France records 5,700 excess deaths in June heatwave

France recorded 5,764 more deaths than usual during a record-breaking heatwave last month, health authorities said yesterday, describing the excess mortality among people aged 15 and older as “unprecedented”.
23 July 2026

Netherlands to ban Israeli settler products from Sept 22

Will join Ireland, Belgium and Spain among EU countries that have imposed restrictions on trade with territories occupied by Israeli settlers
21 July 2026

Burnham becomes UK PM

Andy Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade yesterday, pledging to break with the politics of the past to deliver a new economic model to benefit a nation “fed up” with a revolving door of leaders.
21 July 2026

Andy Burnham becomes UK Labour leader

Andy Burnham, nickna-med the ‘King of the North’, was elected leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party yesterday, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.
18 July 2026

Wildfires ravage over 1,300 hectares of historic forest near Paris

The fire erupted Sunday in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest, a former royal hunting estate that today is dotted with quiet villages, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of the capital
14 July 2026

Oldest quasars deepen space mystery

The Euclid space telescope has spotted the oldest quasars -- the brightest objects in the universe -- ever discovered, deepening a cosmic mystery that has been puzzling scientists.
7 July 2026

UK PM ‘deeply sorry’ for decades of forced adoptions

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday formally apologised for the forced adoption of an estimated 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976, calling it “a stain on our history”.
3 July 2026

World’s oceans break June heat record: EU monitor

The world’s oceans just experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead as El Nino and climate change drive temperatures even higher, scientists said yesterday.
2 July 2026

Five killed in German youth welfare centre shooting, two detained

The motive for the incident in Stade, close to the port city of Hamburg, was not immediately clear, say police
29 June 2026

Civilian plane crash kills 11 in France

A civilian aircraft carrying skydivers crashed near the eastern French town of Tomblaine yesterday, killing all 11 people on board, local authorities said, in one of France’s deadliest light aircraft accidents.
29 June 2026

Deadly heatwave: France records around 1,000 excess deaths

French health officials said yesterday there had been around 1,000 more deaths than expected during a record-breaking heatwave that has baked much of western Europe for days.
29 June 2026

France records around 1,000 excess deaths in heatwave: health agency

The heat eased across France on Sunday after days of punishing temperatures that saw the mercury rising above 40C in many areas
28 June 2026

France shuts down nuclear reactors in heatwave precaution

France’s main energy provider yesterday shut down two nuclear reactors as an environmental protection measure to avoid discharging too much hot water into rivers already warming in a record-breaking heatwave.
26 June 2026

France heatwave's first major outage leaves 68,000 homes without power

Europe's record-breaking heatwave left around 68,000 households without electricity in northwestern France on Wednesday, authorities said, in the country's first major power outage of the latest bout of extreme weather
24 June 2026

Starmer resigns as UK PM

UK leader Keir Starmer announced his resignation yesterday following months of pressure, kickstarting a process that will see Britain get its seventh prime minister in a decade.
23 June 2026

European leaders to meet for Ukraine talks in Berlin

The leaders of Europe’s top military powers will meet Wednesday in Berlin to discuss the Ukraine conflict and an upcoming Nato summit, the German government said.
23 June 2026

Rare manuscript of Mozart found in France

Musicians this weekend will for the first time publicly interpret music for flute and harp that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote as a 22-year-old while teaching an aristocratic French student.
22 June 2026

‘Starmer thinking about quitting’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was considering his political future yesterday, after rival Andy Burnham’s decisive election victory to parliament prompted more ministers in the governing Labour Party to call for him to go.
22 June 2026

‘None of your concern’

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni fired back at US President Donald Trump yesterday, saying his “constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless” after he escalated a diplomatic row by accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him.
21 June 2026

UK intercepts a Russian shadow fleet tanker

British armed forces intercepted a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel yesterday, leading for the first time an operation to disrupt the oil revenue that helps fund Russia’s war in Ukraine.
15 June 2026