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Iberian Blackout Was First Ever Caused by Excessive Voltage 

A woman uses her phone's flashlight while she walks her dog in the dark during the massive power cut in Spain. (AFP)
A woman uses her phone's flashlight while she walks her dog in the dark during the massive power cut in Spain. (AFP)
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Iberian Blackout Was First Ever Caused by Excessive Voltage 

A woman uses her phone's flashlight while she walks her dog in the dark during the massive power cut in Spain. (AFP)
A woman uses her phone's flashlight while she walks her dog in the dark during the massive power cut in Spain. (AFP)

The massive blackout that hit the Iberian peninsula in April is the first known blackout caused by excessive voltage, the European network of electricity transmission system operators said in a report on Friday.

The report, released ahead of an October 28 legal deadline, focused on the power systems' condition on the day of the outage and the sequence of events, and did not look into what acted as its trigger.

The report, like previous probes, pointed to a surge in voltage as the immediate cause of the April 28 outage, Europe's most significant blackout in more than two decades, which paralyzed cities and kept people stranded on trains and in elevators across Portugal and Spain.

A final report, due in the first quarter of 2026, will investigate key issues, such as root causes, steps taken to control voltage in the system and the performance of power generators in helping control voltage.

The report said that the reasons for some initial power generation losses were still unknown and that, according to power plant owners, they lacked important data that could shed light on what happened before the blackout.

"Collecting complete, high-quality data proved very challenging for this investigation," in particular from power operators in Spain, according to the report.

The European group's report follows several separate probes and reports by the Spanish government and power and grid companies. The national energy watchdog and Spanish lawmakers are also conducting separate probes.

Redeia, owner of grid operator REE, has blamed the blackout on some coal, gas and nuclear power plants' failure to help maintain appropriate voltage while Spanish utilities blamed the Spanish grid operator's poor planning.

The European systems operator's group behind the latest report includes representatives from Spanish and Portuguese grid operators.

Redeia said in a statement on Friday that the report confirms the sequence of events described in its own findings.

Spanish power utility lobby Aelec declined to comment.

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Varieties

Austrian Protesters Shut Vital Motorway Connecting Germany to Italy

People demonstrate against transit traffic near the A13 Brenner Highway in the direction of Italy during the blockade of the Brenner Base Tunnel on May 30, 2026, on the Tyrolean Brenner Highway. (AFP)
People demonstrate against transit traffic near the A13 Brenner Highway in the direction of Italy during the blockade of the Brenner Base Tunnel on May 30, 2026, on the Tyrolean Brenner Highway. (AFP)
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Austrian Protesters Shut Vital Motorway Connecting Germany to Italy

People demonstrate against transit traffic near the A13 Brenner Highway in the direction of Italy during the blockade of the Brenner Base Tunnel on May 30, 2026, on the Tyrolean Brenner Highway. (AFP)
People demonstrate against transit traffic near the A13 Brenner Highway in the direction of Italy during the blockade of the Brenner Base Tunnel on May 30, 2026, on the Tyrolean Brenner Highway. (AFP)

Thousands of local residents shut down Austria's Brenner motorway on Saturday, a vital north-south corridor through the Alps between Germany and Italy, in protest at trucks and tourists perennially clogging up their roads.

The protest was led by Karl Muehlsteiger, mayor of Gries am Brenner, one of the towns in the shadow of the artery that snakes through the narrow, steep-sided Wipp Valley on giant concrete stilts.

The issue of ‌excess traffic and ‌pollution in the valley, which leads ‌to ⁠the Brenner Pass, ⁠has for decades been a source of tension between Austria and Germany. Local authorities in the Austrian state of Tyrol have introduced various measures to stem the flow, often prompting howls of protest across the border.

"You are making history!" Austrian news ⁠agency APA quoted Muehlsteiger as telling a ‌crowd of around 3,000 ‌protesters who gathered on the motorway at 1 p.m. to ‌block it symbolically, hours after police cordoned off ‌both ends of the corridor. Cars arriving there turned around and drove away.

The eight-hour shutdown from 11 a.m. did not cause the chaos many had feared as drivers ‌largely heeded warnings to stay away, even during what in some German states, ⁠including ⁠neighboring Bavaria, was a school holiday.

Trains passing along the same route were crowded, local media reported.

The provincial road that runs from town to town alongside the motorway was also closed to all but locals and local traffic.

In Italy, a suspected arson attack on electrical control units overnight disrupted rail traffic between Peri and Dolce, near Verona, on the Verona Porta Nuova–Brenner line.

Investigators were looking into possible links to radical environmentalist or anarcho-insurrectionist groups.

Varieties

Blue Origin Rocket Explosion is Bad News for Both Bezos and NASA

Video of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion showed the spacecraft combusting into a massive fireball. JohnCn (@JConcilus) on X / UGC/AFP
Video of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion showed the spacecraft combusting into a massive fireball. JohnCn (@JConcilus) on X / UGC/AFP
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Blue Origin Rocket Explosion is Bad News for Both Bezos and NASA

Video of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion showed the spacecraft combusting into a massive fireball. JohnCn (@JConcilus) on X / UGC/AFP
Video of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion showed the spacecraft combusting into a massive fireball. JohnCn (@JConcilus) on X / UGC/AFP

Space exploration is filled with setbacks, but the spectacular explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on Thursday night marked a significant blow to not only the company, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, but also NASA, with the two collaborating for the upcoming US Moon missions.

"Spaceflight is unforgiving," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post on X soon after the explosion, promising to "support a thorough investigation of this anomaly," which happened during a ground test and resulted in no injuries.

The rocket -- which stands 98 meters (321 feet) tall and is the most powerful in Blue Origin's fleet -- exploded around 9:00 pm local time Thursday (0100 GMT Friday).

It was undergoing a ground test in Cape Canaveral, Florida in preparation of an upcoming flight when it blew up in a massive fireball, sending shockwaves throughout the space industry.

While anomalies during ground tests are relatively frequent, such explosions are rare, and the magnitude of the blast caused significant damage not only to the spacecraft but the launch pad itself, according to photos of the aftermath released Friday.

"It will take some time to rebuild their pad," Florida congressman Mike Haridopolos, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, told broadcaster Fox News on Friday.

Blue Origin declined an AFP request for additional details on the incident, extent of damage or the ongoing investigation, which is conducted alongside NASA and the US Space Force.

The New Glenn rocket will remain grounded while the investigation is conducted.

- Moon Mission -

The vessel is at the heart of Blue Origin's ambition and NASA's Artemis lunar program, and could have implications for the company's role going forward.

"I have no doubt they will recover but I'm wondering how does this affect Artemis," Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP.

NASA has also tasked rival space exploration company SpaceX to develop lunar landers for transporting astronauts and equipment to the surface of the Moon to establish a base.

SpaceX has seen its own challenges in recent months, and Blue Origin had emerged as a promising alternative for NASA, with the US space agency awarding a new contract to it for the lunar mission earlier this week.

- Major setback -

But these projects depend on the New Glenn rocket, and with its explosion coming shortly after a malfunction causing a satellite mission failure last month, the anomalies could disrupt NASA's tight mission schedule.

NASA is aiming to test an in-orbit rendezvous between a spacecraft and one or two lunar landers in 2027 as part of Artemis III, and carry out a crewed lunar landing before the end of 2028, before the end of US President Donald Trump's time in office.

Thursday's explosion also deals a major setback to another Bezos project, the Amazon Leo satellite internet constellation, which seeks to compete with SpaceX's Starlink but relies on the New Glenn rocket, among others, to launch its satellites, according to Swope.

The Blue Origin rocket blowing up is not the only time an explosion has rocked Cape Canaveral.

Ten years ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blew up during a ground test before launching, destroying a $200 million satellite it was supposed to carry.

Varieties

Half of France Hits New Monthly Records in Heatwave

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 29, 2026 A spectator uses a tap outside the courts during the matches. (Reuters)
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 29, 2026 A spectator uses a tap outside the courts during the matches. (Reuters)
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Half of France Hits New Monthly Records in Heatwave

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 29, 2026 A spectator uses a tap outside the courts during the matches. (Reuters)
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 29, 2026 A spectator uses a tap outside the courts during the matches. (Reuters)

Towns and villages in more than half of France have smashed temperature records for the month of May over the past week during an unusually early heatwave, a climatologist said Friday.

"More than half of France has experienced at least one monthly heat record -- whether in minimum and/or maximum temperatures -- during this episode, which is colossal," said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at French weather service Meteo France.

Temperatures were expected to cool over the weekend.

From Saturday to Wednesday, there were around 109 monthly minimum temperature records and 266 monthly maximum temperature records, he added.

France beat a national record for a month of May earlier this week, peaking with a national thermal average indicator of 24.9C on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the temperature in the southwestern city of Angouleme hit a maximum of 37.8C, the highest it had ever been in any part of France in May.

Studies and scientific bodies agree that heatwaves in Europe are becoming more frequent.

Meteo France says that of the 51 heatwaves recorded nationwide since 1947, 34 have come since 2000 and 26 since 2011.

Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations warned on Thursday.