your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt Tales of Saint Nicholas might feature him bringing gifts to good boys and girls but ancient folklore in Europe’s Alpine region also speaks of Krampus a frightening demonlike creature who emerges during the Yule season looking for naughty children to punish in horrible ways—or possibly to drag back to his lair in a sack Krampus associations in villages hold parades playfully frightening onlookers on Krampusnacht by chasing them and hitting them with sticks during a run through the streets To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. A collection of winning and honored images from this year’s nature-photo competition A collection of amazing recent images made with the Hubble Space Telescope Mourners of Pope Francis gathered at the Vatican, scenes from the the second weekend of Coachella 2025, a humanoid-robot half-marathon in China, and much more Images of the people, animals, and landscapes of the Earth’s arctic and subarctic regions, photographed by Olivier Morin The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers When you purchase through links on our site Tempted by a jump in the sea on Christmas day I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations of the year for many the holidays also have a connection to ghost stories and long Decorating trees with fairy lights and dressing up tables is standard practise – but across Europe far stranger rituals have taken shape over the years From warding off bad spirits by dressing up as furry beasts to burning effigies of giant goats – some of these real life antics are wilder than fiction and make Santa’s existence seem like a scientific fact Dressing up is almost essential at this time of year but there’s more to the festive wardrobe than sparkly outfits and a red Santa suit. On December 25, residents of Swiss village Kandersteg don macabre outfits to scare aware evil spirits Expect to find people wrapped in furs and ringing bells These ‘rag men’ and ‘child eaters’ are a far cry from Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman – but they’ve still earned their place in Christmas folklore The parade is repeated on January 1 – making doubly sure those demons stay away Ramble Worldwide offer a seven-night Winter Walks in Kandersteg trip from £2,099pp, including half-board accommodation and flights. Departs December 20. Visit rambleworldwide.co.uk Sauna sizzling in Finland According to the Finnish National Statistics Centre sauna bathing is one of the most important festive activities families regularly get together for a traditional joulusauna ritual groups gather in saunas decorated with birch branches and lanterns and leave a gift and treats for the sauna elf Combine the experience with a visit to the home of another great festive legend in Santa’s workshop at Rovaniemi Responsible Travel offers a five-day Christmas in Lapland trip from £1,229pp, including full-board accommodation, activities, transfers and winter clothing. Visit responsibletravel.com Shifting holy sands in Gran Canaria Swap snowmen for sandpeople at Las Canteras Beach in Gran Canaria where nativity scenes are sculpted from golden grains every year and an assortment of shepherds and villagers runs from the end of November to January 7 every year Make the most of the mild winter weather with a walking holiday following paths through pine forests alpine meadows and the high mountain ranges of the central Cumbre Stay in a beachside hotel with views over Las Canteras Beach and dine at a special gala Christmas dinner Ramble Worldwide offer a seven-night Gran Canaria trip from £2,245pp, including B&B accommodation, some meals, transfers and flights. Departs December 21. Visit rambleworldwide.com Goat burning in Sweden the devil has always been portrayed as a formidable figure only one creature has the power to overcome him – a goat the bizarre Swedish Yule Goat tradition is honoured by hanging goat-shaped ornaments made of straw on Christmas trees residents of the town of Gävle construct a 40ft straw goat statue in the main square and wait to see how long it will last before it’s set alight and burned down it’s been destroyed 37 times – although it’s successfully survived for the past four years due to increased security measures Original Travel offers an eight-day Exploring Dalarna: In the Heart of Sweden trip from £1,530pp, including car hire, B&B accommodation, guides and flights. Visit originaltravel.co.uk Cold water swimming has been gaining popularity for some time, but hardy Irish folk have been taking an annual Christmas Day dip for the past 40 years. In the name of charity, thousands take the icy plunge, often dressed in Christmas hats or even full Father Christmas outfits. Refreshments and music help brave souls warm up. Three swims will be held in Kerry this year on Fenit Either hop over as a spectator or dive in and embrace the waves Participants wearing traditional Krampus costumes perform during a Krampus run in Hollabrunn, Austria has won the Fulbright ETA and will be teaching English in Colombia An equally prestigious but differently funded Fulbright, from the Austrian government, has chosen three of our Boise State students in German for it’s USTA (US Teaching Assistantship): ID is a USTA Fulbright-Austria winner and will be teaching English in Hollabrunn We also have 2 Alternate award winners for the USTA Fulbright-Austria Elementary Chinese Certificate) from Boise Katherine will be teaching in Upper Austria in two schools: in the Europagymnasium in the town of Baumgartenberg and the “BORG” (Federal Senior High School) in the neighboring town of Perg We also have an Alternate award winner for the USTA Fulbright-Austria: Kelsi Ramakers She is waiting to hear if she too has won a position Lamb Weston / Meijer and RWA announced today that Lamb Weston/Meijer has signed an agreement to acquire 74% of the shares in Frisch & Frost Nahrungsmittel GmbH based in Hollabrunn Austria.Current owner RWA will keep the remaining shares Both parties will continue operation of Frisch & Frost  through a Joint Venture agreement The transaction is subject to antitrust clearance and is expected to close in June 2010.Frisch & Frost operates one potato and two dough producing facilities in Austria with net sales of approximately € 70 Million and employment of 280 people.“The agreement which expands Lamb Weston / Meijer’s production network allows us to bring even greater value to our frozen potato customers in Central &South-eastern Europe managing director of Lamb Weston/Meijer.“The Joint Venture means a real win-win-constellation to Frisch & Frost its regional agricultural partners and Lamb Weston/Meijer" CEO of the RWA Group.” Operational synergies in Sales and Manufacturing and the complementary market positions are the biggest opportunities".“Frisch & Frost will benefit from Lamb Weston / Meijer’s potato product and processing expertise,” states Gerfried Pichler RWA News release (in German) 2017 5:08 PM ESTThousands of people around the globe will herald the winter solstice the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere with centuries-old rituals like soaking in fruit-filled baths and dressing up as a devilish folklore legend that punishes naughty children around Christmas It starts the moment the Northern Hemisphere is pointed at its farthest distance from the sun The winter solstice is considered a turning point in the year in many cultures The sacred day is also called Yule to pagans celebrating the birth of the new solar year Dozens of pagans and druids head to Stonehenge to pay tribute to the sun during the solstice Here are some of the ways people celebrate the winter solstice around the world: A member of the Haiminger Krampusgruppe dressed as the Krampus creature lets himself be touched by onlookers prior to the annual Krampus night in Tyrol on Dec 2013.Sean Gallup—Getty ImagesHordes of revelers descend on Hollabrunn Austria each year during the winter solstice to watch a swarm of people dressed like Krampus — the half-demon half-goat counterpart to Santa Claus — terrorize and tease the crowd in horned masks but it’s fun,” said Natalie Kononenko a professor and Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography Arts at the University of Alberta in Canada While many of the costumes include giant horns sharpened teeth and mangled faces — features that might be considered nightmarish to an ordinary person — the Krampus run annually amuses those in attendance “It’s sort of like Halloween,” Kononenko said “You get to dress up in these really disgusting costumes You get to do stuff you don’t normally get to do.” This year’s family-friendly Krampus run in Hollabrunn’s main square takes place Dec “To be really afraid again and experience evil with fun is the motto,” its organizers wrote on the event’s website People gather for sunrise at Newgrange on the morning of the winter solstice on Dec 2014.Brian Lawless—PA Wire/APDozens of people lucky enough to be selected through an annual lottery get the chance to stand inside the Newgrange monument in Ireland and absorb the first rays of the day as they fill the ancient chambers during the winter solstice Newgrange is a burial mound in Ireland’s Boyne Valley that is over 5,000 years old The Stone Age monument contains a 62-foot passage that leads into a chamber that is aligned with the sun as it rises during the winter solstice sunlight pierces through the top of the chamber and slowly illuminates the room for about 17 minutes More than 32,500 people applied for a spot inside the chamber this year, according to Newgrange’s website Only 60 of them were picked from the lottery to partake in this winter solstice ritual the bath has become custom for animals in some Japanese zoos Photos from the local media show Japanese macaques hippos and capybaras enjoying fruit-filled baths last December in their enclosures at the Fukuoka City Zoological Garden and the Izu Shaboten Zoo good luck on the solstice is associated with red bean porridge Koreans will often make the dish both to eat and spread around the house to keep evil spirits away a senior lector of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University The sun makes a brief appearance through clouds as druids, pagans and revelers gather in the centre of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England for the 2015 winter solstice.Matt Cardy—Getty ImagesEngland’s famous Stonehenge lures thousands of visitors during the summer and winter solstices Revelers gather at the prehistoric site of ancient stones in Wiltshire to sing kiss the stones and do yoga as they wait for the sun to rise The iconic Stonehenge is known for its precise alignment with the sun’s movement and may have been a sacred place of worship and celebration for solstices for thousands of years Contact us at letters@time.com Artlyst 1929) from the beginning of their long careers the word is the political tool par excellence for deconstructing a language that has always been male-oriented while for Schödl the written word is the graphic-aesthetic element that vibration and the perfect seismograph to record her moods on a daily basis It has taken years for women to learn to ‘speak’ in order to be heard to understand that the word is the key means to express feelings and thoughts and to give voice to an identity that has remained silent for too long Like children in their early infancy who must work hard to line up vowels and consonants in order to find their own voice women have had to struggle to find a common voice with which to express themselves the claims of female poets and visual artists gathered such strength that they have courageously rewritten not only the words that tell their stories flooded cellars and washed away cars: the storms of the past few days have created a state of emergency across Austria Emergency services are busy clearing up around the clock But is the next chaos already approaching?  Numerous shocking images of flooding are currently circulating through Austria From west to east - hardly anyone has been spared from the heavy rain Clean-up work is in full swing in the affected regions Tyrol and Lower Austria in particular were badly affected by the weather chaos over the past few days the federal capital was also hit on Saturday evening Woman pushed under bus by masses of waterPeople had to be rescued from their cars roads became rivers and numerous cellars are no longer accessible One woman was even pushed under a bus by the masses of water around 550 operations had been reported in Vienna and cellars and garages are still being pumped out the Vienna Fire Brigade is still in close contact with the weather services on Sunday The situation is being monitored and the emergency services are of course ready to help again 110 liters of rain per square meter fell - the highest summer value in the 152-year history of measurements at the Hohe Warte There were also several mudslides in the Kaprun region of Salzburg on Saturday Mayor Domenik David even described the situation as "very critical" The fire department had to clear traffic routes pump out flooded buildings and divert various streams back into the riverbed There were several landslides on the Schaufelberg and access to the reservoirs and the glacier lift was closed The storm also caused one serious injury: a mudslide buried a house in Zell am See The resident was caught up in the masses of debris Civil defense warning in MauternA thunderstorm cell also caused heavy rainfall flooding and a civil protection warning in Mautern in Upper Styria (Leoben district) on Saturday evening.  protective water management and landslide slope stabilization will inspect the damage in Mautern The exact extent of the damage could be known by Sunday evening Clean-up work continues in Lower AustriaAfter Hollabrunn (Lower Austria) was declared a disaster area on Friday The clean-up has been continuing since Sunday morning several fire departments were still busy with cleaning work Helpers were also deployed in the district of Neunkirchen where heavy rain had caused flooding on Saturday the fire department was also deployed in the Amstetten district on Sunday night to pump out cellars and remove trees from roads Concerns about the next storm chaosThe clean-up work after the mudslides and flash floods in St Anton am Arlberg in Tyrol is still in full swing Work and excavation continued throughout the night - and on Sunday The region is also looking anxiously at the weather forecast for the next few days .. the weather map of the Austrian Severe Weather Center is once again glowing in yellow and orange Thunderstorms and hail are threatening again - from Vorarlberg to western Upper Austria and thunderstorm cells may also be embedded in it The fewest thunderstorms and showers are expected in south-eastern Austria according to meteorologists from Geosphere Austria.  The night will bring frequent rain in the north and local thunderstorm cells in the east.  north and along the northern side of the Alps clouds will predominate at the start of the week and it may rain again and again A few showers and thunderstorms will also fall in the south-east.  It will remain unsettledIt will remain unsettled in most of Austria on Tuesday The tendency to shower will increase significantly initially in the mountains and again in the eastern lowlands towards the evening with a few thunderstorm and heavy rain cells likely to form below The day will continue to be unsettled in the middle of the week clouds and rain showers are to be expected at times it should hardly cool down in the coming days.  This article has been automatically translated,read the original article here Willkommen in unserer Community! 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Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren In Kürze bekommen Sie eine Bestätigungs-Mail von uns Manama : The Royal Habsburg Family and the Hollabrunn City Council of Austria awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece to Bahrain Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in recognition of his efforts to support humanitarian activities and advocate peace Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Khalifa received the award during a grand ceremony held at Schoenbrunn Palace in Autrian capital Vienna The ceremony commemorated the 100th anniversary of the death of Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef the longest-serving monarch in the history of Europe.  The event was attended by Archduke Sándor Von Habsburg and his wife Archduchess Herta Margarete senior members of the Habsburg Family and more than 200 guests The Guests of Honour also included the EU Ambassador to Kosovo ambassadors accredited to Austria and aristocrats Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa addressed the ceremony He hailed the landmark strides achieved by Austria owing to the principles and foundations laid by Emperor Franz Josef for the sake of his country and people Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Khalifa conveyed greetings from HRH the Premier wishing the Republic of Austria and its people further progress and prosperity