Author: staff
On Wednesday evening, Josef Aschbacher, the director general of the European Space Agency, urged European countries to boost funding to the ESA. In a meeting with ministers from ESA member states, he said that by investing €1 billion per year over the next 10 years, Europe could finally afford to send astronauts into space without relying on NASA. “It is up to you. Will we be passengers or pilots?” Aschbacher told ministers. One space official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, said that the countries looked at the proposal with interest, which still needs to be discussed at an…
By Simon Ormiston & Euronews Published on 10/09/2026 – 20:53 GMT+2•Updated 22:32 A tour coach has overturned on a mountain road in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubünden, leaving several people dead and a number of others injured, authorities have confirmed. The crash took place on Thursday on the stretch of road linking the villages of Susch and Zernez, deep in the Engadine valley. Local police confirmed the fatalities via a post on X, though they have not yet released the number of victims, their nationalities, or any explanation for what caused the vehicle to leave the road. The Dutch Federation of Travel…
Video shows the MV June Aster on fire off Coron in the Philippines, as coast guard crews throw life jackets to people in the water. At least five people died and 87 were missing after the passenger ferry caught fire near Coron, in Palawan province, on Wednesday evening. The Philippine Coast Guard said 42 people had been rescued. The ferry was travelling from Manila with 134 people aboard, including 117 passengers and 17 crew members. The vessel sent a distress signal about four nautical miles from Turda village. Strong currents later carried it further offshore. Rough weather and high waves…
Washington says it has a new partner in its financial war on Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that the EU had “officially joined” Operation Economic Outcast, the aptly named American sanctions effort to cut Iran out of the international banking system, praising the bloc for moving early. The European Commission statement Bessent refers to, published on Monday, however, welcomes the US campaign without formally committing the EU to it. “We appreciate their strong and early stance,” the US Treasury Secretary wrote, framing the development as proof that international pressure on Iran is mounting. Bessent added that…
Those requirements are set out in the EBU’s statutes, which were relaxed in June to allow broadcasters from some countries outside Europe to become full members. “Khabar Agency is a valued Associate Member of the EBU, and we appreciate its long-standing engagement with the Union,” the statement added. The broadcaster, controlled by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Information, took the country to Junior Eurovision five times between 2018 and 2022, finishing as runner-up twice. Associate membership, however, does not provide an automatic route into the senior contest. A small portion of Kazakhstan (albeit an area larger than Greece) lies within…
Published on 10/09/2026 – 16:50 GMT+2 Russian military bloggers have acknowledged that Ukrainian forces have gone on the counterattack around Lyman in eastern Ukraine, with some claiming that Russian troops have been forced to withdraw from forward positions as the situation for Moscow deteriorates. One Russian military blogger said Ukrainian forces had been counterattacking in the area for months, while accusing Russia’s military command of presenting an overly optimistic picture of the frontline. According to the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian bloggers criticised what Russian military commentators call “beautiful reports,” referring to exaggerated or…
Popular Egyptian television presenter Sarah Khalifa will sign appeal papers against her death sentence on Tuesday, her lawyer Mohamed El-Gendy said. Khalifa was convicted last week alongside 11 others in a synthetic drug manufacturing and trafficking case. She has consistently denied any involvement, saying she had never even smoked a cigarette in her life. Euronews looked into what Egyptian law says about capital punishment in drug cases and what the appeals process could mean for Khalifa and her co-defendants. Why can a drugs case carry the death penalty? Egyptian drug law allows the death penalty for some of the most…
Ratings agency Fitch has upgraded Portugal’s sovereign debt rating from “A” to “A+” with a “stable outlook,” the company said in a notice published on its website. The move keeps pace with a recent wave of confidence in the country from other ratings agencies and investors, according to Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP). The Portuguese government says “all financial ratings agencies” now assign Portugal an “A” rating. In August, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) confirmed its unsolicited sovereign credit ratings for Portugal at “A+/A-1” for long- and short-term foreign and local currency debt, maintaining its positive outlook. Morningstar…
Zucman’s Paris event — currently billed as the “Summit Against the International Oligarchy” — is nominally focused on three themes: media and online platforms, artificial intelligence and taxing billionaires. But it won’t have an impact on the California contest, as voters there head to the polls on Nov. 3. Instead, it appears to be an opportunity to thrust wealth inequality and tax justice back into the public debate ahead of the next French presidential election, whose first round takes place in April of next year. The event, whose co-organizers include Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and best-selling author Thomas Piketty, will…
By Euronews with AFP Published on 10/09/2026 – 19:08 GMT+2 Asylum applications in Europe reached a five-year low in the first half of the year, according to new data from the European Union Agency for Asylum. EU member states plus Switzerland and Norway received about 332,000 applications for international protection in the first six months of 2026. It represents a 17% decline compared to the same period last year, following a downward trend since 2024. The bloc’s asylum agency said this decline is due to the ongoing political transition in Syria as well as the EU’s cooperation with countries of origin and transit.…