Reuters · Canada · September 4

Canada lost 41,700 jobs in August, a sharp reversal after summer gains and far worse than economists expected. Full-time employment accounted for most of the decline, while youth unemployment climbed to 12.9%. The unemployment rate nevertheless remained at 6.4%. With new U.S. tariffs threatening Canadian exporters, the numbers are an important early warning about the resilience of the Canadian economy.

Reuters · Australia · September 5

Sydney is facing temperatures around 33°C — nearly 13 degrees above its seasonal average — as exceptionally hot, dry and windy conditions push bushfire danger to “extreme.” Authorities have imposed a total fire ban across Greater Sydney.

Associated Press · Serbia / European Union · September 5

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has cancelled a visit to Serbia over the Serbian government's treatment of the death of convicted Bosnian-Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić. His return to Belgrade aboard a government aircraft and plans for a military commemoration have produced condemnation elsewhere in Europe and further complicated Serbia's already difficult path toward EU membership.

Reuters · Geneva / World · September 4

Diplomats from 128 countries have been attempting to establish international rules for lethal autonomous weapons, but opposition from the United States and Russia is threatening agreement. Ireland is among countries pushing for stronger safeguards and legally binding rules governing weapons capable of increasingly independent targeting and operation.

Reuters · Germany · September 3

Volkswagen has approved a sweeping transformation programme that could eliminate another 50,000 jobs across the group, while the future of several German plants is being reconsidered. Chinese competition, excess global automotive capacity and U.S. tariffs are forcing Europe's largest carmaker into one of the biggest restructurings in its history.

Reuters · Germany / China · September 3

Some 83% of German industrial companies surveyed by the country's Chambers of Commerce say they now feel competitive pressure from Chinese businesses. Most have no intention of abandoning their industries: instead they are turning toward innovation, cost reductions and new markets, while a majority favour stronger European action against distorted competition.

Reuters · Germany · September 3

The Ifo Institute has raised its German growth forecast for 2026 to 1.4%, helped by government spending on infrastructure, defence and other investment alongside stronger industrial production and European export demand. Germany's performance matters far beyond its borders: it remains the industrial core of the European economy.

Reuters · United Kingdom · September 4

Britain is changing the way government evaluates major infrastructure in an effort to get more projects approved and built. The Treasury will lower the long-term discount rate used when assessing investments, meaning projects whose benefits accumulate over decades — including railways, roads, energy networks and other public infrastructure — will have a better chance of passing government cost-benefit tests. The change forms part of a wider attempt to increase investment and modernise Britain's infrastructure.

Royal Household · United Kingdom / France · September 3

King Charles and President Emmanuel Macron have formally viewed the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum, marking its extraordinary loan from France. Charles called the nearly thousand-year-old object a symbol of the friendship between Britain and France. In exchange, British treasures including material from Sutton Hoo will travel to France.

Royal Museums Greenwich · England · September 2026

Heritage Open Days returns this month with more than 5,500 events involving over 2,000 organisations and 46,000 volunteers. Historic buildings, archives, workshops and places normally closed to visitors will open across England — an enormous annual exercise in putting ordinary people directly in contact with their country's built and cultural inheritance.

The Guardian · England · September 4

A new exhibition at Bath's Herschel Museum explores the extraordinary work of William and Caroline Herschel in the Georgian house where they observed the heavens. Caroline became the first woman in England to be paid professionally for astronomy and discovered eight comets; William discovered Uranus. The exhibition deliberately reconnects their scientific achievements with the ordinary domestic rooms in which much of the work happened.

Fanshawe Pioneer Village · Ontario, Canada · September 5

Spinning, weaving and other nineteenth-century textile skills are being demonstrated today across the historic buildings of Fanshawe Pioneer Village. A special presentation also tells the story of John Campbell, a nineteenth-century Ontario weaver, and his Jacquard loom, which has recently entered the village's permanent collection. Modern craftspeople from Upper Canada Weaving are showing how historic Ontario textiles can still be reproduced rather than simply preserved as museum objects.

EUROPEAN UNION

Reuters · European Union · September 4

The EU is preparing a broad ban on waste exports, including valuable aluminium scrap, to non-OECD countries. Brussels argues that keeping recyclable metals inside Europe can support struggling European smelters and strengthen industrial independence. Recycled aluminium requires dramatically less energy than producing new metal from bauxite, making scrap increasingly valuable industrial feedstock rather than simply waste.

FRANCE

Reuters · France / Europe · September 4

France is committing more than €1 billion to help farms recover from an exceptionally damaging summer of heat and drought. An estimated 30,000–35,000 farms are under financial strain and losses across livestock and arable farming are estimated at at least €10 billion. The importance extends beyond France itself: France remains the European Union's largest agricultural producer, making the condition of French farming a matter of European food production and strategic capacity.

DEFENCE

Reuters · NATO / Baltic Europe · July 8

One of NATO's longest-running eastern missions has quietly undergone an important transformation. Baltic Air Policing — established when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined NATO in 2004 — has been upgraded into an air-defence operation, giving allied fighter pilots greater authority to respond to genuine airborne threats rather than simply intercepting and escorting aircraft.

ABC News · Australia · September 4

Twenty years after Steve Irwin's death, friends and colleagues are remembering the extraordinary energy that transformed a Queensland wildlife park into an international conservation institution. Australia Zoo now receives about 700,000 visitors annually, while the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve protects some 180,000 hectares. His children Bindi and Robert continue much of the conservation work he began.

ROYAL FAMILIES

Norway / Europe · September 3

The funeral of King Harald V on September 9 will bring together an unusually broad gathering of Europe's royal houses. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, Denmark's King Frederik X and Queen Mary, the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima and Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde are among those expected in Oslo. The gathering also illustrates the unusually close family relationships that still connect Europe's constitutional monarchies.

Associated Press · Space · September 3

Saturn already has its famous six-sided storm at the north pole. Now astronomers have identified an enormous ten-sided atmospheric pattern around its south pole. The newly confirmed decagon stretches thousands of kilometres across Saturn's clouds and slowly drifts eastward — and scientists still don't fully understand why Saturn's atmosphere is so unusually good at producing geometric weather.

WHAT'S CHANGING?

Reuters · France / Europe · September 3

France has begun road tests of Tesla's supervised Full Self-Driving system as European countries consider whether the technology is ready for wider approval. France expects its evaluation this month, potentially feeding into an EU-wide decision later this year. Whatever the eventual verdict, automated driving is moving from demonstration technology toward an everyday regulatory question for European roads.

AI FUTURE

Reuters · Taiwan / World · September 5

Foxconn says demand for AI hardware is pushing its third-quarter performance beyond market expectations. August revenue reached a record T$921.8 billion, up almost 52% from a year earlier. AI is therefore no longer simply a story about software companies: the enormous physical build-out of servers, electronics, power systems and data centres is increasingly showing up in industrial production.

FAITH

Seventh-day Adventist Church · United Kingdom / World · September 5

Churches participating in Youth Spiritual and Mission Commitment Day today are encouraging young Christians to consider faith not simply as belief but as a commitment to service, mission, prayer and Christian life. The annual observance gives congregations space for young people to make a deliberate commitment to their faith and their responsibilities within the Church.

Archaeology Magazine · Bulgaria · September 4

Archaeologists at the Roman colony of Deultum have found the remains of a man inside a huge storage jar in a fortified gate tower. Around him were traces of a catastrophic fire and destruction dating to the turbulent fourth or fifth century. Two iron knives were with him — one still at his belt and another apparently positioned ready for use. Archaeologists think he may have climbed into the jar seeking shelter during an attack and died there before survivors eventually built a new floor over the ruined tower.

ABC News · Australia / World · September 5

Researchers from around the world have spent the week on Phillip Island in Victoria for the International Penguin Conference — appropriately, beside the world's largest colony of little penguins. The meeting has taken on new urgency after H5 bird flu reached the island in August. More than 1,500 penguins have already been vaccinated, with authorities planning to vaccinate 5,000 as researchers work out how to protect populations facing changing oceans, disappearing ice and disease.