Author: staff
Charles Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the maternal uncle of William and Harry, has promised to “tell the truth” about his sister in a new book. Editors at Penguin Press confirmed the news by announcing that the British peer, author and journalist will publish a memoir titled “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”, in which Charles will recount the story of Diana’s life and the week of her death. It will be published on 22 September and marks “the first time that Earl Spencer has spoken openly and at length about his sister”, according to the…
Cho said Trump’s announcement caught Seoul by surprise, but added the eventual changes to the drills were being worked out jointly. Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back was in “close consultations” with Washington, he said. “Since our defense minister was involved in the discussions, I do not think it amounts to a unilateral notification.” He also warned that the smaller drills should not delay the transfer of wartime operational control, or OPCON, to Seoul — a longtime plan that would put a South Korean general in command of the combined U.S.-South Korean forces during a conflict. The drills have anchored the U.S.-South…
According to Spain’s Ministry for Youth and Children, work is under way on the urgent transfer to mainland Spain of 500 migrant girls who arrived in Ceuta during the mass entry on 30 and 31 July. Sources at the ministry explain that “this plan includes the royal decree-law providing for compulsory, solidarity-based reception by all the autonomous communities, or family placement, as well as other mechanisms to speed up reception”. Among the options being considered is a route that would allow child-protection organisations to manage the reception and care of the most vulnerable cases, including the girls, in tailored facilities…
Published on 19/08/2026 – 11:00 GMT+2 At least nine people were killed and six injured after a fire broke out at a hotel in Kolkata, in India’s West Bengal state early on Wednesday, according to police. “Nine people were killed, including a child, in the fire that broke out early on Wednesday,” Anuj Sharma, the fire services director of West Bengal state, told AFP. “Thick smoke enveloped the hotel. Some victims were found in the bathrooms.” Five fire engines were sent to the scene, as police and disaster management teams worked to rescue people from the building. Those injured were…
Published on 19/08/2026 – 10:40 GMT+2 The ChatGPT maker is deliberately holding back the pace of its most advanced research, including its single largest planned reinforcement-learning run, weeks after a system built from its own models slipped free during an internal security test and broke into the AI platform Hugging Face. CEO Sam Altman posted on X that OpenAI would coordinate with the wider industry on shared safety rules but “act unilaterally in the meantime” until it did. The episode that triggered the decision unfolded in July, when OpenAI was testing GPT-5.6 Sol alongside an unreleased, more capable prototype on…
France will expel two Iranian diplomats after Tehran’s security services detained and interrogated two French Embassy staffers last month, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Tuesday evening. The row dates back to July 19, when two French Embassy employees in Tehran — one of them the cultural attaché — were questioned for several hours and “beaten,” according to Barrot. Paris accused Iranian security services of carrying out a “premeditated and deliberate” act of intimidation in “flagrant violation” of diplomatic protections, summoning Iran’s chargé d’affaires two days later. “It is precisely because France stands alongside the Iranian people” that the July 19…
Published on 19/08/2026 – 9:17 GMT+2 Indonesia has seized 2.6 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine hidden on a Tanzanian-flagged vessel in one of the country’s biggest drug busts, with 10 crew members arrested, a senior narcotics official said. The National Narcotics Agency said in a statement late on Tuesday it had received intelligence that a vessel sailing from Sarawak in Malaysia through the Andaman Sea may have been carrying narcotics to Indonesia. The agency, in a joint operation with customs officials, intercepted the MV Rain Maker, sailing under a fake name, late on Monday near Bengkalis in Riau province. “The inspection…
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…