Author: staff
By Frances Lopez & Video by Maud Zaba Published on 04/09/2026 – 12:03 GMT+2 For millions of families across Europe, the monthly budget is tight. Essential goods like food, housing, energy, and transport consume roughly 46% of every euro spent by EU households, forming the non-negotiable baseline required to cover daily survival, commuting, and utilities. With eurozone inflation sitting at a three-year high of 3.3% and energy costs jumping 14.3%, fresh Eurostat numbers show a strange counter-trend. Instead of shutting their wallets completely, people are quietly shaving pennies off their daily routines so they can still afford a normal and enjoyable life. While…
Published on 04/09/2026 – 8:08 GMT+2 Two sailors from a US aircraft carrier making a port call to Thailand were sent back to the ship after a drunken altercation, Thai police said on Friday. Police were alerted to a “small scuffle” involving the sailors in the early hours of Thursday near Pattaya’s nightlife hotspot Walking Street, city police chief Colonel Anek Srathongyoo told the AFP news agency. “The sailors were drunk and they were fighting, making loud noise,” he said. He described the incident as “trivial” and said local residents had only called police to prevent it from escalating. The…
Greek marine fisheries produced 42,100.8 tonnes of fishery products in 2025, worth €166.62 million, according to data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). The fishing fleet consisted of 11,399 motorised vessels, the overwhelming majority of which (10,949) used other inshore fishing gear. Boats using large nets to surround schools of fish, called purse seiners, caught more than half of the total volume, 21,667.5 tonnes, but they accounted for only 28.9% of the total value. By contrast, vessels using other inshore fishing gear accounted for only 23% of the volume but generated the largest share of its value, at 38.3%, or…
Published on 04/09/2026 – 11:15 GMT+2 The White House wants Americans to know it can have fun too, and this week it decided a deportation-centred video game was the way to do it. The Trump administration launched Arcade, a section of its official website featuring five low-resolution games modelled on classic titles, each one repackaging a different plank of the president’s agenda as a bit of pixelated fun. The most contentious of the five is Rio Run, a reworking of the classic mobile game Snake. It features a digital version of Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, chasing migrants depicted…
Nobel prize winners get prestige, a gold medal, and a little over a million dollars. Ig Nobel prize winners don’t get such sublime considerations. They do get acclaim, but instead of all the Nobel perks, they are instead showered with paper planes and 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. The snag is that the currency cratered years ago, so 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars is worth next to nothing. Still, last year’s winners went home with a single packaged moist towelette, so swings and roundabouts… Plus, this year’s winners were given a statuette representing a slab of blue cheese trampled on by a…
And yet, some drug dealers have been making ecstasy tablets shaped like the face of the U.S. president (if he were playing the role of an alien in a very early episode of Star Trek. Never mind Breaking Bad, this is Breaking Bad Design). Anyway, a Dutch drug institute has warned that the pills are potentially lethal and should not be taken “under any circumstances.” Of course, Trump famously doesn’t drink, let alone take drugs. His body is a temple (albeit a temple that’s been turned into a McDonald’s). As political leaders change, so does the branding drug dealers use.…
Published on 04/09/2026 – 10:42 GMT+2 Frontloading parts of the EU support loan would not be a ‘silver bullet’ for Ukraine’s budgetary needs, Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov said on the margins of a ministerial meeting on Friday. “We are talking to both the EU and other partners to cover the gap, first of all for our defence needs this year, but also looking at the 2027 financial strategy,” Ukraine’s Deputy PM for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration told reporters. The remarks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that Kyiv is facing a massive €23 billion funding gap,…
Nepal Army handout images show the rescue of two hydropower workers who survived for nine days inside a tunnel buried by mud and debris after devastating floods swept through the country’s Trishuli Valley. The workers, identified as Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan, were found about 170 metres inside the Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa district. Rescuers heard voices before reaching them and brought both men out alive on Friday. They were taken to hospital for treatment. The rescue offers fresh hope for others still missing from hydropower sites. Hundreds of workers are believed to remain trapped in tunnels blocked…
Washington says it has a new partner in its financial war on Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Friday that the EU had “officially joined” Operation Economic Outcast, the aptly named American sanctions effort to cut Iran out of the international banking system, praising the bloc for moving early. The European Commission’s statement Bessent refers to, published on Monday, however, welcomes the US campaign without formally committing the EU to it. “We appreciate their strong and early stance,” the US Treasury Secretary wrote, framing the development as proof that international pressure on Iran is mounting. Bessent added that…
Published on 04/09/2026 – 9:50 GMT+2 Tennis star Nick Kyrgios has accepted a one-month ban and entered into a treatment programme following a positive cocaine test earlier this year. The Australian was provisionally suspended on 4 August, meaning he is eligible to return to competition from Friday, subject to completing the programme. Kyrgios, 31, had tested positive for the drug, which is classified as a stimulant on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list, in June, at an ATP Tour event in Mallorca. He later admitted to having made a “huge mistake” and took “full responsibility” for his actions, adding that…