Author: staff
Published on 24/08/2026 – 17:44 GMT+2 The British company Welink Energy Portugal 2 UK, which owns Solara4, the largest solar power plant in the country, has entered insolvency proceedings, according to a report published this month by consultancy BDO, cited by the weekly newspaper “Expresso” (source in Portuguese). The case concerns a large-scale project in the Algarve region with 219 MW of installed solar capacity, according to the Welink Group website (source in Portuguese). Located in Alcoutim, Solara4 has been in operation for five years, having been inaugurated in 2021, but has been facing a series of setbacks. According to…
In the Bavarian village of Pflugdorf-Stadl, competitors gathered for Germany’s finger wrestling championships, a traditional Alpine sport requiring strength, technique and plenty of resilience. Opponents hook their middle fingers into a small leather loop and pull with all their might, trying to drag each other across the table. Matches can last from a few seconds to nearly a minute. Competitors warm up carefully before taking part, as the intense strain can cause painful injuries to the skin. Senior champion Ferdinand Seitz described the pain as “excruciating”, but said other sports can be just as brutal.
The Ceuta crisis erupted at the end of July, when tens of thousands of people entered the coastal semi-exclave in North Africa in the space of 24 hours, forcing Spain to deploy the army after border forces were overwhelmed. Sánchez flew to Ceuta and branded the crossings an “attack” and a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity. Most migrants subsequently returned to Morocco, but thousands remained. Madrid is now working to clear the remaining backlog. Around 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta on Aug. 13, the interior ministry said. The opposition People’s Party is demanding more immigration officers be sent to Ceuta…
Published on 24/08/2026 – 17:31 GMT+2 There were no marching soldiers, no tanks and no columns of heavy armour. In their place came robots designed to perform many of the same tasks. Marking 35 years of independence, Ukraine staged a different kind of military parade on Monday, showcasing its defence technology and unmanned warfare capabilities. The parade offered a glimpse of the future of warfare and how profoundly four and a half years of Russia’s full-scale invasion have transformed the Ukrainian military. Dozens of multi-role unmanned ground vehicles moved along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv’s main street, including robotic systems designed for combat,…
Around 10,000 people marched through central Stockholm on Sunday to demand stronger climate action, three weeks before Sweden’s general election on 13 September. Climate ranks among voters’ top concerns. The march began in Vasaparken, where the group Mothers Rebellion sang before Greta Thunberg addressed the crowd, and ended outside parliament at Gustav Adolfs torg. Protesters carried signs reading “vote for the climate” and banners from the school strike movement Thunberg founded. Watch the video above.
A bronze Thomas Jefferson is the latest Founding Father to take up residence in the White House Rose Garden – a space that is looking increasingly less like a garden and more like an open-air monument to American history. Created by Colorado artist George Lundeen, the statue joins sculptures of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, alongside a monument depicting Revolutionary War soldiers. The makeover began after Trump returned to the White House for his second term and forms part of a wider effort to reshape the White House and its grounds.
Bitcoin is back in the spotlight after a week-long rally pushed the cryptocurrency above $79,000, with gains of more than 20% in just a few days. The rally has been driven by fresh flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, expectations of greater liquidity in the United States, a more favourable climate for cryptocurrencies in Washington and a squeeze on traders betting against Bitcoin. But there is a distinctly Italian twist to the story. While Bitcoin returns to centre stage, Italy’s richest man is someone who built his fortune at the heart of the crypto economy. At 62, Giancarlo Devasini, chairman of…
The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group have agreed to a roadmap for peace talks, according to a joint statement published on Sunday. “The Parties developed a roadmap setting out sequenced steps and timelines for negotiations under the Doha Framework Agreement and committed to flexibility and creativity within the existing structure,” the statement published by Switzerland, which had hosted the negotations, said. “They reaffirmed their commitment to pursue negotiations towards comprehensive peace and conflict resolution through the implementation of the Framework Agreement,” it added. The two sides signed a US-brokered framework agreement last year in the…
The Esports World Cup has wrapped up in Paris on Sunday after seven weeks of competition, ending an edition that was not supposed to take place in France. The tournament moved from Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing war in the region and travel disruptions. French player Gwendal “Gwen” Duparc went into the Trackmania final needing to finish third or better to secure the overall Club Championship for the China-based AG.AL. Instead, he won it. The victory earned Duparc $130,000 (€111,500) and secured the $7 million (€6m) Club Championship prize for his team, denying Saudi Arabia’s Team Falcons a third straight…
By Christina Molle with AFP Published on 24/08/2026 – 16:03 GMT+2 Mobile phones will indeed be banned in all high schools nationwide from the start of the new school year. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon on Monday confirmed President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to enact the law containing this measure: “The ban on mobile phones in high schools has been approved by the Constitutional Council. So the President of the Republic has decided to enact the law that was partially struck down, without the articles that were ruled unconstitutional, of course, in order to apply, within a stabilised legal framework, the tools that have already…