Author: staff

International tourist arrivals in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries rocketed by an estimated 3.4% in 2025 to reach a record 847 million. However, as geopolitical tensions, shifting traveller behaviour and extreme weather-related events continue to shape the tourism landscape, destinations will need to strengthen their ability to anticipate and adapt to uncertainty, according to a new report. Here’s how visitors might see destinations changing their approach to tourism in the future. Which countries saw record tourist arrivals in 2025? The recently released report, OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026, found that one-third of OECD countries expect tourism…

Bruno Le Maire : “Une campagne, c’est tripal, c’est pas cérébral.” – POLITICO Skip to main content

“The security of the Baltic states is also Germany’s security,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said as he welcomed the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Berlin. He was referring to a plaque on Vilnius Town Hall which reads: “The security of Lithuania is our security. The defence of Vilnius is the defence of Berlin.” The quote comes from a speech he delivered at the formation ceremony of the 45th Armoured Brigade in Lithuania in May last year. Preparations for next week’s NATO summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara, were high on the agenda. At a joint press conference, Merz…

Published on 03/07/2026 – 15:59 GMT+2 A speeding, overcrowded passenger bus plunged from a highway into a rocky ravine in southwestern Pakistan early on Friday, killing 40 people and injuring eight others in one of the deadliest road accidents in recent years, officials said. The bus went out of control and fell into the ravine in Dana Sar, a remote area near the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, said. He said the bus was carrying not only its own passengers but also passengers from another bus that had broken down,…

The England football team and their fans haven’t had the greatest of runs when it comes to World Cup anthems. Some fell into the false advertising bordering on over-confidence category, like 1986’s ‘We’ve Got The Whole World At Our Feet’ or 2002’s ‘We’re On The Ball’. Some were embarrassing covers like ‘Come On England’ to the sound of Dexys Midnight Runners’ ‘Come On Eileen’, or the dire reworking of Tears For Fears’ hit ‘Shout’. Then came the summer of 1998, when two footie anthems battled it out in the charts. In one corner was ‘3 Lions ‘98’ by Lightnings Seeds…

NATO allies, with the exception of Spain, agreed at last year’s summit in The Hague to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035. Yet with most European countries currently spending far below that level and grappling with fiscal constraints, it remains unclear how many will meet the target. The Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are among Europe’s biggest defense spenders relative to economic output. Their leaders met with Merz in Berlin to coordinate positions ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Ankara. A key priority for European leaders at that summit will be convincing U.S. President…

Published on 03/07/2026 – 16:07 GMT+2 EU member states agreed on Friday to sanction six Russian nationals linked to the chemical substance suspected of killing Russian dissident Alexei Navalny during his detention in a penal colony. Those targeted are scientists and researchers involved in Russia’s military chemical weapons programme, most notably in the development of epibatidine, traces of which were found on Navalny’s body after his death in February 2024. Navalny was Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and anti-corruption activist. He was arrested in 2021 on fraud charges after returning to Russia following a failed poisoning attempt in 2020; further…

Humanoid robots chase the ball, score goals and occasionally tumble during football matches at RoboCup in Incheon, South Korea. Footage shows several games unfolding simultaneously on compact pitches as the robots pass, kick and defend with increasing precision. The tournament brings together teams developing robots capable of playing football with limited human intervention. Although their movements remain slower and less fluid than those of professional players, visitors say the technology is more advanced than they expected. RoboCup is widely seen as a testing ground for robotics research, where engineers refine balance, vision and decision-making through competitive matches.

Tango is one of the world’s most recognisable dances – a universal expression of love, passion and intensity. But it perhaps isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you picture a city like Baku in Azerbaijan, a country renowned for its intricate carpet weaving, medieval architecture and traditional dances like Yalli and Asma Kasma. At first glance, the two are an unlikely pairing: Tango was born in the port districts of Buenos Aires in the late 19th century, while Baku sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia on the shores of the Caspian Sea. However, the two…

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White insisted Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantenaire was left spotless after his lavish celebration marking 250 years of American independence, as Belgian authorities probe whether fireworks damaged one of the capital’s historic buildings. “We are in immediate contact with the Belgian company that was hired to coordinate all event logistics, including the fireworks company,” White wrote on X on Friday. He said the contractor would “remediate where it is required” and insisted that “Cinquantenaire has never looked any cleaner than it was the day after we cleaned up after our event,” posting photographs of the park…