- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
'Strongest' Dutch summer storm kills one, scrambles flights
The Netherlands was battered by the strongest summer storm on record on Wednesday, killing one person and throwing international air and rail travel into chaos.
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs, told AFP it had cancelled 400 flights after Storm Poly brought howling winds and driving rain.
Eurostar trains from Amsterdam to London and high-speed services to the German cities of Cologne and Hamburg were also called off, while many domestic train services were cancelled, Dutch train operator NS said.
Destructive gusts of up to 146 kmh (90 mph) hammered the low-lying country's North Sea coast, downing trees and prompting Dutch authorities to warn people to stay at home.
A 51-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in the city of Haarlem near Amsterdam, police said, while motorways were blocked by fallen trees and toppled lorries.
Schiphol Airport said a combination of strong winds, rain and poor visibility meant there would be "very limited air traffic" for both incoming and departing flights until at least 4 pm (1400 GMT).
"At the moment, 400 flights have been cancelled," a Schiphol spokesperson told AFP. The airport is a major hub for connecting flights from Asia, the Middle East and the United States to the rest of Europe.
All trains to Schiphol were also halted, causing further disruption for air travellers.
- 'Code red' -
Coast guards rescued people from a ship near Volendam and a yacht near Urk, both in the north of the country, after they got into trouble.
The Dutch meteorological service KNMI issued its highest "code red" warning for four northern regions, meaning severe disruption was possible.
Winds of force 11, the second highest on the scale, were measured along with a gust of 146 kmh measured in the northern port of IJmuiden, KNMI said.
It was the "first very severe summer storm ever measured" in the country, Dutch weather service Weerplaza said, adding that the gusts were also the strongest ever recorded in the summer in the Netherlands.
The Dutch storm season is normally from October to April, it said.
The government sent out a mobile phone alert calling on people to stay indoors in North Holland province, which includes Amsterdam, and to only call overstretched emergency services in "life-threatening" situations.
With around a third of the country lying below sea level, the Netherlands is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and the effects of climate change, and has a huge system of dykes and other water defences.
A violent North Sea storm on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953, killed more than 1,836 Dutch people.
U.Ndiaye--CPN