Author: staff
Published on 10/09/2026 – 10:31 GMT+2•Updated 14:13 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane was preparing to leave Chișinău for Oslo on Tuesday afternoon when Moldova’s military detected an unmanned aerial vehicle in the country’s airspace. What initially appeared to be another Russian drone incursion took on greater significance the following day, when Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre revealed that Zelenskyy’s plane had almost been hit by a drone. “His flight was almost hit by a drone when it was taking off from Moldova. That is the reality he lives in,” Støre told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. The timeline shows how…
Syrian travellers crossing into Lebanon pay up to 60 times the official entry fee to brokers, fixers and travel agencies behind a profitable parallel market around Lebanese border procedures that have tightened sharply since Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December 2024. A driver working the Damascus-Beirut route, speaking to Euronews on condition of anonymity for security reasons, described a system in which travel agencies in the Syrian capital, paperwork fixers at the crossing and partners in Beirut sell packaged entry solutions to Syrians who cannot navigate the official process alone. Lebanon’s General Security Directorate charges up to $75 in official fees.…
Uzbekistan and Serbia signed a strategic partnership declaration in Belgrade on Tuesday, with the two countries’ presidents agreeing 20 bilateral agreements covering trade, transport, energy, digitalisation and labour mobility during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s first official visit to Serbia. Mirziyoyev and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić held talks before attending a business forum that brought together more than 200 government and business representatives from both countries, where they signed further commercial agreements. “Serbia and Uzbekistan are two countries separated by thousands of kilometres, yet they are close in spirit, sharing a deep appreciation for hospitality, honour and mutual respect. Today,…
The phrase “bucket list” is bandied about a lot in travel writing, but Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni absolutely deserves its place alongside heavyweights like Machu Picchu or the Pyramids of Giza. Covering more than 10,500 square kilometres, the world’s largest salt flat transforms into a gigantic mirror during the wet season (December to April) – although it’s well-worth visiting year-round to see the criss-cross salt formations. If you’ve been planning a trip, you might want to hang fire for just a little longer as a new boutique camp is set to open on the flats in late 2027. Featuring five…
Adult activity books, which combine puzzles with pop culture and mysteries to solve, have become a publishing phenomenon. Murdoku, with more than 140,000 copies sold in Spain, is leading a booming genre that many associate with digital detox. It used to be the newsstand crossword, the one you took on the metro or to the dentist’s waiting room. Now it’s a purple-covered notebook with the outline of a house drawn as a sudoku grid, or a hardback packed with questions about Rosalía and Netflix series. Adult activity books, the latest mutation of the classic puzzle book, have become a publishing…
One day before the influx, Spain’s National Intelligence Service warned the Civil Guard and the Government Delegation in Ceuta — the office representing the Sánchez government in the city — that it had detected messages calling for a mass crossing the following day. “There is a call on social media for an assault by fence and sea tomorrow,” an intelligence agent wrote in a WhatsApp message to the delegation’s chief of staff, adding that the groups discussing the surge had 180,000 followers. Hours later, the intelligence service sent an urgent message to its Moroccan counterparts warning of the planned incursion…
The investigation into the sudden death of Giorgos Mazonakis, one of the most popular Greek singers of the past three decades, is at the centre of public debate in Greece and Cyprus. The death of the 54-year-old artist remains the leading story in the news in both countries, where Mazonakis enjoyed huge popularity, while media outlets across the Balkans are also following the case. Attention has now shifted to the circumstances that preceded his death. Giorgos Mazonakis had gone to a private medical practice in central Athens for a scheduled plasmapheresis, a specialised therapeutic procedure to remove blood plasma, before…
Yemen’s Houthis seized control of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday and were advancing towards the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a Yemeni military source said. Witnesses said they saw Houthi forces entering the city while chanting “death to America, death to Israel”. The city which has been held by Yemen’s internationally recognised government has been under sustained attack since early August, when more than 25 missiles struck it in a matter of days and forced port operations to halt. The Yemeni government is yet to publicly confirm Mokha has fallen. The same military source said the Houthis…
Frankfurt has tightened again. The European Central Bank’s governing council lifted the deposit facility rate from 2.25% to 2.5% on Thursday. It is the second hike since 11 June, when the ECB moved for the first time in three years. The ECB sets monetary policy for the eurozone through three key interest rates, with the deposit facility rate serving as its main policy benchmark. The main refinancing rate was lifted to 2.65% and the marginal lending facility to 2.9%. In its statement, the central bank noted that “the conflict in the Middle East continues to generate inflation pressures, and inflation…
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo has hinted that this year could be his last as a professional footballer, bringing to a close to one of the most successful careers in the history of the sport. In an interview with Vogue magazine that was largely about his wedding, Ronaldo said “this is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,” adding that his future after football was “all mapped out”. “I have so many things to keep me busy that to tell you just one thing is hard,” he said, listing travel and padel among…