Author: staff
The 69th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off on Tuesday night in Switzerland (the country that hosted the first ever contest back in 1956!), with the hot favourites and sauna-obsessed Swedish entry KAJ among the opening acts. In the first of two semi-finals, 15 countries vied for a spot in Saturday’s grand final. Ten advanced. Five went home. Joining the Swedish trio in the final is another standout act: 21-year-old Dutch singer Claude, who earned a spot with ‘C’est La Vie’, a moody, French café-style ballad which erupts into a thumping Caribbean zouk dance track. Alongside KAJ, it’s one of our…
At a press conference Wednesday, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul directly blamed the Russian government for the plot. “The individuals had agreed, no later than the end of March 2025, to carry out arson and bomb attacks on freight transport in Germany — acting on behalf of Russian state authorities,” he said. Reul called it “an extraordinary event” and warned that the case marks “a new level of hybrid threats here in North Rhine-Westphalia, but also across Germany.” Reul emphasized that Russian intelligence services are now acting “more aggressively” and taking greater risks in their operations. “They no longer…
Updated: 14/05/2025 – 11:47 GMT+2Leaders of Ecuador’s Waorani Indigenous community gathered at Quito’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday, urging recognition of territorial rights threatened by government-backed oil projects. … More The Waorani delegation, including spiritual figures, demanded assurances of prior consultation before any exploration affecting approximately 180,000 hectares of ancestral land in Pastaza proceeds. Indigenous representatives fear that oil extraction could devastate ecosystems, disrupt their traditional way of life, and endanger isolated tribes living deep within the Amazon rainforest. The government insists oil expansion is vital for economic growth, but opponents argue it risks cultural erosion and ecological disaster.
Men in France have a 26 per cent higher carbon footprint than women, according to new research exploring how gender impacts individual climate impact. Researchers say this is largely due to increased consumption of what the working paper calls “gender stereotypical” goods: cars and red meat. Food and transport account for half of the average French person’s carbon footprint. The study of 15,000 people in France also found that the gender gap in emissions may be as large as the gap between lower- and higher-income individuals. How do gender norms shape individual carbon footprints?The research, which has not yet been…
Trump has repeatedly said he’d love Canada to become the 51st U.S. state and dismissively referred to Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.” The U.S president slapped tariffs on imports from Canada within days of taking office. While Carney has been a strident critic of Trump, Britain’s Starmer has taken a different approach. On a trip to Washington D.C. in February, Starmer personally handed Trump an invitation from King Charles — who is also Canada’s head of state — for a second U.K. state visit. But Carney said Starmer’s actions had “cut across clear messages” the Canadian government was…
A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Greek island of Crete early this morning, Wednesday 14 May. Authorities issued a tsunami alert in the area shortly after the tremor, which was felt as far away as Israel, Syria and Egypt. Tourists are being warned to stay away from coastal areas in the popular holiday spot. Here is the latest travel information from the local government. Tourists in Crete urged to move away from coastlinesThe earthquake was at a depth of 35 kilometres with its epicentre near the islands of Kasos and Karpathos in the Aegean Sea.Greece’s Ministry…
It all kicked off in 1996 with Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible and since then, the series has gone on to generate eight sequels – with the latest (and some presume last) M:I film premiering today in Cannes.Indeed, three years after flying into the Cannes Film Festival with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is returning to the Croisette with Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning, his rumoured swansong as superspy Ethan Hunt which screens out of competition at the 78th edition of Cannes.Mission: Impossible is a blockbuster series anomaly in many ways, chiefly because typical franchise rules don’t seem to apply to it.…
While the package was not controversial as it included only a few economic measures, several member states successfully pushed to add more shadow fleet ships than originally proposed. The EU also will ban its companies from doing business with some 30 entities that circumvent sanctions via third countries. And 75 individuals and companies have been listed for their involvement in Russia’s war machine. Finally, the bloc is also expanding its legal possibilities on targeting ships that destroy underwater infrastructure, propaganda outlets and financial enablers of Russia’s war on Ukraine. New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed adding sanction pressure if…
Microsoft started laying off about 6,000 workers on Tuesday, nearly 3% of its entire workforce, marking its largest job cuts in more than two years.The tech giant’s home state of Washington was hard hit, where Microsoft informed state officials it was cutting 1,985 workers tied to its Redmond headquarters, many of them in software engineering and product management roles.Microsoft said the layoffs will be across all levels, teams and geographies, but the cuts will focus on reducing the number of managers. Notices to employees began going out on Tuesday.The mass layoffs come just weeks after Microsoft reported strong sales and…
BRUSSELS ― The European Commission was wrong to refuse the release of Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, an EU court has found. Reporters had asked to see the secret messages between the Commission president and the drug company boss, which they exchanged ahead of a multibillion euro vaccine deal agreed between Pfizer and the EU.