Author: staff

Off to Barcelona in the summer? Make sure to pick a proper travel agent. Taking a trip to London? Watch out for fake car rentals.The risk of being scammed at popular tourism spots jumps by 28% during peak seasons.Some examples are fake destination photos, broken confirmation links and bogus deals.Travel agencies seem to be the places most at risk, with scam rates “four times higher than the global average,” according to a new report by the Mastercard Economics Institute.Fraudsters often establish fake tourism companies, attracting customers with juicy offers for excursions, guided tours or supposedly exclusive experiences, while offering unusually…

Rutte — a former Dutch prime minister who now heads the transatlantic military alliance at a critical moment for global security — will meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. His speech comes ahead of a high-stakes summit in The Hague later this month, which will mark U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the NATO scene. Allies are expected to agree to a new Trump-backed spending target of 5 percent of GDP — 3.5 percent for purely military expenditures and 1.5 percent for other, yet-to-be-defined defense-related items. That’s a huge increase compared to the current 2 percent goal. Last…

Published on 09/06/2025 – 13:51 GMT+2Iran claims it has obtained a large batch of information on Israel’s nuclear programme, its intelligence minister said on Sunday, without providing any evidence to support it. Speaking to Iranian state television after a cabinet meeting, Esmail Khatib said the Intelligence Ministry had acquired “an important treasury of strategic, operational and scientific intelligence” from Israel, which he said had been “transferred into the country with God’s help.” Khatib alleged that thousands of documents had been seized, including information related to Europe, the US and other individual countries, though he did not explain how the intelligence was obtained.Khatib,…

“Russia is escalating the war and has no intention of stopping it,” said Andriy Yermak, top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Any escalation can only be stopped by force.” Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and has shown no signs of abating, even amid a staggering death toll, glacially slow advances in the country’s east and efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s team to bring an end to the conflict. Despite two rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey in recent weeks, Putin’s military has only ramped up its aerial bombardment — regularly…

Published on 09/06/2025 – 12:04 GMT+2•Updated 12:10Shares in chip designer Alphawave rose sharply on Monday after the British-Canadian firm agreed to be acquired by US rival Qualcomm for around $2.4bn (€2.1bn) in cash.As of around 9.45am London time, Alphawave’s stock had risen around 23% in daily trading on the LSE.Qualcomm’s offer values each share at 183p, a 96% premium on the closing price seen on 31 March, the final day before Qualcomm and Alphawave announced they were holding discussions.The $2.4bn valuation is still half of the total worth attributed to Alphawave when it launched an IPO in 2021.At its stock…

According to Sikorski, a populist in a top job could even help smooth relations with U.S. President Donald Trump and Kremlin-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “They claim to have better relations with the White House. Indeed, President Nawrocki got endorsed with a photograph,” Sikorski said, pointing to a pre-election photo-op held with Trump in the Oval Office. “Now, we can play on two pianos at the same time.” Nawrocki, a political newcomer who secured the support of the former governing Law and Justice Party (PiS), was also backed by senior Trump administration officials including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem,…

A total of 27 were arrested in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to US President Donald Trump’s ICE raids and deployment of National Guard troops. At least 10 people were detained during scuffles between police officers and demonstrators in downtown Los Angeles, LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell said during a news conference Sunday evening local time.Decrying the escalation of violence as “disgusting”, McDonnell said Molotov cocktails, fireworks, rocks and other objects were being used to target officers. “It’s escalated now since the beginning of this incident,” McDonnell said, calling the…

Published on 09/06/2025 – 10:19 GMT+2It’s the headline-grabbing breakup that continues to see tensions rise between Donald Trump and former ally Elon Musk – with the pair continuing to throw jabs at one another on thier owned channels X and Truth Social.  One bombshell blow included the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claiming that Trump is featured in the Jeffrey Epstein files, alleging that was the reason they had not been made public. Musk also asked his 220 million X followers whether it was time “to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80%…

The Home Office is the last department to finalise their budget with Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of Wednesday’s spending review. All eyes are on Yvette Cooper and the noise that comes out of Westminster today and tomorrow that will indicate how much cash the home secretary has secured for things like policing. And, with Nigel Farage due to make a speech today, Sam and Anne catch up on a wild weekend for Reform – at the start of which party chairman Zia Yusuf resigned over a proposed ban on burkas – only for him to reverse his decision and return…

Macron throws in the towel  Calls for the French president’s resignation crescendoed following last year’s disastrous snap election, and there was some speculation he would follow the path of Charles de Gaulle and call it quits in the middle of his term. Macron, however, said he wasn’t going anywhere, and that still seems to be the case. Likelihood: The other Macron throws in the towel It kind of looks like she’s had enough with the whole first lady thing.  Likelihood: Macron jumps in the Seine   Just for a swim, mind you. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, the hype was high…