Author: staff
A human rights organisation in Cuba is demanding information on the whereabouts of dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was arrested in 2021 after protesting the government. State Security agents removed him from Guanajay Prison on Tuesday 7 July. He was reportedly taken to an undisclosed location and his whereabouts remain unknown. Cubalex, the organisation operating from outside Cuba which legally advises dissidents and reports human rights violations, has filed a habeas corpus petition to ensure that the artist is not being illegally deprived of his liberty. “The relevant judicial authorities now have a legal deadline of 72 hours…
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Sky News Sir Keir Starmer’s farewell tour is well under way – but is he destined to spend most of it out of the UK?With an extra day in Paris for the Bastille Day celebrations and a possible dash stateside for the World Cup final, Starmer is ending his premiership on the world stage – arguably his happy place. Back in Westminster, prime minister-in-waiting – Andy Burnham – ramps up preparations for government, telling colleagues his cabinet will reflect a “broad church”. But with days to go, cabinet ministers still do not know…
The agreement tackles a problem that has become urgent with Europe’s green transition: how to store growing energy surpluses from intermittent renewable sources, such as wind and solar. While the share of renewable energy resources is growing (23 per cent in 2020 to 25.2 per cent in 2024), the bloc’s storage capacity remains too limited to absorb it all. Europe wastes renewable energy surpluses generated during seasonal peaks, forcing it to increase fossil-fuel power generation. The deal expands the EU’s storage capacity to keep extra energy and maintain a reliable energy supply during sudden increases in demand, reduce dependence on…
Published on 14/07/2026 – 6:43 GMT+2 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has launched a sweeping campaign to undermine the International Criminal Court that could include further sanctions and other measures. In a video posted on X and a lengthy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rubio vowed to “dismantle” the court, claiming it posed “an intolerable threat to US sovereignty.” “The ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts and the force of so-called international law,” Rubio said in the video. Rubio added that the ICC “threatens…
Heading to Portuguese beaches this summer and not sure where on the sand you’re allowed to stick your parasol? That uncertainty should end with a new map that will be placed at the entrance to beaches in the Algarve and along the Alentejo coast, showing concession, circulation and safety areas as well as free zones, to clarify where sun umbrellas can be set up. The measure was announced by the Minister for Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, during a visit to the headquarters of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), following the controversy over sun umbrellas on Portuguese beaches,…
Ask most people to name Catalonia’s greatest cultural figures, and Antoni Gaudí and Joan Miró are likely to be among the first names mentioned. Far fewer will say Joaquim Gomis. Yet without his camera, the world’s understanding of Gaudí’s architecture may have looked completely different. At a time when the radical architect’s work was still being by dismissed by parts of Barcelona’s own artistic establishment as eccentric rather than visionary, Gomis understood its significance. A photographer, modernist and close friend of Miró, he documented Gaudí’s extraordinary forms, textures and details. In doing so, he did more than preserve the architect’s…
“In Europe, whoever develops the product is responsible for its safety. Car manufacturers must make their vehicles safe. We do not expect children to design their own safety seat belts. We do not expect parents to fit airbags at home, and the very same must be true for Big Tech,” said von der Leyen. This line of thinking could put at least some aspects of child safety online into the realm of consumer protection, a set of rules the EU is also set to revamp later this year. In the U.S., it was under consumer protection provisions that multiple companies…
Updated: 14/07/2026 – 7:04 GMT+2 President Donald Trump watched an IndyCar pit stop demonstration at the White House as he promoted the inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix, a race set to take place around Washington’s National Mall next month. … More
Published on 14/07/2026 – 7:23 GMT+2 The increase in exports in June was much better than economists had expected. Exports rose 19.4% year-on-year in May. Imports in June surged 36%, better than May’s 27.4% year-on-year growth, with analysts attributing the expansion in part due to the Iran war driving up import costs. China recorded a trade surplus of $125.6 billion in June, widening from $105.4 billion in the previous month. “Trade values took another big leg up in June,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China Economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a note Tuesday. “This predominantly reflects the recent surge in…
Former football players show higher levels of depression and anxiety and self-reported difficulties with thinking and decision-making than healthy non-players, according to new research. Early results from the study show that nearly a third of the 142 professional former players in the study had symptoms serious enough to be classed as clinical depression, compared with just 9% of the comparison group. For anxiety, 42% of players met the threshold, against 25% of non-players. “Although there were not clear differences between ex-players and non-players in standard cognitive tests, we did see significant differences in symptoms (such as anxiety and depression) reported…