Author: staff
The EU’s Habitats Directive bans the capture or killing of all cetaceans, the category that includes whales as well as dolphins and porpoises. For Loftsson, joining the bloc would almost certainly mean the end of the hunt. Loftsson is the driving force behind Icelandic whaling. His company, Hvalur hf., has operated on and off since 1947 and today runs the country’s only commercial whaling fleet. Through the summer season, his two ships, the Hvalur 8 and 9, have been patrolling Icelandic waters to hunt fin whales, notching up over 50 kills so far. Iceland is one of just three countries,…
More than 1,000 earthquakes in just 10 days, two of them of magnitude 4.8. The seismic sequence that began on 14 August in Granada has once again raised a question that goes far beyond Andalusia: could Spain soon be hit by a major earthquake? By 24 August, the National Geographic Institute (IGN) had recorded 1,075 tremors which were felt by the population. The two largest, with a magnitude of 4.8, were very shallow and were felt in more than 500 localities, from Andalusia to parts of Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha and even the Madrid region. Spain has far more destructive precedents.…
Norway’s King Harald V has died at 89 on Friday, ending a 35-year reign and putting Crown Prince Haakon on the throne at a turbulent moment for the country’s royal family. Harald “passed away peacefully” at 6:35 a.m., local time, the Norwegian royal household announced. Harald’s health deteriorated sharply in his final days. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Thursday canceled a trip to Germany, including a planned working dinner with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, to visit the king. Harald had reigned since 1991 and resisted calls to abdicate despite mounting health problems, repeatedly insisting that the oath he took as…
Just a few kilometres from the Belarusian border, thousands of NATO troops are focused on one objective: defending Alliance territory in Lithuania. For around six weeks, nearly 3,000 troops – most of them from the German military – trained at Pabradė, using drones, electronic warfare, heavy armour, artillery, infantry, helicopters and fighter jets to practise defending NATO territory against what the military describes as a “conventional aggressor”. A major part of Exercise Freedom Shield I is Germany’s 45th Armoured Brigade, also known as the Lithuania Brigade. More than three years ago, Germany decided to permanently station around 4,800 troops in…
Published on 28/08/2026 – 8:19 GMT+2 A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas paid a record $5.3 million (€4.5 million) for priority passage through the Panama Canal ahead of El Niño-related restrictions, the waterway’s deputy administrator told AFP on Thursday. South Korean company SK Gas paid the record sum for the G. Spirit to transit the canal on 1 September, two days before authorities are due to reduce the number of daily transits due to the El Niño weather phenomenon, Bloomberg reported. Panama declared an emergency over El Niño on Tuesday as a severe regional drought continues to deplete the water…
Last week, the Euronews Culture team woke up and chose violence by handpicking the albums we felt were overrated. Many got in touch and some of you weren’t happy – judging by some of the colourful language used. This week, we’re doing the opposite and balancing the cosmic scales by handpicking 10 albums we feel are underrated. These are the records which have either been undeservedly panned, too easily overlooked, or simply forgotten. Whatever the case may be, they deserve more love. Without further ado, here are the underappreciated gems you need in your ears and collection. Jeri Southern -…
Of course, calling a political opponent spineless or likening them to a jellyfish is a classic move. British politicians are particularly keen on this method of attack (a sting operation!). Conservative politician Michael Gove in 2024 likened Keir Starmer to a jellyfish, claiming he is “transparent, spineless and swept along by the tide.” He didn’t say whether Starmer also has only one hole used for both eating and expelling waste. In 2008, David Cameron (who would go on to become the chinos-wearing assassin responsible for Brexit) said he’d seen “more spine in a bunch of jellyfish” than in then-Prime Minister…
Almost one year ago, Ursula von der Leyen made one of her boldest moves as president of the European Commission: she proposed using the immobilised assets of the Russian Central Bank to support Ukraine’s budgetary and financial needs. By tapping the assets, she said, the bloc could raise up to €210 billion in fresh assistance for Kyiv without encumbering public coffers. European taxpayers would be spared. And the void left by the United States, under President Donald Trump, would be filled. It was an idea, quite simply, without precedent in modern history: the aggressor’s money would pay for the victim’s…
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Together, EU governments spent €806 billion on education in 2023, equivalent to 4.7% of the bloc’s GDP. Public education spending as a share of GDP has declined slightly over the past decade, from 4.96% in 2014 to 4.65% in 2023, according to the latest Eurostat figures. It briefly reached 5.02% in 2020, largely because the economy contracted during the pandemic rather than because of a comparable increase in education budgets. Across the European countries covered by Eurostat, Sweden spent the highest share of GDP, at 6.8%. Finland, Iceland, Belgium and Denmark also spent more than 6%. Romania and Greece were…