Europe’s air safety at risk amid cost-cutting and staff pressures, study warns
Pilots and cabin crew at European airlines feel increasingly under pressure to work long hours and hide signs of tiredness at the expense of safety, according to a major study. The results showed a deterioration since a 2014 study, also by Ghent University, which found 82% of pilots said they felt able to modify instructions. About 30% of pilots said they were sometimes reluctant to take safety decisions out of fear of possible negative consequences for their professional career. “A concerning trend is the increasing use of ‘management by fear,’ where wellbeing is not explicitly linked to safety outcomes,” the authors claim. “Labour conditions are no longer just a social issue – they have an impact on safety, wellbeing and fatigue that are all interrelated.
Source:The Guardian
October 03, 2025 06:04 UTC
Visions of resistance: women fighting to save their homeland – in pictures
NigeriaObaro is the oldest person in her community in the delta. ‘Our town is supposed to be well developed because we have oil. We are supposed to be the heartbeat of Nigeria,’ she says. ‘They have taken so much from us and given us nothing in return.’
Source:The Guardian
October 03, 2025 06:01 UTC
From the Swiss Alps to a solar eclipse: the 2025 Bird Photographer of the Year – in pictures
Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2025. I saw this big vulture drying its wings on a pole close to our hotel. I was being watched by the bird but it was very calm so I had a long time to photograph it. The scenery wasn’t beautiful so I decided to frame it with only part of the bird being in the photo. I tried various combinations and this one is my favourite.’Photograph: Tomasz Michalski
Source:The Guardian
October 01, 2025 21:01 UTC
Clive Palmer’s multibillion-dollar claims make a mockery of a tribunal that allows foreign investors to challenge court decisions
The Swiss court is not an appeal mechanism for the tribunal and cannot consider the broad merits of the case. Palmer’s cases use a little-known set of rights for foreign investors in trade agreements, called Investor-State Dispute Settlement. Palmer’s claims expose the absurdity of ISDS, which allows investors to make multibillion-dollar claims against court decisions, legislation or policy changes. Palmer’s last three cases join a growing global list of ISDS cases from fossil fuel companies against government decisions to reduce carbon emissions. Labor government policy excludes ISDS from future trade agreements and pledges to review it in 25 existing bilateral and regional agreements.
Source:The Guardian
September 30, 2025 13:34 UTC
Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote
Swiss voters have backed plans for electronic identity cards by a wafer-thin margin, in the second nationwide vote on the issue. In a referendum on Sunday, 50.4% of voters supported an electronic ID card, while 49.6% were against, confounding pollsters who had forecast stronger support for the “yes” vote. More than 1.6 million people have signed a petition opposing e-ID cards, which would be mandatory for people working in the UK by 2029. The referendum was called after a coalition of rightwing and data-privacy parties collected more than 50,000 signatures against e-ID cards, triggering the vote. For more than two decades, Estonians have had e-ID cards, which are used to vote, digitally sign documents, access public services and shop online.
Source:The Guardian
September 29, 2025 05:17 UTC
Clive Palmer banks on Swiss strategy after court throws out $305bn mine compensation claim
Clive Palmer says he will challenge the decision of an international tribunal to dismiss his claim for $305bn in compensation from the commonwealth government, by appealing to a court in Switzerland. “Mr Palmer is not a ‘foreign investor’ and is not entitled to any benefits under Australia’s free trade and investment agreements,” Rowland said on Saturday. Palmer claimed that Western Australia’s decision refusing to allow the mine a permit breached the 2010 Asean-Australian-New Zealand free trade agreement. The WA government passed a law exempting itself from the lawsuit in 2020, which Palmer challenged to the high court, without success. “The Swiss court can’t order the Australian government to pay compensation to Mr Palmer,” Yap said.
Source:The Guardian
September 28, 2025 09:51 UTC
Polish skier becomes first person to climb Everest and ski down without extra oxygen – video
Polish athlete Andrzej Bargiel, 37, is the first person to climb up and ski down Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. It took him four days to ascend from base camp and two days to ski back down
Source:The Guardian
September 27, 2025 20:45 UTC
Trump jokingly asked Rolex executives if tariffs prompted US Open invite, CEO says
Donald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this month’s US Open final from the luxury watchmaker’s VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier. “Rolex is not, nor has it ever been, engaged in any negotiation with the US government regarding tariffs,” he wrote. But Dufour described how Trump brought up the tariffs he had imposed on Switzerland, and Swiss exporters like Rolex, weeks earlier. “No substantive discussion” took place “regarding tariffs, trade policy, or any other official matter” during the US Open final, or since, he claimed. “How much more out of touch can Trump be?”Trump was gifted “a golf sweater and a sports gilet” as “a token of appreciation for attending the event”, said Dufour.
Source:The Guardian
September 27, 2025 05:37 UTC
World’s first purpose-built railway pub gets listed status
View image in fullscreen With its Grade II-listed status, there’s no chance of the Cleveland Bay turning into a gastropub. “There was a pub somewhere in the north-west which reckoned it was the first purpose-built railway pub,” said Rafferty. “But their railway line didn’t open until 1827 so the Friends of Stockton and Darlington Railway said we must have a pub that’s older than their pub. So that’s when they started the research.”The revelation has not given the Cleveland Bay much in the way of airs and graces. “These seven sites are stunning examples of our railway heritage,” she said.
Source:The Guardian
September 25, 2025 05:01 UTC
It’s ‘game on’ for launch, says rugby’s breakaway R360 league – but how ready is it really?
However, gaining World Rugby approval at its next council meeting in June will be just the start for R360, which is under the microscope about whether the proposition stacks up financially. An R360 sales deck sent to potential investors, obtained by the Guardian, provides some insight into the extent of the project’s ambition and the likely business plan. View image in fullscreen Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is among the rugby league stars signed up for the R360 breakaway. I really think R360 are underestimating the size of the challenge.”View image in fullscreen Mike Tindall is the co-founder of R360. An index to the initial sales deck shows a budget of £1.3m has been allocated to executive pay and recruitment.
Source:The Guardian
September 17, 2025 15:31 UTC
Chess: Erdogmus, 14, wins ‘Immortal’ game on Silk Road as Grand Swiss nears climax
There were two new frontrunners on Thursday at the $625,000 Grand Swiss in Samarkand on the ancient Silk Road, after Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo, who had led for the first six rounds, was beaten. after newsletter promotionMeanwhile, Gukesh lost again, this time against the little-known Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou. It got worse for Gukesh in round seven when, after reaching a won position against Turkey’s other young star Ediz Gurel, 16, he blundered into defeat. There could be a message here for the St Louis-backed Grand Chess Tour and the Freestyle Grand Slam. Vaishali took a clear lead in round seven when she overwhelmed her Chinese opponent with a classic attack by queen, knight and pawns on a castled king.
Source:The Guardian
September 12, 2025 08:31 UTC
Russian drone incursion an ‘aggressive, reckless act’, says EU as Poland plans no-fly zone – as it happened
From 6h ago 11.56 BST 'Aggressive, reckless act,' EU says on Russian drone incursion EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper offered the European Commission’s response to the drone incident in Poland. She said: “And this aggressive and reckless act is part of a serious escalation by Russia. Over to our correspondent in Paris… Share2h ago 16.20 BST Belarus prisoners release - in pictures View image in fullscreen Relatives, friends and journalists gather near the US embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania. Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński said three Polish citizens were in the group, without offering their names. View image in fullscreen Polish Territorial Defense Forces at the crash site of a Russian drone in the village of Wohyn, eastern Poland.
Source:The Guardian
September 11, 2025 16:51 UTC
Carbon emissions from oil giants directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for first time
Carbon emissions from the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies have been directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for the first time, according to a new analysis. The scientists first worked out how much each carbon major’s emissions had pushed up temperatures and then how much these higher temperatures increased the likelihood of heatwaves. View image in fullscreen Aramco’s oilfield in Shaybah, Saudi Arabia; fossil fuel companies have a particular responsibility, said the study’s lead author. Photograph: Hamad I Mohammed/ReutersEven the emissions from the fossil fuel companies at the bottom of the list of carbon majors had a significant impact on heatwaves. The carbon pollution from each of these caused 16 heatwaves to become at least 10,000 times more likely than before the climate crisis.
Source:The Guardian
September 11, 2025 01:31 UTC
Alarm as WHO accepts increasing amount of dark money from corporate donors
Meanwhile, corporate donations that have been made public suggest money is often provided to pay for the priorities of donors, not the WHO, the report’s authors said. But some observers say increasing reliance on dark money could do serious damage to the WHO’s credibility and mission. The donations are part of what appears to be a broader growing dependence on corporate funding among UN agencies. “And I respect that.”The WHO previously stressed that dark money only represents about 1% of its annual budget, but advocates say the level has significantly increased each year. The rating put it in the same class as rightwing dark money thinktanks, the report noted.
Source:The Guardian
September 10, 2025 23:34 UTC
Where there’s a will there’s a whey: cheese producers lean into their craft as Trump tariffs bite
View image in fullscreen One of the dairy farms supplying milk for the production of parmigiano reggiano (Reggiolo, Reggio Emilia). View image in fullscreen The production of parmigiano reggiano inside the San Girolamo dairy. View image in fullscreen The stamps used for marking parmigiano reggiano inside the San Girolamo dairy. The case for Alai and his fellow parmigiano reggiano producers is somewhat unique as the agreement simply meant they reverted to the same duty paid since the mid-1960s. Parmigiano reggiano and Gruyère hail from a similar heritage, and while they are friendly rivals on the cheese competition circuit, their taste, texture and culinary uses clearly distinguish them in the market.
Source:The Guardian
September 09, 2025 17:30 UTC