Author: Press Room

In a recent paper, researchers reviewed studies linking exercise, relationships, and passion to brain health. They found reasonable evidence that all three factors offer protection against cognitive decline. Their review noted that randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm their findings. Changes to cognitive function during the aging process are related to the brain’s white and gray matter volume. Gray matter consists of biological structures, including neuronal cell bodies, synapses, and capillaries, whereas white matter consists of myelinated axons, through which signals are carried between neurons. Gray matter volume steadily declines at around 10 years of age. Research suggests that…

KUALA LUMPUR: Heirs of a late Southeast Asian sultan on Thursday (Sep 29) asked a Dutch court for permission to seize Malaysian assets in the Netherlands, their lawyer said, seeking enforcement of a US$15 billion arbitration award granted to them against Malaysia’s government. The petition in The Hague Court of Appeal is an escalation of a long-running dispute over a colonial-era land deal that threatens the global assets of the Malaysian government and state-owned companies. Malaysia’s government, which has said it does not recognise the heirs’ claim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Dutch petition.…

The European Commission has said it will take Malta to court over the member state’s “golden passport” scheme.Foreign citizens can buy Maltese and EU citizenship in exchange for around €1 million of investment under the controversial programme.The Commission said in a statement on Thursday that it decided to refer Malta to the EU’s Court of Justice.Cyprus and Bulgaria had also issued “golden passports” but both have since ended, leaving Malta as the only EU country with such a scheme.Brussels has long criticised the initiative, arguing it encourages corruption and money laundering while complaining the investors do not have any obligation to…

Something unusual is happening on the Czech-Slovak border. Except for a brief period in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 250 kilometre-long border separating the two countries has largely been a fiction since both entered the Schengen zone in 2007. A driver hardly notices they have crossed countries and checks are non-existent.But on Thursday, the Czech Republic temporarily reinstated controls on its border with Slovakia in response to an increase in illegal migration.Vít Rakušan, the Czech interior minister, said in a statement earlier this week that illegal migration, mainly from Syria, had risen by 1,200 per cent this year.…

Social media users have spread the false claim that Germany’s armed forces will soon be deployed on the streets.The misleading rumours suggest that soldiers will be patrolling in front of supermarkets from 1 October to prevent any “disturbances”. Euronews has fact-checked the claims.The false claims spread online in a number of languages, with one post on Telegram receiving over 150,000 likes. Some even suggested that the army’s deployment could be a “kind of Gestapo,” in reference to the secret police of Nazi-era Germany. However, while Germany’s army is being restructured on 1 October, it will not be given new or expanded powers.…

Suspicions of deliberate sabotage after multiple leaks were observed in underwater pipelines in the Baltic Sea have raised concerns over the vulnerability of critical infrastructure across the European Union. Four leaks have now been detected in Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 which both link Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. While investigations are under way, the governments of Denmark and Sweden said they believe the leaks are the result of “deliberate actions”. The North Atlantic Council — NATO’s principal political decision-making body — also said in a statement on Thursday that “all currently available information indicates that…

Germany’s former chancellor Angela Merkel warned that taking Vladimir Putin’s words seriously is “a sign of political wisdom” not weakness. Merkel, who left office two months before the Ukraine war began, was speaking about an answer she had given in June about Putin’s character. “I replied that one should take his words seriously,” said Merkel, while speaking at the inauguration of the Helmut Kohl Foundation.”And today, in view of the developments of the last few days, I would like to add: taking words seriously, not dismissing them out of hand as just a bluff, but dealing with them seriously is by no…

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the European Parliament this week, chanting “Woman. Life. Freedom,” to remember the late 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini and call on the European Union to put pressure on the Iranian regime over her death in police custody. Amini died after being detained by Iran’s so-called “morality police” for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. Her death has fuelled widespread protests across Iran. Protestors told Euronews the European Union should “put aside its economic interests and must think like any basic human being”. “This is about your hair too,” one shop owner said, adding that Iranian women are…

Following the Italian election, Euronews hosted a debate to discuss what the result means for the European Union.We were joined by four members of the European Parliament for the discussion: Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, from the Socialists & Democrats; Roberts Zīle from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Lukas Mandl, from the European People’s Party; and Alexandra Geese from the Greens.Here are the highlights from the debate hosted by Euronews correspondent Méabh Mc Mahon.What do the politicians think about the Italian election result?The election last Sunday resulted in Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party finishing first. She is now widely expected to…

Living in their own excrement or forced to drink fetid water in frozen kennels: this is the grim life for Spain’s hunting dogs, according to an investigation by animal rights groups published on Thursday.Video footage taken in 29 kennels across the country showed the unkempt dogs chained up and left by their owners.As Spain’s Animal Welfare Law was poised to come into law, AnimaNaturalis and CAS International published their findings on Thursday, urging the government to include hunting dogs in the legislation.The ruling Socialist government wants to introduce an amendment which will exclude these dogs from the legislation on the…