Author: staff

Fighting is one of the oldest things humans do. But according to a new exhibition, there is a deep cultural and philosophical meaning behind different fighting techniques in martial arts. At Antwerp’s Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), “Martial Arts” opens on 3 April, looking at everything around its disciplines, movements, identity and role in the community in the Dutch port city and around the world. The exhibition will also gather objects, stories and people to exploring martial arts’ history and heritage to ask visitors a simple question: why do people practise martial arts? To answer the question, the exhibition is…

Despite the war in Iran and its economic consequences preoccupying ministers, much work is going on behind closed doors in Whitehall to strike a closer relationship with Brussels. Nearly a decade after Britain voted to leave the EU, Keir Starmer has tasked his ministers with negotiating a post-Brexit reset that aims for closer alignment with the bloc in a bid to bring down prices and cut regulations on businesses.   In this interview episode of Westminster Insider, host Anne McElvoy talks to one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies, Nick Thomas-Symonds. The Cabinet Office Minister has been notching up the…

A SpaceX IPO promises to be one of the biggest Wall Street events of the year, with several investment banks lining up to help raise tens of billions to fund Musk’s ambitions to establish a base on the Moon, place data centres the size of several football pitches into orbit, and possibly one day send a human to Mars. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the confidential registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission publicly. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Exactly how much SpaceX plans to raise…

For decades, Las Vegas has been known for a simple mantra: “What happens here, stays here.” The slogan captured the spirit of a city that has had a reputation for being a playground of late nights and high stakes. But while the neon-lit Strip still delivers on that promise, the destination’s identity is shifting. Today, Las Vegas’s tourism offering is evolving beyond its casinos and party reputation, and emerging as a global hub for major league sport, live music and events. This repositioning comes at a pivotal moment for “Sin City”, as it responds to changing travel patterns and mounting…

Bulgaria is heading towards another tight parliamentary election this month — and it wants the EU to help counter malign foreign interference. Haunted by memories of coordinated social media campaigns targeting other countries in the region, the government is concerned that Russian misinformation could sway public opinion ahead of the vote. Host Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart, senior EU politics editor, discuss what tools Brussels has to counter foreign interference efforts.  Also on the show, a Signal group chat with European Commission officials has been shut down over security concerns. But this isn’t an isolated case, it’s part of a series of cyberattacks targeting the EU executive branch. Finally: We take a look at the Italian football fiasco that’s sparking a political row. Want to send us a…

In der Nacht zu Donnerstag unserer Zeit hat Donald Trump eine Rede zur Nation gehalten. In der erwähnt er die NATO mit keinem Wort und doch baut er weiter Druck in Richtung der Verbündeten auf. Während er den Verlauf und die Erfolge des Iran-Kriegs lobt, schiebt er die Verantwortung für die Straße von Hormus von sich weg. Rixa Fürsen analysiert, wie Trump erst die Weltordnung und die globale Wirtschaft mit dem Vorschlaghammer zertrümmert und sich jetzt auf die Zuschauerbank zurückziehen will. Verteidigungsminister Boris Pistorius (SPD) hatte große Pläne für die Bundeswehr bis Ostern versprochen. Geliefert wurde bisher nichts. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview…

Four astronauts embarked on a historic voyage towards the moon on Wednesday, the first lunar mission in more than 50 years. Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the 32-story rocket rose from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where tens of thousands gathered to witness the launch. Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and ’70s. It is NASA’s biggest step yet toward establishing a permanent lunar presence. Artemis II set sail from the same Florida launch site that sent Apollo’s explorers to the moon so long ago. The team, who donned bright…

Challenged on the view that European capitals have been less enthusiastic than Britain at the prospect of a post-Brexit rapprochement with the EU, Thomas-Symonds insisted the timetable and ambitions remained firm. “The bill will introduce the mechanism of alignment — and I would expect that to be completed by the end of 2026 and to have completed its parliamentary passage by then,” he said. ‘Hardball’ His bullish comments follow a bruising setback to talks after EU officials insisted European students studying at U.K. universities should pay “home” fees of about £9,500 a year in England and Wales as part of…

But Parry expressed concerns that the controversy regarding Boyarsakaya’s role in the OSCE could undermine the work done by the organization. “The public campaign surrounding this matter risks doing precisely the kind of damage to mission credibility that its authors claim to want to prevent,” he said. Parallel to the parliamentary assembly, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights also deploys hundreds of specialists to observe the vote at a technical level and delivers the final legal assessment of the election’s integrity, that risks being drawn into its sister mission’s controversy. In a move that could further undercut…

European prosecutors on Wednesday demanded that Greece lift the parliamentary immunity of 11 lawmakers suspected of involvement in a scam that syphoned off millions of euros in EU farm subsidies for years. The scandal has rocked Greece since the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) revealed the fraud in May, prompting widespread protests by farmers after it led to delays in the payment of agricultural aid. The case has piled major pressure on Greece’s conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, especially given his family’s decades-long political influence in Crete, where most of the allegedly fraudulent subsidies went. “The European Chief Prosecutor requested…