Author: staff

North Korea conducted its second ballistic missile test in less than a week on Wednesday, South Korean media reports, in what is believed to be a protest against the upcoming military exercises between Seoul and Washington, which Pyongyang sees as a practice for an invasion. A ballistic missile fired from the North’s eastern coastal Wonsan area around 6 a.m. flew more than 700 kilometres, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korea’s military condemned the test and warned it remains ready to repel any provocation by Pyongyang in cooperation with the United States. South Korea’s national security council called…

European shares have started August 2026 in almost the opposite way to what their seasonal reputation would suggest. The EURO STOXX 50 and DAX are hovering near record highs, while the CAC 40 remains close to its peak. Yet August has historically been one of Europe’s weakest months. That contradiction raises a more interesting question than whether investors should simply “sell in August”. The data suggests August is not consistently a bad month. Instead, its poor reputation has been shaped by a small number of extraordinary market shocks. European markets defy ‘August curse’ European shares have started August 2026 in…

Record temperatures are sweeping across Spain and into Finland. This summer, droughts have spread across Europe, prompting urgent water rationing measures and temporary bans on non-essential water uses. The World Weather Attribution links current droughts to months of below-average rainfall and record heat between April and June. In 2026 alone, soil moisture deficits are 5 to 11 times more likely. France’s maize harvest is at a 50-year low, and Romania is losing over a million hectares. Reduced water levels in rivers and lakes are affecting tourism and transportation, including on the Danube, which is at its lowest since 1996. Extreme…

CCTV footage shows people fleeing the building as debris fell, injuring one person who survived. The hospital said around 90 patients were transferred after parts of its facilities, including emergency areas, became unusable. The damage came as rescue teams searched across western Colombia for survivors after the earthquake killed at least 181 people and injured more than 1,300, according to authorities on Tuesday. Cali recorded 95 deaths, the highest toll reported in a single city, while 239 people were believed to be trapped under rubble. The government declared a state of emergency and ordered a coordinated rescue operation. Several hospitals…

Published on 12/08/2026 – 8:34 GMT+2 Oil prices climbed and world stocks were mixed on Wednesday, with Asian shares mostly higher even as Wall Street slipped further from last week’s record highs, as investors awaited a crucial US inflation reading and watched for any breakthrough in the stalled Iran war talks. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 0.9% at $89.67 early on Wednesday. US benchmark crude picked up 0.9% to $83.98. Gold edged up 0.8% to $4,400.44 an ounce, while silver gained 1% to $65.30 an ounce. Iran has rejected a comment by…

There are sporting triumphs that show up on results sheets, and there are triumphs that carry an entire story with them. The two gold medals won by Anna Maria and Eirini Marina Alexandri at the European Championships in Paris, in the technical and free duet of artistic swimming, as well as the honours earned by Vasiliki Alexandri in the free and technical solo, undoubtedly belong to the second category. Behind them lies a journey of fourteen years, a childhood spent far from Greece, major successes with Austria, and a deep desire that stayed alive all those years: to come back…

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Colombian rescuers pulled a 32-year-old woman alive from the rubble of a collapsed building Tuesday, sparking cheers and applause as exhausted crews raced to find more survivors from the country’s strongest earthquake in a century. Daniela Largo was carried from the wreckage wrapped in a blue blanket as rescuers embraced her and relatives shouted out with joy. Soldiers, firefighters and volunteers continued to scour collapsed buildings across western Colombia after Monday’s 7.4-magnitude quake. Authorities revised the death toll down to 216 after local officials in Cali corrected earlier figures. “We were losing hope and then we received a call,” said…

For more than eight decades, the remains of two German soldiers lay in the mud of the Danube. Only the exceptionally low water level of the Danube in Budapest has brought their story back to light. Next to the bodies, fully intact German identity tags were found. That gives an unusually good chance of identifying the men more than 80 years on. The discovery is closely linked to a remarkably well-preserved DKW NZ 350-1 motorcycle, which was found in early August on the Buda bank of the Danube. Directly under or very close to the motorcycle, staff from Hungary’s Institute…

Serbia still produces considerable quantities of ammunition in the Soviet-standard calibers which would be impossible to acquire from Kyiv’s Western allies, who use the NATO standard instead. Ukraine retains Soviet-era heavy howitzers and tanks that remain key to the fight in the Donbas and beyond. And despite his pro-Russian stance, Vučić is happy to provide them to Kyiv quietly. “Ukraine is in a position where it cannot care about things beyond the more immediate needs for Ukraine, and Vučić matters to him more,” explained Florian Bieber, who directs the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz. Vučić’s…