Author: staff

Frankfurt will almost certainly move on Thursday. Market odds put a quarter-point hike at close to certainty, which would lift the European Central Bank’s deposit rate from 2.25% to 2.5%. What makes this a difficult call is not whether the ECB acts, but why, and whether the reasoning survives contact with the data. The path here has been compressed as the ECB raised rates on 11 June for the first time in three years, lifting the deposit rate from 2% to 2.25% in response to the energy shock from the Iran war, and then held rates in July while Christine…

Travelling by motorhome lets you move at the pace of the landscape and stop in places that would probably never make it onto a conventional itinerary. We set off from Rovinj, in the north of the Istrian peninsula, heading for Dubrovnik at the southernmost tip of the country. Along the way you pass a succession of historic towns, national parks, fishing villages, fortresses and islands, with the Adriatic as a constant backdrop. But travelling Croatia on four wheels is not always straightforward. The coastal road is, in places, narrow and winding. And you cannot park the motorhome just anywhere: you…

Was passiert, wenn eine AfD-geführte Landesregierung Zugang zu streng geheimen Geheimdienstinformationen bekommt? Nach dem Wahlsieg in Sachsen-Anhalt wächst die Sorge vor möglichen Daten Abflüssen zum Beispiel nach Russland, sollte die AfD wirklich eine Regierung bilden und damit in Ämter kommen können . Während die Verfassungsschutzchefs in Köln über Informationssperren beraten, analysiert Rasmus Buchsteiner den sicherheitspolitischen Ernst der Lage. Mehr dazu hat Philipp Woldin von WELT dazu hier aufgeschrieben. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview warnt Marc Henrichmann, Chef des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremiums, vor politischem Aktionismus. Der CDU-Abgeordnete erklärt, warum er eine spezielle „Lex AfD“ beim Geheimschutz ablehnt und wie die Demokratie ihre sensibelsten Bereiche stattdessen…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 5:02 GMT+2 The US forces have destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday in response to the latest attacks on its warships, US Central Command said. Following the American strikes, Iran launched missiles at US targets in Jordan, according to Iranian state-run media. US said the military struck the tankers on Tuesday after the Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. Stating that the US warship “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and that no American personnel were harmed.” The statement added that the crews of the five…

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Béla Anda believes Merz has shown “some emotions, but in the wrong way”, making it difficult for him to connect with citizens. To avoid repeating the lack of connection with voters, the former government spokesman recommends simply “letting Merz be Merz”. Anda insists that Merz should maintain his position and avoid being “strong on one topic and then totally change”, a pattern he believes has been repeated over the past year and a half. Merz should “keep together” the governing coalition and advises against moving closer to the far-right AfD, arguing that a majority of CDU members prefer to “keep…

But what’s more significant for Germany’s coalition is the way Schwesig has at least in part attained her popularity: by railing against Merz’s reform drive, depicting the overhauls as harsh and unjust. “Yes, we need social reforms, the welfare state must be stabilized, and labor costs must not rise,” she told Welt TV on Monday. “But it is unacceptable that, of all people, those who work the hardest and contribute the most are the ones bearing the heaviest burden. Many people also perceive this as unfair. And that is why it is important to change course here.” Should the SPD…

Europeans create 35 million tonnes of waste each year by throwing away broken appliances. France and Belgium have repair rates of 18% and 15%, respectively. Of roughly 28 million household breakdowns a year, only 5 million result in a technician fixing the device. Some 77% of citizens would rather repair products than replace them. Yet only 5% of washing machines and 33% of vacuum cleaners are priced at a point where professional repair makes economic sense. Most fall into a “borderline” or “unviable” zone, where a new machine is cheaper than the spare parts. “Access to repair is not the…

Published on 08/09/2026 – 9:56 GMT+2•Updated 10:14 The heads of the EU’s two main institutions have condemned the presence of senior Serbian officials at the funeral of the convicted war criminal, in a joint statement published simultaneously on X on Tuesday morning. “The images from Ratko Mladić’s funeral yesterday in Belgrade were shocking. Ratko Mladić was a convicted war criminal. He was responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa wrote on X. Ratko Mladić, known as the Butcher of Bosnia, died in late August aged…

As the far right made significant gains in local elections in Germany, divisions have opened up within Italy’s political right. The AfD (Alternative for Germany) took 43.8 per cent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a historic result that has shaken the federal government in Berlin. The shockwave reached Rome, where reaction from Italy’s governing parties was sharply divided. Sunday’s election result in Saxony-Anhalt is “a worrying signal”, said Forza Italia leader and foreign minister Antonio Tajani. “A negative signal,” he added, although there is no need to “overdramatise” it, he told Il Messaggero. “It was widely expected — it was…