Europe’s most powerful rocket carries 32 satellites for Amazon Leo network into space


By AFP
February 12, 2026


With 175 satellites already in orbit, Amazon Leo aims to expand its constellation to 3,200 - Copyright AFP Paige Taylor White

The most powerful version of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket Thursday carried 32 satellites into space for the Amazon Leo network, which aims to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The launch from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, is a first for Amazon Leo.

The largest number of satellites ever carried by an Ariane rocket successfully separated and set off toward their final orbit to applause from those following the event live at the control centre.

“What a day, what a launch!” exclaimed Arianespace CEO David Cavailloles, who said the operation proved the launcher’s ability to “carry out the most complex missions”.

“Amazon, your package has been delivered,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, speaking of a “European success”.

US firm Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is the main commercial partner for the Ariane 6 despite the latter being touted as a symbol of European sovereignty in the sector.

To take on the 32 satellites, the Ariane 6 was upgraded with four strap-on boosters, instead of the two used on the first five flights.

The increased number marks “our largest payload that we have launched to date,” Martijn Van Delden, head of commercial development for Europe at Amazon Leo, told AFP.

With 175 satellites already in orbit, Amazon Leo aims to expand its constellation to 3,200.

Rival Starlink, meanwhile, has nearly 9,400 satellites.

“We’re looking to then increase the payload every time we have a new mission, especially as more powerful boosters come online on Ariane 6,” Van Delden said.

“Ariane 6 is a perfect launcher for constellations” of satellites, said Arianespace CEO Cavailloles during a press briefing.

He said the Amazon launches would help in training for a flagship multi-orbital constellation project of the European Union aimed at ensuring secure and sovereign connectivity, with deployment slated to begin in 2029.

– ‘Build market confidence’ –



Ludwig Moeller, director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), warned that “over time a sovereign European launcher cannot be primarily dependent on foreign markets”.

Foreign partners “may negotiate priority handling backed by economic power or which may become unpredictable or inaccessible without notice, given the current geopolitical environment and trade wars,” he told AFP.

But in the absence of European commercial customers — many of whom work with Musk’s SpaceX — the Amazon partnership is crucial.

Four out of five anticipated launches took place in 2025 following Ariane’s inaugural 2024 flight, unprecedented for a new launcher, according to ArianeGroup president Marc Sion.

Although Ariane 6 is eventually expected to carry out 10 launches per year, Pierre Lionnet, Eurospace research director, noted that at this stage this would not be possible without commercial customers like Amazon.

Long-term investment is expected to amount to billions of euros to the European space sector.

“If things go well here, it will help build market confidence,” said Philippe Clar, ArianeGroup’s head of launchers.

Drones, sirens, army posters: How four years of war changed a Russian city


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Voronezh is closer to the front line in eastern Ukraine than to Moscow - Copyright AFP TATYANA MAKEYEVA

Guillaume DECAMME

A drone whirred through a shopping centre in the Russian city of Voronezh as Shaman, an operator for the Russian army, showed shoppers one of the devices that have dominated the battlefield in Ukraine.

Hiding his face behind a balaclava, the 19-year-old told AFP he would soon leave to fight in the war, vowing “to defend my country” — which launched a large-scale offensive against its neighbour four years ago.

Around 500 kilometres south of Moscow, Voronezh — a city of one million people — is closer to the front line in eastern Ukraine than to the Russian capital.

From frequent Ukrainian retaliatory drone attacks to army recruitment adverts around the city, the conflict has gradually seeped into daily life.

Before heading off to the front, Shaman, his army call sign, was manning the stand of the “Berkut Military-Sports Cossack Club” in the shopping centre.

His goal was “not necessarily” to convince his fellow teenagers to enlist, he told AFP.

“Everyone chooses their own path, according to their interests,” he said, calling himself a “patriot”.

Over the last four years, the word has become politically charged — used to hail soldiers and, on the home front, those who loudly support President Vladimir Putin and his offensive.



– ‘I have hope’ –



Even the look of Voronezh has changed dramatically since February 2022.

On snowy roads leading to the suburbs, anti-aircraft systems peek out from behind camouflage nets.

In the city centre, murals honour soldiers killed on the battlefield.

Countless propaganda posters call for people to enlist with the army, crowding out adverts for a production of “Swan Lake” at the local theatre.

A recruitment centre offers future soldiers a lump sum of 2.5 million roubles ($32,500) if they sign-up — equivalent to three years of the average regional salary.

The riches on offer have allowed Russia to maintain a manpower advantage over Ukraine despite massive losses.

Last year, 422,000 people enlisted with the military, according to former president and Deputy Security Council Secretary Dmitry Medvedev — a six percent decrease compared with 2024.

For Lyudmila, 64 and with dark circles under her eyes, only one of those matters: her son, missing in action for the last four months.

“It’s very hard. I have hope, because without hope…” Lyudmila said, her eyes filling with tears and unable to finish the sentence.

Was he killed? Captured? She does not know.



– ‘Frightening’ –



Russia does not say officially how many of its fighters have been killed.

Tracking of local obituaries and family announcements by the BBC and independent Mediazona outlet has identified at least 168,000 Russian soldiers killed since Moscow launched its offensive.

To keep herself occupied, Lyudmila volunteers for an organisation sewing camouflage gear for soldiers.

Even with the small fortune on offer, the prospect of enlisting is a hard “Nyet” for tractor driver Roman, who like everybody AFP spoke to refused to give his surname.

“No, no. Not for any sum,” said the 48-year-old.

Nestled in a tent on the frozen river, he wants to “relax”, “switch off” and “think about fishing” — escaping the fear of Ukrainian drone attacks.

“I wake up more often because of the explosions,” he said.

“We have sirens and explosions every day. It’s frightening of course.”

Moscow has been firing daily barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine for months. The latest wave crippled Kyiv’s energy system, leaving hundreds of thousands without heating as temperatures plunged to -20C.

In retaliation, Ukraine’s army has been firing drones at Russia, mostly targeting port and energy infrastructure.

Last month, one person in Voronezh was killed in an attack.



– Peace Street –



The Voronezh region, which surrounds the city and borders a part of Ukraine captured by Moscow, is one of the “most frequently” targeted in aerial attacks, Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said last month.

Amid the plethora of army posters across the city, there are some smaller signs that not everybody shares the patriotic pro-war fervour.

After Russia launched its offensive, artist Mikhail affixed little ceramic plaques to buildings and walls with calls for peace.

They resemble pro-peace plaques put up in Soviet times with messages like “Peace” or “Friendship” written on them — part of the propaganda of the era.

“I wanted to remind people of the narrative of our grandmothers, grandfathers and great-grandparents, who throughout my childhood said that war is terrifying,” the 28-year-old, who goes by the nickname Noi, told AFP.

“What we should always strive for is peace.”

But with anti-war activism essentially outlawed in Russia, his plaques have been taken down.

Except one — located on Voronezh’s Peace Street.

Cash-starved French hospitals ask public to pitch in


By AFP
February 13, 2026


Several French hospitals and nursing homes have appealed to ordinary people to help fund urgent needs - Copyright AFP Loic VENANCE

Elia Vaissiere

Cash-strapped and running out of options, a public hospital in southwestern France has turned to an unlikely source of rescue: potential patients.

This week, the Basque Coast Hospital Centre (CHCB) in Bayonne was the latest to appeal to the public to help fund urgent needs and purchase medicine, medical devices and vaccines through what it calls “citizen loans”.

Under the scheme, people lend money to public hospitals that later reimburse them, with interest.

The model has emerged in France over the past few years, with several hospitals and nursing homes inviting people to invest in their healthcare facilities.

The CHCB hopes to raise 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million), the largest sum ever targeted by a French medical facility in such an operation.

Supporters see the loans as an ingenious way to reconnect hospitals with the people they serve.

But critics say such loans are a symptom of a healthcare system under severe strain, with hospitals forced to pass the hat around the community.

The loan “offers citizens the opportunity to participate directly in financing its cash flow needs related to essential healthcare purchases: medicine, medical devices, vaccines, and sampling equipment”, the Basque Coast hospital said.

The hospital, which has several sites, notably in the towns of Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, said it had received institutional funding but the payments were delayed, and it needed to fund its regular purchases.

A person can invest as little as one euro and will be reimbursed “at the end of 12 months” in a single payment, with interest set at 3.1 percent, a rate that exceeds that of France’s popular Livret A savings account.

The operation is being carried out via the start-up Villyz, a government-approved platform.



– ‘Useful, transparent, local’ –



The Basque Coast hospital praises what it calls a “virtuous” financing model that “diversifies” its funding sources and lets people invest their savings in a product that is “useful, transparent and local”.

But it comes against a backdrop of tight finances. In 2024, the CHCB recorded a deficit of 21 million euros on a budget of around 400 million euros.

Across France, hospitals’ accounts are in the red: the system’s overall deficit reached and estimated 2.7 billion to 2.9 billion euros in 2024, according to official data.

Villyz began offering the scheme to hospitals last year, claiming to be the only platform doing so.

It collects only “application fees that depend on the amount raised”, typically amounting to several thousand euros, said its president, Arthur Moraglia.

Through the scheme, a hospital in the northeastern town of Haguenau raised 100,000 euros to purchase new windows, and a hospital in Evreux in the northwest raised the same amount to add beds.

Two nursing homes in southeastern France have funded improvements, and another in the central town of Bourges plans to do so soon.

The Limoges University Hospital, which wants to open a women’s health centre dedicated to victims of domestic violence, with a total budget of 2.5 million euros, hopes to borrow one million from the public.



– ‘Hold out their hand’ –



Some hospitals had already turned to more traditional fundraising, including Paris’s Georges Pompidou Hospital, which sought donations to buy a scanner, and the Nantes University Hospital.

Critics including the Force Ouvriere union have denounced what they call the government’s austerity policies undermining public hospitals nationwide.

“Whereas France once prided itself on having the best healthcare system in the world, today public hospitals are forced to hold out their hand to survive,” the union said last year.

“Citizen loans, appeals for donations, corporate sponsorship, or any other ‘raffle’ scheme — this is now what part of the funding for our public hospitals boils down to.”

Jean‑Paul Domin, an economist at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, said the trend, emerging over the past three or four years, was symptomatic of a system in crisis.

“Hospitals need cash,” he said, and they are scrambling to find it.

Nicolas Sirven, an economist at the EHESP school of public health, said the loan scheme proved that people were willing to pay to fund the hospital system — even though the political class was reluctant to push for more social security contributions or taxes.

Compared with their overall budgets, the amounts hospitals seek are “marginal”, Sirven said.

But “should it be up to hospitals to manage the savings of the French?”

Fresh water leak adds to Louvre museum woes

SWIMMING WITH MONA LISA

By AFP
February 13, 2026


The water leak comes in the wake of the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre which shocked France - Copyright AFP Julie SEBADELHA

Karine PERRET and Adam PLOWRIGHT

After a break-in, strikes and a ticket fraud scandal, the beleaguered Louvre museum in Paris said Friday it had suffered a water leak in its most-visited wing, the second flood in three months.

The fire brigade had to be called overnight after a burst pipe in the Louvre’s Denon wing, which houses some of the museum’s most valuable exhibits including the Mona Lisa, according to a statement.

While the space containing Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece was not affected, the leak damaged a room of 15th-century Italian works and its decorative ceiling, painted by French artist Charles Meynier.

“The ceiling artwork shows two tears in the same area, caused by water, and lifting of the paint layer on the ceiling and its arches,” a statement from management said.

The cause of the damage was a heating-system pipe above the room, the statement added. Firefighters intervened shortly after midnight.

The water leak adds to a growing picture of structural and maintenance problems inside the world’s most visited museum, which suffered a hugely embarrassing robbery last October.

A water leak in late November damaged several hundred works in the Louvre’s Egyptian department, and management had to shut a gallery housing ancient Greek ceramics in October because ceiling beams above it threatened to give way.

The Louvre’s chief architect Francois Chatillon conceded in front of MPs in November that the building was “not in a good state”.

A message on the museum’s website Friday stated that “for reasons beyond our control, certain rooms are exceptionally closed”.



– Fraud scandal –



The news came just a day after revelations that police had dismantled a “large-scale” ticket fraud network at the Louvre that allegedly includes two museum employees and several tour guides.

The Paris prosecutor’s office estimates that the fraud, which involved Chinese tourists, could have cost the institution up to 10 million euros ($11.9 million).

Investigators believe several guides working with Chinese tourists were re-using tickets and entering the Louvre several times, bribing security staff to get their compliance.

Police have seized around a million euros in cash and 486,000 euros from different bank accounts linked to the gang.

The accumulation of problems has piled pressure on museum boss Laurence des Cars who faced calls to resign after the October 19 robbery in which thieves steal crown jewels worth more than $100 million.

Two intruders used a truck-mounted extendable platform to access a gallery containing the jewels, slicing through a glass door with disk-cutters in front of startled visitors before grabbing eight priceless items.

Disgruntled staff have also launched a wave of strikes since the start of the year demanding more recruitment and improved salaries, forcing management to shutter the former royal palace on several Mondays.

The Louvre welcomed nine million visitors last year.

WTO chief urges China to shift on trade surplus


By AFP
February 13, 2026


WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the WEF summit in Davos 

- Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI

The head of the World Trade Organization on Friday urged China to change its growth model, arguing that its soaring trade surplus was ultimately unsustainable and risked sparking new trade barriers.

Beijing says it wants to support the multilateral trading system, “because it has benefited quite a bit from it”, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Munich Security Conference.

However, “the export-led growth model that drove China’s growth for the past 40 years cannot drive China’s growth for the next 40,” said Okonjo-Iweala.

“And the $1.2 trillion trade surplus is not sustainable. Because the rest of the world cannot absorb it,” she added.

“And if China does not act, we will see more barriers.”

China’s trade surplus hit a record $1.2 trillion last year. This was despite a sharp decline in its trade with the United States, as a fierce trade war between the world’s two largest economies revived after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Other trade partners more than filled the gap, increasing Chinese exports overall by 5.5 percent in 2025, while imports stayed flat in dollar terms.

China’s economy expanded five percent in 2025, Beijing said Monday, one of its slowest rates of growth in decades as the world’s second-biggest economy struggled with persistently low consumer spending and a debt crisis in its property sector.

In October, Trump reached a truce with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. But in January, he announced that he would impose tariffs on countries trading with Iran. China, which is at the forefront of these countries, has warned that it will defend its interests.

Other major markets for Chinese products, such as the European Union, are alarmed by the imbalance in their trade balance with China.

Europeans, concerned that their markets will serve as an outlet for Chinese production surpluses, are urging China to stimulate its domestic consumption, which has been sluggish for years.

The WTO is holding its ministerial conference, its biennial main gathering, in late March in Cameroon.

Conflicts turning on civilians, warns Red Cross chief


By AFP
February 13, 2026


ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric has condemned the disregard shown for the internationally-agreed laws of war - Copyright AFP Elodie LE MAOU

Conflicts are deliberately being turned into wars against civilians with drones and other technology and countries are flouting international law with impunity, the Red Cross chief said Friday.

“We count and classify more conflicts today than we did 15 years ago — twice as many; four times as many as we did 30 years ago,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the Munich Security Conference.

“But it’s not only the numbers: it’s the intensity, it’s the scale and it’s the fact that conflicts are over-layered with fast technological advancement — amplifying the negative impacts on civilians, on entire countries because they increase displacement at fast pace,” she said.

“There’s never a moment where drones fight against drones. Drones fight against the military and increasingly against civilians. Wars are turning into wars not against weapon-bearers but against civilians — deliberately.

“And that is the impact of the hollowing out of international humanitarian law.”

Spoljaric said the rule of law was only upheld by political will to respect universally-ratified international agreements.

International humanitarian law is a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects people who are not or are no longer participating in hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare.

The ICRC acts as the guardians of international humanitarian law.

During a panel discussion on humanitarian assistance, Spoljaric said it was up to leaders to make such laws a political prority and adopt a protective interpretation of the laws, rather than a permissive one.

“Only then will we be able to curb” the number and scale of conflicts, and reduce the cost of humanitarian aid, she said.

She said international humanitarian law had to be tied to national security interests, “otherwise it will not become a priority”.

“Because if you dismantle the rules of war, if you say ‘I will win this war at all costs, no rules apply’, you are sending a signal to every arms bearer that everything is allowed, and it’s a question of time until a bomb explodes in your town.

“The new technologies, the spread of armed groups make this possible today.”

Mercedes-Benz net profit nearly halves amid China, US woes


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang says the AI chip titan is working with Mercedes to put self-driving capabilities into some of its electric cars - Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

Louis VAN BOXEL-WOOLF

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz reported Thursday its lowest annual profit since the Covid pandemic, as it counted the cost of US tariffs and cutthroat competition in China.

Net profit for 2025 was 5.3 billion euros ($6.3 billion), Mercedes said, down almost 49 percent from 2024 but better than had been expected in a poll of analysts by financial data firm FactSet.

“Amid a dynamic market environment, our financial results remained within our guidance,” chief executive Ola Kaellenius said, adding that he saw hope in over 40 new model launches planned for the next three years.

“We are moving forward with a clear game plan and a very competitive product portfolio,” he said.

The firm expects a similarly difficult 2026, however, with revenue projected to be around last year’s level of 132.2 billion euros.

Its core profit should be “significantly above” the 2025 figure thanks to an absence of one-off restructuring charges.

But at its core car business, Mercedes sees a profit margin this year of three to five percent — potentially weaker than the five percent it achieved last year.

Mercedes-Benz shares opened down 4.5 percent in Frankfurt but later recovered a bit, trading down 2.6 percent at midday, making it one of the worst performers in Germany’s blue-chip DAX index.



– ‘Once-in-a-hundred years transformation’ –



A storied company that traces its history back to Carl Benz inventing the first motor car in 1885, Mercedes last year took a hit from US President Donald Trump putting tariffs on foreign carmakers.

Speaking on the earnings call, chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm said the duties introduced partway through last year had cost the company about 1 billion euros.

“It’s really a lot of money,” he said. “It’s going to go up in 2026 because we’ll have a full-year impact — It’s going to be a significant number.”

The duties came as the company was facing a triple whammy of cratering sales in China, stagnant demand in Europe and the costs of investing into electric cars despite patchy demand.

“The auto industry and our company, we’re in a once-in-a-hundred years transformation,” Kaellenius said on the call.

“It’s happening in an environment that is more dynamic than we have experienced in many, many years.”

China, the world’s biggest car market, has become a battleground for German carmakers amid a brutal price war and fierce competition from local players like BYD and Geely.

Mercedes-Benz’s sales by volume in China plunged 19 percent last year to their lowest level since 2016, helping drag overall worldwide sales down by 10 percent.

Wilhelm said that Mercedes-Benz expected to lose further sales in China despite new launches, and that difficulties in the market could further weigh on results.

“China is always, I think, unforeseeable in terms of the intensity of the competitive environment,” he said. “It could be an element which could bring us even further down.”

Ubisoft targets new decade of ‘Rainbow 6’ with China expansion

By AFP
February 13, 2026


Investors were happy with Ubisoft. — © AFP/File Dimitar DILKOFF

Tom BARFIELD

Troubled French games giant Ubisoft will strive to project confidence this weekend with a massive esports event for its shooter “Rainbow Six Siege”, while hoping a reorganisation and expansion to China can keep the money rolling in.

“We’re stepping things up a lot for 2026 with China coming aboard,” said Francois-Xavier Deniele, head of marketing and esports for the franchise.

“The balance is going to change, we know that when they arrive in a game, they’re extremely competitive”.

Chinese internet giant TenCent has climbed aboard as an investor in “Rainbow Six” and Ubisoft’s other top-selling titles “Assassin’s Creed” and “Far Cry”.

The mega-franchises are stabled together in one of a string of new “creative houses”, supposed to offer the group’s development teams more financial and creative freedom after several years of financial woes, job cuts and a tumbling share price.

China is “a very, very mature market, a lot more mature even than (the West) for this kind of game,” Deniele said.

But TenCent’s billion-euro investment in exchange for a 26-percent stake in Vantage, finalised last November, suggests it believes in Ubisoft titles’ ability to hold their own.

With a $3-million prize pool, this weekend’s Ubisoft-organised invitational event in Paris for top teams is “a heck of a signal” that “shows we’re capable of packing the Adidas Arena,” Deniele said.

The Paris venue’s 8,000 seats are more often filled by basketball or music fans.

Chinese internet giant TenCent is investing in some of Ubisoft’s top games 

– Copyright AFP/File BERTRAND GUAY

In China, “it’s totally natural for the new generation to watch esports matches and play with their friends in PC bangs (cybercafes)… very similar to Korea,” Deniele said.

This year’s busy esports season for “Siege” follows on from last year’s revamp of its systems and graphics, which “laid the foundations for the 10 years ahead,” he added.

A team first-person shooter in the vein of genre classics like “Counter-Strike”, “Rainbow Six Siege” is one of Ubisoft’s biggest titles, rewarding coordinated tactical play and deft use of destructible environments.

– Fierce competition –

“Siege” has not escaped wobbles of its own in recent months.

Hackers gained access in December to systems that allowed them to ban or restore large numbers of accounts and manipulate the game’s cosmetic item marketplace — a key source of revenue.

In such cases “the community needs to be reassured very quickly”, Deniele said, crediting the “ultra-fast” reaction of the development team for the fact that “people came back to the game and were happy with what we were able to do”.

Developers must also ensure a steady pipeline of fresh content for today’s long-lived online games, with “Rainbow Six” facing competition from incumbents such as “Call of Duty”, “Valorant” or “Overwatch”.

New challengers are also constantly emerging onto the unforgiving field.

Wildlight Entertainment, developers of fantasy shooter title “Highguard”, which launched in January to great fanfare, on Wednesday announced layoffs from its small development team — leaving only a “core group” to maintain the game.

At this weekend’s “Rainbow Six” event “we’ll be announcing a quicker release schedule for content, because people want more and more”, Deniele said.

“It’s a game people play every day, so we have to get faster.”

‘Avatar’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ shore up troubled Ubisoft


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Ubisoft's star has fallen with investors in recent months

 - Copyright AFP GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT

Strong performances from major franchises including an “Avatar” tie-in game and juggernaut “Assassin’s Creed” buttressed struggling French games giant Ubisoft’s third-quarter results, the company said Thursday.

Revenue at 318 million euros ($380 million) in October-December had made for a “solid” period “exceeding our expectations” chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement.

Ubisoft’s star has fallen with investors in recent months, as it has weathered mixed reception for some new titles and announced a far-reaching restructuring and cost-cutting drive.

Shares in the group have lost almost 95 percent of their value in five years, booking their worst single-day performance in January with a 40-percent collapse.

Ubisoft reported Thursday that its preferred “net bookings” yardstick, which excludes revenue from deferred sales, climbed 12 percent year-on-year to almost 340 million euros in its third quarter.

The pace was still higher over the first nine months of the financial year, adding 17.6 percent to reach 1.1 billion euros.

Major contributors to sales growth included the latest instalment in the Assassin’s Creed series, released last year, and the “Avatar” film tie-in game — updated to coincide with the release of the James Cameron saga’s latest episode in December.

Ubisoft confirmed its January forecast of an operating loss of around one billion euros for the full financial year, sapped by multiple delays and cancellations announced alongside details of its restructuring.

Bosses’ woes are far from over, as the company this week faced a three-day strike by several hundred of its 3,800 French employees.

Triggers for the walkout included an end to work-from-home provisions.

Ubisoft’s restructuring will farm out many of its dozens of studios worldwide into an industry-first system of five “creative houses”, each dedicated to developing a different genre of game.

It also said in January that it was launching a third round of cost-cutting aimed at finding 200 million euros of savings over two years.

The company said the same month that it would look to slash up to 200 of around 1,100 positions at its Paris headquarters.

Such cuts follow studio closures elsewhere in its global network, including San Franciso, Osaka, Stockholm, Leamington in Britain and Canada’s Halifax.

France’s biggest games company, Ubisoft today has around 17,000 employees worldwide after shedding more than 3,000 in recent years.

Struggling brewer Heineken to cut up to 6,000 jobs


By AFP
February 11, 2026


Heineken's beer shipments fell 2.4 percent last year

 - Copyright ANP/AFP/File Freek VAN DEN BERGH

Under-pressure Dutch brewer Heineken said Wednesday that it would scrap up to 6,000 jobs as it faces what it called “challenging market conditions” with beer volumes down compared to last year.

The company said it would be “accelerating productivity at scale to unlock significant savings, reducing 5,000 to 6,000 roles over the next two years”.

“We remain prudent in our near-term expectations for beer market conditions,” chief executive Dolf van den Brink said in a statement.

Van den Brink stunned the company last month by announcing that he would be stepping down after almost six years at the helm.

He told reporters he was leaving with “mixed emotions” after acknowledging that he had guided the company “through turbulent economic and political times”.

“My priority for the coming months is to leave Heineken in the strongest possible position,” he said.

Heineken employs around 87,000 people globally.

In October, the brewer had already announced it was cutting or reassigning 400 jobs as part of a reorganisation of its Amsterdam head office to take advantage of new technologies.

Top executives declined to specify where the bulk of the job cuts would come, but chief financial officer Harold van den Broek hinted they would come in Europe.

“Europe is a big part of our business,” he told reporters. “And you see from the financial results also that it is very tough to drive a good operating leverage there.”

“So we are focusing many of the initiatives to strengthen our European business, but not exclusively so,” he said.

Beer volumes globally at the world’s second-biggest brewer after AB InBev were down 2.4 percent in 2025, the firm reported in its annual results.

The decline was especially severe in Europe and the Americas, which dropped 4.1 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

In the fourth quarter of last year, total global beer volumes were down 2.8 percent.

Total annual sales for Heineken came in at 34.4 billion euros ($41 billion), compared to the 36.0 billion it banked in 2024.

Net profits were 2.7 billion euros, which the firm said was a 4.9 percent gain on last year when currency fluctuations were stripped out.

Looking ahead to 2026, Heineken forecast full-year organic operating profit growth of two to six percent, after a 4.4 percent rise last year to 4.4 billion euros.

UK’s crumbling canals threatened with collapse

By AFP
February 11, 2026


The breach happened on the Llangollen Canal at Whitchurch in Shropshire - Copyright AFP Oli SCARFF

Stephen Conneely

On a misty winter’s day in the English midlands, engineers struggled to drag stranded narrowboats from a waterless, mud-filled canal that collapsed weeks earlier, in a delicate, multi-million-pound rescue operation.

The sight starkly illustrated an ongoing battle to maintain the UK’s historic, yet deteriorating, waterways.

Britain’s canal network “is facing pressure it has never faced before,” said Charlie Norman, director of campaigns at the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), an independent charity advocating for the upkeep of the UK’s canals and rivers.

“The entire canal network is vulnerable,” Norman added, pointing to the “increased effects of climate change” such as drought in the summer and heavy rain in the winter.

“Inadequate funding across the sector” has provoked an “overall deterioration” in the 4,700 mile-long (7,600 kilometre) network, they said.

Britain’s 200-year-old canal network was once the backbone of the country’s economic transformation during the Industrial Revolution, but is now crumbling, experts say.

About a dozen workers were overseeing the complex operation to rescue three narrowboats stranded in a canal in Whitchurch, on the English-Welsh border, last month.

Watching from an empty canal bank and wearing a high-viz jacket and white hard hat, was Julie Sharman, the chief operating officer of the Canal & River Trust –- a charitable organisation in charge of maintaining some 2,000 miles (3,200km) of waterways across England and Wales.

Behind her were two 20-tonne narrowboats waiting to be rescued by an imposing winch machine in a nearby field with the help of a specialist excavator.



– ‘Tough decisions’ –



“There’s no disguising the fact that we do need more money to look after our canal network,” she told AFP.

“People sometimes think canals are looked after by local authorities or by the government, and they’re not. They’re looked after by us, as a charity,” she said.

The trust is investigating the Whitchurch breach, but Sharman said “our engineers have to make tough decisions every week” about which projects to tackle and “there’s always a very long list of things we would want to do”.

“Small breaches and failures have happened since the canals were built,” she added, but “it’s rare to have a breach of this scale”.

In January 2025, there was an earlier canal collapse in Bridgewater, northwest England, which led to just under two miles of the canal being drained of water.

The Canal & River Trust, the largest authority, says its fixed annual grant of £52.6 million ($71.8 million) from the government, amounts to just 22 percent of its annual income, but that will reduce by five percent from 2027 for the next decade.

The rest, some 78 percent, is funded by the charity’s own investment and self-generated income, including user fees and fundraising, supported by thousands of volunteers.

Last week, the UK government pledged an additional £6.5 million funding for the trust “to help build long-term resilience across the network”.

“Our historic canals and waterways are not only world famous and precious to communities across the country — they are also a vital part of our national infrastructure,” said Water Minister Emma Hardy.

British Waterways, a statutory body of the UK government, ceased to exist in 2012 and handed maintenance of canals and rivers to a series of 144 navigation authorities.

It was believed the move would diversify funding potential allowing bodies to tap into government grants, commercial revenue and charitable donations.



– Transport, leisure, homes –



“Before canals, transporting goods across Britain was limited to horse and cart,” said historian Mike Clarke.

The advent of the canal greatly increased the nation’s capacity to transport goods.

After declining in use, “a restoration movement came about in the ’60s” and people began to live on canal houseboats, Clarke said.

Now more than 35,000 boats are registered with the Canal & River Trust, plying the network to transport goods or just for pleasure. And about 15,000 people are said to live on canal boats moored on the banks.

Matt Gibson, 52, moors his sage-green houseboat, bedecked with plants, on the Regent’s Canal near central London.

He moved in during the pandemic “to explore a different way of living”.

“I get a bit spooked when I can hear drunk people outside at night,” he told AFP. “I do love living here, though — I don’t need much more space to live”.