Central bank shuns calls to reduce borrowing costs as higher US tariffs loom
The European Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold as figures showed the eurozone economy maintaining a slow pace of economic growth.
In what was widely expected to be a pause before further cuts later in the year, the Frankfurt-based central bank shunned calls to reduce the cost of borrowing and held its main interest rate at 2% and the deposit rate at 2.15%.
Continue reading...Tbilisi judge rejects lawyer’s offer of plea agreement for release of pregnant Teesside teenager, now 19, at hearing
The British teenager Bella Culley is to be held in a Georgian prison for at least five more weeks as she awaits trial on drug-smuggling charges, a court in Tbilisi has ordered.
Culley, the great-granddaughter of a former Labour MP, was arrested on arrival at the city’s airport in May. Georgian prosecutors said she was carrying a large amount of illegal drugs in luggage she brought with her from Thailand.
Continue reading...Some slammed the agreement with the Trump administration to reinstate $400m in federal funds while others praised it as an ‘excellent outcome’
Columbia University’s long anticipated deal with the Trump administration after months of negotiations has drawn both condemnation and praise from faculty, students, and alumni – a sign that the end of negotiations will hardly restore harmony on a campus profoundly divided since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The deal will reinstate $400m in federal funds the administration cut from the university after it accused it of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus. But it will cost Columbia some $220m in legal settlements, as well as a host of new measures that critics warn significantly restrict the university’s independence and will further repress pro-Palestinian speech.
Continue reading...Electric carmaker struggles to emerge from sales rut on continent despite updating its bestselling Model Y
Tesla sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this year, data shows, after Elon Musk warned the electric carmaker faced “a few rough quarters” ahead.
According to the figures published on Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), sales of Tesla vehicles in Europe slumped by 33% to 110,000 in the first half of 2025, compared with 165,000 in the first half of 2024.
Continue reading...The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff on holiday island Phuket
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An Australian tourist has been found dead in a Thai hotel room, one day before his flight home.
The 21-year-old was discovered by housekeeping staff at a hotel on holiday island Phuket on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Former political prisoners face lengthy travel restrictions to stop them speaking out, says human rights organisation
Saudi Arabia is banning large numbers of its own citizens from leaving the country in a “cruel” attempt to silence criticism, say human rights activists.
High-profile women’s rights campaigners, including Loujain al-Hathloul, who pushed for the right for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Maryam al-Otaibi, one of three sisters targeted by the authorities for their activism, appear to have been given long travel bans. These restrictions frequently extend to family members.
Continue reading...Officials say they do not expect to find survivors after wreckage of Angara Airlines flight found on mountainside
A passenger plane has crashed in Russia’s far east after disappearing from radar, with 49 people on board feared dead, local officials have said.
The flight, operated by Siberia-based Angara Airlines, vanished from radar on Thursday and lost contact with air traffic controllers while approaching its destination of Tynda, a remote town in the Amur region bordering China.
Continue reading...Clip turned out to be a stunt, but strength of reaction speaks to genuine affront at Ireland’s portrayal on big screen
A man in a bar with a flat cap, bloodied knuckles and a dreamy look lays down his whiskey and writes a letter. “Dear Erin,” he begins, and a soundtrack of fiddles swells as he yearns for his lost love in the distant land of America.
The trailer for the upcoming film – tagline: “she was the Irish goodbye he never forgot” – ran in recent weeks in cinemas and online and was accompanied by a poster showing green mountains, shamrocks and a rainbow.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president says outcry is ‘not falling on deaf ears’ as European leaders voice concern at recent legislation weakening anti-graft watchdogs
Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a new bill to strengthen the rule of law in Ukraine on Wednesday, in an apparent attempt to assuage popular anger at his decision to weaken the powers of two independent anti-corruption agencies.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Kyiv for a second day, while European leaders expressed concern at the Ukrainian president’s contentious decision. The demonstrators gathered outside the presidential office, shouting anti-government slogans.
Continue reading...Crackdown on what the White House claims is bias echoes longstanding conservative grievances against tech
Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders that he vowed would turn the United States into an “AI export powerhouse”, including a directive targeting what the White House described as “woke” artificial intelligence models.
The anti-woke order is part of the administration’s broader anti-diversity campaign that has also targeted federal agencies, academic institutions and the military. “The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models, and neither do other countries,” Trump said during remarks at an AI summit in Washington on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer’s government struggling to convince MPs and public it is doing enough for civilians starving in Gaza
When David Lammy stood at the dispatch box to deliver a statement condemning Israel’s killing of starving civilians in Gaza on Monday, he was met with anger from MPs.
“We want action, and this is not action,” thundered one Labour MP. Another questioned: “Is this it?” A third asked: “At what point does our basic humanity require us to take stronger action? Many of us think the red line was passed a long time ago.”
Continue reading...For months Israel kept food shipments to Gaza far below starvation rations. Now the death toll is rising rapidly
Mohammed’s skeletal arms stick out of a romper with a grinning emoji-face and the slogan “smiley boy”, which in a Gaza hospital reads as a cruel joke. He spends much of the day crying from hunger, or gnawing at his own emaciated fingers.
At seven months old, he weighs barely 4kg (9lbs) and this is the second time he has been admitted for treatment. His face is gaunt, his limbs little more than bones covered in baggy skin and his ribs protrude painfully from his chest.
Continue reading...Owens has claimed that France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, is a man, and that French president is controlled by CIA
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, are suing the rightwing commentator Candace Owens for defamation.
In a suit filed on Wednesday in Delaware against Owens and her businesses, the Macrons say Owens has engaged in ongoing defamatory attacks against them in order to elevate her media platform, gain more audience and make money.
Continue reading...Thai foreign ministry says landmines along disputed border newly deployed as it downgrades diplomatic relations
Thailand has recalled its ambassador to Cambodia and will expel Cambodia’s ambassador, the ruling Pheu Thai party said on Wednesday after a landmine incident that injured a Thai soldier along the disputed border between the two countries.
The Thai foreign ministry has lodged a formal protest with Cambodia, saying the landmines found in the area were newly deployed and had not been encountered during previous patrols, the party said on social media.
Continue reading...‘Active clubs’ that use martial arts to espouse far-right, fascist ideologies are proliferating in the US and abroad
More than a dozen men wearing black masks and sunglasses – obstructing any open source investigators from easily identifying them – appeared in a Telegram video in front of city hall in London, Canada, in June.
“Mass deportations now,” the men yelled in unison, holding up banners with the same slogan. “No blood for Israel.”
Continue reading...Victims misidentified and ‘commingled’ parts of more than one person placed in same casket, says lawyer
British families grieving after the Air India disaster have discovered that the remains of their loved ones have been wrongly identified and repatriated, according to an aviation lawyer representing them.
Relatives of one victim had to abandon funeral plans after being informed that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger.
Continue reading...Forty people who have been offered scholarships unable to travel without biometric data they have no way of getting
Pressure is mounting on ministers to intervene on behalf of 40 students in Gaza who have been offered full scholarships to study at UK universities, but are unable to take up their places this September because of government red tape.
A high-level meeting is understood to have taken place at the Home Office on Tuesday after MPs and campaigners highlighted the students’ plight, calling on ministers to take action to help secure their safe passage to the UK. Some students are reported to have been killed while waiting, while others are said to be in constant danger.
Continue reading...Operator says if rivals are allowed to squeeze into existing facilities it could jeopardise its investment
Eurostar has urged the UK government to choose a “credible long-term strategy” for international rail or risk “falling behind” the rest of Europe, before a crucial decision by the regulator that could end its cross-Channel monopoly.
The high-speed train operator warned that a “premature” ruling from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to allow competitors to squeeze trains into existing facilities could jeopardise its planned investment and expansion.
Continue reading...Move by Ukrainian president widely opposed and may prove a setback to hopes of country one day joining the EU
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended his approval of a contentious bill that weakens Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies as its passage into law triggered the first serious protests against his government.
The move on Tuesday has put the president on a collision course with civil society activists and some of Ukraine’s veterans, and is likely to dismay Ukraine’s European partners.
Continue reading...The warning comes after a string of shows by women comedians joking about men went viral
Chinese provincial officials have warned comedians against stirring up discord between the genders, instructing them to criticise constructively rather than “for the sake of being funny”.
The warning came from authorities in eastern Zhejiang province on WeChat over the weekend after a comedian referred to her allegedly abusive marriage in a performance that went viral on Chinese social media.
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