Author: staff

The College of Cardinals is preparing to lock down in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to vote for the next pope. While the papal election is held in complete secrecy, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots appear to hold their own opinions on who the likely new pontiff will be. On May 7, around 133 cardinal-electors are expected to begin participating in the vote. Many of them were appointed by the late Pope Francis himself, which OpenAI’s ChatGPT believes might “influence the election’s direction,” because many of them are new. The cardinals will consider who will be the best candidate, either for continuity or change, global…

The attack by Ukrainian drones led to disruptions at 13 Russian airports early Tuesday, Russian media reported, citing Russia’s air transport safety agency. In addition to Moscow’s four airports, flight restrictions were imposed at airports in Kaluga, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, the state-owned TASS news agency reported. The attacks hit the Russian capital for the second night in a row as Moscow prepares for Friday’s Victory Day parade marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The parade will be attended by leaders of Russia’s allies, including China’s Xi Jinping and Brazil’s…

Ford Motor Co. said on Monday that it expects to take a $1.5bn (€1.39bn) hit to its profit,  before interest and taxes, as a result of tariffs this year. The company also withdrew its full-year financial guidance and suspended releasing any new one, due to the uncertainty created by the Trump administration’s evolving trade policy.The carmaker is less affected by President Trump’s 25% tariffs on vehicles than other automakers. Last week, General Motors said it is bracing for a potential impact from auto tariffs as high as $5bn (€4.4bn) in 2025. Ford and Tesla are expected to see a smaller impact…

L’administration américaine n’a pas encore expliqué comment les droits de douane s’appliqueraient ni ce qu’ils viseraient exactement. “Le département du Commerce est en train de réfléchir à la question”, a indiqué un fonctionnaire de la Maison-Blanche, qui a demandé à rester anonyme pour donner des détails sur le processus interne. “Peut-être, par exemple, les droits sur les films ou quelque chose comme ça”, a-t-il ajouté, précisant qu’une étude allait être lancée. Les experts américains rappellent néanmoins que les films sont exemptés de droits de douane, conformément à l’amendement Berman de 1988. De l’autre côté de l’Atlantique, la confusion, voire la…

San Francisco-based DoorDash will pay 180 pence ($2.40) for each Deliveroo share, 29% more than the closing price on 24 April, the day before the offer was announced, the companies said in a joint statement before the London Stock Exchange opened for trading on Tuesday.The deal is DoorDash’s second major international acquisition in three years as the company expands from its traditional base in the US, Canada and Australia. After the purchase of Deliveroo, and the 2022 acquisition of Helsinki-based Wolt Enterprises, DoorDash will operate in more than 40 markets worldwide.“I could not be more excited by the prospect of…

Reached for comment by Bild, Lindner confirmed the accident and said he did not know “the dog had since passed away.” “The dog owner and I didn’t exchange contact information, and he didn’t introduce himself to me,” Lindner said. “I’m very sorry the dog died.” Lindner was finance minister in former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government until he was sacked last November over a budget dispute, a move that effectively triggered snap elections. During his tenure, Lindner — a proud petrolhead who once claimed his first word was “car” — strongly advocated for Germany’s automobile industry, opposing a European Commission proposal to…

Macron became the first European leader to speak with al-Sharaa in February and invited him to visit France during that phone call. Al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel, has received a cautious welcome by the international community after his forces toppled former strongman Bashar Assad late last year. He has vowed to protect minority groups in Syria and pursue more inclusive policies, but sectarian violence in recent months has raised fears al-Sharaa is failing to rein in Syria’s extremist factions. Human rights groups say hundreds of people, mostly from the minority Alawite community, of which Assad was a member, were killed…

Business activity in the eurozone eked out minimal growth in April, as a faltering services sector offset a surprise manufacturing rebound, while easing inflation strengthened expectations of a European Central Bank rate cut at its next June meeting.The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the eurozone rose slightly to 50.1 in April, a level that technically signals growth, but only just. The reading, revised up from an initial 49.7, revealed an economy struggling to build on momentum from the first quarter of the year.At the heart of this sluggish expansion is a divergence between sectors. Manufacturing output rose at…

BERLIN — Conservative leader Friedrich Merz did not receive enough parliamentary votes in a first round vote to be elected chancellor in a major shock on Tuesday. “Member of Parliament Friedrich Merz did not achieve the required majority of at least 316 votes,” Bundestag President, Julia Klöckner, announced after the first ballot in the Bundestag in a highly unexpected turn of events. Klöckner interrupted the Bundestag session. The parliamentary groups are now set to convene. The timing of the second vote is unclear.

All four of Moscow’s major airports were reportedly closed for hours after Ukraine launched a second consecutive night of drone attacks against the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Tuesday that Russian air defences intercepted 19 drones flying toward the city from different directions. The Russian official said some debris had landed on highways leading into the city, but that no casualties were reported. The attack comes ahead of planned celebrations in Moscow to commemorate the end of World War II. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend the Victory Day event.”Our position is very simple for all countries travelling…