Author: staff

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.…

A teenager opened fire outside a high school in western Turkey on Tuesday, wounding 11 people before being detained by police, authorities said. The incident happened around 8 am local time (7 am CEST) in Turgutlu, Manisa province, near the city of Izmir, the regional governor’s office said. “Eleven students were injured, two of them seriously,” Justice Minister Akin Gürlek wrote on X. “The minor who carried out the attack was quickly apprehended and taken into custody,” he added. Gürlek said the suspect’s parents and grandfather had also been detained by investigators probing the attack, which saw police and rescuers…

The Czech government said on Monday that it would cap fuel retailers’ margins, cut excise duty on diesel and introduce a temporary tax on refiners as prices continue to rise because of the war in the Middle East. Czechia joins other European countries, including Germany, Croatia, Romania and Italy, that have recently announced or extended fuel-price controls and tax cuts as European governments seek to shield motorists from fuel prices, which reached record levels in the EU last week. In Czechia, it is the second such step by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s government this year, following price controls and a…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 10:53 GMT+2 Residents of a small Austrian town are taking on Google over plans for a data centre the size of around 70 football pitches. Around 400 people protested against the planned 50-hectare complex earlier this month outside the headquarters of the Upper Austrian regional government in Linz. Kronstorf, where the data centre is being built, has around 3,500 inhabitants. Construction works on Google’s first data centre in Austria began in April, with the first phase expected to become operational in 2027. The US tech giant says the centre will support growing demand for cloud and…