Author: Press Room

Firefighters in Greece were hoping to contain a wildfire on the outskirts of Athens on Tuesday that is burning for a fifth day, with easing winds enabling the use of vital aircraft. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Today, more than 30 aircraft will be deployed in the area,” enabling access to difficult mountain terrain, fire department deputy spokesperson Yiannis Artopios told state TV ERT. Over 500 firefighters were deployed in villages around Mount Kithairon, some 60 kilometres northwest of the capital according to the fire service. “We want to keep the fire in a controlled situation,” Artopios said. Large areas affected by the…

It was never meant to be like this. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced her blueprint for the 20th package of economic sanctions against Russia, she made maritime services the centrepiece. “On energy, we introduce a full maritime services ban for Russian crude oil. It will slash further Russia’s energy revenues and make it more difficult to find buyers for its oil,” von der Leyen said in early February. For Brussels, it was an overdue opportunity to complete unfinished business. The EU first tried to ban the provision of maritime services for Russian tankers in…

Published on 04/08/2026 – 7:42 GMT+2 Firefighters are rushing to contain a forest blaze in the southeast of the Netherlands that spread overnight to engulf 100 hectares on Tuesday, authorities said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It was the latest in a string of wildfires to hit western Europe, following deadly heatwaves that have dried up riverbeds and vegetation, extreme weather events scientists have linked to human-made climate change. The fire started around Monday afternoon in a nature reserve near the village of Oostrum in Limburg province, close to the border with Germany. The blaze spread to 100 hectares as of early Tuesday…

Parisians are taking to the Seine on a new type of electric surfboard that lifts riders above the water, creating the sensation of flying. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Known as an e-foil, the board combines an electric motor, a submerged hydrofoil and a rechargeable battery, allowing it to glide above the river’s surface once it gains speed. “It’s got a board to climb on, and it’s got a mast that’s fitted with a motor at the back. It’s got a wing, like an aircraft wing, and that’s the surface we’re going to use to ‘fly’. Then you put the battery inside, and…

At least 88 people died during the recent mass influx of migrants into Spain’s Ceuta enclave from Morocco, Spanish officials said on Monday, though Moroccan officials later presented a lower estimate. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Most of the estimated 60,000 people who rushed into Spain’s north African territory, most by swimming, have returned to Morocco since the territory’s largest mass migrant crossing. “The latest figure that we have is 72,” the government’s delegate to Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez Triano, told reporters, when asked about the number of fatalities. The previous toll was 67 deaths. Later on Sunday, Morocco’s interior ministry issued its…

Published on 03/08/2026 – 15:16 GMT+2 Two British universities have merged to form what they describe as the UK’s first “super-university.” ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT London’s University of Greenwich and the University of Kent in southeast England announced on Monday that they had completed a merger establishing the new “London and South East University Group, which will be known as LASE. The new group, which has been designed to allow other universities to potentially join in the future, will have more than 50,000 students, making it the third largest university in the UK. The two universities will continue to operate under their…

Russian planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs in the span of 90 minutes on residential districts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, regional chief Ivan Fedorov said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Russia has used glide bombs to smash Ukrainian towns and cities since it launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbour more than four years ago. The weapons are Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with guidance systems and can carry up to 3,000 kilograms of explosives, leaving huge craters. Ukraine has no effective countermeasures against them. Meanwhile, six people were killed by Ukrainian…

Published on 03/08/2026 – 15:41 GMT+2•Updated 15:56 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for stronger border controls and physical barriers at critical points along EU borders following the Ceuta crisis, according to a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez seen by Euronews on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The commission president sought to ease tensions with Spain after Sánchez accused several fellow EU leaders of using the migration crisis in Ceuta to take aim at his government. Last Friday, around 60,000 non-EU nationals entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, marking the largest border crossing ever recorded in Europe over…

Italy is aiming to extend at European level the model of migrant centres set up in Albania, proposing the creation of expulsion hubs of foreign nationals arriving on EU turf unlawfully to safe third countries while their asylum and immigration files are examined. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The proposal, revealed by leading Italian media outlets and confirmed by government officials, will be presented by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi at the extraordinary Council of European Union interior ministers convened for Tuesday. The meeting was organised after the migration emergency that erupted in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on Moroccan territory, where over the course…

Authorities in Ceuta are struggling to cope with thousands of people that remain in the autonomous city following the mass arrival of migrants last week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Security forces estimate that around 73,500 people have already left the North African exclave and returned to Morocco, while local authorities say up to 5,000 remain in the Spanish territory, including 862 minors. The crisis has so far resulted in at least 88 confirmed deaths, according to Ceuta’s authorities, in addition to bodies recovered by Moroccan authorities in Moroccan waters. Juan Vivas, the president of Ceuta, estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants…