Author: Press Room
Published on 17/08/2026 – 10:19 GMT+2•Updated 10:40 The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc will seek tougher sanctions on Russia this autumn, signalling a fresh push to ramp up pressure on Moscow. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Kallas said that in the coming months she would “put forward the most far-reaching sanctions listings since the start of the war”, adding that the listings would raise the total number of sanctioned Russian companies and individuals “by a third”. “The pressure must keep growing until Moscow ends its war,” she added. Since the…
According to the European Commission, existing tobacco rules have helped reduce cigarette smoking but failed to keep pace with the fast growth of newer nicotine products and online marketing. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Although the European Parliament did not adopt a formal opinion on the proposal in June 2026, the legislation remains under negotiation in the Council of the European Union, where all 27 member states must agree unanimously before it can become law. Around 24 percent of Europeans still smoke, with about 300 billion cigarettes sold each year across the bloc. Tobacco-related illnesses contribute to around 700,000 deaths annually and cost…
The family of British academic Jason Arday, who was found dead at a South London address on Friday night amid a high-profile plagiarism storm, have denounced what they called years of “sustained abuse”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In an overnight statement following Arday’s death, his family said he had been “subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for more than three years since he accepted the role of professor at Cambridge University”. Arday had himself alleged a “racially motivated” campaign against him. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said “it’s a tragedy on so many levels, but particularly…
Published on 16/08/2026 – 16:29 GMT+2•Updated 16:39 Overnight strikes from both sides of the border have killed 12 people in Russia and Ukraine. With a reduction in frontline combat, the emphasis appears to be on long-range missile and drone attacks. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In Ukraine, two people were killed at a steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, one of the country’s largest steel factories. Russia says it was targeting military-industrial sites there which manufacture Ukrainian Flamingo missiles. Strikes also killed two people in the Zaporizhzhia region and one in Sumy. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media to give an update…
Published on 16/08/2026 – 14:56 GMT+2•Updated 15:15 Wildfires are continuing to burn across several parts of Europe, with firefighters battling major blazes in Belgium, Germany, France, Croatia, Spain and Greece amid persistent heat and dry conditions. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A fire in Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve has more than doubled in size in 24 hours, to around 3,000 hectares. The fire, which started two days ago, is now the largest wildfire in Belgium’s recorded history. Authorities in the country’s Wallonia region said more than 250 firefighters and other emergency service workers were deployed on Saturday night. The reserve is particularly…
Published on 16/08/2026 – 9:24 GMT+2 Moroccan security forces on Saturday say they have prevented hundreds of people from crossing into Ceuta. Reports say the group, mostly originating from sub-Saharan Africa, had been hiding on the outskirts of Fnideq, known in Spanish as Castillejos. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Moroccan media says 294 people were arrested, 46 of them Moroccan and the rest from sub-Saharan Africa. According to Moroccan security sources cited by the EFE news agency (source in Spanish), the incident took place in a mountainous area to the south-west of Ceuta, where officers moved in to disperse the group. The same…
Published on 15/08/2026 – 12:39 GMT+2•Updated 12:44 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had struck the Progress Rocket and Space Centre” in Russia’s Samara region, a facility involved in the manufacturing and operation of space launch vehicles. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Ukraine hit the centre with FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, describing it as one of Russian space agency Roscosmos’ “key enterprises” and saying it was involved in “electronics production”. Additional strikes were carried out on Savasleyka air base in the Nizhny Novgorod region – which the Ukrainian leader said housed aircraft…
Published on 14/08/2026 – 21:41 GMT+2 The EU pushed back at renewed trade pressure from the United States on Friday, as Washington said the bloc was enabling Chinese evasion of US tariffs and stepped up calls for it to roll back flagship green rules on businesses. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Washington’s ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, called on the bloc to “align” the provisions of two landmark new laws on environmental and human rights supply chain standards with the EU-US trade deal struck last year. “Now it’s time for the EU to deliver,” Puzder posted on X, along with a US…
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Friday that Britain must face up to the changing climate and accelerate its move to clean energy as he visited a town where a wildfire gutted homes. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In Stourbridge near the UK’s second largest city of Birmingham, smoke rose from smouldering ruins of several roofless houses as firefighters sprayed water on the wreckage Friday. The West Midlands Fire Service said 19 houses were completely destroyed and 18 others damaged in the town. Meeting firefighters after viewing the scene, Burnham sounded shocked as he said the “combustible situation” was related to climate change…
A wildfire on Croatia’s coast has left at least 10 people in intensive care and dozens more injured after fire crews battled overnight with “one of the worst” blazes in the country’s history, according to officials. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Around 2,000 had been evacuated from nearby villages as the fire ripped through the surrounding hills, damaging homes and destroying cars in the early hours of Friday. As access reopened mid-morning, the AFP news agency saw the blackened remains of several burnt out cars along roads near Omiš, some ringed by silver puddles of metal that had melted under the intense heat…