Author: staff
European Commission officials privately acknowledge that air conditioning is essential during increasingly frequent heatwaves, as passive cooling measures such as shading and insulation will not always be sufficient. But as cooling demand rises, they also argue that relying solely on air conditioning would drive up electricity consumption, require additional power generation and leave households facing higher energy bills, particularly given today’s high electricity prices. “Air conditioning is definitely one of the tools and a very necessary tool. In some cases, insulation or other passive strategies are not sufficient,” one EU official said on condition of anonymity, after a brutal heatwave…
By Gavin Blackburn & Euronews Published on 02/07/2026 – 14:37 GMT+2•Updated 15:45 A blast in central Damascus on Thursday was caused by an explosive device, Syrian state television said, with the health ministry updating the toll to five dead. “The explosion that occurred in a cafe near the Palace of Justice in Damascus resulted from an explosive device planted in the location,” state television said, after earlier reporting that authorities were seeking to determine the source of the blast. The explosion comes a day after the first parliament since the fall of long-time leader Bashar al-Assad began to take shape. Interim President Ahmad…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied that his government was involved in the sabotage. Six underwater explosions in September 2022 destroyed three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines linking Russia and Germany, triggering years of a blame game over who was behind one of Europe’s most consequential acts of sabotage. Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom have all, at various points, been accused or suspected of involvement with varying degrees of evidence. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berlin moved to end imports of Russian gas. German investigators later concluded the sabotage had been…
The existing US-Iran framework deal will only let the Tehran regime regroup and rearm, the son of Iran’s last shah and leader of the opposition in exile Reza Pahlavi said in an exclusive interview for Euronews. “Any arrangement that keeps regime remnants in power is not a peace deal,” Pahlavi told Euronews. “It is a pause before the next war.” The memorandum was signed on 17 June, three and a half months after US and Israeli strikes on Iran began, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials, and starting the war that expanded further into the region. For Pahlavi,…
Published on 02/07/2026 – 14:06 GMT+2 OpenAI has offered the US government a 5% stake in the company, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, as the ChatGPT maker tries to head off growing political heat in Washington. That slice would be worth around $42.6 billion (€37.4bn), a significant sum even for a company as flush as OpenAI. The figure is based on the $852 billion (€749bn) price tag investors put on the firm just three months ago, when OpenAI raised fresh funds in March. According to the reporting, Sam Altman wants other big American AI players — Anthropic, Google and…
“The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.” British author Terry Pratchett was right about “the beautiful game” when he wrote those lines in his Discworld novel “Unseen Academicals”. And some are taking it too far. While Germany is licking its wounds over its penalty shootout failure and some Dutch fans are facing police investigation for racially abusing their players who missed their spot kicks, the reactions to South Korea’s exit threatens to bring the culture of football into further disrepute. In case you haven’t been keeping track of…
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday announced Ukraine-style autonomous trade measures for Armenia aimed at helping the country withstand growing economic pressure from Russia. Von der Leyen unveiled the package during a visit to Yerevan alongside Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, where the pair met Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The trip marks the first visit by a foreign leader since Pashinyan’s pro-European government secured another parliamentary majority last month, cementing Armenia’s shift away from Moscow. “The recent elections have shown the strength of Armenia’s democracy,” von der Leyen said, according to a press release. “The Armenian people have…
The Vatican has declared the automatic excommunication of leading figures of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, the Lefebvrists, following the controversial ordination of four new bishops carried out without papal approval. The decree, issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by Prefect Víctor M. Fernández, describes the act as “of a schismatic nature” and refers to the sanctions provided under canon law for the crime of schism. The decree states that Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, together with the newly ordained bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, are…
Published on 02/07/2026 – 13:46 GMT+2 An 11-year-old boy died from rabies in Canada after he woke up to find a bat “on his nose and mouth,” according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The boy died in hospital in Ontario after developing severe symptoms including bulbar palsy, a neurological condition affecting the nerves controlling muscles used for speaking, swallowing, and breathing. His family said that around 19 days before the onset of initial symptoms, he had been staying in a cottage in northern Ontario, where he had been awoken by a bat on his face. The…
End of the special economic zone in Cala Finanza, in north-eastern Sardinia. The Tavolara glamping site was in danger of turning into an Albanian-style national scandal. There are many similarities between the resort Donald Trump’s son-in-law wants to build in the lagoon near Vlorë and the Tavolara Bay project in Cala Finanza, in north-eastern Sardinia. But the Italian government has stepped in and withdrawn the authorisations, upholding the demands of those who were protesting. As of 2 July, the luxury tourism project in the municipality of Loiri Porto San Paolo – opposite the island of Tavolara and 20 km south…