Author: staff

Published on 13/07/2026 – 6:56 GMT+2•Updated 6:59 The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 3.9% to $78.96 per barrel, while the US benchmark crude oil price rose 4% to $74.26 per barrel. Prices for both types of crude oil had recently slipped back to the levels seen before the war with Iran began, after the two sides reached an interim agreement to end the conflict and ships resumed transporting oil through the Strait of Hormuz. However, the United States launched several waves of strikes on Iran early on Monday morning following an Iranian attack on a container ship…

Can transfers between travel destinations be turned into part of a trip? Rather than only visiting a country’s major cities and treating travel days as time lost between destinations, more holidaymakers are turning to sightseeing opportunities along the way by stopping in smaller cities and visiting unique landmarks. According to booking data from Daytrip, a platform specialising in city-to-city travel with car transfers, travellers are making the journey itself part of the holiday by stopping in places that may usually be overshadowed by larger and more popular destinations. Based on a survey of summer bookings made via the platform by…

This week is shaping up to be an exciting one for history lovers. Whether you’re eager to watch a film inspired by a 3,000-year-old epic poem or attend a concert at one of the Roman Empire’s most remarkable surviving venues, this week’s cultural calendar offers a chance to explore history in new and unexpected ways. Here are our top picks for the week: Exhibitions Ana Mendieta When: 15 July 2026 – 17 January 2027 Where: Tate Modern (London, UK) The award-winning Cuban-American multidisciplinary artist Ana Mendieta will be showcased at Tate Modern in London for the first time. The exhibition…

Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday will stop short of deciding whether to impose tariffs or restrict imports. The immediate question is whether the countries behind the push can secure the majority needed to demand a formal Commission proposal that governments could vote on later. Any resulting trade measure would have limited economic impact. Trade with illegal West Bank settlements makes up about 0.5 percent of the EU’s overall trade with Israel, according to the Commission’s estimate in a confidential discussion paper seen by POLITICO. But, as has become common since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Israel and…

Published on 13/07/2026 – 6:50 GMT+2 Firefighters were rushing to contain a fire that erupted in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest just south of Paris on Sunday. Officials described the fire as “very virulent” and of “exceptional scale” as it raced across 800 hectares and was still spreading. The spread caused the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country’s main north-south artery, officials said early on Monday. With nightfall, firefighting aircraft had been forced to suspend their operations. Around 15 homes had been evacuated in the nearby village of Vaudoue and firefighters were defending several other towns in the area,…

Fermented fish, cheese with maggots, black pudding or offal: across Europe’s kitchens there are specialities that can make even seasoned gourmets recoil at first. Yet disgust is subjective. What is seen as a time-honoured delicacy in one country raises eyebrows elsewhere – or even prompts a physical rejection. The Disgusting Food Museum in Berlin shows visitors just how narrow the line between disgust, curiosity and culinary tradition can be. The concept originated in Malmö in Sweden; the museum has also been open in Berlin since 2021. The exhibition does not just aim to shock, but to explain why people react…

EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels as a growing group of countries push the European Commission to propose restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Zoya Sheftalovich and Nick Vinocur explain why although the economic impact would be small, the legal and political stakes are far larger — and why critics accuse Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of dragging her feet. Then, Ukraine’s Coalition of the Willing gathers in Paris the same day as Kyiv urges its allies to press their advantage over Russia before the winter. And finally, von der Leyen receives expert recommendations on protecting children from…

Published on 13/07/2026 – 5:40 GMT+2 Jannik Sinner bounced back to defend his Wimbledon title with a tense four-set victory over French Open champion Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final. When Sinner ripped a forehand winner up the line on his first match point, the Italian dropped to the grass on his back in an unusually dramatic celebration for the normally low-key Italian. “This one means a lot because (it) was a tough one after Paris again,” Sinner said. “I’m proud of myself and my team, which continues to push me in the right direction.” Amid stifling heat and humidity in…

Kai Wegners plötzlicher Rückzug von der Spitzenkandidatur für die Berlin-Wahl im September erschüttert die Berliner CDU. Aus einer Debatte über ein Tennisspiel während des Blackouts wird ein Lügenskandal, der selbst das Kanzleramt zu einer Stellungnahme zwingt. Gordon Repinski analysiert, wie der Regierende Bürgermeister seine Hauptstadt-CDU ins Chaos stürzt und wie mit Stefan Evers einer übernimmt, der das eigentlich gar nicht wollte und die Situation wohl nur schwerlich retten kann. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht SPD-Spitzenkandidat Steffen Krach über die Krise des Koalitionspartners. Obwohl die SPD in den Umfragen selbst auf Platz 5 abgestürzt ist, will Krach als seriöse Alternative punkten und grenzt…

Comparatively, Bardella’s apparent ideological flexibility on matters of economic policy made him a threat to win over fiscally conservative voters from Philippe and other right-wing candidates.  A case in point is the two far-right leaders’ dueling positions on the contentious issue of retirement reform.  Le Pen officially supports lowering France’s minimum retirement age back to 62, reversing President Emmanuel Macron’s contentious 2023 reform, which set out a gradual increase to 64. Bardella, however, had opened the door to changing his party’s position over concerns about the state of France’s public finances, with debt projected to rise from 115.5 percent of economic output to 203 percent by 2050, according…