Author: staff
Published on 18/07/2026 – 21:28 GMT+2 Just before take-off, there was time for one last family photo – a few minutes later the head of Siemens’ Spanish division, Agustín Escobar, his wife and their three children aged eleven, seven and four, together with the helicopter pilot, plunged into the icy Hudson River. More than a year after the disaster, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released the findings of its investigation. According to the report, investigators discovered the remains of several geese in the helicopter’s rotor blades. According to police, four people died at the scene, while two…
A haze fell over the Capitol in Washington on Friday as smoke from Canadian wildfires stretched farther east, prompting the president and Republican lawmakers to level blame at Canada for forestry practices they said were wrecking U.S. air quality. U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans harangued the Canadian government for failing to remove excess timber and brush that fuels blazes like the ones now burning in northern Ontario. The Carney government, they said, is responsible for the toxic smoke causing dangerous air quality in cities like Chicago, New York and Washington that prompted warnings for millions of Americans to stay indoors.…
Tamás Sulyok has signed the seventeenth amendment to Hungary’s Fundamental Law, a move that brings his own mandate as president of the republic to an end. In a speech posted on Facebook, the head of state described the constitutional amendment forcing his resignation as unprecedented and shameful. “With a single sentence this amendment terminates the mandate of the sitting President of the Republic. That sentence joins the ranks of those forced Gordian-knot fixes that will remain for posterity as grave and shameful historical examples of abuse of political power,” he said. The outgoing head of state sharply criticised the law…
“I am fulfilling my obligation under the Fundamental Law — after thoroughly weighing my legal options and my conscience,” Sulyok said in a post on social media. “At the same time, however, it is enduring proof that the fundamental values of a free society — the rule of law, democracy, and the principle of the separation of powers — have been trampled upon for the sake of political power.” Sulyok had five days to sign the amendment, and many Hungarians — including Magyar — expected him to refuse. His alternative was to refer the amendment to Hungary’s Constitutional Court. Although…
By Harry Bligh with AP and AFP Published on 18/07/2026 – 17:43 GMT+2 The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela last month has risen to 5,069. The figure has continued to increase as rescue workers clear debris and search through rubble following the earthquakes on 24 June. International rescue teams joined thousands of Venezuelan emergency workers in efforts to find people trapped beneath the rubble. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez described the disaster as the “most brutal natural catastrophe” in Venezuela’s history. The Venezuelan government reported that 856 buildings had been damaged, 190 of which had collapsed completely. Hundreds of other…
But while electronic voting machines have not been exploited at scale, they do have vulnerabilities that researchers have pressed manufacturers and election officials alike to patch for more than 10 years. Many of these vulnerabilities have been discovered during the annual Voting Village gathering at the DEFCON conference in Las Vegas, where hackers are able to physically rip apart some of the more common types of voting machines and poll books used across the country. Each time, they’ve found vulnerabilities. At the 2017 event, each piece of equipment in the room was breached by participants within three days, including one…
Updated: 18/07/2026 – 18:00 GMT+2 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this July 18th, 2026 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More
Published on 18/07/2026 – 16:35 GMT+2•Updated 16:36 The mythical realm of the gods of ancient Greece is just one step away from historic international recognition. Mount Olympus’s nomination for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a mixed site, of both natural and cultural value, is expected to be examined at this year’s session of the World Heritage Committee, which will take place from 19 to 29 July in Seoul. Mount Olympus, Greece’s highest mountain, with its summit at 2,918 metres, is not only a unique natural landscape. For centuries it has stood at the heart of Greek mythology, as…
Published on 18/07/2026 – 15:45 GMT+2 The US hit a record high against the Iranian rial in Tehran’s free market on Saturday, surpassing 1.94 million rials as mounting military and political tensions fueled a fresh sell-off in Iran’s currency and heightened concerns over another wave of inflation. The dollar traded at 1.941 million rials, marking a record high and an increase of 32,000 rials, or 1.67%, from the previous day’s unofficial closing rate. The euro also pushed higher, trading at 2.22 million rials, up 36,000 rials, or 1.64%, from Friday’s unofficial close. The latest surge means the Iranian rial has…
“The gap between my private decision to have a child through surrogacy and the understandable expectations placed on me as chair of our parliamentary group has become greater than I anticipated,” he added. Although surrogacy itself is illegal in Germany, there is no penalty for bringing up a child born through a surrogate mother abroad. But Spahn, a former health minister, faced accusations of hypocrisy as Germany’s Christian Democrats are firmly opposed to surrogacy, a position the party reaffirmed earlier this year. Spahn himself had also in the past expressed skepticism about legalising the practice. Several Christian Democrats called for…