Author: staff
By Sertac Aktan with AP Published on 15/02/2026 – 9:44 GMT+1 Cuba will postpone its world-renowned annual cigar fair this year due to fuel shortages caused by a US oil embargo, organisers announced on Saturday. The island has been experiencing long blackouts for the past few weeks. In an official statement, the fair’s organiser and the global monopoly on Cuban cigar sales, Habanos S.A., said the decision was made to “preserve the event’s high standard of quality.” The fair is a key event for cigar aficionados and distributors worldwide, where attendees tour tobacco plantations, participate in auctions and witness the latest in craftsmanship.…
By Egle Markeviciute, EU Tech Loop and Euronews Published on 15/02/2026 – 8:00 GMT+1 At the beginning of February, Ukraine’s former Digital Minister, now Defence Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and Elon Musk exchanged some niceties on X. Ukraine’s minister publicly thanked Elon Musk and SpaceX for cooperating with Ukraine to ensure Starlink kits do not end up in the Russians’ hands, and Elon Musk responded positively. Russians threatening American tech It looks like Russians aren’t exactly thrilled with Ukrainian cooperation with American tech companies. It didn’t take long until Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov reacted to news about reignited cooperation between SpaceX and…
Published on 15/02/2026 – 7:02 GMT+1 The Caspian Sea is suffering falling water levels and biodiversity loss. Azerbaijan recently highlighted these growing environmental risks at the United Nations in Geneva, as new international rules governing large infrastructure projects around the region come into force. During UN discussions, Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, joined senior officials and environmental experts to draw attention to governance challenges affecting the world’s largest enclosed body of water. Delegates stressed the importance of long-term monitoring, improved scientific data, and closer coordination between Caspian littoral states and international partners. The renewed diplomatic focus coincides…
Estonia isn’t ruling out joining early-stage talks on a common nuclear deterrent in Europe, Deputy Defense Minister Tuuli Duneton said in an interview. “We are always open to discuss” with partners, she said, while emphasizing the U.S. was still “committed to providing nuclear deterrence for allied nations.” Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa echoed that. “Nuclear deterrence can give us new opportunities. Why not?” she said, while cautioning that any steps would have to be in compliance with “our international commitments.” Trump has questioned NATO’s common defense Article 5 provision, ridiculed allied contributions to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and repeatedly…
Rixa Fürsen und Gordon Repinski analysieren und bilanzieren den Samstag auf der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz. Die Ansprache des US-Außenministers Marco Rubio war versöhnlicher als viele erwartet hatten. Wie schon bei JD Vance vor einem Jahr ging es um Sicherheit und Migration, zugleich betonte Rubio das gemeinsame Wertefundament zwischen Europa und den USA. Gordon und Rixa ordnen ein, was diese Rede für das transatlantische Verhältnis bedeutet, wie sie aufgenommen wurde und sie sprechen darüber, wie die Ukraine in Rubios Rede keine Rolle spielte. Parallel bestimmte eine weitere Nachricht den Konferenztag. Neue Untersuchungsergebnisse legen nahe, dass Alexei Nawalny eindeutig vergiftet wurde. Gordon hat…
Faced with growing concerns around overtourism, environmental impact and port congestion, cruise lines are rethinking not just where they sail, but how they operate. In Europe’s cruise sector, the result is a shift away from high-volume itineraries towards smaller ships, longer stays and curated routes that balance visitor demand with the needs of local communities. Cruises are also becoming more experience-led. From Formula 1 Grand Prix packages to expedition voyages in the Arctic and immersive cultural exchanges in remote coastal villages, cruise holidays are expanding beyond traditional sightseeing trips by incorporating sport, adventure, wellness and education tourism. Here Euronews Travel…
The Council has asked the government to relieve the financial pressure of the loan and declining grants, requesting an extra £20 million in annual funding. Its chief executive warned last year that the organization might have to sell assets to survive, and that dozens of country operations were at risk. A similar process has unfolded at the BBC World Service, often cited as another standard bearer of British soft power. The BBC said in a statement this week that the service is facing hundreds of millions of pounds in cuts in the next three years. ‘Detaching from foreign engagement‘ “The…
Published on 14/02/2026 – 19:40 GMT+1 On Saturday, Pedro Sánchez stepped onto the stage of the Munich Security Conference for the first time as Prime Minister of Spain. He did so with a speech that clashed head-on with the current trend among world powers. His message was direct: nuclear rearmament will not protect anyone from Vladimir Putin. The figures Sánchez used put his argument into context. The powers spend more than $11 million every hour on nuclear weapons. The US alone will spend $946 billion on nuclear weapons over the next decade. “This is enough to eradicate extreme poverty in…
Published on 14/02/2026 – 20:38 GMT+1 Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won gold in the giant slalom in Milan-Cortina, becoming the first athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics for Brazil. Braathen completed the two descents in 2 minutes and 25 seconds (1’13″92 in the first and 1’11″08 in the second), 58 hundredths ahead of Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, considered the favourite to win this category, who won the silver medal. Loïc Meillard, also from Switzerland, finished third in the giant slalom. The Brazilian athlete was the first to descend, as per the draw published a day prior to the event,…
His comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech in Munich that touched on Make America Great Again themes, highlighting Europe and America’s common heritage and shared Christian values, and also underlined that the U.S. still sees European countries as allies. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, a close Trump ally, also stressed in an interview with POLITICO: “The Americans are not leaving.” That was a marked contrast to the overt hostility toward the continent displayed last year by U.S. Vice President JD Vance when he appeared on the Munich main stage. But Stubb noted that…