Author: staff

Published on 18/02/2026 – 14:17 GMT+1 The numbers are in and they don’t look good for Donald Trump. A recent poll conducted by Yahoo! and YouGov has found that more Americans believe that Puerto Rican superstar and recent Super Bowl headliner Bad Bunny “better represents” the country than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The survey asked 1,704 adults “Who better represents America?”, Bad Bunny or Donald Trump – who lashed out at the Super Bowl headliner, calling his performance “an affront to the Greatness of America”. It turns out that 42 per cent of participants voted in favour…

The pontiff, who has criticized the U.S. president, believes the United Nations should manage international crises, his top diplomat says. Listen AI generated Text-to-speech

Millions of Filipinos line up to receive an ash cross on their foreheads as they mark Ash Wednesday. A priest, minister or lay worker traces the sign of the cross with consecrated ash, beginning the 40 day Lenten season in the largely Christian country. The ritual is simple and public, often held in packed churches and even in open spaces. The ashes come from palm branches blessed on Palm Sunday the year before. They are burned, mixed with holy water and exposed to incense. The gesture serves as a reminder of repentance and the approach of Easter.

LONDON — Reform UK would scrap Britain’s planned carbon border tax if it wins power, the party’s business and trade chief Richard Tice has said. Speaking to POLITICO on Tuesday, Tice vowed to ditch the U.K.’s new carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as part of a broader rollback of climate levies. Reform would look “to promote oil and gas, but also scrap all these levies and green taxes, CBAM, the whole lot of it all goes,” he said. Britain is currently drawing up its own carbon tax regime — which would charge importers of carbon-intensive goods a fee based on…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will to testify on Wednesday in a California social media trial that questions whether features on his company’s platforms harm children or foster addiction. Zuckerberg will testify in front of a jury and before bereaved parents of children who have taken their lives due to what they say is social media use. He has apologised to families at a United States Congress hearing whose lives had been upended by what they believe was social media use. Zuckerberg could face questions about Instagram’s algorithm and in-app features that the plaintiffs argue are engineered to keep young users…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming part of the operational infrastructure within Uzbekistan’s tourism sector, as the country prepares to receive 12 million visitors in 2026, according to the target set by the Tourism Committee. Preliminary data from the National Statistics Committee indicate that Uzbekistan received 11.7 million foreign tourists during 2025. This growth in arrivals has been accompanied by a measurable expansion in accommodation capacity. Uzbekistan currently counts around 7,000 accommodation facilities, including more than 1,200 hotels, according to sector representatives. As supply increases, operators are turning to AI-based systems to manage occupancy, pricing and cost control. Rather than…

“We are back to where we were 10 years ago in terms of France’s attractiveness,” Kamel said while presenting the findings Wednesday. Only 17 percent of respondents said France had a positive economic outlook in the next two to three years, with the top concerns being the high cost of labor and complex French labor law and political instability, while 77 percent believe Macron won’t be able to deliver more reforms before his term ends next year. Since taking office in 2017, Macron, a former investment banker, worked hard to dispel France’s reputation as a stifled, overtaxed bureaucratic abyss by…

Carnival reached the Olympic mountain town of Cortina on Tuesday, bringing the season to a close in a burst of street theatre. Along the main street, the Italian troupe Silence Teatro performed for visitors, dressed in white with angel wings and painted faces. They paused near the Olympic Flame as tourists gathered to watch and take photos. The stop in Cortina d’Ampezzo offered a glimpse of a festival rooted in the Middle Ages and closely linked to Venice. Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

Real Madrid’s Champions League knockout play-off match at Benfica was halted for 10 minutes on Tuesday after forward Vinícius Júnior accused opponent Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him following his goal in the 1-0 win. The Brazilian had just scored a curling finish to put Madrid ahead in the 50th minute at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon when he celebrated in front of Benfica supporters. He was shown a yellow card for excessive celebration and then confronted by Prestianni, who appeared to say something to him while covering his mouth with his shirt. Vinícius immediately ran to French referee…

Donald Trump sent U.K. officials into a tailspin last month when he fired off a social media post calling the Chagos Islands deal an “act of great stupidity” — despite previously backing the move. The U.S. president’s about-turn in support came as the U.K. backed Greenland amid Trump’s threats to seize the Danish territory at the beginning of the year. Following intense transatlantic diplomacy, Trump earlier this month accepted the deal struck as the “best” Prime Minister Keir Starmer can get. Senior opposition figures in the Conservative and Reform UK parties have been lobbying against the deal, which will cost…