Author: Press Room
Latvia stopped 28 migrants who crossed the eastern European Union’s border from Belarus using a tunnel. The underground passage, found around 20 metres from the border, was concealed with moss. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It is the second such tunnel discovered in Latvia. On 10 August, Latvian border guards found another tunnel that had been used by 15 migrants to enter the country from Belarus. Latvia has been experiencing a rise in irregular migration in recent months — something that European leaders call a hybrid attack by Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime — as the country is preparing for parliamentary elections on 3 October.…
More and more European governments are announcing their intention to transfer, or that they have already transferred, so-called Dublin transferees to Italy. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT After Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Finland, Sweden has also confirmed to Italian news agency ANSA that it intends to “apply the rules as set out” in the new EU Pact on Asylum and Migration, which entered into force on 12 June, and that it expects “all member states to fulfil their obligations,” Italy included. Spain and France are taking the opposite line, two other countries that are key points of first entry into Europe for migrants,…
By Kirsten Ripper & Euronews Published on 21/08/2026 – 15:33 GMT+2 The boa constrictor, which can grow to more than 3 metres in length, actually lives in South America, where it is found from Colombia to Argentina. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT So a motorist in Colomiers, a suburb of Toulouse in France, got quite a shock when he discovered a 1.5-metre-long snake of this species under his car bonnet. The discovery was made when the driver was about to change the battery of the car, which had not been driven for a month, according to the Haute-Garonne fire brigade’s Facebook page. Five firefighters, two of…
The Government of Ceuta and its cleaning crews will, on Friday, try to clean up Trampolín beach for the second time, according to the newspaper “Faro de Ceuta”. There, they will first attempt to carry out a new eviction of the approximately 500 migrants, although there are no official figures, who are thought to have returned over the course of Thursday afternoon to this kind of makeshift camp, after being transferred to temporary reception centres that same morning. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The situation appeared to have been resolved on Thursday when cleaning crews entered after the initial eviction, but over the…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 7:46 GMT+2•Updated 10:55 A Belgian university suspended a US academic on Thursday who spearheaded accusations of plagiarism against Jason Arday, the black ex-Cambridge professor found dead last week after resigning over the scandal. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Researcher Nathan Cofnas, a self-defined “race realist” who was himself sacked from his Cambridge post two years ago, posted on X: “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me.” Without naming Cofnas, the University of Ghent said in a statement it had launched a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” against a postdoctoral researcher embroiled in the furore, suspending…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 11:26 GMT+2 A European Commission official close to discussions over the EU’s €90 billion loan for Ukraine has told Euronews that Kyiv has suggested that the next defence funding envelope could be used to acquire anti-ballistic missile systems, among other capabilities. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The official could not specify whether these would be the American-made Patriot air defence missile system or its European equivalent — the Franco-Italian SAMP/T NG ground-to-air missile system — as the discussions were ongoing and no formal product schedule had been placed. The upcoming order is expected to be made before September, with…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 11:32 GMT+2 International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane of Japan warned on Friday against “the demise of international rule of law” after the United States targeted her with sanctions. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “The sanction against me this time was something I had anticipated to an extent, so I’m not surprised,” Akane said in a statement released on X by her publisher Bungei Shunju. “The important thing is not to let this be the beginning of the demise of international rule of law.” The United States sanctioned Akane and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday as…
By Franziska Müller Published on 21/08/2026 – 8:09 GMT+2•Updated 9:51 The unusually low water level of the Danube in Budapest has revealed relics that had remained hidden on the riverbed for more than 80 years. Among the discoveries are the remains of two German soldiers from the Second World War, their military identity tags and a DKW military motorcycle buried in the mud. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT For decades, the fate of the two soldiers was unknown. They were listed as missing, with no confirmation of where or how they had died. Now, the discovery of their remains and identity tags could finally…
Published on 21/08/2026 – 8:38 GMT+2•Updated 8:44 A border crossing with Moldova in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region was damaged by Russian drones overnight, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement on Friday morning. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Traffic through the Tabaky checkpoint has been suspended and diverted to other crossings, the border service said on Telegram. Moldovan authorities in Chișinău have been informed, the statement added. The announcement comes a day after a Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed an explosive-laden maritime drone close to Europe’s largest offshore gas project, hours after another drone entered the NATO member’s airspace…
Germany registered a record of around 14,000 heat-related deaths this summer as Europe struggled through a series of punishing heatwaves, official data showed on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Around 9,600 of those deaths were recorded in one week in late June when Germany baked in temperatures of over 40C, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The heatwaves and drought have fuelled a historically hot summer in Europe, contributing to a spike in heat-related mortality in the worst-hit countries. Spain’s public health institute registered nearly 4,500 heat-related deaths since 1 June, figures showed on Thursday and French health authorities said they had…