Author: staff

Pope Leo XIV joined artists, performers, athletes and cultural figures at a large event in Madrid on Sunday as part of his visit to Spain. Video shows the pontiff greeting attendees and receiving applause from the crowd at the Movistar Arena before taking part in a programme celebrating culture, the arts and sport. Spanish actor Antonio Banderas addressed the audience, while acclaimed flamenco dancer Sara Baras and her troupe delivered a performance watched by the pope and thousands of spectators. During his speech, Leo said communication is never neutral and can either sow division or help build hope and understanding.…

Published on 08/06/2026 – 7:39 GMT+2 Crude oil prices climbed in early trade as Israel launched airstrikes on Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire. Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalised and the latest attacks further strain efforts to end the conflict. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $3.50 to $96.59 a barrel. Benchmark US crude surged $3.48 to $94.02 a barrel, at…

Prices are rising again across Europe, but pay is not keeping up. Inflation in the EU reached 3.2% in April 2026, its highest level since January 2024, and Eurostat’s flash estimates suggest prices continued to climb in May. However, wage growth in salaries advertised in job postings across the eurozone are not keeping pace with inflation, according to Indeed. That means inflation is outpacing posted wage growth across Europe, weighing heavily on workers’ purchasing power, with earnings buying less than before. The latest inflationary pressures come after the EU experienced its biggest price shock in decades. Annual inflation surged to…

Should more of us visit Brussels? The Belgian capital’s residents certainly think so. While tourist hotspots across Europe brace for the influx of international footfall this summer, as many as 74.6% out of 1,000 Brussels residents surveyed across 19 municipalities described their city an “underrated” destination, according to research by iVOX for Ovide-Airbnb. With 3.7 million people having travelled to Brussels in 2025, a slight decrease from 3.71 million visitors in 2024, 79% of respondents said that tourism is “essential” for the city, in that it supports local businesses and the wider economy. “Not enough people know that Brussels, and…

Mit Blick auf die entscheidenden Landtagswahlen im September in Sachsen-Anhalt und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, wo die AfD in Umfragen bei rund 40 Prozent liegt, wächst der Druck auf Friedrich Merz massiv. Seine am Wochenende geäußerte, an Angela Merkel erinnernde Formel „Wir schaffen das“ ist ein Wahlkampf-Fingerzeig an die Landesverbände. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Sachsen-Anhalts CDU-Ministerpräsident und Spitzenkandidat Sven Schulze äußert sich über seine persönlichen Umfragewerte, verteidigt seine Regierungsarbeit und reagiert auf die schwierige Debatte um mögliche Mehrheitsbündnisse nach dem Wahltag. Rasmus Buchsteiner gibt Einblicke in die anstehenden, konfliktgeladenen Gespräche des Kanzlers mit den Sozialpartnern zu den Themen Arbeitsmarkt, Steuern und Bürokratieabbau. Das Berlin Playbook…

Published on 08/06/2026 – 6:05 GMT+2 The leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in calling for direct ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued following defence talks in London on Sunday. Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 10 Downing Street for talks as Russia’s war has stretched into its fifth year. The leaders “supported the proposal for a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia, with active US and European participation, to bring about a ceasefire and…

The EU is struggling to land a new deal on consumer protections for airline passengers. After a week of intense negotiations that ultimately failed, transport ministers are meeting today to discuss the current state of play. The main sticking points: rules on compensation for delayed flights and the ease of filing these compensation claims. Also on the show, the far-right National Rally is leading the polls for France’s presidential election next year. But in relation to the EU, would this traditionally euroskeptic party end up following a pragmatic route like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, or a more obstructionist stance in line…

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least one person, collapsing buildings, and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. Authorities in the Philippines and Indonesia urged residents in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground immediately, after the offshore quake hit about 24 kilometres west of Mindanao island’s Sarangani province, the United States Geological Survey said. The earthquake caused the collapse of at least one building in General Santos, a tuna-processing city of more than 700,000 people that is also a commercial hub in the south. “As of now, there is one reported death and…

Britain’s banks want more than that. In its report, UK Finance called for a “genuinely strategic” partnership between the two sides on financial services and set out a roadmap to give politicians a vision of how to get there. A decade on from the Brexit referendum, the banking lobby said the dismal economic backdrop should make the case to remove frictions and improve relations for an industry that can drive investment and jumpstart growth.    “We believe that both sides can achieve better outcomes for the financial services industry, but also for the economies and the customers and clients that both…

He said his team has “identified a number of criminal cases where I personally believe that we should be as a country … in a position to recover those funds and have those funds repatriated, because most of these have already left the country,” Biró said. He did not make specific allegations against Orbán or other members of his inner circle. Orbán and his Fidesz party did not respond to requests for comment. The Hungarian Integrity Authority, which was founded in 2022 as part of reforms pushed by Brussels, monitors the spending and security of EU funds. It is independent…