Author: staff

Published on 26/08/2026 – 7:15 GMT+2 The next tropical storm that develops in the Atlantic this hurricane season will be named Dolly, but the timing is pure coincidence and has no connection to country music star Dolly Parton’s death on Tuesday. Storm systems are named by procedures set by the World Meteorological Organisation and the lists of names are reused every six years. For the Atlantic region, the lists are alphabetical and alternate between male and female names. This season started with Tropical Storm Arthur coming ashore on the US Gulf Coast in June, and Tropical Storm Bertha dumped rain…

Gas and electricity bills could increase in Europe this winter if wholesale prices remain elevated long enough to feed through to consumers. The benchmark European wholesale natural gas price, the Dutch front-month TTF, was trading at over €66 per megawatt-hour (MWh) later on Tuesday, down from above €68 earlier in the session. This compares with around €29/MWh at the beginning of the year. The rally has been fuelled by growing investor concerns that the Strait of Hormuz could remain closed into the winter. This comes at a time when the EU’s gas-storage levels remain historically low ahead of the heating…

The summer months may soon be behind us, but who says travel also has to abruptly draw to a halt? If you ask me, the crunch of reddish-brown leaves beneath your feet, the milder climate and seasonal delicacies make autumn an ideal time to venture across Europe – not to mention fewer crowds during the shoulder season. Now, European hotspots may spring to mind as you plan your next escape, and I won’t sway your mind otherwise, but have you considered adding additional stops to your itinerary? In a survey of booking data primarily from American travellers planning trips across…

Der vereitelte Drohnen-Anschlag am Flughafen offenbart gravierende Lücken in der deutschen Sicherheitsarchitektur. Rixa Fürsen analysiert, wie Kanzler Friedrich Merz reagieren will. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview fordert der Vorsitzende des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremiums, Marc Henrichmann, eine rasche Reform. Die geplante Zuckersteuer könnte für Verbraucher drastische Folgen haben. Anton Diekhoff von ⁠POLITICO PRO „Gesundheit am Morgen“ ⁠erklärt, warum auch zuckerfreie Alternativen wie Cola Zero, alkoholfreies Bier oder Hafermilch künftig besteuert werden sollen. Offenbar geht es dabei weniger um Gesundheitsförderung als um das Stopfen von Haushaltslöchern. Felix Banaszak steuert im Wahlkampfendspurt in Ostdeutschland und Berlin selbst ein Taxi. Maximilian Stascheit ist eingestiegen und hat ihn gefragt,…

France and Germany are clashing over how far the EU should go to protect European industry — with Paris pushing stronger “Made in Europe” rules and Berlin warning against provoking new trade fights. Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart look at what that battle says about Europe’s struggle to go green, stay competitive and keep its markets open at the same time. Then, Brussels is rattled by another wave of shootings. We look at the drug trade behind much of the violence, the Antwerp connection, and the political fight over whether the capital has enough police resources — or whether Belgium’s…

Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers met in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss a phased approach to managing ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a criticial waterway that remains effectively closed since the war in Iran started in February. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi “discussed a phased framework that could provide a practical and implementable basis for moving forward,” a joint statement said. The proposed framework includes a “joint temporary navigational corridor” through the strait and a mine-clearing project in the waterway. Further negotiations will establish a “permanent navigational corridor and future administration of…

“Kemi is popular. We are trying to promote the rest of the shadow Cabinet to make sure that popularity rubs off on the rest of the party,” said one Badenoch staffer, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. So far, it hasn’t worked. “Badenoch’s success has still failed to translate into any meaningful movement in the polls for her party,” said Scarlett Maguire, founder of independent polling firm Merlin Strategy. “The Conservatives’ mediocre polling numbers, still worse than when they lost the 2024 election, shows the extent to which they have lost trust in their…

MPs return to Parliament next week after the summer break, and Burnham’s government will need to decide how the ban — which is supposed to come into effect in spring — will work.   Australia Australia was the first country in the world to introduce a social media ban for kids in December last year. Last month, the Australian government published its first wave of findings on the experiences of more than 4,000 children and families since the ban took effect.    The numbers do not show a huge drop in kids accessing social media. The proportion of under-16s holding…

France and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on Monday regarding a €6 billion investment to create three theme parks some 30 kilometres north-west of Paris, the French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made the announcement during a two-day visit to France, Macron’s office added, in what the French president dubbed an “unprecedented” project. “22,000 jobs created. Unseen since Disneyland Paris. A new global destination”, Macron wrote on X, thanking Saudi Arabia and Qiddiya, one of the many subsidiaries of the country’s Public Investment Fund, “for their confidence in our country, in our talents and in…

“[T]he GDPR has strangled small businesses and tech firms alike in a web of unnecessary regulation … Ten years after the Brexit referendum we should not still be following ridiculous EU privacy laws that hurt British businesses,” Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick said in a statement.   The EU GDPR provides for a wider set of individual rights around personal data (including the “right to be forgotten”) than New Zealand’s Privacy Act does. However, Reform UK stressed in its press release that following the New Zealand model would preserve the U.K.’s EU data adequacy status, meaning personal data would still…