The record victory of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt does not give the party the ability to independently change Germany’s foreign policy or stop military support for Ukraine, but it is capable of increasing political pressure on the federal authorities, according to an analysis by the Experts Club information and analytical center.
In the September 6 election, AfD received 43.8% of the vote and 39 of the 83 seats in the Landtag. An absolute majority requires 42 deputies. The simplest arithmetic option for creating a majority is an alliance between AfD and the five deputies of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which would provide 44 votes. At the same time, there is currently no agreement on such a coalition. The CDU, SPD, Greens and The Left reject cooperation with AfD.
Even if AfD forms a state government, its powers will be focused primarily on education, culture, the police, regional administration, infrastructure and the state budget. Foreign policy and defense, in accordance with Germany’s Basic Law, fall within the competence of the federal government.
“The government of Saxony-Anhalt does not receive a separate vote in NATO and cannot independently cancel federal funding for aid to Ukraine,” emphasized Experts Club founder Maksym Urakin.
Saxony-Anhalt has four of the 69 votes in the Bundesrat. This allows the state government to influence part of federal legislation, especially on issues affecting the powers of the states, but it needs allies among other regions to block decisions.
Magdeburg will also not be able to introduce a political ban on the transit of military cargo for Ukraine. At the same time, state authorities participate in approving certain transport and administrative procedures, so a confrontational stance by the regional authorities could theoretically lead to delays and additional bureaucratic difficulties.
Important Bundeswehr facilities are located in Saxony-Anhalt, including the Army Combat Training Center in the Gardelegen—Letzlingen area, the Klietz training ground, where Ukrainian Leopard 1A5 crews underwent training, as well as logistics units in Burg. At the same time, these structures are subordinate to the federal defense authorities, not to the state government.
The consequences for Ukrainians living in the state itself may become more immediate. AfD advocates reducing social support for Ukrainians, changing approaches to integration programs and strengthening return policies. The state cannot abolish the temporary protection regime established at EU level, but it can influence additional regional programs and administrative practices.
Regular egg consumption may be associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Experts Club information and analysis center, based on the results of a large-scale U.S. study published in the scientific journal *The Journal of Nutrition*.
Researchers at Loma Linda University analyzed data from 39,498 participants in the long-term Adventist Health Study-2 and matched them with Medicare medical data. The average follow-up period was 15.3 years. During this time, Alzheimer’s disease was diagnosed in 2,858 participants.
The scientists divided the participants according to the frequency of egg consumption — from completely or almost completely avoiding them to consuming them five or more times a week. After accounting for demographic factors, lifestyle, other dietary components, and comorbidities, it was found that people who consumed eggs had a statistically lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Compared with people who never or practically never ate eggs, the risk of developing the disease was approximately 17% lower when eggs were consumed 1–3 times a month, 17% lower when consumed once a week, 20% lower when consumed 2–4 times a week, and 27% lower when consumed five or more times a week.
An additional analysis showed that completely avoiding eggs was associated with an approximately 22% increase in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared with consuming about 10 grams of eggs per day.
The authors of the study note that eggs are a source of important nutrients necessary for normal brain function. In their opinion, the findings point to a possible neuroprotective effect of the nutrients contained in eggs when they are consumed as part of a balanced diet.
At the same time, the study is observational and shows a statistical association rather than proving that egg consumption itself directly prevents Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the authors emphasize that the findings were obtained from a sample of Adventist Health Study-2 participants, who are generally characterized by greater attention to a healthy lifestyle.
Source — study in the PubMed database (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42002260/).
The Experts Club analytical center analyzed data from the international consulting firm Savills on real estate market trends in the world’s leading countries. Global real estate investment in the second quarter of 2026 reached approximately $250 billion, up 13% compared to the same period last year, according to data from the international consulting firm Savills.
The data was published on August 25 in the report “Savills Takes Stock: Global Capital Markets Research Q2 2026.” According to the company’s assessment, the active portfolio of deals nearing completion suggests that the market will continue to recover in the second half of the year.
Savills estimates that by the end of 2026, global real estate investment volume could increase by approximately 16%.
However, the market recovery is uneven. Investors have become more selective and are concentrating their capital on properties with predictable cash flow, clear value, and long-term demand.
According to a study cited by Experts Club, the U.S. remains the largest market. In the second quarter, investment in U.S. real estate reached approximately $131 billion, a 20% increase from the previous year.
Separately, Savills notes a sharp increase in large portfolio transactions in North America. Their volume reached $35 billion, up 60% year-over-year. By comparison, transactions involving individual properties grew by approximately 10%.
The growth in portfolio investments is linked to the return of large institutional capital and investors’ desire to immediately secure a large-scale presence in promising segments. Data centers, self-storage facilities, and real estate for the elderly are of particular interest.
The European market also continued its recovery. The volume of transactions in the second quarter totaled 54 billion euros, up 7.7% compared to the second quarter of 2025.
In the Asia-Pacific region, investment grew even faster—by 18%, to $46 billion. For the first half of the year, investment volume in the region grew by 25%.
Particularly notable growth in the Asia-Pacific region is being observed in the industrial and logistics real estate sectors. In the second quarter, investment in this segment rose by 17%, and for the first half of the year as a whole—by 28%.
At the same time, interest in student housing and other types of residential real estate is growing. Savills attributes this, in particular, to increased international student mobility and the desire of institutional investors to build large portfolios of income-generating properties.
However, Savills cautions that the market’s recovery cannot yet be considered a widespread new investment boom. Geopolitical tensions, the situation in the Middle East, borrowing costs, and uncertain economic prospects are forcing investors to be much more selective when choosing properties.
In early 2026, deteriorating investment sentiment amid the conflict surrounding Iran even led to negative seasonally adjusted quarterly investment trends. However, the impact of this factor turned out to be less severe than market participants had feared.
According to Savills, the current stage of the cycle is characterized by the return of primarily experienced and well-capitalized players. Therefore, the main factor driving investment decisions is no longer the expectation of general growth in real estate prices, but rather the quality of a specific asset and its ability to generate stable income.
CAPITAL, EXPERTS CLUB, INVESTMENTS, MARKET, REAL ESTATE, Savills
The 2026 fire season in Europe has become one of the most difficult in terms of the geographical spread of fires and the scale of their consequences, with Ukraine ranking among the continent’s most affected countries, the Experts Club information and analytical center reports, citing data from the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and other European bodies.
As of August 31, the area affected by fire in Ukraine was estimated by GWIS at 413.1 thousand hectares, or about 0.69% of the country’s territory. If the Russian Federation is not included in the direct comparison, as the system also takes into account the vast territories of Siberia and the Far East, Ukraine ranks first among the countries of geographical Europe in terms of the absolute area affected by fires.
It is followed by Spain — 242.1 thousand hectares, Italy — 118.3 thousand hectares, France — 105.1 thousand hectares, and Portugal — 60.5 thousand hectares.
In Ukraine, fire statistics have an additional specific feature due to the war. Satellite systems record the territory affected by fire but do not determine its cause. Therefore, alongside heat, drought, careless handling of fire and arson, shelling, explosions and fires along the front line may also play a significant role.
The greatest burden relative to the size of the territory is recorded in the Balkans. In Montenegro, about 1.7% of the country’s territory has been affected by fire, in Bosnia and Herzegovina — more than 1%, and in North Macedonia — about 0.75%. Altogether, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia have about 142 thousand hectares of burned areas.
A separate feature of the season has been a sharp increase in fire activity in countries where large fires are traditionally less common. In Belgium, the area affected by fires has already exceeded the average for 2012–2025 by more than ten times, in the Netherlands — by approximately three times, in Austria — by 2.5 times, and in France — by almost 2.5 times.
In the EU itself, by August 30, 636.1 thousand hectares of burned areas had been recorded within 1,861 major fires. This is 36% less than in the record year of 2025, but more than twice the long-term average for the same period.
Ukraine has joined the group of Europe’s most dynamic defense-tech markets and ranked third among the European countries reviewed in terms of foreign direct investment attracted to the Space & Defence sector between January 2021 and November 2025, reports the Experts Club information and analytical center.
The findings are based on Colliers’ study Defence Deployment: How Europe’s military build-up and transformation reshapes property demand. Colliers divided Europe’s leading defense-tech markets into three groups. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Turkey form the first tier; Sweden, Italy, Spain, Norway and Poland are included in the second; while Ukraine, Finland and Estonia are classified as fast-growing technology disruptors in the third tier.
Colliers does not assign individual rankings to countries within each tier. Ukraine is nevertheless singled out as one of Europe’s leading markets for technologies developing directly from battlefield experience, particularly drones, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and autonomous systems.
Ukraine’s position is even stronger in foreign direct investment. According to fDi Markets data used by Colliers, Ukraine ranks third for Space & Defence FDI behind only the United Kingdom and Romania, while ahead of France, Latvia, Germany, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland and Bulgaria.
Colliers also identified 38 major geographical defense-tech clusters across Europe. Among the most significant are London and southeast England, the Paris region, Munich and Bavaria, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Stockholm, Oslo, Warsaw, Rzeszów, Upper Silesia, Helsinki-Espoo, Tampere, Oulu, Tallinn, Tartu, Ankara and Istanbul. No separate Ukrainian geographical cluster is marked on the Colliers map, although Ukraine is classified among the fastest-growing defense-tech markets.
The expansion of Ukraine’s ecosystem is also reflected in Brave1 data. By July 2026, the cluster had awarded developers almost 1,000 grants worth more than UAH 5.8 billion in total. At the European level, further growth is expected to be supported by ReArm Europe / Readiness 2030, whose potential mobilized defense spending Colliers estimates at up to EUR800 billion.
Regular consumption of sugary soft drinks, energy drinks and other beverages with added sugar may be associated with millions of new cases of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease worldwide, reports the Experts Club information and analytical center.
One of the main problems with such beverages is their high sugar concentration and the rapid delivery of sugar into the body. A standard can of sugary soda may contain around 40 grams of sugar. The WHO recommends limiting free sugars to less than 10% of daily energy intake — about 50 grams per day on a 2,000-kcal diet — while reducing intake to 5%, or roughly 25 grams per day, may provide additional health benefits.
A study published in Nature Medicine using data from 184 countries estimated that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was associated with approximately 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease worldwide in 2020. The researchers also estimated around 340,000 associated deaths annually.
A 2026 study based on the US NHANES and the UK Biobank also identified a dose-dependent association: the higher the consumption of sugary beverages, the greater the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
Other research points to possible links with cancer. A pooled analysis of 11 large prospective studies involving 1.52 million participants associated each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage with an approximately 10% higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and a 15% higher risk of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
Researchers stress, however, that much of this evidence is observational and does not by itself prove a direct causal relationship. Switching entirely to artificially sweetened drinks is not considered a universal solution either. The most consistent recommendation is to reduce the overall habit of consuming sweet beverages and choose water, mineral water, unsweetened tea and coffee instead.
