Author: staff

Trump on Monday said he has no plans to lift the blockade until the two sides reach an agreement. That’s led to the current impasse — with both Tehran and Washington, as of Tuesday, refusing to blink.But Trump did give some ground on Tuesday afternoon. After saying he was disinclined to extend the ceasefire for a second time, the president did just that. Trump said it was a favor to the Pakistanis, implying it was not a U.S. concession but it also underscored how fluid the efforts to reach a broader agreement remain. The two sides have for days traded…

The airline said the first 120 flights were canceled on Monday. “The medium-term route planning for the coming months is being revised considering the capacity reduction and will be published in late April or early May,” Lufthansa said, adding that affected passengers have been notified. The 20,000 cancellations, which include flights previously operated by CityLine, will impact hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels and Rome and “reduce the number of unprofitable short-haul flights.” The airline said these “flight schedule optimizations” will continue. Despite the announcement, the carrier said the “group’s jet fuel supply [is] secured for the coming weeks.”…

A powerful new AI model developed by Anthropic called Mythos — feared to outperform humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities — has experts worried that, once widely available, it could give malicious actors an unprecedented ability to punch through critical IT infrastructure. Its developers are currently restricting access to a limited group of technology firms and unnamed organizations while they assess the security risks. AI allows hackers to strike faster and at greater scale than traditional methods — compressing what once took hours of manual work into seconds, and enabling more simultaneous attacks across more targets. Generative AI also…

Uthmeier, a Republican appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis, earlier this month signaled Florida would investigate OpenAI and ChatGPT over public safety and national security concerns. The attorney general elaborated on the probe Tuesday, explaining that Florida now is pursuing criminal and civil investigations into OpenAI surrounding the FSU shooting, child sex abuse material and the encouragement of suicide and self-harm.New revelations from the FSU shooting, though, are expected to a play a central role in Florida’s criminal investigation into OpenAI.The suspected FSU gunman — Phoenix Ikner, who was a 20-year-old student during the April 2025 shooting — allegedly communicated frequently…

Published on 21/04/2026 – 19:54 GMT+2 The Israeli military said on Tuesday that two soldiers would receive 30 days of military detention and be removed from combat duty over the destruction of a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. The decision comes after widespread condemnation of a photo shared online showing an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross. The sculpture was located in the Christian village of Debl in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel. Publishing the conclusions of an inquiry into the…

The Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most prominent art exhibitions, is set to host Russia for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — a move that has sparked widespread criticism across Europe. Latvia’s Culture Minister Agnese Lāce, who had spearheaded a joint position by 25 European countries calling for Russia’s exclusion, said she will boycott the Biennale’s May 9 opening if Moscow takes part. In a statement, Latvia’s Ministry of Culture argued that allowing Russia to participate would give “legitimacy through a major European cultural platform supported by European funding” to a sanctioned aggressor…

Published on 21/04/2026 – 19:17 GMT+2 EU foreign ministers rejected calls to end preferential trade with Israel in connection with allegations of war crimes, highlighting persistent divisions within the bloc over the Middle East. However, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said further discussions would take place, including consideration of a proposal by France and Sweden to impose tariffs on goods originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. “We cannot lose sight of Gaza and the West Bank,” Kallas told journalists at a press conference. Ahead of the meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday, the governments of Spain,…

Published on 21/04/2026 – 19:04 GMT+2 Six hotel staff and pest control workers went on trial in Turkey on Tuesday, charged with causing the deaths of a family of four from Germany poisoned by insecticide while on holiday in Istanbul, media reported. The Turkish-German Böcek family were staying at the Harbour Suites Old City hotel in Istanbul’s Fatih district when they fell ill on 12 November, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. They took a taxi to a hospital complaining of nausea and vomiting before returning to the hotel. The following day they were taken to hospital by ambulance, where…

“We should also revisit long-blocked decisions including opening negotiations with Ukraine,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told a news conference, also citing sanctions and blocked funding for Ukraine under the EU’s Peace Facility, its mechanism for funding military assistance for Kyiv. One of the EU diplomats present for closed-door discussions between foreign ministers said: “There was a totally new mood in the room … One after the other, the ministers gave their analysis of the situation … There’s a sense that on so many of these files, perhaps now there is a way forward.” Some of the diplomats spoken…

Published on 21/04/2026 – 18:09 GMT+2 This year’s European Heritage Awards, bestowed by Europa Nostra, have been won by 30 projects from 18 countries. The projects were competing in five categories, ranging from conservation and adaptive reuse to research, education and awareness-raising. “From pioneering AI-based risk prevention to hands-on training in traditional building techniques, these projects show that heritage is not just about the past, it is a living force for progress,” said Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport. President of Europa Nostra Cecilia Bartoli stated that in a world marked by conflicts, geopolitical tensions…