Author: Press Room
On Sunday, Berliners will vote to elect a new state parliament, the Abgeordnetenhaus, alongside the regional vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The race is wide open: the Left party and the CDU are neck and neck in the latest polls, both at around 20-23%, with the AfD at 18% and the Greens at 16% close behind. The SPD, with 10-12%, is now clearly below its 2023 result. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT That means it is also unclear what the political landscape will look like after the vote. According to recent surveys, the current black-red coalition of the CDU and SPD would no longer…
Published on 19/09/2026 – 19:01 GMT+2 General Carsten Breuer, Germany’s chief of defence, was selected on Saturday as the next head of NATO’s military committee, the alliance’s supreme military authority and a primary advisory body to its political leadership. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Military chiefs from the 32-nation alliance elected Breuer during a meeting in Copenhagen, the current chair, Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, announced in a post on X. Breuer will assume the role in July 2027, succeeding Dragone for a three-year term that aligns with NATO’s strategic efforts to bolster deterrence against potential Russian aggression by 2029. Alongside the Supreme…
Around 150 metres below the water’s surface, west of the Norwegian island of Fedje, a fragment of German wartime history lies on the seabed. A submarine called U-864 has been resting there for more than eight decades, broken into two parts, surrounded by sediment and a cargo that still poses an environmental problem today. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT U-864 is an exceptional case: according to historical records, large quantities of mercury were probably on board, with a Japanese order mentioning 1,867 containers. If the entire shipment had been loaded, that would correspond to between about 65 and 67 tonnes. However, the exact…
Published on 19/09/2026 – 14:48 GMT+2 More than 2,000 migrants in Ceuta had to return to the beaches after there was not enough space to accommodate them at a new facility located in the autonomous city’s port. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Thousands of migrants had been moved from the territory’s Trampolín and Benítez beaches on Friday morning, escorted by officers from Spain’s Civil Guard and National Police towards the new temporary reception centre, which is designed to accommodate 1,700 people. However, there were over 4,000 people coming from the beaches, meaning many had to return after the new camp filled up. According…
Published on 19/09/2026 – 15:12 GMT+2•Updated 15:21 By late morning, it was clear: the Wiesn was back. Decorated horse-drawn carriages, brass bands and festival hosts made their way towards the Theresienwiese, while growing crowds gathered around the fairground. Munich had dressed up for the occasion, and apparently nobody intended to worry about details such as calories, footwear or the weather forecast – not least because Bavaria was enjoying glorious sunshine and temperatures just above 20 degrees Celsius. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Theresienwiese was already filling up earlier in the day. At around 10:35 a.m., the traditional procession of the Wiesn landlords…
Published on 19/09/2026 – 13:10 GMT+2 Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least 11 people and injured dozens more over the past day, according to local authorities. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, five people were killed and 15 were injured in Russian attacks, governor Oleh Syniehubov reported, adding that Russian forces had fired two missiles, five guided aerial bombs, and almost 60 drones at targets across the region. Strikes reportedly hit the villages of Lypkuvativka, Velykyi Burluk, and Slatyne, as well as the cities of Kharkiv and Balakliia, among other locations. Two people were also killed and…
Published on 19/09/2026 – 8:46 GMT+2 Flights were temporarily suspended at Luxembourg airport overnight due to “unauthorised” drone activity. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Flight operations at Luxembourg Airport (ELLX) have resumed following the temporary suspension on the evening of Friday, 18 September 2026, due to the detection of unauthorised unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the vicinity of and subsequently over the aerodrome,” a statement on the airport’s website said. The airport – the main hub for Luxembourg’s national airline Luxair and cargo airline Cargolux – did not provide any details on where the drones may have come from or who was operating…
It’s the head-turning, eye-popping announcement of the week: Ursula von der Leyen has invited Canada to make history by becoming the first-ever “associate member” of the European Union. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” the European Commission president said in her State of the Union speech. The following day, speaking from the same lectern in Strasbourg, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country “welcomes” the offer and hailed the dawn of an “alliance for the future”. “Europe and Canada are stronger together,” he said. The back-to-back speeches made international headlines,…
Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris says details of the new associate membership with Canada “are yet to be determined”, but believes it is “good news” that the European Union has signalled its intention to have a “much closer relationship” with Ottawa. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Harris insists this is “not a hostile act towards anybody”, after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on the European Union. “This isn’t either-or” between Canada and the United States, Harris said.
A criminal organisation that used Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to clone the voices of relatives in order to make telephone scams more convincing has been dismantled by the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The gang is alleged to have defrauded citizens using various pretexts, posing among other things as employees of the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO), mobile phone companies and fibre-optic service providers. They would then exploit voice-cloning technology to create the impression that a relative or other trusted person of the victim was on the line. The organisation’s activities were brought to an end following…