Author: staff
Long prized for its wild coastline, vineyards and slower pace of life, Portugal’s Alentejo region is now emerging as one of Europe’s hotel hotspots. A string of luxury openings and boutique launches, as well as reopenings following refurbishments, across the likes of Comporta, Melides and Évora, is bringing a new range of exciting accommodations to the destination, while reinforcing its appeal as an alternative to Portugal’s busier tourist hubs. “These unique hotels – many of them at the luxury end of the market – are strengthening Alentejo’s position as an authentic and exclusive destination, with a strong vision for the…
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein will not face a fourth New York trial over the alleged rape of actress Jessica Mann. Prosecutors dropped the case on Thursday after his accuser said she could not bear to testify again. In May, Weinstein’s third trial over the allegation ended in a mistrial after the jury said it was deadlocked. The jury had been unable to reach a unanimous decision over whether Weinstein had raped Mann in 2013 in a New York hotel. Mann appeared to support Thursday’s decision, saying in a letter that prosecutor Nicole Blumberg read to the court: “After a…
That man, Markus Motschmann, knelt on one knee as he presented Reichardt with an application to join the AfD, addressing him as “Mein Führer,” according to the two people who were present. Motschmann denied using those words but confirmed the photograph is genuine. “It was meant to be funny,” Motschmann told POLITICO. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that this is being blown up again.” The revelation comes at a politically sensitive moment for the AfD ahead of two state elections in eastern Germany, where the party is leading in polls. Big victories in the September elections would further cement the AfD’s dominance…
A home is more affordable relative to local incomes in Paris and London than in Lisbon. Portugal has spent years marketing itself as one of Europe’s great success stories: sunshine, safety, a booming tourism industry and an enviable quality of life. But behind the postcard image lies one of the continent’s most stretched housing markets. A home in Lisbon now costs about 18.7 times a typical household’s annual income, according to the latest figures from data platform Numbeo. Among Europe’s major cities, only the Croatian coastal city of Split matches it. 10 cities with the highest price-to-income ratio in Europe…
The lagoon in front of me is quiet in the sunshine, save for the rustle of a tropical breeze and the putter of a boat engine making its way towards me. The latter has just departed a jetty on a strip of sand 200 metres away across the water. A low roaring suggests the waves beyond its swaying line of coconut palms are in fine form. You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m in the Caribbean. But this is the Côte d’Ivoire; a West African nation you might know best for its recent resurgence to World Cup football, and less for…
The first time audiences met Supergirl was in last year’s Superman – the debut film in James Gunn’s revived DC Universe. The Last Son of Krypton’s party-loving cousin made a brief cameo at the tail end of the successful reboot by crash landing in Fortress of Solitude to pick up her superpowered dog Krypto. After a playful tussle with her unruly pup, she stumbled out with a “Thanks for watching him, bitch!” – soundtracked to ‘Punkrocker’ by Teddybears & Iggy Pop. The song was an echo to Supes’ “kindness is punk rock” line, but also a cheeky bit of foreshadowing…
Der Takt für die Steuerreform: Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz, das Spitzentreffen am Wochenende und der Koalitionsausschuss. Diese Termine entscheiden, ob die Koalition handlungsfähig bleibt. Die SPD will spürbare Entlastungen für kleine und mittlere Einkommen, die Union pocht auf Subventionsabbau. Mit Rasmus Buchsteiner geht’s um die Stimmung zwischen den Spitzen und den Reformentwurf von Lars Klingbeil, der bis kommende Woche auf keinen Fall öffentlich werden soll. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht Rasmus mit Dirk Wiese, dem Parlamentarischen Geschäftsführer der SPD-Fraktion. Vor dem wichtigen Koalitionsausschuss am kommenden Mittwoch will dieser den Glauben an eine Einigung noch nicht aufgeben. Das neue Infrastruktur-Gesetz von Verkehrsminister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) solle…
The World Weather Attribution consortium, which includes scientists from Imperial College London and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, used peer-reviewed methods to compare this week’s heat wave to other hot European summers in 1976 and 2003. “Over the full extent of this heat wave, we found that in the last 50 years … the chance of a heat wave like this has changed immensely,” said lead author Theodore Keeping, an extreme weather researcher at Imperial College London. “This event would not have been possible in June without climate change,” he added. “The three-day [average] nighttime temperatures would not…
Digital payments are becoming an increasingly common part of everyday life in Uzbekistan, helping bring more consumers into the formal financial system and increasing demand for services beyond basic transactions. According to a financial inclusion survey conducted by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan with support from the Asian Development Bank, 71.17% of respondents reported making or receiving at least one digital payment in 2025, compared with 39% in 2021. The increase follows several years of policies aimed at expanding financial inclusion, encouraging electronic payments and introducing digital tools such as remote identification systems for banking customers. Interviews conducted by Euronews…
The next Commission president could therefore be former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson, as he knows the place, is well-connected and… What? Too soon? Okay then, how about bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger? He’s got a lot of qualities that would make him well-suited to the role: experience in politics, speaking more than one EU language, thinking U.S. President Donald Trump is a fool, and if you disagree with him, he could beat you to a pulp. Hard power, not soft power! There are two strong candidates for health commissioner. The first one may be down to recency bias, but it’s…