Author: staff
A Russian drone strike struck Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa overnight into Friday for a second consecutive night, causing a fire to break out and damaging energy and port infrastructure. “Air strikes caused new damage to energy and port infrastructure facilities. Fires broke out, administrative buildings, equipment, and machinery were damaged,” Regional Governor Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram. No injuries or fatalities were recorded, according to Serhii Lysak, head of the regional military administration, who said emergency services were on the ground. “Power engineers are working to restore power supply to Odesa residents’ homes,” Lysak wrote on Telegram. The…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the near future.“Rustem Umerov [head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council] reported on his latest contacts with the American side. We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level — with President Trump in the near future. A lot can be decided before the New Year. Glory to Ukraine!” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.Zelenskyy’s announcement came after Thursday talks with U.S. lead negotiator Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, which the Ukrainian…
By Euronews Published on 26/12/2025 – 10:59 GMT+1 Israel conducted airstrikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Friday, including a training site used by the militant group’s elite Radwan Force, the Israeli military said. The strikes targeted a site used for training operatives, conducting live-fire drills and planning attacks against Israeli forces and civilians, according to the IDF. Israel also struck several Hezbollah weapons depots, infrastructure and military buildings used to “advance terror plots against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” the military said. Lebanese media reported strikes concentrated in the northeastern Hermel region. Casualties were not immediately known. The…
Bulgaria is set to adopt the EU’s single currency on Jan. 1, but polling shows the Balkan nation is sharply divided on whether it’s a good thing. POLITICO spoke to some Bulgarians about their fears and hopes, as they say goodbye to their national currency, the lev. Their comments have been edited for length. Anton Teofilov, 73 Vendor at the open-air market in Pernik, a small city 100 kilometers from Sofia What do you think about Bulgaria joining the eurozone? We are a different generation, but we support the euro. We’ll benefit hugely from joining the eurozone. It will make…
Brave winter swimmers gathered at Oranke Lake in Berlin on Christmas Day for a holiday tradition that mixes cheer with cold resolve. Dressed in Santa hats and festive costumes, the group walked together toward the water as onlookers watched from the frozen shore. The lake temperature stood at 1.5 degrees Celsius, but the greater test came from the air. Outside temperatures dropped to minus eight, making the moments before and after the swim the hardest part of the ritual. After the plunge, swimmers gathered on the bank to warm up, share laughter and sing Christmas carols. For many, the cold…
2025 has been a pretty iconic year for travel, with trends like experience-driven holidays and nostalgia tourism taking off. More people are also using artificial intelligence tools to book trips and streamline their planning. Wellness, adventure and nature travel saw a renewed boom globally as well, with more focus on sustainable tourism and places with raw natural beauty. Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards 2025 has highlighted the top destinations of the year in its Best of the Best Destinations ranking. It looks at the places which have received a high volume of outstanding reviews from the TripAdvisor community in the last…
Welcome to a special year-end edition of Declassified, a humor column Thanks for nothing, 2025. It was a burning dumpster fire of a year and one in which most of us wished we were either Suni Williams or Butch Wilmore. Williams and Wilmore were astronauts who were supposed to be in space for around 10 days but ended up staying for nearly 10 months, thus not getting back to Earth until March this year and missing almost three months of the misery. “Welcome back, guys. There’s good news and bad news: the good news is you’re home safe and sound;…
The US carried out “powerful and deadly” strikes on Thursday against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria, US President Donald Trump announced. The attack marked a major escalation in an offensive that Nigeria’s overstretched military has struggled with for years, as it is battling multiple armed groups. Trump described the militants as “terrorist scum,” accusing the group of “viciously targeting and killing mostly innocent Christians”. Trump said the US military “executed numerous perfect strikes”, while the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) later said Thursday’s attack was a joint operation, part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two…
Updated: 26/12/2025 – 7:00 GMT+1 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this December 26th, 2025 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More
Every animal with a brain needs sleep – and even a few without a brain do, too. Humans sleep, birds sleep, whales sleep and even jellyfish sleep. Sleep is universal “even though it’s actually very risky”, says Paul-Antoine Libourel, a researcher at the Neuroscience Research Center of Lyon in France. When animals nod off, they’re most vulnerable to sneaky predators. But despite the risks, the need for sleep is so strong that no creature can skip it altogether, even when it’s highly inconvenient. Animals that navigate extreme conditions and environments have evolved to sleep in extreme ways – for example,…