Author: staff
By Doloresz Katanich with AFP Published on 10/04/2026 – 14:52 GMT+2•Updated 15:03 French energy giant TotalEnergies said Friday that it had shut down a major refinery on the eastern Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia after it was damaged during the Iran war. The move follows earlier or ongoing shutdowns of production in Qatar, Iraq and offshore UAE fields, representing about 15% of the company’s total output. The decision to close the refinery comes after the Saudi energy ministry said on Thursday that there had been “multiple attacks” on its oil and gas sites, including the SATORP refinery, a joint venture owned by TotalEnergies…
Banning kids from social media won’t “actually solve the problems” and “kids will find very quickly the ways to go around and to still use social media,” the Estonian minister said. “The way to approach this, to me, is not to make kids responsible for that harm [stemming from social media platforms] and start self-regulating,” said Kallas, speaking at POLITICO’s European Pulse Forum in Barcelona. The “responsibility is on the governments and on the corporation side,” she said. “Europe pretends to be weak when it comes to big American and international corporations,” but that’s a “pretense,” Kallas said. She called…
Ribera’s comments come as Brussels prepares for a formal review of the DMA to determine what is working and where the law may need to be reformed. The regulation aims to prevent “gatekeeper” firms, including Apple, Alphabet and Meta, from using their dominant positions to stifle competition from smaller players. The EU’s top antitrust official pushed back against criticism that enforcement has been too slow, arguing that the “rule of law” requires a methodical approach based on evidence and due process. The Commission has faced criticism for the speed of its investigation into Google’s search page setup from civil society…
An Israeli restaurant in Munich was targeted in a suspected antisemitic attack overnight on Friday, with police looking into the unidentified perpetrators and their motive, authorities said. Witnesses reported hearing three loud bangs around 0:45 am local time. According to police, unknown individuals threw pyrotechnic devices into the dining area of the Eclipse restaurant. The exact type of device is still being examined by forensic experts. The suspected arson attack caused several thousand euros in damage. No one was injured as the premises were empty at the time of the incident. Two front windows were broken, and a third was…
Published on 10/04/2026 – 15:06 GMT+2•Updated 15:27 The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures confirm that US inflation picked up pace last month, with the headline rate jumping from 2.4% in February to 3.3% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.9%, in line with forecasts and marking the largest such gain since 2022. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, advanced more modestly to 2.6% year-on-year from 2.5%, while monthly core prices rose 0.2%. The figures, which exceeded economists’ expectations in some areas but were also below certain forecasts, highlight the…
While many airports across the globe are served by excellent public transport, we’re not ashamed to admit that sometimes after a long flight the last thing we want to do is attempt to navigate it. Negotiating a fare with a taxi driver or working out which ride hailing service works in a destination (Uber? Yandex? Careem?) isn’t ideal when you’re tired either. Thankfully, short-term accommodation giant Airbnb is taking away some of that hassle by launching private airport taxi services in 125 cities across Europe, Asia and Latin America. Travellers can now make advance ride bookings through the Airbnb app…
“We will not take part in further meetings with [Frederiksen] unless she takes that request seriously,” said Rasmussen, as he called for center-right parties to be brought into government talks after two weeks spent negotiating with left-wing parties yielded scant results. Known as the kingmaker, Rasmussen wants Frederiksen to put the idea of a center-left government “on pause” and sit down with Troels Lund Poulsen, leader of the center-right Venstre party, who ran against her for prime minister after serving as deputy PM in the outgoing coalition government. Poulsen reached out to Rasmussen on Friday to consider the possibility of…
Poland sees hundreds of volunteers in Otrębusy near Warsaw take to the streets each spring to help frogs and toads cross a busy road during migration season. Wearing reflective vests and using buckets, residents patrol in the evenings, especially after rain, to move amphibians safely to nearby marshes. The effort matters as a road built in the past decade cuts across a traditional route, putting breeding populations at risk. The local “Frog Patrol”, active for three years, meets regularly from March to April and says it has saved about 18,000 amphibians. Biologists from Warsaw’s SGGW University warn that road deaths…
On Friday Zelenskyy explained the defense deals in a briefing to journalists. “We have arranged ten-year agreements with three countries,” he said, adding that in return for its combat expertise, Kyiv would receive missile interceptors, financial assistance, and most importantly, supplies of oil and diesel. “In some cases, we receive crude oil that will be delivered to refineries in Europe for processing,” said Zelenskyy. “In others, we are talking about finished products — diesel.” Kyiv is facing a massive fuel shortage, owing to Russia’s persistent targeting of fuel depots and the danger of keeping massive quantities of fuel in a…
Published on 10/04/2026 – 13:29 GMT+2 An Italian arms dealer is being held in jail after pleading guilty to illegally exporting more than $540,000 (€461,000) worth of US ammunition to Russia via Kyrgyzstan, using Italian companies to circumvent export controls, the US Department of Justice revealed. Manfred Gruber, a sales manager at a large Italian firearms distributor, appeared before US Magistrate Judge Taryn A Merkl for the Eastern District of New York on 30 March and admitted to conspiracy to commit export control violations. Prosecutors said Gruber purchased ammunition from US suppliers and re-exported it from Italy to Kyrgyzstan in…