Author: staff
Published on 13 November 2026 – 9:31 GMT+1•Updated 9:35 The disruption on Thursday 12 November mainly affected Outlook, but it also hit Teams, Copilot and the rest of the Microsoft 365 tools. According to reports collected by the Downdetector website, the outage was particularly widespread in the Americas. Microsoft explained on X that it had received reports from users who could not access their Exchange Online mailboxes through different connection methods in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the rest of the world. The Redmond-based company later said that part of its infrastructure was carrying a higher than normal load, which…
José Pinhal is a name that, until about a decade ago or a little more, nobody knew. Born in Santa Cruz do Bispo (Matosinhos), he had a career on the circuit of dances and nightclubs in northern Portugal in the 1980s, and died at just 41, in 1993, in a road accident as he was returning from a performance, in almost complete anonymity. It would probably have stayed that way if our century did not have a voracious appetite for stories of nuggets rescued from the past and from oblivion, proof of that is, for example, the story of the…
“The world cannot afford to ignore them again,” wrote Sánchez, who claims to have taken part in the demonstrations. In the article Sánchez was skeptical of ad hoc solutions such as the Coalition of the Willing, a group of 34 countries that have promised enhanced aid to Ukraine, ascribing such initiatives to the ineffectiveness of multilateralism. Instead, pitching himself as a champion of peace and small and mid-sized powers, he called for reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, which “does not reflect today’s world.” He urged that the veto powers of the Council’s permanent members be strictly…
Nine Chinese humanoid robots performed a synchronised dance routine at Web Summit 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal, drawing cheers from thousands of spectators at the MEO Arena. Developed by Chinese robotics company AgiBot, the machines took centre stage as the technology conference opened on 9 November. For the first time, humanoid robots also appeared as official speakers, joining discussions and demonstrations alongside human presenters. Elsewhere, visitors discovered Galbot’s wheeled, two-armed robot, designed for tasks in shops, pharmacies and factories. The summit attracted around 70,000 participants from 164 countries, with China sending its largest delegation to date, including more than 50 figures…
A rare outbreak of cross-party unity has interrupted months of infighting surrounding Friedrich Merz’s embattled coalition in Berlin. His nomination of Ilse Aigner — a respected conservative from Bavaria — has united his own party and received support from the Social Democrats and the Greens. She is all but certain to become the country’s first female president in January. A largely ceremonial role, the presidency of the Federal Republic represents the country abroad. The significance of a woman taking the highest office in the land has not gone unnoticed in other European capitals. In Berlin this week, Anne McElvoy talks…
Published on 13 November 2026 – 8:41 GMT+1•Updated 9:01 US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ireland this week following a visit to the Kremlin, after which they pushed for Europeans to be present at the negotiating table in future talks. The pair landed at a military base near Dublin on Thursday, where they addressed the media alongside Zelenskyy. Other matters, such as a ceasefire – or any concrete steps towards ending the war – took a back seat as the key point of progress announced by the trio was that European…
European and Asian shares mostly fell on Friday as investors weighed what Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia CEO could mean for the global artificial intelligence industry. European stock indices opened lower, with the FTSE 100 in London down 0.2% at the open, and the benchmark indices down 0.3% in Paris and Frankfurt. US stock futures also edged lower, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100. In the US, Nvidia shares had closed down 4.3% on Thursday. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell about 0.4%, with the Dow closing at 52,297.09. Some Nvidia rivals gained,…
Shabana Mahmood is the latest home secretary to try to reform Britain’s complex immigration policy. Her latest proposals on so-called ‘indefinite leave to remain’ are designed to assess migrants based on the extent of their contribution to the country — by taking account of their skills, salary and what kind of job they are able to fill. As MPs in the Commons consider Mahmood’s plans, this week on Westminster Insider host Sascha O’Sullivan tries to find out who Britain really sees as its ‘perfect’ immigrant, reflecting on the very different perspectives of the Home Office, voters and economists. Sascha is…
Published on 12 November 2026 – 11:54 GMT+1•Updated 13 November 2026 – 6:21 GMT+1 The so-called Doomsday study is already 66 years old, yet it is probably the best known study about the end of the world. In 1960 researchers used a mathematical formula to calculate the end of humanity for Friday 13 November 2026. The article with the provocative title “Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026” was written by Austrian-American physicist Heinz von Foerster and his research team in the renowned journal Science (source in German). Key message and background to the Doomsday study The researchers evaluated historical data…
How far does a household’s income go when buying a home? In 17 EU countries, it bought less in 2025 than it did a decade earlier. Eurostat’s house price-to-income ratio, showing how household income is changing relative to house prices, rose by 6.8% across the EU over that period, though it fell in 10 member states. Meanwhile, house prices in the EU rose by 62% in the ten years to the second quarter of 2026. In response to the housing crisis across the bloc, the European Commission presented its European Affordable Housing Plan in December 2025. What is the house…