Author: staff

Italy’s government has unveiled a law banning face coverings in schools and limiting the number of foreign students in classrooms, in a move that has drawn criticism from the opposition. The measure, announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier this week, will take effect in September 2027. It prohibits students from taking part in school activities “with their face covered or in any way that prevents identification”. Violations will be punishable by fines of up to €1,000. The law does not explicitly refer to the Islamic burqa or niqab. But Meloni did so when announcing the measure, saying that in…

Around 3,000 participants were expected for The World’s Biggest Braai, held on Heritage Day, with roughly 500 pre-lit stations prepared across the venue. Participants cooked boerewors, the traditional South African coiled sausage, alongside burgers, steaks and lamb chops. To qualify, each person aged 13 or over had to remain at an allocated station and barbecue simultaneously for at least five consecutive minutes. Guinness officials were reviewing aerial footage, access records and stewards’ reports, with a decision expected on Friday. The target was 2,220 people, the record set in Ishigaki, Japan, in November 2023. South African organisers counted 2,412 participants during…

Published on 25/09/2026 – 11:08 GMT+2 The relief in European bonds on Friday morning is small and follows one of the sharpest bond routs in years. The yield on France’s 10-year OAT was trading around 4.67% on Friday morning, down from around 4.7% earlier, while the yield on Germany’s 10-year Bund was around 3.59%, down from 3.61%. The gap between French and German 10-year borrowing costs, the clearest gauge of the risk premium investors attach to Paris, blew past 110 basis points this week, its widest since the 2012 eurozone debt crisis. The move reflects investors’ concerns about France’s debt…

Rising fuel and heating oil prices are hitting businesses and households in rural France, where many people rely on cars and oil heating. In the northern town of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, baker Kevin Luce says the cost of fuel for his ovens has surged, cutting into his earnings and limiting investment. Food truck owner Martial Realland says he can no longer afford heating oil for his home and is turning down jobs that require long drives. Both say the rising costs are becoming increasingly difficult to bear.

After more than four years of war between Russia and Ukraine, technology and spending on military equipment have evolved significantly. A number of Russian drones have been detected flying over European Union territory. There have been incursions into Poland and Bulgaria although, according to a CIA report, the situation could become more complicated. The latest information from the CIA has made it clear that there is a risk of Russian drone attacks on Spain, France or Italy launched from containers on ships belonging to the shadow fleet in the Mediterranean. So, what kind of drones is the Russian army using?…

When scrolling online for a place to live, you might come across a bright-colored house for sale listed online with fall foliage and folksy furniture. But then you notice that a few things look off: deformed electrical outlets or furniture that looks too big for the room. A floor lamp is coming out of a table in one picture and does not appear in the next, or the same piece of artwork is found in every room. Real estate images like this are, most likely, made with AI. Listers are increasingly using digital platforms to spruce up living spaces for…

However, the best-ever political doodler is surely South Korean lawmaker Yoo Young-ha, who was caught sketching a gorilla on his laptop during a parliamentary audit session in 2025. To be clear, there wasn’t a gorilla in the parliament for a life-drawing session (and, at the time of writing, my suggestion to release large primates into European Parliament plenary sessions is still being considered by the Conference of Presidents). The excitement at this year’s big U.N. bash didn’t stop at, er, man loses interest and starts looking at social media. Oh, no. There was also the choice of music before Trump…

Published on 25/09/2026 – 10:32 GMT+2 Finland’s air force said on Friday that Swedish and Finnish fighter jets had been scrambled to identify Russian fighter jets flying over the Gulf of Finland. The air force said that the two Nordic countries’ Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) jets had been scrambled on Thursday. They had identified a Russian detachment consisting of a Tu-134 transport aircraft, MiG-31 fighter jets and Su-30 fighter jets “in international airspace over the Gulf of Finland.” According to the military it was the first joint operational “identification mission” for the two air forces. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson…

Published on 25/09/2026 – 11:14 GMT+2 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had informed him that he would grant Ukraine a license to build coveted Patriot missiles. “At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles,” Zelenskyy said in a voice note to reporters. Zelenskyy and Trump met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week, where the Ukrainian leader said they had discussed potentially “de-escalatory steps that…

The enforcement of the EU’s 2024 AI Act, which mandates that companies take measures to avoid losing control of their models, “is not on the level [where] we would like to have it,” he added. The comments shine the spotlight on the European Commission’s Artificial Intelligence Office, which was put in charge of enforcing the AI Act in August. Voss also said the Commission’s overall response to the fast pace of technological developments is lagging, singling out von der Leyen’s State of the Union last week. “The Commission … also the State of the Union is not ambitious enough regarding…