Author: staff

Padel is no longer just one of the world’s fastest-growth sports – it has also become one of travel’s fastest-growing trends. According to the International Padel Federation’s 2025 report, the racquet sport now counts more than 35 million players worldwide, with courts increasing by more than 15% in a single year and surpassing 77,000 globally. Europe sits at the centre of this boom, accounting for more than 60% of participation and roughly two-thirds of all courts worldwide. Looking to capitalise on this growing trend, hotels and resorts around the world are adding padel courts as headline amenities, while destinations are…

Published on 18/04/2026 – 7:14 GMT+2 Determined to disrupt, Hublot want to make it crystal clear to any doubters that they are a force to be reckoned with. With only 45-years of high-end watchmaking experience, the Swiss brand is relatively young compared to many of its rivals but it’s by no means overawed. It counts some of the world’s most popular sports stars among its roster of ambassadors and their, albeit, paid goodwill goes a long way to help the young brand punch well above its weight. Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic medalist, Usain Bolt, is one of Hublot’s main attractions when…

Anthropic’s recent financial trajectory has stunned market observers, with venture capital offers now placing the firm’s value at $800 billion (€678.3bn), on par with its main rival OpenAI. According to various reports, the company has seen its private valuation more than double in a matter of months, supported by a revenue run-rate that has reportedly climbed to $30 billion (€25.4bn). As the San Francisco-based AI developer prepares for a potential IPO, rumoured to happen as early as next autumn, it finds itself at the centre of an industry-wide debate regarding the balance between rapid growth and responsible scaling. The company’s…

Gordon Repinski spaziert mit Forschungsministerin Dorothee Bär (CSU) durch das Berliner Regierungsviertel. Zwischen Ministeriumsbalkon und Charité erklärt Bär ihre Agenda: von Milliarden für die Kernfusion bis hin zum ersten Europäer mit deutscher Flagge auf dem Mond. Im Gespräch geht es unter anderem auch darum, wie die Ministerin den Gender Data Gap in der Medizin schließen will und warum die europäische KI-Souveränität für sie Priorität hat. Dazu gibt Bär persönliche Einblicke in ihr bayerisches Machtbewusstsein, klärt Söder-Zitate auf und verrät, warum ihr Puls beim FC Bayern auf 130 steigt. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr.…

“There is a clear preference on the U.S. side to stick to the deal as we agreed it. And it’s also their preference on our side,” Šefčovič said. In D.C. patience with the EU’s slowness in enacting the deal has worn thin. The commissioner only this week began negotiations with EU capitals and lawmakers to find a compromise on implementing the EU’s side of the bargain, under which the bloc would scrap all tariffs on U.S. industrial goods. The European Parliament has proposed several amendments to the two legal texts that would lower the U.S. tariffs: It added a so-called…

But the EU doesn’t agree. “There have been some reports in these two previous days suggesting Europe could be close to running out of jet fuel. That is not an accurate reflection of the situation,” Tzitzikostas said during a press conference in Nicosia. Some European airlines like Lufthansa, KLM and SAS have cut back on flights, while ticket prices are rising in response to the fuel price surge. Airlines “have chosen in these past days to cancel some of their lines because they were already not profitable,” Tzitzikostas said. Even if Iran’s Friday announcement restores normal shipping out of the…

But the exact details of a potential international mission remain sketchy. After the meeting in Paris on Friday, which included leaders from more than two dozen countries via videoconference, Meloni offered to deploy Italian frigates to the region. Germany on Thursday said it would contribute minesweepers. “It’s going in the right direction, even if the opening of Hormuz is conditional to coordination by the Iranian authorities and the United States has said it is going to maintain a targeted blockade,” Macron said. “Recent developments are encouraging but we must take them with caution,” the French leader added. But Europeans are…

Ribera, who as executive vice president ranks second to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, enforces antitrust policy across the 27-nation bloc. Her comments contrast with her boss’ calls to nurture European business “champions” that can hold their own against China’s world-beating exporters and U.S. tech titans. The Spanish commissioner said that the industrial restructuring of sectors like telecoms was impeded by the fragmentation of national markets, and not the bloc’s merger rules. “It needs to be proven that there are benefits we will be enjoying in the time to come. And not just: I want to be big,” she…

European leaders announced on Friday that they were accelerating plans for a neutral, defensive multinational mission to secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, even after Iran said earlier that the waterway had been fully reopened to maritime traffic for the remainder of the ceasefire due to expire on 22 April. Co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Paris meeting brought together 49 countries, mostly by video conference, to discuss a future defensive operation aimed at securing freedom of navigation once conditions allow. The United States was not part of the initiative, which France…

When US Vice President JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, he chose Saint Augustine as his patron. On Tuesday, speaking at a Turning Point USA event, Vance invoked the tradition of the fifth-century theologian and one of the most important Church fathers to push back against Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of the war in Iran. The White House number two warned the pontiff to “be careful when he talks about matters of theology” and citing “more than a 1,000-year tradition of just war theory” in his defence. Meanwhile, the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church was in the Algerian…