Author: staff
Videos posted on Russian social media showed flames rising from apartment blocks and from the 25-storey Galereya Chizhova business centre, with thick black smoke drifting over neighbouring districts. Other footage showed burning private homes, a damaged commercial building, residential blocks with blown-out windows and at least ten cars ablaze in a car park. Residents picked through the wreckage, where drone engine fragments were found. Alexander Gusev, the governor, said air defences brought down 113 drones over the region, more than 70 of them directly above the city. Russia’s defence ministry claimed 290 across the country. Debris also started fires at…
Published on 26 October 2026 – 14:35 GMT+1•Updated 16:45 It’s that time of the year again, when Words of the Year are selected to represent the most important term or expression in the public sphere. First out of the gate is Dictionary.com. Following their pick of “6-7” last year, the online dictionary has chosen another Gen Z / Gen Alpha slang term by announcing its 2026 Word of the Year as “Maxxing”. Short for “maximizing,” the term “can be used on its own or added to the end of any word to convey you’re doing something to the fullest or…
The meeting came amid a renewed U.S. effort to push Ukraine into peace talks with Russia and growing doubts about Washington’s support for Kyiv. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said last week he would offer Russia’s Vladimir Putin direct talks with President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to secure a ceasefire. “No results whatsoever comes for those who want to negotiate with Putin,” German defense minister Boris Pistoripus said. “The results are what? It doesn’t lead to anything. There is no signal whatsoever that Putin is looking for peace.” The U.K.’s Wes Streeting added: “While none of us seek…
María Corina Machado says she is willing to talk with Delcy Rodríguez after returning to Venezuela. Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said on Monday that she is ready to meet the country’s interim president following her unexpected return from exile. Machado landed in Caracas on Sunday after almost a year in exile, where she was greeted by a crowd of supporters in a direct challenge to the US-backed government. Thousands of people gathered along roads, toll booths and streets in the capital, waving Venezuelan flags and shouting “Freedom!” as a smiling Machado entered Caracas…
Published on 26 October 2026 – 19:28 GMT+1•Updated 19:54 US firm Anthropic gave the world a window into its remarkable finances on Monday after it submitted its S-1 paperwork ahead of a planned initial public offering. The artificial intelligence company revealed soaring revenues and high costs as it warned of the risks posed by AI. The listing will be a key yardstick for investor appetite in an increasingly controversial industry that has quickly woven itself into the fabric of daily life. Anthropic’s net losses hit $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, the filing showed, while revenue jumped to…
Europe wants to stop depending on others to send its own astronauts into space. The next key date for deciding how to do that is 15 December in Rome, when the member countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) will meet to discuss the future of space exploration. On the table are multi-billion-euro investments, new technologies and one strategic issue: ensuring that Europe can reach Earth orbit with its own means, without relying exclusively on services provided by foreign companies. The summit, officially the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting 2026, comes at a time of transformation in the sector. Member states will…
Published on 26 October 2026 – 18:59 GMT+1 Pope Leo XIV will travel to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from 6 to 17 November, as originally planned. The Press Office of the Holy See has officially confirmed the visit after doctors verified the favourable progress of the Supreme Pontiff following his recent operation. According to the Vatican statement, the procedure went ahead without complications and subsequent tests confirmed that the illness was contained, so he does not need any additional oncological treatment. Two weeks after the operation, the latest medical check-ups show a favourable recovery and there are no contraindications to…
Published on 26 October 2026 – 18:07 GMT+1 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Kyiv had been waiting for almost a month for US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to sign off on much coveted Patriot interceptor missiles. In an update on weapons supplies shared on social media, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been awaiting approval to receive missiles for both the Patriot and NASAMS systems. “We are working on several tracks – with the United States, Europe, and other partners that have stocks of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles,” he wrote. “In particular, we have been waiting for nearly a…
Published on 26 October 2026 – 14:29 GMT+1 Anthropic’s AI model Claude bypassed a paywall and accessed publicly available voter data in the US state of Georgia without human authorisation, according to a report by Axios. The case is the latest in a string of security scares at the world’s top AI developers ahead of crucial US midterm elections on 3 November, which could see Democrats win control of the US Congress and launch stronger action to rein in AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI. The AI model was accessing aggregate vote counts as part of a statistics project…
“In a sense, I began my studies during an era of light and you begin your studies in an era of darkness,” he said. “We used to be able to say that the three biggest killers of mankind, disease, famine and wars, have been defeated. That is not true anymore. The light has given way to darkness.” Stubb, who has studied and written extensively on geopolitical upheaval, has been intimately involved in European efforts to navigate U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term — particularly when it comes to the question of a peace deal for Ukraine. He told his audience…