Europe Scorched by Heat Wave as Wildfire Engulfs Turkey’s Smyrna

While it is hard to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, heat waves are becoming more common and more intense. File photo. Credit: AMNA Europe is sizzling from the first heat wave of the season, with temperatures reaching 46C...

Is it safe to visit the south of France? Latest advice as wildfire blazes

Wildfires are, tragically, the new norm in southern Europe in the summer months, but it’s no longer just Greece, Spain and Türkiye suffering the consequences of extreme temperatures and prolonged dry conditions. A wildfire broke out in the Aude...

Drought stalks Serbia, harming livestock

SUVA PLANINA, Serbia (Reuters) -A prolonged drought and sweltering heat are taking their toll on villagers, livestock and crops in the mountains of southeastern Serbia, with animals starting to die. Lack of rainfall since May has caused water...

Movement Under Open Sky: Battery Park Dance Festival Returns to NYC

Limón Dance Company performing Suite from a Choreographic Offering. Photo: Claudio Rodriguez Summer in the city brings to mind many things—some good, some bad—but a hands-down highlight is the abundance of outdoor performing arts festivals. Among...

Eurostat: Package Holidays More Expensive in the EU in June – Turkey Tops Tourism Price Rises

Prices for package holidays in the European Union rose in June 2025 compared to last year, according to Eurostat data, with strong differences between markets. While the overall inflation rate in the EU was around 2.5% year-on-year, package...

Still digging 2025: Tracking global coal mine proposals

In 2024, newly-opened coal mines added a total of 105 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of production capacity to the global coal mining industry — a 46% decline from 2023 (193 Mtpa) and the smallest production capacity increase in a decade. This...

From Piraeus to the Western Balkans: China’s Growing Footprint in Southeast Europe

In the economic development of the Western Balkans, it is clearly evident that China has emerged as one of the most important non-EU actors in the region, first as a bilateral creditor and subsequently also as a source of foreign direct investment...

The Landlocked Gather in Turkmenistan to Confront an Age-old Conundrum

The Central Asian region is unique in the world for being entirely landlocked, and so it was of little surprise that most of the region’s leaders attended the opening of the recent U.N. Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, ongoing in the...

Routes & Networks Latest: Rolling Daily Updates (W/C Aug. 4, 2025)

The latest airline route news, featuring network changes, schedule alterations, codeshares and interline agreements. Aug. 5 Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines has received exemption authority from the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) to begin...

Monday Briefing from the Balkans: August 4, 2025

Family members of Serbian victims of the war in Croatia are hold photos of their relatives at Serbian officials’ Operation commemoration in Sremski Karlovci, August 3, 2025. Photo: Instagram/buducnostsrbijeav. Serbia commemorates 1995 Operation...

Fitch affirms Iute Group’s B- rating with stable outlook

International rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed the B- rating with a stable outlook for Iute Group, a leading financial services provider in Southeast Europe, and B- rating for its outstanding bonds, citing the company’s solid financial...

Qatar backs Syria’s economic revival

Qatar backs Syria’s economic revival with strategic projects as a USD 4 billion foreign-investment deal is signed to redevelop Damascus International Airport through a consortium of five international companies led by Qatar’s UCC Holding. With the...

President Sheikh Mohamed holds talks with President of South Korea

President Sheikh Mohamed on Tuesday discussed co-operation between the UAE and South Korea during a phone call with President Lee Jae-myung. The leaders held talks on joint action across sectors including economy, investment, energy, education,...

Has India really paused US defence deals over Trump’s tariff hike? A fact-check

The tensions had long been simmering but they hit boiled over this week when United States President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent increase in tariffs on Indian exports, on top of the existing duties, raising the total rate to 50 per cent....

Qatar backs Syria’s economic revival with strategic projects

Tribune News NetworkDamascus With the support of Qatar and under the patronage of HE President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, President of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Syrian government has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium of...

Qatar's UCC Holding leads USD 4 billion agreement with Syria to redevelop Damascus International Airport

Under the patronage of His Excellency President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Syria has signed a memorandum of understanding worth more than USD 4 billion in foreign investment with a five-company consortium headed by...

Balkan bounty: the little-known corner of Greece now ripe for walkers and nature tourism

I’m on a steadily rising road in northern Greece as swallows sweep over the burnished grasses to either side of me and pelicans spiral through the summer sky. Gaining height, the land thickens with oak forests and a Hermann’s tortoise makes a...

What’s on this fortnight: 8 to 21 August

Brussels City Hall dresses up in its finery to host the 7th edition of Flowertime. The biannual event – it alternates with the Grand Place floral carpet - invites 30 Belgian floral artists to decorate the hallowed halls of the heritage building....

EBRD Supports Strategic Corridors To Connect Western Balkans And EU - Matteo Colangeli (Exclusive Interview)

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 10. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is firmly committed to balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability in the Western Balkans, said Matteo Colangeli,...

EBRD, Additional EUR 30M for Rrogozhinë Railway

A strategic investment in the modernization of Albania’s railway infrastructure is becoming a reality, thanks to the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union (EU), and the European Investment Bank...