Author: staff
Published on 05/11/2025 – 16:46 GMT+1 NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday sought to downplay concerns over the partial withdrawal of US troops in Romania during a visit to the country, insisting Washington remains committed to defending the alliance’s eastern flank. “Adjustments to US force posture are not unusual,” Rutte told reporters during a press conference alongside Romanian President Nicușor Dan. “And even with this adjustment, the US force posturing in Europe remains larger than has been for many years. There are still many more US forces on the continent than before 2022,” he added. “I really think we are…
Thousands of Iranians rallied in Tehran on Tuesday to mark 46 years since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy, chanting anti-American slogans and condemning Washington and Tel Aviv. Participants gathered outside the former embassy building, chanting slogans and carrying photos of military commanders killed in recent strikes. The event commemorates the day when Iranian students seized the US embassy on November 4, 1979. Demonstrators marched through the streets, holding national flags and banners criticizing the United States and Israel.
Al-Masri, long known as a key figure at Libya’s Mitiga prison, was previously arrested in Turin on Jan. 19 after attending a Juventus football match, following an International Criminal Court arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes, torture, murder and sexual violence. Despite those charges, Italy released him after 48 hours, a move that sparked outrage in Rome and prompted the Court of Ministers to open an investigation into Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano over allegations they facilitated Al-Masri’s return to Libya. The inquiry was ultimately dismissed by Italy’s lower house of parliament, where the government…
Published on 05/11/2025 – 17:07 GMT+1 The EU’s environment ministers agreed on Wednesday on the bloc’s domestic climate target to cut CO2 emissions by 2040, after intense political pressure to deliver on climate commitments and maintain Brussels’ role as a climate action leader at next week’s COP30 UN climate summit. The EU27 agreed on a range to set a 2035 climate target to reduce net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 66.25–72.5% below 1990 levels, covering all sectors of the economy and all GHGs, including methane. The range takes into account the 2040 climate target, setting the path to cut emissions…
By AP with Eleanor Butler Published on 05/11/2025 – 16:18 GMT+1 France’s government said on Wednesday that it is suspending access to Shein’s online platform until the company proves that its content conforms with French law, after a controversy over sex dolls with childlike features that were found listed on the fast-fashion giant’s website. The decision, announced in a statement by the Finance Ministry, came on the same day Shein opened its first permanent store in Paris inside one of the city’s most iconic department stores. The opening drew crowds of shoppers as well as protesters, including a small group of…
A report from France’s consumer watchdog put out over the weekend alleged that “sex dolls with childlike appearances” were being sold by Shein. Earlier Wednesday, conservative lawmaker Antoine Vermorel Marques filed a legal complaint, telling daily Le Parisien that he had identified weapons being sold on the website. France’s Economy Minister Roland Lescure, and the Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Serge Papin will issue an “initial progress report” within the next 48 hours, the statement said. Earlier this week, Shein’s executive chairman, Donald Tang, told POLITICO that the firm created an “integrity panel” to review what products are sold…
Published on 05/11/2025 – 15:53 GMT+1 Dozens of flights at Belgium’s main international airport were cancelled early on Wednesday after drone sightings overnight forced it to close temporarily, prompting Prime Minister Bart De Wever to convene a meeting with senior ministers to discuss safety concerns. It was the first time that the airport in Brussels had been shut down by drones. The incident overnight on Wednesday is the latest in a series of unidentified drone flights over the weekend. Prior to the Brussels drone sighting, UAVs were spotted near a military base in Belgium where US nuclear weapons are stored.…
By AP with Eleanor Butler Published on 05/11/2025 – 15:48 GMT+1 British retailer Marks and Spencer saw its half-year profits more than halved as a result of a cyberattack that brought its online business to a grinding halt. In a statement on Wednesday, M&S said its underlying pre-tax profits tumbled 55.4% to £184.1 million (€208.89mn) in the six months to 27 September largely on the back of a 40% collapse in online home and fashion sales after it was forced to halt online orders. Firm food sales helped cushion the blow. M&S had to stop all online sales for around six…
Published on 05/11/2025 – 14:53 GMT+1 The most popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots do not understand that people have personal beliefs that are not always based on facts, a new study shows. The researchers evaluated 24 versions of the large language models (LLMs) behind AI chatbots such as DeepSeek, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, measuring how they responded to over 13,000 questions that tested how well they can tell the difference between a fact and a personal belief which may or may not be true. Humans know the difference between the certainty in a statement like…
Moment of contrition: Lammy insisted he’d already obliged with that request. “In the debate, of course, I said sorry for the anxiety caused whilst Kebatu was at large, and I repeat that.” Who knew a direct question could get a direct answer? Not so fast: The shadow defence secretary made clear Kebatu’s quick capture wasn’t good enough. Cartlidge wanted Lammy, the justice secretary after all, to guarantee that “no other asylum-seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison” since the mistaken release. Answer, er, came there none. The justice secretary slammed Cartlidge’s former tenure as a justice minister, “who…