Author: staff
The concerns relate to solar panels imported from China, which dominates global solar manufacturing. Campaigners and MPs accuse Beijing of forced labor abuses against the Uyghur population in the country’s northern Xinjiang province, including in solar manufacturing. Of seven companies given contracts to install solar panels on British schools last fall — funded partly by GB Energy — five could not guarantee there was no risk of forced labor in their supply chains when asked by POLITICO. A sixth firm did not respond to multiple requests for that guarantee. A seventh said it had “ruled out” the risk, although that firm obtains its solar panels from a Chinese-based manufacturer which said the “risk remains present” in its…
Prime Minister Peter Magyar has signalled an imminent deal with Kyiv to resolve the dispute over the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, raising prospects for an agreement that could finally unlock EU accession talks after years of political deadlock. Speaking to reporters in Berlin following a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Magyar said he was “very optimistic” about the discussions and pointed to a resolution on a technical level “as soon as this week”. The issue is politically delicate for both sides. “The negotiations are progressing encouragingly,” he said. “I am ready to meet with Ukraine’s…
For a growing number of people, cryptocurrency has stopped being an investment and become an addiction — one that experts say shares almost every hallmark of gambling disorder, yet remains largely invisible because society has learned to mistake compulsive trading for ambition. Cryptocurrency markets are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, lightly regulated and engineered to keep users engaged. For vulnerable individuals, that combination can be devastating and the harm, experts warn, is being obscured by the same social rewards that make workaholism invisible. Jamie Giles, client services director at Castle Craig, one of Scotland’s leading addiction…
Published on 02/06/2026 – 14:01 GMT+2 “Just sit back and relax. It will all work out well in the end – It always does!” Wise words from Donald Trump, whose advice echoes the famous quote “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” That popular saying has been misattributed to Oscar Wilde, John Lennon and Paulo Coelho. In reality, it first appeared in the 1988 book “O tabuleiro de damas” (“The Checkerboard”), by Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino. A sentiment of hope to live by, but context matters, especially when the world…
Several projections, including by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, suggest that not only could this coming El Niño reach 2C, but it may far exceed that threshold. The most recent El Niño, in 2023, ranked among the five strongest on record and helped turn 2024 into the world’s hottest year. WMO experts already warned last week that the next such event may see 2027 break global temperature records once again. However, the WMO stressed on Tuesday that the strength and peak of this El Niño are as yet uncertain. “We will speak about moderate or strong when we…
As the shortage of labour in the agricultural sector becomes increasingly evident across all Western European countries – and particularly in Greece – an interstate agreement that had remained inactive for several years is now moving into the implementation phase. The deal between Greece and Egypt provides for the legal employment of up to 5,000 Egyptian seasonal farm workers in crops and agricultural work in various Greek regions. According to Christos Giannakakis, a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, the process is already underway. As he told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, around 150…
Published on 02/06/2026 – 12:58 GMT+2 A bear injured four people in a residential area of Japan on Tuesday in the latest case of an attack by the animals in an area of the country where bears have increasingly encroached on the human population in recent years. Police and fire department officials rushed to the scene in the Sasakino district of Fukushima in northeastern Japan after receiving an emergency call from the Fukushima Steel Works reporting bear attacks on two employees. Security camera footage shows a black bear appearing and chasing an employee near the entrance. As the man in…
The labour market improved again in May, a month traditionally marked by the start of hiring linked to the summer season. The number of people registered with employment offices fell by 36,323 compared with April, to 2.32 million, the lowest figure for a month of May since 2007, according to data published on Tuesday by the Ministries of Labour and of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Compared with the same month last year, unemployment fell by 134,162 people. The decline spread across all productive sectors, although the group of people with no previous employment recorded a slight increase. Social Security…
Published on 02/06/2026 – 11:43 GMT+2 It’s been stolen. Again. The Pompidou-Metz museum in eastern France, a branch of the famous Pompidou Centre in Paris, reported the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s provocative artwork “Comedian” – which many know as the banana that’s been taped to a wall. Valued at €5.8 million, the conceptual artwork by celebrated Italian artist went missing this weekend, with a security guard noticing the theft on Sunday. Now, the Pompidou-Metz museum has not only replaced the banana (something which occurs every three days to keep the fruit fresh) but also lodged a criminal complaint for theft…
“There are many who, ahead of the elections, are expecting support from the Russian Federation and are trying in any way to say the worst things about us,” Vučić said. “There is no talk of that, nor will such a decision be made. Even if they were to make it, it would be immediately revoked.” Belgrade’s close relations with Moscow are increasingly complicating its ambitions to join the EU. Serbia became an official EU candidate in 2012 and opened accession talks in 2014, but its membership bid has since stalled. In April, Brussels said Serbia risked losing up to €1.5…