Author: staff
Residents in Japan’s quake-hit southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto put out heaps of debris for collection as the region baked under intense heat. The heat and a lack of water supplies have added to the challenges in the severely damaged areas where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi briefly visited for the first time since a magnitude 7.1 quake hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. Thirty-eight people died during the quake, including one who died of apparent heat stroke while taking shelter in a car in hot weather and one other whose cause of death is still…
By David Del Valle Published on 29/07/2026 – 6:00 GMT+2•Updated 9:45 Barter, the oldest form of exchange known to humankind, is enjoying an unexpected second youth. In a context marked by inflation, rising living costs and economic uncertainty, more and more people are looking for ways to access services without having to use physical currencies. Paradoxically, the answer is coming in the form of technology: a new generation of apps is reviving the spirit of traditional exchange, replacing money with time, knowledge and skills. What for centuries meant swapping goods or favours between neighbours has now moved into the digital realm.…
A new index ranking the best countries and territories to relocate to in 2026 has just been released, and a Baltic state has come out on top. Estonia ranked first globally in the Rumavi Global Relocation Index thanks to its banking infrastructure, business opportunities and property rights for non-citizens. Released annually at the end of Q2, the index scores 192 countries across 24 metrics which are grouped into four categories: financial and tax, livability and health, safety and stability, and settling and opportunity. The index makes use of several data sources as well as expert assessments. For example, for general…
“Migration is a European challenge that requires a European response,” she wrote. “And in this, solidarity is fundamental.” The Commission, she said, had offered Spain financial and operational support, with Frontex, Europol and the EU asylum agency ready to assist. Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner on Friday told Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska that the bloc was willing to “increase support for Spain” to “control the situation,” and to deploy members of Frontex, the EU agency that supports member countries in monitoring and managing the EU’s external borders, to Ceuta. Frontex currently has staff deployed in Ceuta, as well as on the Canary…
The migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta will be the focus of an extraordinary meeting of European Union interior ministers on Tuesday, where Spain will call for a common response from the bloc and respond to criticism from several EU partners, led by Italy and Denmark, following the mass arrival of thousands of migrants from Morocco. On the eve of the meeting, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in an interview with TVE that Spain will demand “solidarity from all the member states of the European Union” and warned that those who refuse to offer it “are working…
Divers gathered in Kosovo on Sunday for the annual Fshajt Bridge diving competition, one of the country’s longest-running sporting and cultural events. Fifteen competitors jumped from the 22-meter-high bridge near Gjakova, aiming to impress judges with their technique as they plunged into the river below. The event, known as Ura e Fshejte, was first held in 1954 but was suspended during the 1998–1999 Kosovo war after the bridge was damaged. It returned in 2014 and continues to draw participants and spectators from across the region.
More than 1,000 employees from leading AI companies signed a petition on Tuesday urging the US government to take steps to “deliberately pace” the development of artificial intelligence. Among the signatories were the Anthropic CEO, the head of research at OpenAI, the strategic lead of Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind and the chief scientist at Meta AI. The petition calls for “the US government [to] support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development.” “The world’s leading AI companies believe they could be close to automating AI research. It…
If you’re planning a short- or mid-haul European getaway, it’s tempting to search for airline tickets. But it might be time to rethink taking a flight and boarding a train instead – as it might even be faster. According to Omio, a global online travel booking platform, summer travellers may be better off choosing a plane over a train, with rail bookings on the continent having grown year-on-year by 32% – more than triple that of flight bookings. Omio analysed 25 of Europe’s popular city-to-city travel routes across 1,000 providers, comparing door-to-door journey times, city centre accessibility and ticket prices.…
Earlier this year, Lecornu asked three parliamentarians from his center-right coalition to report on France’s economic security. Obtained by POLITICO, the document called for a “radical change in posture” and urged the government to take “a holistic approach” to protecting strategic assets, securing critical supply chains, reducing dependencies and strengthening technological sovereignty. In a press release on the threshold change, Lecornu’s office said the government would give its response on any proposed foreign investments within 10 days of notification to “avoid placing an undue burden on companies’ ability to raise capital in financial markets.” The move is intended to “guard…
Published on 03/08/2026 – 13:09 GMT+2 The hard-right Reform UK party unveiled plans on Monday if it wins power for “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The proposal, which experts and other political parties promptly rubbished, comes days after thousands of migrants entered Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, reigniting Europe’s debate over irregular migration. Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration party said it would detail proposals to deploy Britain’s navy to return the vessels to France, a policy proposed and swiftly abandoned by the Conservative…