Author: staff

Brussels has allocated €1.4 billion to defending Europe from cyberattacks. According to its own auditors, nobody is properly checking whether that money could be reaching organisations exposed to influence from hostile states. The warning comes from a report published on Monday by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), which examined how well the EU detects and responds to major cybersecurity incidents between 2022 and 2025. Grant beneficiaries are responsible for assessing the ownership and control of any third parties receiving EU cybersecurity funding. But the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre, the body overseeing these grants, does not verify those assessments itself,…

A new book published on Tuesday by the brother of the late Princess Diana has made headlines around the world with its damning allegations about her ex-husband, now King Charles III, and reopened decades-old wounds within Britain’s royal family. In “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” Charles Spencer alleges that he argued with the then-Prince Charles over palace plans for Prince William and Prince Harry, then 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother’s coffin during her 1997 funeral procession. Spencer says he told Charles that Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36,…

The French president’s push for an energy truce comes amid increased pressure from Trump on Zelenskyy to halt Kyiv’s targeting of Russia’s energy sector. “Mr Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump said on Sep. 13. “The world’s diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran,” he wrote a day later on social media. Despite Trump’s calls, Ukraine continued targeting Russian energy infrastructure, sparking a fire overnight on Tuesday at a major refinery in Samara, southwestern Russia. The Ukrainian Armed Forces said their strikes on Russian…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 12:32 GMT+2•Updated 13:03 European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber warned that Morocco could face “obvious consequences” if the border with the Spanish exclave of Ceuta could not be stabilized, raising the prospect of further “uncontrolled situations” following the arrival of around 80,000 irregular migrants at the end of July. Weber was the first senior EU figure to visit Ceuta since the crisis erupted, travelling alongside Spanish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas. The visit came amid growing public discontent and mounting pressure on Sánchez’s government over the presence of more than…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 12:53 GMT+2•Updated 12:56 An unnamed armed group shut a valve on a pipeline from Libya’s largest oil field, causing a drop in production, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said late Monday. The disruption threatens production from the El Sharara field, a key source of crude for Libya, an OPEC member that holds Africa’s largest proven oil reserves. Armed groups and protesters frequently target oil fields, pipelines and export terminals to press political or economic demands. The NOC said in a statement that the closure affected a pipeline linking the El Sharara field, some 700 kilometres south…

At a time when every euro spent and every saving is being scrutinised in the search for ways to reduce France’s deficit, the NGO Oxfam is pointing to another potential source of revenue: very large inheritances. In a report published on Tuesday 22 September (source in French), the organisation is taking aim at the Dutreil pact, a tax scheme that allows a substantial reduction in inheritance tax when a company is transferred. The report comes out just as work begins on the preparation of the 2027 budget, against a backdrop of particularly deteriorated public finances. As the French public deficit…

Tourist traffic in Greece continued its upward trend in July 2026. According to provisional data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), arrivals at hotels, campsites and short-stay accommodation reached 6.61 million, while overnight stays rose to 31.70 million. Compared with July 2025, arrivals increased by 2.5%, and overnight stays by 2.0%. Foreign visitors driving tourism growth The picture differs markedly between Greek and foreign visitors. Foreign visitors made around 5.30 million arrivals in July 2026, compared with 1.30 million arrivals by Greeks. Foreigners therefore account for 80.3% of all arrivals, while domestic travellers make up 19.7%. The gap is even…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 12:17 GMT+2•Updated 12:23 The ancient city of Troy, perched on the Hisarlik hill in north-west Turkey, continues to yield surprises for researchers and history enthusiasts, increasingly so with the release of Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey. Archaeological excavations carried out by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, launched in 2014, have uncovered the remains of the oldest agora in the city, dating back roughly 2,800 years. Until now historians believed that the city had been completely abandoned for several centuries after its fall (traditionally dated to 1184 BC), until the…

However, Germany and allies from Northern Europe — whose contributions to the budget exceed their EU payouts — are pushing in the opposite direction, insisting that the EU slash its cashpot by hundreds of billions of euros. They argue that introducing new EU taxes is not an alternative to major cuts. “One has to wonder whether Mr. Costa has completely lost touch with reality by now,” Krichbaum told reporters. He added that “national budgets are under enormous pressure … and everyone knows that the sky isn’t the limit.” EU governments are lobbying the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU — which…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 11:54 GMT+2•Updated 12:00 The European Commission struck a trade agreement with the Philippines on Tuesday, stepping up its diversification strategy across the Indo-Pacific region. The deal comes more than a year after the US introduced sweeping new tariffs on many of its trading partners, prompting retaliatory measures and adding to global trade tensions. Since then, the EU has been seeking new trade ties, recently concluding major deals with India, Australia and Indonesia. “This agreement sends a clear signal that the EU is reinforcing its engagement with the Indo-Pacific,” EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said on Tuesday.…