Author: staff
Published on 24/07/2026 – 18:34 GMT+2 A suicide bomber, supported by armed militants, targeted a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan overnight, killing 15 security personnel, the military said on Friday. In a statement, the military said troops repelled the assault in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attackers attempted to storm the checkpoint before ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into its perimeter wall, causing a powerful blast that severely damaged the site. “Fifteen brave sons of soil including twelve military, two policemen and a government official ex forest department rendered the ultimate sacrifice and embraced Shahadat (martyrdom),” the military’s…
Published on 24/07/2026 – 17:56 GMT+2 Archaeologists in Pompeii have unveiled the partially reconstructed frescoed ceiling of a banquet hall featuring scenes from Greek mythology. Pompeii Archaeological Park said on Friday that it had used an innovative technique to reconstruct the ceiling, which is believed to have belonged to a banquet hall on the upper floor of a house with an adjoining bakery. Experts created a curved support structure to position the fragments in a way that replicates the vault’s original shape. The restoration has so far reconstructed more than a quarter of the original ceiling, while allowing additional sections…
Der überraschende Rücktritt von Jens Spahn löst eine gewaltige Personal-Rochade in der CDU aus. Rixa Fürsen analysiert mit Miriam Hollstein, stellvertretende Ressortchefin Politik bei BILD, den Umbau der Machtzentrale. Von Nina Warken im Kanzleramt bis zu Carsten Linnemann im Gesundheitsressort. Die beiden blicken auf die nächtliche Absage von Fritz Güntzler fürs Verkehrsministerium per SMS. Zudem wackelt die Zukunft von Wirtschaftsministerin Katherina Reiche, während Kanzler Merz bereits weitere personelle Schritte ankündigt. Außerdem: Welche Konsequenzen drohen der SPD angesichts des Machtbebens und der anstehenden Landtagswahlen? Wie der Vizekanzler und SPD-Co-Chef Lars Klingbeil nur informiert statt einbezogen wird, wie es eigentlich um einen…
Published on 24/07/2026 – 17:44 GMT+2 The device was discovered during a planned operation in County Monaghan, close to the border with Northern Ireland. The bomb was made safe by the Irish Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team before being removed for forensic examination. Police said the operation had prevented an attack that could have caused “devastating consequences”. Garda (Irish police) Commissioner Drew Harris described the device as “extremely significant”. At the same time, Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis said it was one of the most sophisticated improvised explosive devices recovered in recent years. The two suspects, both aged in their 40s,…
Travellers to Edinburgh will now have to pay a tourist tax, starting Friday 24 July. A 5% fee now applies to the cost of all paid overnight accommodation in Scotland’s capital. Edinburgh is the first Scottish city to introduce such a scheme, and hopes to raise up to £50 million (€58 million) a year to invest in its worldwide appeal as a place to visit and live. Edinburgh tourist tax comes into force The visitor levy was formally agreed in January 2025, with councillors approving a proposal to charge guests at hotels, B&Bs, hostels and holiday rentals including Airbnbs. The…
It’s yet another thorny issue to solve for the EU’s 27 countries racing to reach a deal before the start of 2027, when national elections are due in France, Italy, Poland and Spain, which could make discussions even more difficult. Major contributors to the budget including Italy, France and Spain, and net recipients of EU funds such as Hungary, Malta and Poland, spoke out against the cash-for-reforms model during Wednesday’s meeting. Critics say that the approach could increase the power of national governments at the expense of regions, and result in the EU imposing reforms with no political backing. “We…
Far-right leaders from the Patriots for Europe group are increasingly raising concerns over the latest political developments in Hungary, warning of a decline in democracy under Prime Minister Péter Magyar – but the European Commission remains supportive of Magyar’s government, which it considers pro-European. Magyar, who ousted his predecessor Viktor Orbán at April’s parliamentary election, has launched a political campaign dubbed “Purgatorium” to dismantle Orbán’s political system and remove officials appointed by his predecessor. Some of the country’s most prominent Orbán-era figures are already falling away. Last weekend, President Tamás Sulyok signed a constitutional amendment that ended his own mandate;…
Over three days, classrooms and playgrounds were turned into robotics labs, drone-testing grounds and artificial intelligence workshops. Valérie Gauriat joined in. The gathering is the highlight of yearly activities led by the HK Unicorn Squad. An NGO founded in 2018 by Taavi Kotka, one of the architects of Estonia’s digital transformation, and his wife Kerstin. The organization provides free technology education to girls across the country, aiming to attract more women into science and engineering. Leading a workshop on robotics, Taavi Kotka watches on, giving occasional advice, as groups of teenagers are focused on building and programming toy-like robots. “They…
This weakness in the polls is likely to be exacerbated by the split, as conservative and nationalist voters will now be divided among Kaczyński’s party, two far-right formations and Morawiecki’s group, which is seen as the most moderate of the pack. Despite the rupture on the right, though, Tusk’s Civic Coalition could still struggle to build a coalition that will be bigger than the combined forces of the right. The immediate confrontation inside PiS began on July 15, when the leadership ordered members to leave associations conducting political activity and submit declarations by midnight July 23. Members who refused faced…
Published on 24/07/2026 – 15:03 GMT+2 The European Commission said on Friday it would engage with the US to de-escalate tensions after the EU executive fined Google on Thursday over its dominance in the EU’s digital market, sparking an angry reaction from Washington. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the EU’s fine jeopardised dialogue between the two sides of the Atlantic on digital regulation, as well as the trade deal that the US and EU struck last year after tough negotiations. The Trump administration has persistently railed against the EU’s digital rules, accusing Brussels of imposing non-tariff barriers on US…