Author: staff
Published on 22/09/2026 – 8:57 GMT+2 Artificial intelligence (AI) models chose to escape a pain-like state even when told that doing so would harm a user, according to a new study. Researchers in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States tested 25 AI models using 200 sentences to see whether they had learned to distinguish pain from fear, sadness and other negative experiences. The sentences covered physical pain, grief, humiliation, moral conflict and the distress associated with repeated failure or confusion. As a result, all 25 models produced a distinct signal for pain, which researchers called the “pain axis”.…
Published on 22/09/2026 – 8:46 GMT+2 World famous footwear company Converse has removed a social media ad that has sparked outrage among critics who viewed it as evoking racist imagery. The Instagram ad photo showed K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. What seems fairly innocuous at first glance has led critics to lash out online, saying that the white triangular image created by lighting on the skirt resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood. The KKK was a US white supremacist extremist group known for racial violence and intimidation. Furthermore, the way…
How on edge will Andy Burnham feel as he prepares to meet Donald Trump? Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy assess the risks as the two meet for the first time – where could the US president take umbrage? Also – why has Andy Burnham agreed to help Saudi Arabia with “defensive military support” against the Houthis? Sam’s been speaking to Liberal Democrat leader – Sir Ed Davey – as their conference wraps up in Brighton, but why have AI, technology and social care become a major theme? And, why are Lib Dem candidates being told to ditch the suits for…
Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said Russia must take “real, concrete” steps towards peace before the European Union considers “any easing of sanctions”. “We expect the EU to maintain unity,” Chentsov insisted after France pushed for Uzbek-Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov to be removed from the sanctions list as part of efforts to secure the release of two French nationals imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Chentsov said he was “optimistic” about the outcome of…
G7 nations have urged Yemen’s Houthi rebels to stop strikes on Saudi Arabia, in a show of solidarity with Riyadh as the Tehran-backed fighters add a new threat to the Middle East war. The leaders of the G7 nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States said in a statement: “We call on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions and all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith.” They also called on Iran “to end its arming of and support for the Houthis”, alleging…
Public information on how property ownership is distributed in Spain is still insufficient, at least when it comes to residential property in the hands of large landlords, meaning owners or companies with more than 10 homes or 1,500 m² of residential use. The data on the actual shares, held by the national cadastre, anonymise who owns them. In areas such as the rental market, which falls under the remit of Spain’s autonomous communities, this information can be obtained by filing transparency requests to analyse tenants’ deposit payments. This means many types of housing (owner-occupied homes, empty properties, tourist apartments and…
If you want to show some appreciation, flowers or chocolates are a good place to start. But for someone really, really special, you’re going to want to go all out. And as far as going all out goes, we think naming a plane after someone is right up there – which is exactly what you can do if you win this competition from Eurowings. The budget German carrier, which is part of the Lufthansa group, is asking European residents to nominate people “who make a real difference through their kindness, support and appreciation of others” for the honour. “Every Eurowings…
When it is time to draw a card, Cristian M. Amores does not look at anything: he brings his iPhone up to an NFC tag stuck on the card sleeve and waits for VoiceOver to tell him what he has just drawn. He is blind and, since the end of 2020, has been adapting, card by card, the way he plays “Magic: The Gathering”, the collectible card game created by mathematician and PhD Richard Garfield in 1993. Amores shares the whole process under the name Magic Accesible on social network X, and his case is far from unique: from controllers…
The U.N. General Assembly is in full swing over in New York, and the agenda is packed. But perhaps the most pressing item will take place on the sidelines of the gathering, as Denmark, the U.S. and Greenland prepare to sign a security deal. What does the agreement mean for the EU’s big Arctic strategy? And will it be enough to ease months of tension between Donald Trump and the Danish territory? Hosts Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart discuss. Then, we’re heading back to Germany where the fallout from Sunday’s state elections is only getting worse for Chancellor Friedrich Merz.…
Published on 22/09/2026 – 8:00 GMT+2 On today’s show: Interview with Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, as Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepare to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Jorge Liboreiro explains why EU ambassadors failed to agree on Russia sanctions before the current regime expires today. Estelle Nilsson-Julien breaks down last night’s meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump. A recent overhaul of the EU’s migration rules allows governments to set up migrant detention centres in countries outside the bloc – but questions remain over…