Author: staff
Published on 30/01/2026 – 15:02 GMT+1 For years, experts have talked about AI disrupting the travel space. Just not like this. An Australian travel operator has landed in hot water after an AI-generated article sent tourists to an out-of-the-way location in Tasmania looking for non-existent hot springs. On the Tasmania Tours website, a since-deleted article urged travellers to explore the “peaceful escape” of Weldborough Hot Springs, one of ‘7 Best Hot Springs Tasmania Experiences for 2026’, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Weldborough, however, has never had hot springs, and anyone looking for a refreshing dip might be alarmed…
The coalition program also envisions a crackdown on screen time through prevention and health guidance, and stricter smartphone rules in schools, which will require devices to remain at home or in a locker. In June of last year, the previous Dutch government issued guidance to parents to wait until age 15 before allowing their children to use social media. Earlier this week, a bill to ban social media for users under 15 passed the French parliament’s lower chamber and could take effect in September. Australia paved the way by banning children from a range of platforms in December. The new…
President Donald Trump said Friday that he will nominate former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh to be the next chair of the Fed, a pick likely to result in sharp changes to the powerful agency that could bring it closer to the White House and reduce its historical independence from day-to-day politics. Warsh would replace current chair Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. Trump chose Powell to lead the Fed in 2017 but this year has relentlessly assailed him for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. “I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have…
Published on 30/01/2026 – 14:46 GMT+1 Carlos Alcaraz overcame injury to fend off Germany’s Alexander Zverev in a gruelling five hour 27 minute five-set thriller to advance to the Australian Open final. The 22-year-old Spaniard has become the youngest man in the Open era to reach the final of all four grand slam events. He now awaits the winner of the second semi-final match, between Italy’s Jannik Sinner and the seasoned Novak Djokovic, to face-off on Sunday. Alcaraz, already a six-time grand slam champion, is looking to chase a record, become the youngest to achieve a career grand slam. The…
3) Starmer and his team were genuinely loving it After such a build-up and so much controversy, Starmer has … been having a great time. The prime minister has struggled to peel the smile off his face and told business delegates they were “making history.” Privately, several people around him enthused about the novelty of it all (many have never visited China and Starmer has not done so since before he went into politics). One said they were looking forward to seeing how Xi operates: “He’s very enigmatic.” Briefing journalists in a small ante-room in the Forbidden City, Starmer enthused…
Published on 30/01/2026 – 13:46 GMT+1 An American student at a London university was jailed for life on Friday, with a minimum term of 16 years, for murdering a Chinese student who was his casual girlfriend. Joshua Michals, 26, was sentenced at London’s Old Bailey criminal court for stabbing and killing Zhe Wang, 31, a fellow student at Goldsmiths, University of London, in March 2024. The two master’s degree students met in 2023 and started a casual relationship and had a sexual encounter in February 2024. However, Wang, who was described as “germophobic”, grew increasingly agitated after discovering she had…
Spain and Portugal once again stood out among the eurozone’s top-performing economies in the final quarter of 2025. Both Iberian countries saw their economies expand by 0.8% last quarter — more than double the eurozone’s average growth rate of 0.3% for the same period, according to preliminary estimates from Eurostat. Spain posted its strongest economic expansion in a year, with gross domestic product rising by 0.8% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months. That was an improvement on the 0.6% growth recorded in the third quarter and came in above estimates of 0.6%. Spain’s economy grew by…
By Ioannis Karagiorgas with ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ Published on 30/01/2026 – 12:50 GMT+1•Updated 12:51 A tiny Greek island looks set to enjoy a tourism boom in 2026 as travellers seek authenticity instead of over-hyped destinations. Several travel guides and media publications have highlighted Ios as a place to visit this year, recognised for both its lively culture and untamed nature. It comes as the Cyclades island looks to promote a new tourism narrative emphasising sustainable development and quality of life. Ios highlighted as a must-visit destination in 2026 Several international publications have included Ios in their travel recommendations for 2026. British newspaper The Times has…
Updated: 30/01/2026 – 12:21 GMT+1 From private to very public, Melania Trump’s documentary about the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s return to the White House has premiered at the Kennedy Center. It will be screened at more than 1,500 cinemas around the world ahead of its global release on Amazon Prime. … More
The eurozone economy held up well at the end of 2025, with three of the region’s four largest countries growing by more than expected. Preliminary data from the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, on Friday showed that the eurozone’s economy expanded by 0.3 percent during the last three months of last year, unchanged from the third quarter. That was better than market expectations of an increase of 0.2 percent. In year-on-year terms, gross domestic product growth slowed by less than feared, to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent in the previous quarter. GDP was up 0.3 percent in Germany, the region’s biggest…