Author: staff

Winter in Europe means time for outdoor adventures – often on the slopes. Few destinations offer quite the same combination of skiing, snowboarding, chilly winter hikes and other activities like in the continent’s Alpine resorts. In central Switzerland, between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, Interlaken sits in the heart of the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps. Despite the lower temperatures, the year-round resort surprisingly offers accessible hikes and kayak routes during the colder season. While around 370 kilometres to the east, Innsbruck makes an equally strong claim for holidaymakers’ attention. The capital of Austria’s Tyrol state, it’s also…

A pilot project to send migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the EU to designated ‘return’ countries will be in place by early next year, Greece’s migration minister told POLITICO. Sep 29 4 mins read

Published on 07/10/2026 – 13:02 GMT+2 The European Commission announced on Wednesday that €1.24 billion had been released for Ukraine to purchase domestically manufactured drones, drone interceptors, drone ammunition and munitions. The president of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said the funding allocation would help protect “people and infrastructure” in Ukraine against Russia’s “deliberate strategy of terror”. “Today’s disbursement will help strengthen Ukraine’s defence industry. And Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” she said. The funding announcement comes as Russia continues its full-scale invasion against Ukraine. In recent weeks, this has resembled an increasingly aggressive aerial campaign, putting its…

Published on 07/10/2026 – 14:18 GMT+2 Scientists have identified a new crocodile genus from a 45-million-year-old Egyptian fossil after using CT scans to re-examine a skull recovered nearly a century ago. The fossil comes from the Mokattam Formation, the same limestone formation from which the Great Sphinx was carved. Like the monument, the skull is missing the tip of its snout. Researchers from Egypt, the UK, Sweden and Germany have named the animal Herugavialis cairensis. The findings were published in Royal Society Open Science. The animal was first described in 1927 as Tomistoma cairense, placing it in the same genus…

Published on 07/10/2026 – 9:27 GMT+2 India’s central bank has switched to tightening, delivering a quarter-percentage-point increase as the fallout from the Iran war lifts prices and drags on the national currency. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its benchmark repo rate, the rate it charges commercial banks for loans, by 25 basis points to 5.50%, with all six members of its monetary policy committee voting in favour. The move puts India alongside several other central banks that have tightened policy to rein in inflation or prop up their currencies. The RBI had kept rates on hold since the…

More than 200 people had initially been placed under observation following the woman’s death. In a statement sent to the WHO Tuesday, Russian health authorities said they conducted an investigation “following the identification of a case of community acquired pneumonia” and that “no pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases were detected among any of the contacts.” The WHO said they have remained in contact with Russian authorities and “offered technical support.” The EU and the U.S. are both monitoring the situation closely. The European Commission and countries are set to discuss the case at Wednesday’s Health Security Meeting, according to a…

Hungary has cleared the way for the EU to open two more negotiating clusters with Ukraine, signalling that Budapest is ready to lift its veto if Kyiv passes a minority-rights law next week. The move removes a major obstacle ahead of next week’s European Council summit. It would also allow Moldova’s accession talks to advance, as the two candidate countries have been closely linked in the process. Budapest had blocked further progress until Ukraine adopted legislation strengthening the educational and cultural rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. Following an agreement at expert level, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada,…

Kyiv residents sought refuge in a metro station on Tuesday night, carrying blankets, sleeping mats and personal belongings as fears grew of a Russian missile attack. The footage shows people settling in for the night, laying out bedding and waiting in the station, while some work on laptops. Warnings of a possible large-scale attack prompted many residents to head underground for safety. Russia launched a major overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least eight people, according to Ukrainian officials.

On the morning of Wednesday 7 October, Italian motorists were met with an unpleasant surprise. The cut in fuel excise duty that in previous months had partly limited the rise in diesel prices was not renewed (source in Italian), resulting in immediate price increases at the pump. Eni price cap effectively stripped of its impact By the time it expired at midnight, the measure was worth only 6.1 cents per litre, having fallen over time from the initial discount. In its place, the Meloni government had floated the possibility of introducing a system of tax rebates that would be financed…

Emirates says it is operating at around 93% of its pre-disruption capacity, as winter bookings strengthen following a turbulent year for airlines flying through the Middle East. The Dubai-based airline carried more than 8.6 million passengers in July and August. It said summer demand “exceeded expectations”, with momentum “continuing to build” as the winter travel period approaches. Bookings for the winter season, which begins in late October, are “tracking positively”, Emirates said, despite passengers “making travel decisions closer to departure”. Demand from markets including South Africa, Brazil, India, Portugal and Saudi Arabia is currently ahead of last year, according to…