Fears of Easter chaos over scaling up of new EU border system are eased, with no facial IDs for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers Passengers crossing the Channel from the UK to France will not face new biometric checks in the coming weeks, despite an imminent deadline for the complete implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), ports say. Airlines and airports across Europe have feared ch...
Fears of Easter chaos over scaling up of new EU border system are eased, with no facial IDs for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers Passengers crossing the Channel from the UK to France will not face new biometric checks in the coming weeks, despite an imminent deadline for the complete implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), ports say. Airlines and airports across Europe have feared chaos over the Easter holidays. Continue reading...
From sad-fishing on Facebook to sensational Substack revelations – today’s readers don’t have to look far for confessional writing. Is this the end of autobiography? Every day I meet strangers who share intimate details with me. It’s called reading. In a newspaper piece a former sex addict recalls her need for BDSM (“when a sexual partner hurt me, I felt seen”) and how she conquered her dependency...
From sad-fishing on Facebook to sensational Substack revelations – today’s readers don’t have to look far for confessional writing. Is this the end of autobiography? Every day I meet strangers who share intimate details with me. It’s called reading. In a newspaper piece a former sex addict recalls her need for BDSM (“when a sexual partner hurt me, I felt seen”) and how she conquered her dependency. On Substack an actor describes her grief on losing a baby (“After the miscarriage, I became convinced my daughter was backstage. I would push back the costumes on the rack and almost expect to find her”). And then there are the published memoirs, first-person stories of trauma, displacement and heartbreak. It’s not just women who unburden themselves, of course. As Martin Amis says in his memoir, Experience: “We are all writing it or at any rate talking it: the memoir, the apologia, the CV, the cri de coeur.” Recent memoirs have upped the ante, though. What was once a geriatric, self-satisfied genre (politicians, generals and film stars looking back fondly on long careers) is now open to anyone with a story to tell – “nobody memoirs”, the American journalist Lorraine Adams has called them. Candour is the key, no matter how fraught the consequences. “Most writers I know,” Maggie Nelson writes in The Argonauts , “nurse persistent fantasies about the horrible things – or the horrible thing – that will happen to them if and when they express themselves as they desire”. But she takes that risk, addressing the book to “you”, her fluidly gendered husband Harry (who’s angry when she shows him a draft), while exploring identity, pregnancy, motherhood and sexuality. Continue reading...
Lack of regulation for specialist classes leaves UK fitness enthusiasts at risk, say professional bodies The boom in reformer pilates has created a “wild west” of studios where poor regulation has resulted in inexperienced teachers and a rise in injuries, professional standards bodies have warned. Pilates is not formally or legally regulated, and as its popularity has surged, industry experts say,...
Lack of regulation for specialist classes leaves UK fitness enthusiasts at risk, say professional bodies The boom in reformer pilates has created a “wild west” of studios where poor regulation has resulted in inexperienced teachers and a rise in injuries, professional standards bodies have warned. Pilates is not formally or legally regulated, and as its popularity has surged, industry experts say, so too has the growth of packed reformer-based classes often led by instructors with limited training. Continue reading...
Riccione’s leftwing mayor, Daniela Angelini, says public purchase is victory for town and ‘act of love and vision’ An Italian council has bought a villa where Benito Mussolini spent his summer holidays, partly to avoid the property falling into the hands of “fascist nostalgics”. Daniela Angelini, the leftwing mayor of Riccione, a town close to Rimini along Italy’s Adriatic coast, said the acquisit...
Riccione’s leftwing mayor, Daniela Angelini, says public purchase is victory for town and ‘act of love and vision’ An Italian council has bought a villa where Benito Mussolini spent his summer holidays, partly to avoid the property falling into the hands of “fascist nostalgics”. Daniela Angelini, the leftwing mayor of Riccione, a town close to Rimini along Italy’s Adriatic coast, said the acquisition of Villa Mussolini through an auction was “an act of love and vision” and that bringing it back into public hands was a victory for the entire town. Continue reading...
For years, airlines in the US and Europe have gawked at the rise of Middle East carriers funneling ever more passengers through their gleaming hubs in Dubai and Doha at competitive prices with the latest jets. Emirates , Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways offered a viable alternative in the Gulf, leveraging a perfect position between three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia. That dynamic changed a...
For years, airlines in the US and Europe have gawked at the rise of Middle East carriers funneling ever more passengers through their gleaming hubs in Dubai and Doha at competitive prices with the latest jets. Emirates , Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways offered a viable alternative in the Gulf, leveraging a perfect position between three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia. That dynamic changed almost overnight when the Iran war broke out, shuttering airspaces, grounding planes and leaving regional airlines in disarray. While the loss of capacity from the Middle Eastern carriers has reduced long-haul flying overall, Western airlines are moving in to fill the gap. Executives have sensed an opportunity to take advantage and regain ground, adding alternative routes to steal away business. Deutsche Lufthansa AG , British Airways and Air France-KLM quickly redeployed jets into countries including India, Thailand and Singapore last month to capture passengers looking for new flights. The gains in share are small so far, however, and building something with lasting momentum isn’t simple. Bloomberg analyzed widebody flights across 21 major airlines in the month before and after the war began, using data from tracking firm Flightradar24. Methodology note: Bloomberg analyzed 131,074 flight records between Feb. 1 and March 27, 2026 from Flightradar24, comparing trends before and after the US and Israeli attack on Iran that started Feb. 28. The data is limited to international widebody passenger flights among 21 airlines. Gulf Carriers: Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways US: United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines Europe: Air France-KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Iberia, Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, ITA Airways, Brussels Airlines, SAS, Austrian Airlines, Martinair, Oceania, Qantas Asia: Air India, IndiGo One issue will be whether this is a short-term blip for global air travel or prove to be a more lasting change as places once considered safe ...
Russia said drone debris struck a foreign-flagged cargo vessel in a bay of the Azov Sea overnight while Moscow’s forces attacked several Ukrainian regions as the war showing no signs of slowing down. The bulk carrier was located several kilometers off the coast of Taganrog when it was damaged by fragments from an intercepted drone, sparking a fire that’s since been contained, Yury Slyusar, governo...
Russia said drone debris struck a foreign-flagged cargo vessel in a bay of the Azov Sea overnight while Moscow’s forces attacked several Ukrainian regions as the war showing no signs of slowing down. The bulk carrier was located several kilometers off the coast of Taganrog when it was damaged by fragments from an intercepted drone, sparking a fire that’s since been contained, Yury Slyusar, governor of Russia’s Rostov region, said in a Telegram post. The port of Taganrog handles shipments of grain, metals, coal and other industrial cargo. The overnight attack on the city killed one person and injured four others, the governor said. Separately, a missile strike triggered a fire at warehouse facilities belonging to a logistics company, he said. A drone alert remains in effect across the region. Russia and Ukraine have intensified attacks on each other in recent weeks. Hopes for a diplomatic solution to end hostilities triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have been set back, with the war in Iran consuming the attention of the US President Donald Trump and his negotiators. Read more: Russia Plans New Ukraine Offensive as World Focuses on Iran Russia’s defenses repelled 85 Ukrainian drones in about a dozen regions overnight, Moscow’s defense ministry said. Two drone hubs and pre-flight preparation sites for Shahed UAVs were struck in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, according to a post by Robert Brovdi, a Ukrainian drone unit commander known as Madyar. Tolyatti, a city on the Volga River in Russia’s Samara region, came under attack with drones targeting an industrial enterprise, regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev indicated in his post without providing details. A drone also hit the roof of a multi-storey residential building, he said. The city is home to AvtoVAZ, Russia’s largest passenger car manufacturer, as well as nitrogen fertilizer producers TogliattiAzot and KuibyshevAzot. Such fertilizer plants often also produce explosives. Read ...
Five European Union finance ministers called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies amid rising fuel prices due to the Iran war, Reuters reported , citing a letter seen by the news agency. Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria made the joint call in a letter to the European Commission, dated Friday, Reuters said. They wrote that taking such action would “send a clear message...
Five European Union finance ministers called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies amid rising fuel prices due to the Iran war, Reuters reported , citing a letter seen by the news agency. Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria made the joint call in a letter to the European Commission, dated Friday, Reuters said. They wrote that taking such action would “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” according to the report. Read More: France Asks EU to Ensure Oil Refineries Don’t Overcharge on Fuel