Author: staff

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…

From plastic that pollutes water to a tool that helps clean it up. Researchers at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM), part of the CSIC, have developed flower-shaped iron oxide nanoparticles capable of capturing nanoplastics, fragments a thousand times smaller than a microplastic, originating from PET, one of the most common materials in bottles, packaging and polyester clothing. The study has been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. The secret lies in the shape. “Iron oxide is a magnetic material that makes it possible to trap many pollutants at once. On top of that, its nanoflower structure means…

Berlusconi’s extraordinary endurance rested on his ability to survive electoral defeats, collapsed governments, criminal trials and repeated predictions of his political death. His wealth, television empire and a party constructed around himself gave him resources independent of his popularity at any particular moment. Meloni lacks those tycoon-style advantages, but she is still only 49 years old, tops the polls and is planning an electoral reform that could make it easier for her to keep her grip on power. Nearly four years after taking office, she towers over her coalition partners without an obvious challenger on the right. Italo Bocchino, a…

Published on 04/09/2026 – 9:21 GMT+2•Updated 9:39 Ukraine’s finance minister has warned that the country may have to cut non-military spending unless it can secure funding from its allies, as he urged European ministers to “think outside the box” as Kyiv faces another winter of Russian escalation. Sergii Marchenko, who has overseen the country’s finances since 2020, told Euronews Ukraine had not faced such a tight budget situation since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. With the focus on military spending and weapons procurement, other areas of the budget could be affected and disbursements delayed unless a solution…