Author: staff
Published on 28/09/2026 – 12:06 GMT+2 North Korean hackers are suspected of stealing $387.5 million (€332.8mn) in cryptocurrency from major global cryptocurrency exchange Bitget in what appears to be the biggest crypto theft of the year. In a statement, Bitget said it detected unauthorised transfers from some of its hot and warm wallets on Thursday. Hot wallets are connected to the internet so an exchange can process transactions quickly, while warm wallets have more limited online access. The company said its cold wallets, which are kept more isolated, were not affected. The company identified IP addresses whose VPN usage appeared…
Le Pen, who polls show is the front-runner in next year’s presidential election, said on X that her party’s new Senate group “will serve as an essential platform during the presidential campaign.” On the other end of the spectrum, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed movement also won its first-ever seat in the chamber. The Senate will remain controlled by an alliance of lawmakers from the conservative Les Républicains and a centrist group, though the bloc lost several seats. A centrist senator, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the National Rally winning a group was “the culmination of their…
The EU is drawing up a new mechanism to coordinate its response to Russian sabotage and other hybrid attacks, as European officials warn that Moscow is planning further operations across the continent. European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday have been tasked with developing the bloc’s so-called “emergency security protocol,” designed to help member states coordinate their responses quickly when a hybrid threat is identified. “We need to be vigilant because we see in the intelligence that Russia is planning more sabotage acts,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said as she arrived for the talks. Kallas said such…
The number of schools in Russia has fallen by 45% since the start of the century, with rural communities losing the most, according to a report by the Higher School of Economics published this month. Russia’s secondary school network has shrunk from 68,800 institutions in 2000 to just under 38,000 in 2026, the report says. The school-age population has fallen by around 13.5% over the same period, from 20.5 million to 17.7 million children. Russia now has fewer schools than Germany, even though its population is roughly half the size. Germany has more than 40,000 schools in 2026. Closures have…
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić resigned on Sunday to pursue a bid to become prime minister in upcoming snap parliamentary elections that will test his rule in the Balkan country, which was rattled by nearly two years of protests. Vučić’s second presidential term would otherwise end in May next year. He is banned by the Serbian Constitution from seeking a third term and said he was resigning to lead his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party in the 25 October vote. The governing populists face a major challenge at the ballot box from a youth-backed movement that led protests triggered by the 1…
Published on 28/09/2026 – 9:04 GMT+2 The death toll from a mass shooting at a South African tavern has risen to 18 after one person died in hospital, police said on Monday, announcing at least two of the dead were Lesotho nationals. The shooting west of Johannesburg late on Saturday was part of a bloody weekend in the crime-weary country, with 10 people killed in another mass shooting in Cape Town on Sunday. Eight gunmen armed with assault rifles stormed the bar in the semi-rural township of Wedela, around 80 kilometres from central Johannesburg, killing 13 men and four women,…
Oil prices jumped more than 3%, with the international benchmark Brent trading above $107 a barrel early Monday morning in Europe, reflecting renewed concerns about a supply crisis that has pushed up costs worldwide. This came after US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian offer of a seven-day truce, reviving inflation concerns. Tehran proposed a halt in hostilities at last week’s UN General Assembly that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened, easing a supply crisis that has pushed up costs worldwide. The strait is crucial to global energy supplies. Shipping risks have also grown in the Red Sea after…
The 2026 edition of the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) has just been published, with Europe dominating the top 10. The index looks at factors and policies that enable sustainable and resilient development in the travel and tourism space, under broad pillars like air transport structure, price competitiveness and safety and security. Within these pillars, things like hotel prices, visa requirements, efficiency of public transport, number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and how tourism is distributed geographically are assessed. While Japan took the top spot overall, Spain came in third, followed by France (fourth), Germany (sixth),…
By Tokunbo Salako with AP Published on 28/09/2026 – 9:25 GMT+2 Taylor Swift has broken yet another record by becoming the most-awarded artist in MTV VMA history. The mega popstar picked up the inaugural Artist Director Honors on Sunday night in recognition of artists “whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling.” “I got to start making music videos and being a part of music videos 20 years ago,” Swift said in her speech, adding that she’s been involved in making roughly 60 music videos, 18 of which she wrote and directed.…
Published on 28/09/2026 – 9:00 GMT+2 EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada might become Europe’s first “associate member” during her State of the Union address in Strasbourg, France, on 16 September. It’s the first time the EU has offered this status to a third country. If all 27 member states agree, the EU would have to create a new legal framework, including rights and obligations, since current EU treaties do not include “associate membership”. The proposal does not mean Canada will join the EU. It would establish a deeper EU-Canada partnership that goes beyond existing cooperation, including…