Author: staff
Updated: 04/02/2026 – 7:00 GMT+1 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this February 4th, 2026 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More
From first-person drones that will race alongside the athletes to AI-powered replays that freeze images mid-air, the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are going to showcase many technologies. Organisers say tech will radically change how fans watch the events from their televisions, through AI-powered chatbots, or by scrolling on social media. Other new innovations bring more digital support for athletes and a closer look at how the torches work. Here’s a look at the key tech that will define the upcoming Winter Games. AI and drones integrated into Olympic broadcasts The Milano-Cortina Games will have a “very intense” use of first-person…
“Ultimately, [the German authorities] try to talk their way out of [granting asylum] with statistics,” said Peter von Auer, a legal expert at German refugee advocacy organization Pro Asyl. “They argue that it is statistically unlikely that what asylum seekers suspect or fear will happen, will befall them.” Out of 8,201 Russian men of military age who have applied for asylum in Germany since 2022, just 416 — about 5 percent — were granted some form of protection, such as being given asylum status, according to figures provided by the government in response to a parliamentary question. Deserters presumably comprise…
Good morning. I’m Mared Gwyn writing from Brussels. US President Donald Trump said overnight that talks with Iran to defuse tensions in the Gulf are ongoing, despite the US military shooting down an Iranian drone that approached its aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Axios reports today that the talks are due to be held in Oman on Friday after Tehran asked that they be moved from Turkey. More. Talks on a peace settlement for Ukraine are also set to resume later today in Abu Dhabi, with President Zelenskyy indicating last night that his delegation’s mandate has been adjusted in…
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on 3 February as Russia launched a major missile and drone assault across Ukraine. He visited a damaged energy site in Kyiv after Russian strikes on homes and infrastructure as the city endured minus 25°C temperatures. The plant supplies heat to thousands of residents. Shmyhal stressed the need to better protect power and heating networks and called for faster deliveries of air defence systems. He warned that Russia is increasing weapons production, making timely support critical as Ukraine works to keep basic services running through winter. NATO Secretary met…
Wearable devices have split into two broad categories: Those with screens and those without. The former is a constant companion, sending you notifications and allowing you to keep track of your steps and fitness goals throughout the day. Anyone who’s ever checked their wrist expecting an urgent message only to find a blurry photo of someone from LinkedIn can attest to just how annoying they can be. The latter, meanwhile, is far more unobtrusive. Taking the form of wristbands, like WHOOP, or rings, such as the Oura, you have to actively seek out your insights on a paired app. With…
By Teresa Medrano, David del Valle with AP Published on 04/02/2026 – 7:03 GMT+1 Spain set a new tourism record in 2025 when it welcomed 96.8 million foreign visitors, according to figures released on 3 February by the National Statistics Institute. The number of international visitors increased 3.2 per cent compared to 2024, when there were 94 million tourists. Spain is one of the world’s most popular destinations, where tourism accounts for 12.6 per cent of gross domestic product. It ranks third on the UN World Tourism Barometer’s list of the world’s top tourism earners, after the United Kingdom and France. The income…
Russian President Vladimir Putin made an appearance at the opening ceremony of Beijing’s Winter Games in 2022, meeting on the sidelines with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and declaring a “no limits” partnership. Four days after the end of the Games, on Feb. 24, Putin announced a “special military operation,” declaring war on Ukraine. Within minutes, Russian troops flooded into Ukraine, and missiles rained down on Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities across the country. According to U.S. intelligence, The New York Times reported, Chinese officials asked the Kremlin to delay launching its attack until after the Games had wrapped up. Beijing…
Published on 04/02/2026 – 7:30 GMT+1 Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the assignment and the position of Ukraine’s delegation in Abu Dhabi will be “adjusted” after Russia launched its largest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight on Tuesday. Zelenskyy reiterated that by launching 71 missiles and 450 drones against Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its true intentions, which remain unchanged since the first day of the full-scale invasion in early 2022. “Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously,” Zelenskyy…
A global group of scientists, engineers and policy experts has unveiled an ambitious plan to build a wall along the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ as flooding fears continue to grow. Located on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Thwaites Glacier earned its apocalyptical name due to its potential impact on sea levels. Covering a vast 192,000 km², making it comparable in size to Great Britain, the glacier is melting at an unprecedented rate due to human-fuelled climate change. Already, four per cent of the world’s annual sea level rise is due to Thwaites’ current ice loss, as heat-trapping gases continue to bake the…