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Space · 6–8 min readThe telescope that sees a past older than Earth. How does Webb work?Why Webb sees billions of years into the past, how it reads the atmospheres of distant planets, and how early galaxies surprised astronomers.Read the article Housing and wages · 7-minute readHave house prices really outpaced wages?Czechia and Slovakia in 2005–2025: what prices, wages and mortgages reveal — and why rising pay alone is not enough.Read the article

21 October 2026

5 events

Banking · Outage

Revolut outage disrupted payments and withdrawals; services are working again this morning

The outage on 20 October affected several Revolut services, including card payments, transfers and ATM withdrawals. Reuters was still reporting only a partial recovery that evening. During the morning check on 21 October, the official status page for Slovakia listed all systems as operational. Google confirmed a power failure in its London cloud zone europe-west2-b; it records its own incident as lasting from 08:08 to 16:00 Central European Summer Time on 20 October. Those are not the precise restoration times of every Revolut service. The bank said customers’ money and data remained safe.

Impact: A customer could have money in their account but temporarily be unable to spend or withdraw it. A practical backup is a card from another bank and a small amount of cash: a second card linked to the same account will not help if the bank itself fails. The number of affected Slovak or Czech customers has not been confirmed.

Revolut: morning service status for Slovakia, 21 October Google Cloud: timeline and cause of the London incident Reuters: partial recovery and affected services, 20 October The Guardian: impact of the outage on banking services, 20 October

EU · Travel

European Parliament approves simpler refunds for cancelled flights

On 20 October, the European Parliament approved updated rules for enforcing passenger rights. For a cancelled flight bought through an intermediary that paid the airline from its own account, the passenger is to receive a refund within 14 days at the latest. If it does not arrive, the passenger can request it directly from the airline. A common form is intended to simplify claims for air, rail, bus and ship travel. The new rules still require formal approval by the Council of the EU; they should not be presented as a new obligation already applying to carriers today.

Impact: Bookings through reservation websites are to have clearer deadlines and responsibility for returning money. This concerns refunding the fare when the passenger is entitled to it, rather than automatic financial compensation for every delay. Passengers are also to retain options for submitting claims without electronic means.

Council of the EU: agreed text and the 7 + 7 day mechanism Council of the EU: full compromise text, document 11981/26 Euronews: European Parliament vote on 20 October EUbusiness: next legislative steps after the vote

Italy · Security

Italian government approves tougher penalties for violence at protests

On 20 October, Giorgia Meloni’s government approved a security decree following unrest in Milan. It introduces the offence of violent participation in a demonstration, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to €20,000. According to the prime minister, it concerns violent group conduct that threatens safety, rather than simply taking part peacefully in a protest. Parents are to bear financial responsibility for damage caused by minors. Parliament must convert the decree into law within 60 days.

Impact: Violence and property destruction at demonstrations are to carry tougher criminal and financial consequences. Milan’s mayor Giuseppe Sala warns that the response cannot consist solely of suppressing unrest and must also address its causes. Peaceful protest must be distinguished from violent conduct.

ANSA: approval of the decree and the prime minister’s statements, 20 October AP: new penalties, parental responsibility and the 60-day deadline

Space · New discovery

Euclid telescope discovers a new comet while mapping galaxies

On 19 October, the European Space Agency announced the first previously unknown comet discovered by the Euclid telescope. Software developed by Mikko Pöntinen of the University of Helsinki detected the object C/2026 S1 in September images; further observations enabled confirmation on 8 October. The comet is approximately 1.3 billion kilometres from Earth. Euclid is primarily designed to map distant galaxies and study dark matter and dark energy, rather than search for comets.

Impact: The discovery shows that mapping the distant universe can also detect unknown objects in our own Solar System early. The process could help identify a future target for the Comet Interceptor spacecraft; this particular comet is not a suitable target. The image comes from real observations, rather than an artist’s illustration.

ESA: discovery announcement, measurements and confirmation, 19 October Universe Today: independent explanation of the discovery, 19 October

Nature · New research

New study: deep-water fish numbers fell by two-thirds in the study area after an oil disaster

A study published in PNAS on 19 October analysed more than 2,000 net samples collected from 2011 to 2023, acoustic measurements and genetic analyses in the Gulf of Mexico. In the water column studied following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, it found declines in fish abundance of approximately 64%, large crustaceans of 62% and cephalopods of 60%. The authors identify the oil disaster and the response efforts as the most plausible explanation, rather than a directly proven sole cause. These figures do not represent the number of species that became extinct, nor do they concern a new oil spill.

Impact: Deep-water fish and small animals provide food for tuna, dolphins and whales and carry carbon into the deep ocean. Their decline could weaken the entire food chain. The findings warn that a disaster’s ecological consequences can persist long after oil disappears from the surface.

FIU: scope, findings and limitations of the study, 19 October PNAS: original peer-reviewed study, DOI 10.1073/pnas.2616554123 AP / Phys.org: independent coverage and expert responses, 20 October