsfraktion derweil an einer Neuausrichtung zwischen Russland und den USA. Die Teilnahme von Putin-Vertrauten wie Alexander Rahr an einer Fraktionsklausur und Pläne des außenpolitischen Sprechers Markus Frohnmaier…

Published on 16/09/2026 – 14:28 GMT+2•Updated 14:38 Belarus has released 25 political prisoners in exchange for the US lifting sanctions put on two Belarusian companies, in a deal was brokered by US envoy John Coale who was in the capital Minsk. Coale announced the release of prisoners, describing it as “As a sign of goodwill”, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. He indicated further talks could lead to “a further release of individuals and additional sanctions relief”. The US and many other Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus after it allowed Russia to use its territory to invade Ukraine…

Published on 16/09/2026 – 13:50 GMT+2 Saudi Arabia has not commented on reports that it has cancelled or delayed crude oil shipments to European refiners following last week’s drone strikes on its East-West pipeline, as the scale of the disruption to European deliveries remains unclear. Energy pricing agency Argus reported on Tuesday that at least three European refiners had cargoes scheduled for late September cancelled or postponed, in some cases until November, citing unnamed market sources. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry announced a precautionary shutdown last Friday after drone attacks on the pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions the previous…

The powers of artificial intelligence agents seem to be boundless these days — ranging from organizing your life to solving mathematical problems that have puzzled humans for most of the 20th century. They have become so powerful that now we fear them, potentially, taking over systems and turning them against us. But what if there were a hotline, a sort of SOS alert system, where agents can keep track and tell on each other and report the missteps of their fellow AI agents — where the good agents could report on the activities of the bad agents online? Who to…

Spain’s film academy has chosen “La bola negra” to carry the country’s hopes of securing a new Oscar for best international feature, a feat achieved only four times in the history of the US awards, most recently thanks to Alejandro Amenábar’s “Mar adentro” (“The Sea Inside”) in 2005. This ensemble drama about queer desire and repression, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and closely linked to the figure of Federico García Lorca, has already won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival after also competing for other prizes such as the Palme d’Or itself.…

Investigators have not officially established where or when the drone was launched, where it entered the sea or what mission it was carrying out. According to the Operational Command’s spokesperson, Lt Col Jacek Goryszewski, the most likely explanation is that the drone drifted from international waters to Poland’s territorial waters. The incident comes amid mounting tensions between Russia and European countries. On Tuesday, NATO jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace, and a Russian frigate fired flares at a Danish military helicopter. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Sunday that “the coming weeks and months will be a period of…

The European Commission President is “very slow” to make the necessary decisions on the current challenges facing the European Union (EU), Charles Michel, who headed the European Council during von der Leyen’s first term as Commission chief from 2019 to 2024, said. His comments came ahead of von der Leyen’s highly anticipated annual State of the European Union address before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, in which she outlined her vision and priorities for the coming year. Michel, however, was focused on her failure to fulfil the promises made in previous years. “I’m observing that, today, the EU…

Georgia’s foreign minister Maka Botchorishvili told Euronews on Wednesday that Georgia still aspires to accession to the European Union, but that it is “a big question to our European partners if they are serious about enlargement, especially in the South Caucasus and Georgia.” In a Euronews-moderated panel at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, Botchorishvili outlined Tbilisi’s firm position that “Europe wants to enlarge, but Europe does not have experience of being represented in South Caucasus.” “We both need to learn, we both need to exchange, and for that we need very intensive dialogue and working together.” Botchorishvili, who also…