Author: staff
AI safety and security — topics currently under intense scrutiny following a series of incidents in which advanced AI models hacked real-world networks during testing activities — are not the core focus of the JRC’s testing activities, according to a different Commission official, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive material. Open-weight models are those whose core components are publicly released, allowing anyone to run the model and study how it works. China’s approach to AI has leaned more towards open models than the United States. Some major U.S. tech and AI companies, including chips giant NVIDIA, are investing in…
High-level officials from Ukraine and Europe have flown to Miami, Florida, to take part in a new round of peace negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale invasion amid a new wave of escalation that has battered Ukrainian cities and killed scores of civilians. The talks, set to take place on Friday and Saturday, will be hosted by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US special envoys, and will discuss several options to break the diplomatic impasse ahead of a winter expected to be the harshest yet of the war. Witkoff and Kushner’s recent trips to Moscow and Kyiv will inform the…
Former UN human rights commissioner Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced. The 85-year-old said her first reaction to hearing the news was to think it must be a joke. “Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this,” she said. Originally from Durban, South Africa, Pillay has spent decades working in international law and human rights. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which investigated and prosecuted those responsible for…
EU countries have agreed on a package to strengthen the bloc’s financial markets watchdog at a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg on Friday. The Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP) would give the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) direct oversight of major market operators currently supervised by national authorities. While some rules are harmonised across the EU, differences in implementation, supervision and enforcement have contributed to fragmentation in financial markets. The Irish presidency said the package aims to make it easier for savings and investments to flow across borders, helping companies access finance and giving households more opportunities…
Through these projects, Brussels wants to meet its targets under the Critical Raw Materials Act, which, by 2030, the bloc aims to mine at least 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of its own needs, while sourcing no more than 65% of any one material at any processing stage from a single non-EU country. The list covers 15 of the 17 “strategic minerals” under the act, which the bloc needs to deliver these targets on each one. Friday’s announcement is the second batch of strategic projects listed under the act, after the EU rolled out its first list in March…
Published on 09/10/2026 – 11:07 GMT+2•Updated 12:00 South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 for her efforts to promote international law and peace. Announcing the award, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said it was going to a “person who with exceptional courage and integrity has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order.” “This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted,” he added. Born in Durban on South Africa’s east coast, Pillay would go on…
Published on 09/10/2026 – 11:47 GMT+2 Peruvian man named Hitler Mussolini has been elected mayor of a small Andean district after winning a local election by a narrow margin on a left-wing party ticket. Hitler Mussolini Simeón Flores, 45, won the mayoral race in Queropalca, a district in the province of Lauricocha in the Huánuco department north of Lima, running for the centre-left Ahora Nación party. He received 229 votes — 34.5% of the 663 valid ballots in Queropalca — ahead of his closest rival, Gaspar Benilde Osorio Zambrano of the Popular Renewal Peru party, who took 204 votes, or…
Published on 09/10/2026 – 11:35 GMT+2 German logistics giant Rhenus Group is set to roll out a network of up to 14 terminals along the Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), with a new trimodal container terminal in Aktau. For European businesses, the expansion could provide more capacity and more reliable transport links with Asian suppliers and markets. The European Commission said in September that it aimed to mobilise up to €12 billion in public and private investment in the Middle Corridor, with the goal of tripling trade flows and cutting freight transit times by…
With its romantic sunset spots and stunning islands that are perfect for lazy beach days, there are plenty of reasons why newlyweds would choose Greece for a luxury honeymoon. Now, Greece has been named the world’s most popular honeymoon destination for 2027 in the latest Virtuoso Luxe Report, ahead of traditional favourites such as Bali and the Maldives, which placed second and third respectively. On the honeymoon hotlist, Italy takes fourth place and France eighth, putting three European countries among the top 10 destinations for affluent couples planning a post-wedding holiday. French Polynesia, Japan, Fiji, Thailand and South Africa make…
There have been other politicians called Hitler. In 2018, also in Peru, Hitler beat Lenin in another mayoral race for the district of Yúngar, when Hitler Guesclin Alba Sánchez defeated Lenin Vladimir Rodríguez Valverde. “I’m the good Hitler,” Alba told broadcasters on the campaign trail, local media reported. In Namibia, Adolf Hitler Uunona last year won his fifth local election in a row. “As a child I saw it as a totally normal name,” he told the BBC.