Hidden meanings in the royals' outfits as they welcome the Macrons - including King Charles's not-so-subtle message of love amid Emmanuel and Brigitte's 'frosty' appearance
The Macrons landed at RAF Northolt in London earlier today and were met on the tarmac by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
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Reuters
31 minutes ago
- Reuters
Croatia reports record tourist arrivals so far in 2025
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Croatia recorded 15.5 million tourist arrivals and 79.2 million overnight stays so far this year, a 1% increase from the same period in 2024, Tourism Minister Tonci Glavina said on Thursday, branding 2025 a "record year," state television HRT reported. "Including August 20 of this year, we have had a record traffic of tourist arrivals and overnight stays, and simultaneously a record spending and growth in tourist activities," Glavina told reporters after a government session. Tourist spending in the January-August period jumped 10.4% from the same period last year, he said, citing fiscal bills. The central bank estimated in June that revenues from foreign tourist arrivals in 2025 would rise 3.6% to 15.5 billion euros ($18.01 billion). Tourism accounts for 20% of Croatia's economy and tourist officials are working to secure a year-around tourist season, not just during the peak summer months. ($1 = 0.8608 euros)
Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
WH Smith could pay a heavy price for counting on America
When the high street stalwart WH Smith turned its back on Britain's benighted shopping precincts, the spin was that focusing on trains, planes and to a lesser extent automobiles would deliver a highly profitable future for the retailer. That notion suffered a serious knock on Thursday when it abruptly slashed annual profit guidance after an accounting blunder in its North American business. The shares fell by more than 40 per cent during the day as auditors from Deloitte were called in to review an estimated 'overstatement' of about £30 million on the company's headline profit figure. Year-end profit for its US arm is now expected to be about £25 million, slashing the prior forecasts of £55 million by more than half. • WH Smith shares drop 40% after US accounting error It was only last year that Carl Cowling, the chief executive, described WH Smith's North American business as its 'most exciting opportunity for growth' as he unveiled a target of opening 500 shops by 2028 and taking 20 per cent of the US travel retail market. The FTSE 250 group has banked a great deal on the United States, which is a central pillar of its transition into a pure-play travel retailer given its position as the world's largest travel market. That transition was set in stone earlier this year after WH Smith sold its UK high street business to the private equity firm Modella Capital. Its greeting cards platform, was sold shortly after for £24 million. Cowling will have a much tougher time fulfilling WH Smith's market share goals in the US now, with almost £600 million wiped off its value over the day and analysts describing forecasting for its North American business as a 'pin-sticking exercise.' It is still unclear what the material impact of the accounting issues will be, given that management only uncovered the problems a few days ago. Fintan Ryan, food and beverage analyst at the investment bank Goodbody, described the scale of the overstatement as 'quite shocking', and said he expected markets to 'assume the worst, for now at least'. The warning could lead to a reduction in pre-tax earnings of about 75 per cent and damage investor confidence in WH Smith's ability to hit future profit targets. Peel Hunt analysts said forecasts would be 'very difficult to make' without involving guesswork, and noted that the practice that led to the accounting hitch had 'been in place for some time'. WH Smith said the overstatement had arisen after it booked some of its supplier income in the current financial year instead of the next one. Comparisons are already being drawn with events at other retailers. Tesco warned in 2014 it had overstated half-year profits by about £250 million, before also calling in Deloitte, in what evolved into a major accounting scandal that took years to fix. Even without the accounting hitch, there were questions about WH Smith's foray across the Atlantic. It first entered the US market in 2018 via the acquisition of the airport-based retailer InMotion, before buying Marshall Retail Group for about $400 million the following year. InMotion, which sells electronics such as headphones, power banks and other mobile accessories, has been 'quite a poor performer', Conroy Gaynor, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said. 'I struggle to see the proposition of it now, because I don't know if people are really buying these types of goods at airports. You'd have to be at a real loose end to buy your airpods at a mark-up … Unless you lost them on the way to the airport.' This year has also brought concern about demand for transatlantic travel. A stricter US border under President Trump coupled with US tariffs led the European Travel Commission to warn of 'heightened uncertainty' in the market, while Heathrow reported a dip in journeys from Britain to the US before the summer. Shares in WH Smith have already fallen by 45 per cent this year to date in a signal of investors' scepticism over its strategy. Some optimism can be gleaned from recent half-year results, which came before the sale of its high street stores and showed sales rising 3 per cent to £951 million. That growth was driven primarily by the international business, with high street profit declining by nearly a third to £15 million in what analysts said was a vindication of the Modella deal. Goodbody analysts said there was 'significant upside potential if the market regains confidence in the margin and returns profile of North America'. If Thursday's accounting issues play out anything like Tesco's, though, it'll be a long road to recovery.
The Independent
44 minutes ago
- The Independent
Mapped: Holiday hotspots most at risk from wildfires revealed as blazes sweep Europe
The holiday hotspots most at risk from wildfires have been revealed as blazes continue to sweep Europe amid scorching temperatures. As many Britons jet off for the bank holiday weekend, experts have also issued a health warning over the potentially deadly fires. Meanwhile, in the UK, wildfires have continued to break out, as the country endured one of its hottest and driest summers on record, and four heatwaves so far. But those looking to head abroad have been warned that Greece is the country most at risk from wildfires this summer, followed by Turkey, then Cyprus. Health and security company International SOS revealed Spain, Portugal and Albania come next on the list, with Montenegro, Germany, Italy then France following. Adam Lakhani, security director at the firm, told The Independent: 'There has been below-average wildfire activity in the lead up to the summer months, likely due to high levels of rainfall across historically at-risk regions, including Southern Europe – France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. 'However, in recent days and weeks, wildfires have begun to hit the regions, also extending as far as Eastern Europe. Currently, much of Southern Europe is facing fires and warnings of extreme heat. 'Wildfires can directly impact health by causing injuries and even death from burns or smoke inhalation.' Dr Kate O'Reilly, regional medical director, explained: 'The smoke from wildfires is a mixture of hazardous air pollutants, including particulate matter, that can affect those in near proximity to the fire, as well as distant populations. Exposure to wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, affect the immune system and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. 'The long-term impacts of wildfire exposure include worsening lung and cardiovascular disease. Mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, in both adults and children can increase after witnessing a wildfire.' She added that access to healthcare can also be impacted during and in the aftermath of wildfires. She warned: 'The current situation across Europe is of great concern.' New research by International SOS found the country worst affected by wildfires in 2024 was Portugal, where roughly 425 square miles (1,100 square km) of land was burnt, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, making up approximately 25 per cent of the total area burnt in Europe that year. The report, titled 2025 Europe Wildfire season: preparation, response, said, in Europe, Greece has regularly been one of the worst-affected countries by wildfires, with authorities increasing the number of firefighters from 15,500 in 2022 to more than 18,000 ahead of this year's wildfire season, while the Greek Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection increased its fleet of firefighting vehicles from 270 to 3,700. Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years. Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to Copernicus. Scientists say that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. The EU monitoring agency says that 2024 was the hottest year on record both globally and in Europe, which experienced its second-highest number of 'heat stress' days. The blazes in Spain have killed four people this year and burned more than 382,000 hectares or about 1,475 square miles, according to the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). That surface area is more than twice the size of metropolitan London, more than six times the 2006-2024 average for land burned during the same period, according to EFFIS. Air quality deteriorated across large parts of Spain over the past week as a result of the wildfires, data from the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring agency showed. Smoke from the Iberian Peninsula fires reached France, the UK, and Scandinavia, it said. In Portugal, wildfires have burned about 235,000 hectares or 907 square miles, according to EFFIS – nearly five times more than the 2006-2024 average for this period. Two people there have died. Meanwhile, the UK experienced the fourth heatwave of the summer last week, with some areas seeing the mercury climb above 33C in the hottest places. A major incident was declared by firefighters tackling a large moor fire in the North York Moors National Park last week, just days after a huge blaze broke out at the iconic Arthur's Seat landmark in Edinburgh. Fire and rescue services in England and Wales had already responded to 856 wildfire incidents in the UK as of last week, with firefighters warning the country is on track to break the wildfire record this year. Warning that fire services are 'being pushed to their limits', National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) chair Phil Garrigan said: 'We are already seeing more wildfires at this point in the year than in 2022 – which itself was a record year – and that is deeply concerning.'
