Author: staff
By David Del Valle Published on 17/02/2026 – 12:01 GMT+1•Updated 12:08 Proposed changes to the US visa waiver programme (ESTA), which would require international travellers to provide more extensive disclosure of their social media activity, could have a major economic impact on the country. New research from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), produced in conjunction with GSIQ and Oxford Economics, warns that the measure could reduce spending by international visitors by up to $15.7 billion (€13.2 billion) and affect up to 157,000 US jobs. According to the survey of several ESTA-eligible markets, 66% of travellers are already aware of…
Tuesday’s move marks the latest escalation in Sánchez’s increasingly personal confrontation with major technology companies and their billionaire owners — a campaign that has included regulatory threats, public clashes with Elon Musk and Pavel Durov, and broader calls in Madrid for tighter platform controls. In a letter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office first reported by Spanish newspaper El País, Sánchez’s government cites the abundance of AI-generated child sexual abuse material on social media platforms and requests an investigation be launched to determine if their operators have “criminal liability … due to the control they exert over content.” Sánchez also argued…
Published on 17/02/2026 – 11:23 GMT+1 Austrian prosecutors have filed terrorism-related charges against a 21-year-old defendant who they say planned to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024. Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement on Monday that the unnamed defendant had declared allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services. The defendant is accused of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the…
Published on 17/02/2026 – 11:17 GMT+1•Updated 11:22 US civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate Reverend Jesse Jackson has died aged 84. The news was confirmed by his family, who said that he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones. “His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity,” the Jackson family said. “A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history.” “Our father was a servant leader -…
Scientists insist both are needed. “The success of global mitigation efforts is … critical to determine future temperature increases and the magnitude of the global risks,” said Edenhofer. “Adaptation can reduce climate risk and associated harms.” For example, southern Europe’s droughts will become more frequent and intense the higher global temperatures rise — according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), more than a third of the region’s population will face water scarcity at 2C of global warming, while 3C doubles this share. Curbing warming limits this risk. To address the remaining risk, countries can introduce adaptation measures…
By Ekbal Zein & Euronews Published on 17/02/2026 – 11:00 GMT+1 Iran and the United States are to hold a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, as military tensions in the region continued to rise. The choice of Switzerland as the venue has again placed a spotlight on the small Alpine nation’s decades-long role as the primary back channel between two countries that have had no formal diplomatic relations since 1980. The estrangement between Washington and Tehran dates to the Iranian revolution of 1979, when supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Nine months later, in…
By AP Published on 17/02/2026 – 10:08 GMT+1•Updated 10:13 The Vatican is marking the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter’s Basilica with a host of visitor-friendly initiatives, including expanding access to its spectacular terrace and its snack bar in the shadow of Michelangelo’s great dome. The Vatican on Monday outlined its plans to make better use of St. Peter’s and better redistribute the millions of people who pass through it each year, while at the same time protecting its artistic treasures. Among the initiatives are a new online reservation system, to lessen the often hours-long wait to get into…
It could trigger another fight between the U.S. and the EU over enforcement of Europe’s tech regulations. Top officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump blasted a move by the European Union in December to fine X €120 million over violations of the bloc’s content moderation rulebook, the Digital Services Act. The Irish regulator is in charge of enforcing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on many of the world’s tech giants that have their European headquarters in Ireland. It has the power to impose fines on X as large as 4 percent of global annual turnover. The…
Published on 17/02/2026 – 8:00 GMT+1 Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is still importing Russian steel – and not everyone is happy about it. Next week, MEPs and EU member states will begin negotiations on whether to ban Russian steel outright. What began as a sanctions debate has morphed into a high-stakes political fight. Swedish lawmaker Karin Karlsbro is preparing to take on the EU council, which represents the member states, with Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic and Denmark all arguing that they still need imports of unfinished steel for major construction projects. “It is…
By Euronews Published on 17/02/2026 – 10:19 GMT+1 Greece has announced its intention to obtain photos that appear to show the final moments of 200 Greeks executed by a Nazi firing squad in Athens during World War II, after the previously unknown pictures surfaced on eBay. The images reportedly show the men being led to their deaths on 1 May 1944 at a shooting range in the Kaisariani suburb of the Greek capital. Although the executions were well known, there were no known photos or film documentation of the event. The photographs were put up for sale on eBay over the…