If all goes well this weekend, NASA will complete a wet dress rehearsal test of the Space Launch System rocket in Florida. This is the final key test, in which the rocket is fueled and brought to within seconds of engine ignition, before the liftoff of the Artemis II mission. This is set to occur no earlier than February 6. Ars will have full coverage of the test this weekend.
UNESCO expressed "serious concern" about recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities "that have caused damage to civilian infrastructures, including heritage sites" in Odesa, Lviv, and Kyiv.
In Berlin, hospitals and clinics and working nonstop to treat a surge of patients with injuries from falling on icy pavements. Surgeons have been working through the night to cope with the influx, with many patients suffering broken bones, concussions and even near-paralysis from falls according to reporting in the Berliner Zeitung. Meanwhile, on Thursday night alone, police in Hanover and the surrounding region recorded 37 traffic accidents due to slippery roads, though thankfully only one person was slightly injured.
Bull has been officially launched as an independent brand for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The historic technology brand, which has been part of Atos for many years, is making a comeback. The reintroduction of Bull, originally founded in 1931 to manufacture tabulating machines, comes after the signing of a share purchase agreement with the French state on July 31, 2025.
Early on the morning of 8 October, the Provincial Command of the Carabinieri in Belluno put out a press release announcing three arrests, in the culmination of a year-long investigation they called Operation Reset. Two of the three were brothers, were both known members of the notorious SS Lazio Ultras, the Irriducibili, it was stated in the release, and had boasted of having personal ties to former boss Fabrizio Piscitelli, who was murdered in 2019.
The plan approved Tuesday by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's leftist government could regularise around 500,000 undocumented workers, in a break with harsher policies seen elsewhere in Europe. Musk posted a link on X - which he owns - to a post by notorious far-right influencer Ian Miles Cheong who called the plan "electoral engineering" along with the comment "Wow".
His investigation took listeners deep inside the closed world of Irish rowing, a world where winning medals mattered more than athlete welfare, and where silence was expected, not questioned. And this week, the controversy reached a new level. The chief executive of Rowing Ireland did not attend an Oireachtas committee hearing into the safeguarding of high-performance athletes at the organisation in what was described as an "extraordinary meeting before it ever started".
The encounter took place during a recent winter combat exercise involving roughly 20 NATO troops, beginning with an assault on skis and snowmobiles before shifting into a simulated firefight using blanks and lasers instead of live ammo. The drill was part of a monthlong course led by Finland's Jaeger Brigade that trains allied forces in Arctic warfare and cold-weather survival. Business Insider observed the battle's start at a training site 75 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Finland's snow-blanketed Lapland region.
The build up to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina have been far from ideal. The ice rink has been delayed and riddled with issues. The bobsleigh track has been controversial from the start. History shows that many Winter Olympic hosts have also been plagued by late construction completions and rising costs, but perhaps 2026 represents a tipping point.
Next week the Winter Olympic Games will return to Italy for the first time in two decades. From the fashion capital of Milan to the dramatic peaks of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Milano Cortina Games the first to be co-hosted by two cities will stretch across northern Italy blending world-class winter sport with a strong sense of history and ambition. Sixteen sports and more than 110 gold medals await, from the raw speed of alpine skiing and bobsleigh to the tactical endurance of biathlon and cross-country.
Taras always resented his dark-red Russian passport and was happy to replace it with a blue Ukrainian one. But it was a process that took him 11 years and two trials. He is one of more than 150,000 Russian nationals living in Ukraine as the war with Russia continues. Most are relatives or spouses of Ukrainians or were born in Ukraine. Some are dissidents seeking refuge or volunteers with the Ukrainian army.
A copper network switch off by 31 December 2035 (earlier in regions where 95% fibre coverage would be achieved, and affordable retail connectivity would be available). The Single Passport Authorisation: a single EU Member State notification procedure could be used for providing services throughout the EU. Member States would not be allowed to set additional requirements. EU satellite authorisation: a single EU autorisation for satellite services.
The recent announcement of a 0% tax rate for bingo in the UK marks a significant shift in the entertainment sector's fiscal landscape. This change could potentially reverse the decline of bingo halls, especially in urban areas like London. By eliminating the tax, policymakers aim to rejuvenate a traditional pastime that has been struggling against modern entertainment trends. The UK's entertainment sector is a vibrant tapestry of cultural and social activities, contributing significantly to the economy.
The revelation came as Met Éireann issued a fresh Status Yellow rainfall warning for Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford with a specific risk of localised flooding due to saturated ground being unable to cope with further downpours. Met Éireann said the alert will come into force from the early hours of Thursday and will be valid until the early hours of Friday.
The Austrian Supreme Court has ruled that loot boxes present within video games do not constitute gambling under their gambling laws. This comes after a player attempted to reclaim nearly €20,000 ($24,000) spent on in-game purchases in a football video game. The plaintiff spent money in the game on loot boxes between 2017 and 2021, with the purpose of acquiring digital players in order to enhance his virtual team in the game.
Having suffered a fatal knife wound to his neck, a Dublin father called the man who had inflicted the injury a "dirtbird" and told him: "You stabbed me in the artery, you f***ing eejit," a murder trial has heard.
Thomas McKenna, 60, converted the weapons using a lathe and drill inside one of three caravans at a large traveller site in Buckles Lane, South Ockendon, Essex, Kingston Crown Court was told. Prosecutors said McKenna distributed the guns to a criminal network and sent messages urging others to "get yourself ready" and warning that "the time for protesting is over". The court heard the network included Faisal Razzaq, who was the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005.
One of six gunshots fired by an armed garda at George Nkencho which struck him in the back proved fatal, according to the State pathologist who carried out a postmortem on his body.
