Author: staff
The United States takes its turn chairing the G20 finance track this week under distinctly awkward conditions. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh are hosting counterparts in the North Carolina mountains, following a deputies meeting held over the weekend, with the formal agenda covering economic growth, global imbalances, sovereign debt restructuring, banking regulation and energy security. Asheville was chosen deliberately. The city was devastated by Hurricane Helene in September 2024, a storm that killed more than 250 people and caused close to $80 billion (€69bn) in damage from Florida to the Carolinas, and Bessent has…
Published on 31/08/2026 – 12:15 GMT+2 The European Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine and Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms under the Digital Services Act, subjecting all three to the bloc’s strictest online safety regime. The designation will prove particularly consequential for ChatGPT because the Commission has concluded that an AI chatbot that pulls live results from the internet functions, in regulatory terms, as a search engine — not merely a platform. “These new designations mean that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox will now be held to a higher standard of scrutiny and…
Published on 31/08/2026 – 12:18 GMT+2 Planning a ferry trip between Great Britain and Ireland? You might want to check your passport before you head to the port. From 28 September 2026, passengers on some ferry routes will need to show a valid passport before boarding, bringing ferry travel in line with increasingly strict requirements already introduced by airlines. The UK Border Force, as well as ferry operators Stena Line and Irish Ferries, have informed passengers of the changes, saying the rules are coming into force to ensure the “accuracy and integrity of passenger data before boarding”. At the current…
Greece put the deal’s total value at €3.035 billion, adding that 19 Greek companies are already involved, accounting for more than €750 million of the program, with plans to build a domestic production base capable of exporting equipment. Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said Greece would become “the first country in the European Union to adopt a similar system.” The deal caps a fast-deepening security partnership between the two countries. In January, Greece and Israel agreed to expand cooperation on drone and underwater-vehicle swarms, cyber threats, military exercises and defense technology. The push feeds into Greece’s “Agenda 2030,” a sweeping military…
Italy’s government announced a 15-day extension to the suspension of the Schengen agreement with Spain after the mass influx of at least 72,000 migrants from Morocco entered the Spanish territory of Ceuta last month. According to a statement from the Interior Ministry “the government is in the process of notifying the EU of the extension, for a further 15 days, of checks at air and sea borders with Spain.” “The considerations behind the extension measure were set out by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during a constructive phone conversation,” the statement said. Border checks for…
Hundreds of Michael Jackson fans and impersonators gathered in Mexico City on Saturday to honour the King of Pop on what would have been his 68th birthday. At the “I Do Dance to Thriller 2026” event in the Mexican capital, participants performed the song’s famous choreography after weeks of rehearsals. Jackson impersonators also took to the stage, while fans arrived dressed as the singer or as zombies inspired by the iconic music video. The gathering brought together longtime admirers to celebrate Jackson’s music and lasting influence.
On 28 August, the MTG-I2 (Meteosat Third Generation Imager-2) satellite lifted off from Europes Spaceport in Kourou aboard an Ariane 6 rocket, on the launchers ninth mission and its first flight to a geostationary transfer orbit. With this launch, ESA and Eumetsat complete the first operational trio in the Meteosat Third Generation constellation, positioned 36,000 kilometres above the equator to keep constant watch over the weather in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. To understand what is really changing with this satellite, we spoke to someone who has spent decades interpreting satellite images in his daily work: Panos Giannopoulos, a…
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Stubb in Helsinki on July 5, with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and European security among the issues discussed. China remains one of Moscow’s most important economic and diplomatic partners. Stubb also argued that Moscow benefits from keeping Europeans fixated on the prospect of nuclear escalation or a direct attack on NATO. “Russia wants us Europeans to sit here and discuss: Will Russia escalate? Will Russia use nuclear weapons? Will Russia attack NATO and Europe?” the Finnish leader said. His prescription was characteristically restrained: “Stay calm, stay cool, stay collected, stay vigilant. Don’t dramatize,…
Published on 31/08/2026 – 11:08 GMT+2•Updated 11:26 On 29 August, 52.8 percent of Icelanders voted “No” in a referendum on resuming membership talks to join the European Union. The EU had already opened accession negotiations in 2010, but Reykjavik dropped them in 2015 following a change of government. For the EU, Iceland’s membership was about whether the EU could still attract a wealthy, stable democracy that chooses to join for reasons beyond seeking financial and economic stability. With Russia’s war destabilising Europe, weakening ties with Washington, and the conflict in the Middle East, the EU views enlargement as vital to…
Published on 31/08/2026 – 10:25 GMT+2 Countries are legally obliged to provide broad reparations for harms resulting from both direct and indirect involvement in the transatlantic African slave trade, a United Nations committee said on Monday. Issuing a fresh interpretation of an important international rights treaty, the UN watchdog said the accord obliges countries to work to redress the harms caused by slavery and the continuing consequences. “States parties must implement comprehensive reparatory measures for people of African descent, covering all aspects of remedies,” the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said in its findings, presented in…