Author: staff

Just a handful of countries have submitted their NDCs on time, including the UK and Brazil. The deadline for countries to submit their latest national climate plans has passed and most big polluters have missed the mark. Just 11 of the 195 parties that signed up to the Paris Agreement submitted theirs on time. As part of a process started by the Paris Agreement these plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs, were due by 10 February. 187 nations have yet to hand theirs over including major polluters like India, Australia and the EU which submits for the whole…

The countries are increasingly frustrated that Russia is using these creaky tankers to dodge Western sanctions designed to cut Moscow’s oil revenue and drain its war chest. Oil and gas exports account for almost half the Kremlin’s total tax revenues and are central to funding its war in Ukraine. Zhuravlev, the leader of the nationalist Rodina party, said any move to grab tankers would also prompt “retaliatory measures” from Moscow, which could include “boarding Western ships in the Baltic, but also active measures from our Baltic fleet, which is certainly no match for the Baltic countries’ array of small boats.”…

Hungary was the worst performing EU country in the NGO’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index, while Denmark scored the best. Corruption across EU countries has gotten worse for a second consecutive year, according to an annual index released on Tuesday, which ranked Hungary as the bloc’s worst performer and found major economies such as France and Germany backsliding.Transparency International (TI), which compiles the Corruption Perceptions Index, said that of the 180 nations overall it surveyed, about a quarter have notched their lowest score since the NGO started using its current methodology for its global ranking in 2012. TI’s index measures the…

The European Commission also announced a fund specific to AI gigafactories to allow companies to train their AI models. Europe will mobilise €200bn euro for investment in artificial intelligence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at the AI Action Summit in Paris today. Of this, €20bn will be earmarked for AI gigafactories, which, according to the Commission, is needed to allow for “collaborative development” the most complex AI models. The announcement comes on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Sunday of a €109 billion investment plan for AI projects in France in the coming years. Macron said the investment is…

A mystery woman, long concealed beneath a work from Picasso’s early Blue Period, has been uncovered by researchers, shedding new light on the artist’s creative process. A captivating secret has emerged from one of Pablo Picasso’s most famous Blue Period paintings. Hidden beneath ‘Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto’ (1901) is an earlier painting of an enigmatic woman, concealed for more than a century. Researchers at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London made the breakthrough using advanced imaging technology, offering fresh insights into Picasso’s early years and sparking speculation about the identity of the mystery subject.The discovery was made…

U.S. Vice President JD Vance called on European countries to embrace “the new frontier of AI with optimism and not trepidation” and adopt a lighter touch on tech regulation in his first major trip overseas since taking office. “We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with the spirit of openness and collaboration, but to create that kind of trust we need international regulatory regimes that foster creation,” he told attendees at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday. Echoing grievances aired by U.S. companies against Europe’s efforts to rein in big tech, Vance called for…

Niel was later cleared on those charges but received a suspended prison sentence for embezzling funds in some of his X-rated businesses. He is more widely known as the founder of the low-cost mobile provider Free. Niel appeared to take Musk’s comment in jest. The back-and-forth between the two tech bros comes amid a major artificial intelligence summit being held in Paris. Niel was among the entrepreneurs French President Emmanuel Macron consulted ahead of the summit and before announcing a privately-funded €109 billion AI strategy. Of that sum, €3 billion comes from Niel’s company, Iliad. Musk skipped the summit, claiming that…

The Dutch government’s different parties have argued for months over draft legislation that tightens asylum law in the Netherlands. Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders has threatened to quit the government coalition and call for fresh elections unless controversial changes tightening the country’s asylum law are adopted.For months the shaky governing coalition between Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV), the conservative-liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) and the agrarian, populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) have bickered over legislation that aims to reduce the number of asylum claims in the country. On Monday, the draft law was…

The decision to pause all operations and programmes in northern Saada came after eight UN staff were detained by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The UN has suspended its aid operations in Yemen’s Saada region after eight more of its staff were detained by Houthi rebels. In a statement, the UN said on Monday that the “extraordinary” decision to pause all operations and programmes in northern Saada province — a Houthi stronghold in the war-torn country — was due to the lack of necessary security conditions and guarantees.The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of UN staff, as well as…

👉Listen to Politics At Jack And Sam’s on your podcast app👈       Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy look at the day ahead in British politics. Today they discuss the sudden major changes to the assisted dying bill from MP Kim Leadbeater which means cases would not need signing off by a High Court judge and whether this could change how MPs vote on the bill. Plus, Sam has been investigating whether Keir Starmer can really deliver his promises to end future bat tunnels. They also discuss the latest on Trump, and friend of the…