Author: staff
When scrolling online for a place to live, you might come across a bright-colored house for sale listed online with fall foliage and folksy furniture. But then you notice that a few things look off: deformed electrical outlets or furniture that looks too big for the room. A floor lamp is coming out of a table in one picture and does not appear in the next, or the same piece of artwork is found in every room. Real estate images like this are, most likely, made with AI. Listers are increasingly using digital platforms to spruce up living spaces for…
However, the best-ever political doodler is surely South Korean lawmaker Yoo Young-ha, who was caught sketching a gorilla on his laptop during a parliamentary audit session in 2025. To be clear, there wasn’t a gorilla in the parliament for a life-drawing session (and, at the time of writing, my suggestion to release large primates into European Parliament plenary sessions is still being considered by the Conference of Presidents). The excitement at this year’s big U.N. bash didn’t stop at, er, man loses interest and starts looking at social media. Oh, no. There was also the choice of music before Trump…
Published on 25/09/2026 – 10:32 GMT+2 Finland’s air force said on Friday that Swedish and Finnish fighter jets had been scrambled to identify Russian fighter jets flying over the Gulf of Finland. The air force said that the two Nordic countries’ Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) jets had been scrambled on Thursday. They had identified a Russian detachment consisting of a Tu-134 transport aircraft, MiG-31 fighter jets and Su-30 fighter jets “in international airspace over the Gulf of Finland.” According to the military it was the first joint operational “identification mission” for the two air forces. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson…
Published on 25/09/2026 – 11:14 GMT+2 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had informed him that he would grant Ukraine a license to build coveted Patriot missiles. “At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles,” Zelenskyy said in a voice note to reporters. Zelenskyy and Trump met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week, where the Ukrainian leader said they had discussed potentially “de-escalatory steps that…
The enforcement of the EU’s 2024 AI Act, which mandates that companies take measures to avoid losing control of their models, “is not on the level [where] we would like to have it,” he added. The comments shine the spotlight on the European Commission’s Artificial Intelligence Office, which was put in charge of enforcing the AI Act in August. Voss also said the Commission’s overall response to the fast pace of technological developments is lagging, singling out von der Leyen’s State of the Union last week. “The Commission … also the State of the Union is not ambitious enough regarding…
Martin Lidegaard, Danish Minister for Business and Competitiveness, said his country, Greenland and the US are “very satisfied” with the agreement on Greenland. He said Denmark is satisfied because the deal “ensures the self-determination of the Greenlandic people” and that Greenland’s territorial integrity remains “intact”. Lidegaard hopes the deal will be the first step towards a new chapter in which Europe and the US “try to invest together in the security and development of the Arctic region”.
Published on 25/09/2026 – 9:48 GMT+2•Updated 9:49 US President Donald Trump has paid tribute to “true American patriot” James Copenhaver after lawyers for the 76-year-old announced his death. Copenhaver was shot in 2024 at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in a failed assassination attempt against the president. “A tremendous loss,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account. “After being wounded while protecting his family, Jim showed tremendous bravery, courageously continuing to fight, fight, fight, and maintaining a positive spirit despite unimaginable hardships. His indelible legacy of love and devotion will forever endure,” he continued, adding:…
A new ranking by Global Citizen Solutions (GCS) compares 48 jurisdictions on these factors. Malta and Cyprus lead in Europe, though neither has the lowest headline income tax rate. The report uses 11 indicators grouped into three categories: tax burden, tax structure and investment migration, which covers routes to residence or citizenship. Together, these produce an overall score. A higher score means more favourable conditions for internationally mobile people. Tax optimisation means legally arranging one’s finances to reduce the amount of tax owed. Malta and Cyprus in the top 10 The two European countries that made the top 10 globally,…
At Paris’ Broca Hospital, elderly patients are taking part in experiments involving several different robots. The NAO robot uses questions and exercises to encourage conversation and cognitive stimulation. In one session, it asks patients to complete familiar proverbs. “I’m going to give you the beginning of a proverb, and you can try to tell me how it ends,” the robot tells them. Another device, Paro, is designed to provide therapeutic comfort. The robotic seal is equipped with sensors that allow it to respond to a patient’s movements and sounds. Then there is Miroki, a robot designed to interact with patients…
Travel can be stressful enough at the best of times, without having to add visa applications to the mix. Wrestling with lengthy paperwork and additional fees on top of air and hotel fares – who needs that hassle? That’s where visa-free travel helps ease that burden. A study by Passport Reports has surveyed passport strength by country and how many destinations travellers can go to visa-free, with an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) or by obtaining a visa on arrival. The ranking also measured the number of destinations a passport holder needs to obtain a visa prior to entry. In the…