Author: staff
Published on 19/08/2026 – 9:49 GMT+2 Meta could be collecting the most user data among Big Tech companies, according to new research by Surfshark, which analysed 171 Apple App Store apps made by Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Meta. Surfshark analysed apps based on 35 unique data categories, including browsing history, precise location, purchase data and more. The study highlighted that Meta was collecting the highest average number of data types, at 25 out of a possible 35. This was more than three times as much user data on average than other tech companies such as Microsoft and Apple. Seven…
The election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt is in full swing. Posters are up across the federal state, and on social media the topic dominates like scarcely any other. Initiatives such as “Taktisch Wählen” are now calling on people to adjust how they vote in order to prevent a possible AfD-led government. The organisers want voters to back parties such as the SPD and the Greens so that, despite weak polling figures, they still make it into the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. The campaigners argue that “the SPD and the Greens are currently particularly close to the 5% threshold. If one or…
Buying a house on the most expensive street in Portugal costs, in median terms, 4.35 million euros. Rua das Faias in Cascais tops the ranking of the country’s most exclusive addresses, according to an analysis (source in Portuguese) by property portal Idealista released this week. The luxury property market is concentrated mainly along the Cascais-Estoril axis. Three of the five most expensive streets in Portugal are located in this area, which dominates the top of the table. Rua das Faias is closely followed by Rua das Violetas, also in Cascais, where the median asking price from owners reaches 4.3 million…
Published on 19/08/2026 – 8:33 GMT+2•Updated 8:35 “Conscious festivals” are places where people come together to reconnect with themselves, nature and others, while exploring new ways of understanding the body and mind. At Medicine, the list of activities is almost endless. There are sessions exploring movement, gender, sexuality and personal growth. The festival draws, among others, practitioners of alternative therapies from all over the world, eager to share their knowledge and explore new approaches. Mylène comes from Strasbourg and is a yoga and kinesiology practitioner. Kinesiology is an alternative practice that claims to use the body’s muscular responses to identify…
Published on 19/08/2026 – 8:16 GMT+2•Updated 8:21 Firefighters managed overnight to fully surround Belgium’s largest wildfire in a century, but the situation on the ground “remains complicated” with several flare-ups overnight, authorities said on Wednesday. Crisis cell spokesperson Tony Hosmans said the fire raging in the High Fens nature reserve “has been encircled” and is not moving towards Germany, with the goal to bring it under control “if possible with aerial support.” “The situation remains complicated due to a number of flare-ups that have occurred in various parts of the site,” he added. Firefighters launched the decisive push to encircle…
Global food prices are expected to increase by 11.8% this year and by 4.8% in 2027, with the most severe impact expected to be on crops — grains, fruit and vegetables — and dairy, according to Oxford Economics. This comes as Europe’s extreme heat and drought have damaged crops, while farmers are also facing high energy and fertiliser prices, compounded by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Following Europe’s heatwave, Coceral, the Brussels-based European cereals and oilseeds trade association, issued an extraordinary update in July, cutting its forecast for the combined EU-27 and UK grain harvest from 295.5…
As life gets ever busier, many of us are hunting for holidays where we can really get away from it all. Research shows that searches for “quiet destinations” are up 1,268% year on year and the trend has even been given a name: “quietcation”. Now, BookRetreats.com, a leading retreat booking site, has released its Unspoilt Index, which used insight from silence researcher, author and psychology professor Olga V. Lehmann as well as satellite and mapping data for 100 islands across the globe to find where is still quiet. The index looked at the European Environment Agency’s benchmark for a quiet…
The European Union’s push to build a more integrated electricity grid is running into an increasingly familiar obstacle — geopolitics. The Great Sea Interconnector, a €1.9 billion project designed to link the electricity networks of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, has suffered repeated delays as maritime disputes in the eastern Mediterranean complicate work on the politically sensitive sections of the route. For Brussels, the stakes go beyond a single infrastructure project as the roughly 1,200-kilometre subsea cable would end Cyprus’s status as the EU’s only member state without an electricity interconnection to the bloc’s wider grid. The project would also strengthen…
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Published on 19/08/2026 – 5:59 GMT+2 The South Korean and US militaries have agreed to shorten their drills at the Washington’s request, according to officialss in Seoul, a move that likely reflected President Donald Trump’s hopes to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but could undermine US-South Korean defence readiness. Earlier in the week, Trump had ordered his Pentagon chief to “substantially reduce” the allies’ summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, just before they began on Monday. Trump cited what he said was a “very good relationship” with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to join the US war against…