Author: staff
A quarter of a century after hijacked planes struck New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, the attacks of 11 September 2001 remain lodged in the American psyche more firmly than almost any other event of the past 25 years. A new Ipsos poll finds that roughly half of US adults, unprompted, name 9/11 among the most significant events of their lifetime — ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic, the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and Hurricane Katrina of 2005. Nine in ten say the attacks changed the country “a great deal” or “quite a bit,” and most Americans can still…
Published on 07/03/2026 – 8:00 GMT+1•Updated 11/09/2026 – 22:42 GMT+2 France will push back against a European Commission plan to fast-track ratification of trade agreements by circulating only English-language versions during talks with EU governments and lawmakers, skipping translation into the bloc’s 24 official languages, according to several sources. The slow ratification of the contentious EU–Mercosur trade deal has frustrated the Commission, which wants to accelerate negotiations and bring deals into force more quickly as it seeks new markets amid rising geopolitical tensions. Translating the agreements into every official EU language can take months due to the legal scrubbing required…
Chalk artists have gathered at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to draw portraits of the 40 passengers and crew members killed on September 11, 2001. The group of 20 artists is creating the portraits ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks, with each drawing offering a personal tribute to those who died aboard United Flight 93. Among the works is a portrait of one of the passengers remembered for taking part in the attempt to regain control of the hijacked plane. Another artist is drawing the youngest person aboard the flight, saying the work has a…
Published on 11/09/2026 – 22:02 GMT+2 Police in southern England have banned face coverings at an anti-immigration rally as well as in a counter-protest planned in Portsmouth on Saturday, amid concerns over potential unrest. The demonstration, organised by protesters calling themselves “patriots”, is expected to begin at around noon. Hampshire Police, which has responsibility for Portsmouth, said the mask ban was to “reduce opportunities for violence, intimidation and criminality”. It said the move followed “recent incidents of violence and intimidation by a minority of those who have been intent on disrupting peaceful protest”. A separate order will allow police to…
Published on 11/09/2026 – 21:00 GMT+2•Updated 21:04 The United States on Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with a solemn ceremony in New York. The anniversary was marked by commemorations across the country, including wreath-laying ceremonies, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names, as well as volunteer initiatives. On 11 September 2001, hijackers from al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, seized four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people. US President Donald Trump attended a ceremony at the…
A veteran of Italy’s fight for civil and women’s rights, Bonino played a key role in the campaigns that led to the legalization of divorce and abortion in the country during the 1970s. In 2017, she co-founded the liberal More Europe party, which paid tribute to her on Friday. “Activist, parliamentarian, minister, European commissioner. Always radically free,” party leader Riccardo Magi wrote on X. “Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedoms.” Carlo Calenda, leader of the liberal Italian Action party, said: “The last great protagonist of the civil battles that led to the modernization of this…
Published on 11/09/2026 – 18:15 GMT+2 UK lawmakers on Friday rejected legislation that would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives. Following an impassioned four-hour debate in the House of Commons, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was rejected by 286 votes to 270. The outcome marked a notable reversal from last year, when an almost identical bill passed with a majority of 23 votes. The bill would have allowed adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to…
Nearly 3,000 American flags cover the lawn at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, for the annual “Wave of Flags” commemoration of the September 11 attacks. Visitors walk among the rows of flags, with messages of remembrance attached to some of the flagpoles. The display honours the 2,977 people killed in the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Cards reading “We Remember” are placed among the flags, while a nearby stand invites visitors to write their own messages in tribute to the victims.
The grant program was formally advertised in the summer after U.S. State Department officials held talks with MAGA-aligned think tanks and advocacy groups about funding opportunities earlier this year. That led French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to warn against what he described as potential “foreign interference in [European] electoral processes.” The country is beefing up its arsenal to fight online disinformation and foreign interference ahead of the 2027 presidential campaign, with a law set to be considered by the Senate in October. A spokesperson for the State Department said the program “does not and will not fund political parties, in…
A French court has sentenced a man to six months in prison after he threatened to “cut off the head” of a teacher at his son’s school last week. The defendant confronted his son’s teacher in the school car park in the southwestern town of Le Fauga last week, after the nine-year-old was moved to another class because of his behaviour. He threatened to decapitate the 58-year-old teacher before entering the school, where he repeated the threats in front of the headteacher. Remarks of ‘great violence’ The court sentenced the defendant to six months in prison, to be served immediately,…