Author: staff
Apple is not required to implement age checks under U.K. law, as the Online Safety Act does not apply to app stores or operating systems. Ofcom is conducting a report on whether to expand the act to include them, due in January 2027. Users who choose to update to the latest software, iOS 26.4 for iPhones and iPads, are prompted to verify their age, and can use credit cards linked to accounts as proof or undergo a process to scan ID. Apple may also use the length of time a user has held the account as proof of their age. The requirements have also been rolled out in South Korea.
A daytime drone strike hit the center of Lviv in western Ukraine, injuring several people and causing damage to historic buildings. Emergency services were deployed to the scene, where smoke and fire were seen rising from the affected area. Authorities said parts of the city’s historic center, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, were impacted, including buildings linked to the Bernardine Monastery complex. Firefighters worked to contain the blaze as residents gathered nearby. Other regions, including Donetsk and Vinnytsia, also reported damage and casualties following strikes.
By Una Hajdari with AFP Published on 25/03/2026 – 14:29 GMT+1 The European Central Bank will not be “paralysed by hesitation” in responding to the energy shock from the Middle East war, ECB chief Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. The conflict, which began at the end of February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has sent oil and gas prices surging due to the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Gulf energy targets. Highlighting that the world was facing “profound uncertainty”, Lagarde insisted the ECB was well positioned to deal with the turmoil, with inflation currently close to its two-percent…
The ruling could have broader implications for scrutiny of EU decision-making, pointing to limits on the Commission’s ability to keep countries’ positions confidential. It also adds to a growing line of cases testing how far transparency rules stretch when institutions argue disclosure could disrupt internal deliberations. At EU level, country representatives and the Commission regularly authorize chemicals in private committee meetings through a procedure known as comitology — a system now likely to face fresh pressure in Brussels to open up, given its powerful yet often opaque role in shaping health and environmental rules. “Disclosure would unsettle the functioning of…
Published on 25/03/2026 – 13:38 GMT+1 Hungary will gradually halt gas exports to Ukraine until Kyiv resumes oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline. The move was announced on Wednesday by the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who added that the gas would be redirected to refill the country’s own storage instead of being supplied to Ukraine. “We will gradually stop gas supplies from Hungary to Ukraine, and we will store the remaining gas at home,” Orbán said in a social media video posted after a cabinet meeting.”As long as Ukraine does not supply oil, we will not supply gas from…
US President Donald Trump’s unexpected claim this week that talks with Iran were yielding great progress came at a time of increased strikes and further threats of escalation across the region, with Washington’s goals in the war still not fully clear. A chorus of Iranian leadership figures have so far denied any negotiations were taking place, pledging to fight “until complete victory.” Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Gulf nations are reportedly trying behind the scenes to organise talks, but their efforts still seem preliminary. If anything, the war appears to be escalating. Iran fired its daily barrages again across the Middle…
Volkswagen has ruled out weapons production at its Osnabrück plant but has declined to confirm or deny media reports that it is in talks for other military-adjacent production with Israeli defence firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, makers of the Iron Dome missile defence system. The German carmaker told Euronews Business it is “in dialogue with various market players” as part of an “open review process” for the site once car manufacturing wraps at the beleaguered site in 2027, but stressed there are “currently no concrete decisions or conclusions regarding the future direction of the site.” Media reports, initially published in…
LONDON — The former Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has pleaded guilty to possessing illegal drugs, including cannabis and crystal meth. Blunt, the MP for Reigate between 1997 and 2024 and briefly a Prisons Minister in David Cameron’s government, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday following drug charges. After a raid on his Surrey home in 2023, the former MP was found with the chemical sedative GBL, cannabis, methamphetamine, and the drug commonly known as crystal meth.
The war between the US and Iran has disrupted global energy markets, driven oil and gas prices up and jeopardised supply routes. A key pressure point is the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit route for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which Europe has increasingly relied on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The EU subsequently took steps to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, turning instead to alternative suppliers such in the Middle East and accelerating the deployment of renewables. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, mocked the EU for having to…
Published on 25/03/2026 – 11:36 GMT+1 The US government’s ban on Anthropic appears punitive, following the company’s public dispute with the Pentagon over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its Claude AI model. Anthropic made its case before a San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, seeking an injunction against the US government’s decision to blacklist it as a national security risk. The District Judge Rita F. Lin said at the outset of the hearing that “it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic,” adding she was concerned the government could be punishing Anthropic for openly criticising the government’s…