Author: staff
The founder of Tera Yatırım, a Turkish brokerage whose fund-management subsidiary reported missed payments last week, will be held in custody pending trial. The arrest of Emre Tezmen, along with four other people, comes as investors in 131 Turkish funds face a wait of up to six months while their holdings are sold, with no certainty yet about how much money they will get back. The crisis began when some funds, including those run by Tera Portföy and Pusula Portföy, struggled to pay people trying to withdraw their savings. They held large stakes in shares that were difficult to sell…
Unblocking EU funds has been a key priority for Péter Magyar, who replaced Orbán as prime minister in May after a seismic election victory. “One of our most important commitments during the campaign was that we were going to unlock the billions of euros that Hungarians deserve,” he said in Brussels shortly after his election. Budapest has made significant progress tackling public procurement concerns, corruption and conflicts of interest since May. “More than a hundred pieces of legislation had to be amended,” a government website read, citing anti-corruption reforms and the country joining the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). The…
Published on 23/09/2026 – 12:46 GMT+2•Updated 12:51 A prominent former Norwegian diplomat, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, will apologise for his dealings with late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday evening. Terje Rod-Larsen and his wife, fellow diplomat Mona Juul, are currently under investigation in Norway. Juul for “aggravated corruption” and Rod-Larsen for “complicity in aggravated corruption.” They are both known for having played key roles in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s. In particular, police are investigating a loan given by…
Six-year-old Chinese girl Lian Yunzhi has twice broken the women’s world record for solving a 3×3 Rubik’s Cube in just three days. She first set a record with an average time of 4.52 seconds at a competition in Wuhan, before improving it to 4.27 seconds in Guangzhou. Footage from Wuhan shows Lian moving her fingers rapidly through the cube, completing one solve in around 3.54 seconds. She began solving cubes at the age of four and has since mastered more than 1,300 formulas.
Published on 23/09/2026 – 10:29 GMT+2 Alibaba is expanding its overseas data centres to Europe, the Chinese tech giant announced Wednesday at its annual conference. The company said it would “establish its first cloud regions” in Finland, the Netherlands and Turkey, while expanding its data centre footprint in Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Hong Kong over the next 12 months. “Today, the total volume of Machine Thinking is less than 3% of all Human Thinking,” said Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba Group. He suggested machine thinking could eventually grow to 1,000 times human capacity. “With this in…
Now in its second edition, the Michelin Guide has just unveiled its latest selection of One-, Two- and Three-Key hotels across the globe. As you might expect, those at the higher end of the scale have the price tag to match, with some properties coming in at upwards of €5,000 per night. But that doesn’t mean you have to take out a second mortgage to experience the best hotels around the globe as there are some far more affordable One- and Two-Key options, particularly if you visit in off-season. From the 2026 selection, Michelin Guide has rounded up the best-value…
Can an AI detector threaten the success of a literary bestseller that is in the running for one of the country’s biggest literary prizes? In France, the novel “C’était ça ou mourir” by Thélyson Orélien, hailed as one of the revelations of the autumn publishing season and already selling more than 35,000 copies, now stands accused of having been written by artificial intelligence. The controversy was sparked by a message posted (source in French) on X on Monday 21 September by an anonymous account, “Balance ton Claude”. “According to Pangram, this novel was written almost entirely by an artificial intelligence,”…
Elina Valtonen is Finland’s foreign minister. Penny Wong is Australia’s foreign minister. Many people look at the state of today’s world and wonder if the United Nations has failed in its promise. Some question whether it can still rise to meet the moment and if we should be searching for solutions elsewhere. It is understandable, but it is dangerous and misguided. To paraphrase Dag Hammarskjöld, U.N. secretary-general from 1953 to 1961, the U.N. may not have brought us to heaven, but it has — so far — saved us from hell. For more than 80 years, the U.N. has underpinned…
Published on 23/09/2026 – 11:59 GMT+2 UK police said they arrested six protesters after an anti-immigration demonstration in southern England “became hostile towards officers” as a boat carrying migrants spent 36 hours crossing the Channel from France. Facing a crackdown from French and British authorities, migrants desperate to cross to the UK have been adopting new strategies in recent months, including relying on larger dinghies and utilising new routes. That has sparked renewed anger in England, with anti-immigrant protesters gathering in southern coastal towns with plans to foil the arrival of asylum seekers. Around 200 protesters, some in black clothing…
The 48th edition of the WorldSkills Competition has opened in Shanghai. The ceremony featured a spectacular dance performance with humanoid robots and human performers, drawing cheers from the audience. Held from 22 to 27 September, the competition brings together 1,385 competitors from 68 countries for 64 events. The contests cover areas including construction, manufacturing, information technology, creative arts and personal services. China has entered 71 competitors across all 64 skills. The competition itself runs from 23 to 26 September at the National Exhibition and Convention Center.