Author: staff
Published on 14/09/2026 – 12:55 GMT+2 Shares in Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group, a major investor in OpenAI, plunged more than 10% on Monday, alongside other technology shares, after executives at some of the world’s leading AI companies backed calls to prioritise “caution over speed and prudence over profit”. The phrase was used by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who called on Saturday for AI companies to “pace the frontier” through a coordinated slowdown in the development of their most advanced models, allowing more time to understand and manage the risks. Among his main concerns is so-called “recursive self-improvement”, in which…
A lot of people on the internet point to 2016 as both the moment where Everything Went Wrong, but also the last time the world felt truly united. I won’t get into the former, but the latter is tied to one thing: The release of Pokémon Go. It was a summer of fun, of running around with strangers, of embracing nostalgia. While it currently feels as though we’ll never reach those highs collectively again, there is still some whimsy in the world – and Pokémon-related whimsy to boot. That’s because NOT A HOTEL has teamed up with the sleep game…
It seems that whenever American actress Sydney Sweeney signs on for an ad campaign, the internet ends up losing its mind. Following her hugely controversial American Eagle publicity campaign, which some perceived as promoting White supremacism and eugenics, her latest stunt has sparked fresh backlash. This time, Sweeney has managed to exasperate female athletes and Olympians, who have labelled the advertisement as “infuriating” and “a kick in the face to every woman.” The source of fresh division comes down to Sweeney featuring in a commercial for Novig, the American sports trading app. Read: gambling firm. In the NSFW advert, the…
The European discussions on global cooperation will focus on work done at the G7, the G20 and the United Nations, one of the diplomats said. Last Friday, the European Commission’s top tech official, Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen, called for global AI rules and cooperation. Virkkunen also pointed out that the EU has a law in place, requiring companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to assess and mitigate the risk of losing control of an AI model, but that is “not the case globally.” The European Parliament’s lead lawmaker on AI, Italian Social Democrat Brando Benifei, pressured the…
A former leading member of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, Ilias Kasidiaris, has been released from prison and vowed a return to politics. Kasidiaris was convicted and imprisoned in 2020 as a leading member of the criminal organisation, which for years had been linked to violent attacks on migrants and political opponents, as well as to the murder of anti-fascist musician Pavlos Fyssas in 2013. He served only part of his 13-year sentence. Leaving prison on Monday, Kasidiaris announced a return to Greek politics, vowing to start a new political movement on Monday. Dozens of his supporters had gathered…
“It looks like escalation is on the way” in the region gripped by the Iran war, and “with all the tensions, nobody can predict” what will happen, but the hope is that the situation “remains stable,” Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Tuesday. In an answer to a Euronews question at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, al-Sharaa urged the region’s countries to “keep calm” and “work together to alleviate the problems that come” with conflict, which is vital to Syria’s new beginning “after 60 years of destruction and 17 years of war”. The Arab Media Summit kicked off on…
Published on 15/09/2026 – 13:21 GMT+2•Updated 13:38 Birds, rivers and figures from European culture, including composers, are among the design choices the ECB is asking people to consider for future euro banknotes. More than 9 million people have already voted, but the ECB is encouraging more people to share their opinions before the survey closes next Monday. The ECB has previously consulted Europeans about the redesign, but this is the first time it has launched a survey asking them to assess the ten shortlisted designs. The proposed designs also differ markedly from those on existing banknotes. In an increasingly cashless…
Published on 15/09/2026 – 10:03 GMT+2•Updated 11:16 The Vega-C rocket has placed the FLEX and Sentinel-3C satellites in orbit from French Guiana, enabling scientists to study the state of vegetation and obtain new data on the oceans, land, ice and the atmosphere. Since Tuesday, Europe has had two new satellites to observe Earth from space. The Vega-C rocket lifted off from the European spaceport in Kourou, in French Guiana, at 22:21 on Monday carrying the FLEX and Sentinel-3C satellites. The mission, known as VV30, will help expand the information available on the state of the planet and the effects of…
A voice, a style, an energy and a freedom that left their mark on several generations. Catherine Ringer, singer and co-founder of Les Rita Mitsouko, has died at the age of 68. Her children announced her death to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, saying she had been taken by “a fast-acting cancer” in the night of 14 September 2026. She was born in Suresnes in 1957. Her father, Sam Ringer, an Ashkenazi Jew born in Poland, had been deported to several concentration camps. Catherine Ringer recounted his story in “C’était un homme”, on the album Cool Frénésie. In 1979,…
The perpetrators have not been identified and national police are leading the investigation. ProRail said its priority was to get trains running again, while preserving evidence as far as possible. Annet Bertram, the secretary of state for infrastructure and water management, called the alleged sabotage “particularly worrying,” adding that “it is now important that this is investigated very carefully.” The incident happened on Prinsjesdag, the annual day marking the start of the Dutch parliamentary year, when the government presents its budget plans for the year ahead. This is not the first time the Dutch rail network has been severely disrupted…