These are China's new AI models that have just been released ahead of the Lunar New Year

Copyright AP Photo/Vincent Thian

By Anna Desmarais

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

Major Chinese AI companies such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu have all announced launches in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year, while the industry awaits a possible new drop byDeepSeek.​

China is ringing in the Lunar New Year with a flurry of new artificial intelligence (AI) model launches. Tech companies, such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu, have all announced new product launches in the weeks leading up to China’s biggest holiday, while industry watchers expect a new Deepseek model soon.

China is widely regarded as a major competitor to the United States in the race to adopt and develop artificial intelligence models.

Thenew deployments are preparing the Chinese market for AI agents, systems that can make decisions and execute tasks, such as navigating websites and generating content, without needing human assistance.

Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5

E-commerce giant Alibaba released its latest AI model, Qwen3.5, hours before the Lunar New Year starts on 16 February. The model understands text, images, and videos across 200 languages, the company says.

The new model can deploy AI agents up to five times faster than previous models and its competitors, including the latest models of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, the company said. Their agents can fill out forms, navigate websites, and complete multi-step workflows.

Relate

Early tests show Qwen3.5 can generate functional 3D games, browsers, websites, and analyse medical imagery. The model is also up to 60 percent cheaper than its predecessor model, Qwen2.5, the company said.

In 2025, Alibaba committed 380 billion yuan (€50.6 billion) to cloud computing and AI in the next three years, one of the company’s largest tech investments to date.

ByteDance’s launches

ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, announced two new AI developments in the weeks before the Lunar New Year.

The latest version of the company’s AI chatbot, Doubao 2.0, launched over the weekend. The newest model includes complex reasoning and multi-step task execution that matches OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini current models, Reuters reported.

ByteDance also released SeeDance 2.0 on February 14, the second version of its image-to-video and text-to-video app. The software lets users create “immersive” audio and video with director-level controls. One viral video features a rooftop fight between American actors Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

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The American Motion Picture Association criticised SeeDance2.0 for unleashing the use of copyrighted works on “a massive scale,” according to a statement.

“By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs,” the statement reads.

ByteDance representatives told the BBC that it will take steps to strengthen current safeguards on the platform to protect intellectual copyright..

Zhipu AI’s GLM-5

Zhipu AI released its open source GLM-5 model on February 11, a model that the company says is engineered for “agentic intelligence, advanced multi-step reasoning, and frontier-level performance,” in coding, creative writing and problem-solving.

The model can build assistants that plan, browse, call tools and manage multi-step workflows over long sessions, the company says. It can also generate full-length reports and process and reason long academic papers.

GLM-5 uses DeepSeek’s sparse attention mechanism DSA, which cuts computational costs while enhancing model efficiency.

Relate

The company claims the model was also trained entirely on Huawei Ascend chips and “achieves full independence from US-manufactured semiconductor hardware,” which the company said is a “milestone in self-reliant AI infrastructure”.

Last month, Zhipu went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange and raised HKD 4.35 billion (€465 million) for what the company said will be its next-generation model development.

Coming soon: DeepSeek’s V4

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company known for its open source cheap models, is expected to release its fourth version sometime around the Lunar New Year, according to The Information.

When V4 is released, it could replace the V3 model, which powered the assistant app that became the top-rated free application available in the United States and worldwide, overtaking ChatGPT last January.

DeepSeek’s V3 rattled global markets last year and sparked a global sell-off of US-led tech stocks. Industry giants, including chipmaker Nvidia, saw shares plummet by 17 per cent and erased $600 billion (€573 billion) in market capitalisation before recovering later in the day.

Related

• DeepSeek's AI gains traction in developing nations, Microsoft report says

While it hasn’t been released yet, DeepSeek fuelled anticipation last week when its chatbot upgraded its context window, the amount of information that it can remember and handle in a single task, according to the South China Morning Post.

Some European countries, such as Italy, Denmark, and the Czech Republic banned government agencies from using DeepSeek models on their devices due to data security and cybersecurity concerns. Local media in Belgium reported that government officials stopped using DeepSeek in December.

 

‘Real economic consequences’: US warned over ESTA visa changes

Copyright Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By David Del Valle

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

Research by the World Travel and Tourism Council reveals that the US risks losing 157,000 jobs and up to 4.7 million international tourists.

Proposed changes to the US visa waiver programme (ESTA), which would require international travellers to provide more extensive disclosure of their social media activity, could have a major economic impact on the country.

New research from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), produced in conjunction with GSIQ and Oxford Economics, warns that the measure could reduce spending by international visitors by up to $15.7 billion (€13.2 billion) and affect up to 157,000 US jobs.

According to the survey of several ESTA-eligible markets, 66% of travellers are already aware of the proposed change, suggesting that any changes could have an almost immediate effect on tourist perceptions and behaviour.

Related

• ‘Barrier to travel’: US visitors warned of possible ‘intrusive’ changes to ESTA application

Fewer international tourists

One in threeinternational travellers (34%) said they would be less likely to travel to the US in the next two to three years if the new requirements were implemented. In contrast, only 12% said they would be more likely to visit the country, leaving a clearly negative balance of travel intentions.

Beyond the decision to travel, the survey reveals a deterioration in the perception of the destination. A significant proportion of travellers believe that the policy would make the US seem less welcoming and attractive for both leisure and business travel. In addition, a majority of respondents do not believe that the measure would improve their personal security when visiting the country.

The WTTC's economic modelling posits a high-impact scenario in which the United States would receive 4.7 million fewer international arrivals in 2026 from ESTA countries, a drop of 23.7% compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

More broadly, the losses could amount to $21.5 billion (more than 18 billion euros) in travel and tourism GDP. The employment impact would also be considerable:up to 157,000 jobs at risk, a figure equivalent to three times the average monthly jobs created in 2025, when around 50,000 jobs per month were generated in the country.

The report highlights that the US has already lost 11 million international visitors between 2019 and 2025, so new barriers to entry could further weaken its competitiveness in an increasingly contested global market.

Related

• What are Europeans' favourite EU travel destinations?

Disadvantage compared to other destinations

Compared to other major tourist destinations such as the UK, Japan, Canada or Western European countries, the proposed entry policy is perceived as significantly more restrictive, which could put the US at a competitive disadvantage.

"US border security is critical, but the planned policy changes will hurt job creation, something the US administration values highly," said Gloria Guevara, president and CEO of WTTC.

"Our research concludes that more than 150,000 jobs could be lost if this policy moves forward. Even modest changes in visitor behaviour will have real economic consequences for the US travel and tourism industry, especially in a highly competitive global marketplace."

WTTC urges US policymakers to carefully assess the economic and employment implications of the measure, recalling that tourism is one of the key drivers of the US economy and international connectivity. Otherwise, the proposed policy will carry a high risk of reducing travel demand and weakening the United States' competitive position in a highly competitive global tourism market.

EU Fight to ban Russian steel intensifies in Brussels

Copyright AP Photo

By Peggy Corlin

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

The European Parliament is pushing for a full ban on Russian steel to choke off Moscow’s revenues, but several EU governments still rely on importing it. High-stakes negotiations start next week.

Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is still importing Russian steel – and not everyone is happy about it.

Next week, MEPs and EU member states will begin negotiations on whether to ban Russian steel outright. What began as a sanctions debate has morphed into a high-stakes political fight.

Swedish lawmaker Karin Karlsbro is preparing to take on the EU council, which represents the member states, with Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic and Denmark all arguing that they still need imports of unfinished steel for major construction projects.

“It is a big provocation that we haven't done everything possible to limit Putin's war chest,” Karlsbro told Euronews. “The Russian steel industry is a backbone of Russian war, it is the Russian war machinery.”

Finished Russian steel was banned in 2022, but semi-finished steel, a key input for further processing, was spared after a number of countries secured an exemption until 2028 to cushion the blow to their industries.

“Unfinished steel can’t be produced anywhere in the EU,” a European diplomat from one of those countries told Euronews, “while it is required for big infrastructures.”

Three million tonnes

Karlsbro says she was astonished to learn that EU imports of Russian steel amount to nearly 3 million tonnes a year, roughly equivalent to Sweden’s entire annual output and worth around €1.7 billion.

For her, the type of steel is beside the point.

“There is absolutely no argument that this is special steel or highly qualified steel with any essential quality. There is simply no additional reason to buy this steel,” she said.

To bypass the unanimity required for the adoption of EU sanctions by the member states, Karlsbro inserted a ban on Russian steel into a separate European Commission proposal aimed at shielding the bloc from global steel overcapacity, as US tariffs divert excess supply toward Europe.

The European Parliament’s trade committee approved the move on 27 January.

The procedural shift is crucial. Unlike sanctions, the trade file requires onlythe support ofa qualified majority of EU countries, potentially sidelining governments that might otherwise veto a full ban.

“The Parliament is playing politics on this,” an industry source familiar with the file told Euronews.

Another diplomat from a country dependent on Russian semi-finished steel said the ban was important for his government, which is why the 2028 deadline has been set – highlighting the dilemma the EU faces as it balances industrial needs with the need to confront the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The talks are beginning as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches, and the clock is ticking. By June, the EU must adopt the Commission’s plan to shield its market from a glut of global steel.

One diplomat insisted the two files – banning Russian steel and protecting the EU market from overcapacity – pursue “totally different goals”.

Still, the same diplomat acknowledged the ban could pass, as there are not enough member states pushing to maintain a phase-out only by 2028.

Belgium reprimands US ambassador over circumcision accusations

Copyright AP Photo

By Shona Murray

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

The Belgian government has clashed with the US after Donald Trump's ambassador accused Brussels of antisemitism over its laws regulating circumcision.

The United States' ambassador to Belgium has met with the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels after being summoned by the Belgian government.

The meeting was arranged after Ambassador Bill White said in a post on X on Monday that "antisemitism is unacceptable in any form and it must be rooted out of our society".

The reaction from the Belgian government was swift and furious, with one source telling Euronews: "This is not the role of US ambassador. The law applies to all people, that's Belgian democracy."

“Labelling Belgium as antisemitic is not just wrong, it’s dangerous disinformation that undermines the real fight against hatred,” Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot wrote in a post on X.

The row erupted in relation to an investigation into three men accused of performing circumcisions on baby boys without required medical certification. Belgian law states that circumcision of baby boys is permitted so long as a doctor or medical professional conducts the operation.

"Over 25,000 safe circumcisions have taken place in Belgium in the last year," a person familiar with the situation told Euronews.

Prévot, who summoned the ambassador, is out of the country, and was represented at Tuesday's meeting by the Secretary General of the ministry, Theodora Gentzis.

Euronews understands that throughout the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, White reiterated calls for Belgian authorities to drop the investigation into the three men.

'False, offensive and unacceptable'

After the 25-minute meeting with White, the ministry issued a statement saying that White had been reminded that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations defines the role of ambassador and its limitations.

"Personal attacks on a member of the Belgian government and any interference in Belgium's internal affairs are contrary to these basic diplomatic rules," the statement read.

"Belgium attaches great importance to its relations with the United States of America. However, this dialogue must be based on respect for our institutions and our sovereignty. Any suggestion that Belgium is antisemitic is completely false, offensive and unacceptable."

"The fight against antisemitism is a priority for Belgium. Our country consistently and unequivocally condemns all forms of antisemitism and racism, both on its territory and abroad.“

Why the Canadian finance minister is taking an interest in the euro

Copyright The Canadian Press via AP/Adrian Wyld

By Eleonora Vasques 

 Published on 17/02/2026 -   EURONEWS

François-Philippe Champagne was the special guest at Monday’s meeting of euro area finance ministers in Brussels – the first time a Canadian representative had been invited to this restricted format, from which non-euro area ministers are normally excluded.

Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne made a special appearance at this week's meeting of 21 ministers from the euro area, with the goal of discussing global macroeconomic imbalances.

With relations with the United States at an all-time low, Canada is looking for new global ties, including with the European Union.

In the discussion in Brussels, Champagne and the eurozone partners agreed to coordinate policy actions to promote rebalancing while at the same time containing geo-economic threats.

“As the rules-based international order is fading, Canada’s government is firmly committed to deepening our relationship with the EU and its Member States, particularly on security and defence, critical minerals, innovation and research, and trade diversification. Through strategic partnerships, we’re not only defending our shared values but also championing Canada on the world stage”, Champagne said in a statement.

The leaders said that discussion on the matter will continue in other formats, such as in the G7 and G20 upcoming meetings.

In addition to the discussions with the Canadian minister, euro area finance ministers began debating the euro’s global role in international trade and in digital monetary policy. Although no concrete strategies have been decided yet, the ministers indicated that this is the political direction the euro area intends to pursue.

Global macroeconomic imbalances occur when some countries consistently spend more than they earn, while others consistently save more than they spend, and this gap becomes large and long-lasting.

For example, the US imports more goods than it exports and therefore runs a trade deficit; in contrast, China exports more than it imports and runs a surplus. From the point of view of both the Canadian government and many European Union leaders, these and other major imbalances have left the world order open to coercive manipulation.

"Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said during his remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January.

"You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination."

Syrian Kurdish fighter's selfie video leads to allegations of massacre

A video posted online on January 22 shows a Kurdish fighter posing selfie-style in front of 21 lifeless bodies following the evacuation of a prison in Kobane, Syria. While the Syrian Democratic Forces said the footage is authentic, they maintain the bodies were those of armed combatants – a claim contradicted by our Observer, who was released from the same prison.


Issued on: 11/02/2026 - 
The FRANCE 24 Observers/
Ahmed ALMASSALMAH

A man who appears to be part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) filmed this video selfie-style while standing in front of a row of lifeless bodies laid out on the ground. He’s smiling and has a rifle slung over his shoulder. © Facebook

Warning: readers may be disturbed by the content of this article.

The chilling video was posted on Facebook on January 22 by an account based in Germany which has since been shut down. The video is filmed by a man who appears to be part of the majority-Kurdish group the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), posing selfie-style in front of a row of bodies on the ground. He’s smiling broadly and has a rifle slung over his arm.

In the video, he claims that one of the fighters with the SDF – who are thought to have committed this massacre – joked that they should blow the bodies up. A second video shows bullets being fired at the bodies, though it is unclear who is shooting.

This footage documents a massacre that took place on January 22 near Kobane in northwestern Syria. A local Facebook group Radar Sarine reported that the SDF had carried out extrajudicial killings of at least 21 young men. The SDF had allegedly just released the victims from Yeddi Qawi Prison near Kobane.

Fifteen bodies recovered

The massacre documented in the video took place against a complicated backdrop. January 2026 saw significant numbers of SDF forces retreating from the Syrian cities of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa towards Kobane. On January 19, clashes broke out between these fighters and the Syrian Army near the Tishrin Dam south of Kobane.

Sometime after that, in circumstances that are still unclear, doors were opened at Yeddi Qawi, a prison located south of Kobane, resulting in the flight of many of the people who had been imprisoned there. Sometime after that, the massacre documented in the video posted online on January 22 took place.

A Facebook page dedicated to local news reported that members of the Syrian Civil Defence had recovered the bodies of 15 victims of a massacre they said took place near Kobane and handed them over to local authorities. The bodies were then transferred to Manbij National Hospital, where the families could collect them.

Mukhtar (not his real name) says he was incarcerated in the prison in the village of Yeddi Qawi. He shared with us a copy of the documents he received upon leaving the prison which were issued by the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, confirming that he was imprisoned in Yeddi Qawi.

This is a photo of the document issued by the Kurdish autonomous administration to someone leaving prison. We masked the name of the formerly incarcerated person. The document reads, “To whom it may concern. He was released from the Kobane prison.” It is affixed with the seal of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Kobane reform centre. This photo was given to us by our Observer. © Mukhtar


According to Mukhtar, the massacre and the events leading up to it took place between January 19 and 22, 2026.

He describes the prison where he was being held as overcrowded, with hundreds of men being held. He says a majority of the prisoners there were Arab, with a small Kurdish minority.


"They were speaking to us about a general amnesty. But only the Kurdish detainees were being released. About a hundred of them. Meanwhile, they were telling us Arabs, ‘Your turn will come.’ Many believed it.”

The situation became increasingly tense and, on January 21, prisoners started burning sheets, mattresses and beds. There was smoke everywhere.


"We were choking. People were screaming. At one point, the SDF opened the doors. Not to let us out but to keep everyone inside from dying. I would say that between 300 and 400 prisoners, including me, left the prison and headed into the nearby fields. From there, we separated and dispersed. Some of us headed in the direction of Sarrin, and others – maybe about 30 people – headed towards Kobane."

These two screenshots were taken from two videos filmed on January 21. The image on the left shows people leaving the prison, while the image on the right shows people alongside the road. The videos were posted on Facebook on January 22, 2026. © Facebook

‘They fell right in front of me’

Mukhtar says that when the fleeing prisoners had made it about 1.5km from the prison, they were intercepted by several vehicles carrying SDF fighters. Mukhtar then went on to describe extrajudicial killings that occurred before those documented in the video.

"They begin by firing shots in the air. People were running in every direction. Then, they started shooting at us. I saw men fall in front of me. They were carrying nothing – no weapons, not even cell phones.

They fell right in front of me. Four or five people died immediately, while others were injured. Everyone was panicking. I managed to hide in a field, but was later stopped at an SDF roadblock. They tied my hands and made all of us survivors lie face down on the asphalt. Some of the soldiers wanted to execute us then and there."

Mukhtar says that some of the female SDF soldiers intervened on their behalf and dissuaded the men from executing his group. He and his group were taken back to Yaddi Mawa prison. Others seem to have been sent elsewhere.

‘It was revenge and ethnic discrimination’


"I was finally released again on the evening of January 22, 2026. After we were released, I headed towards Ain al-Arab [also known as Kobane] while another group of about 27 people went towards the Sarrin region.

Members of the Autonomous Administration [Editor’s note: the civilian branch of the SDF] had them get into vehicles. They were going to drive them to the last point under Kurdish control before reaching territory under the control of the Syrian regime.

Most of those in the group of 27 people were killed. I was at a checkpoint at the south entrance to Kobane when I heard the news. I saw some of the injured people arrive. I recognised some of the people in the video.

These murders weren’t to prevent people from escaping. It was revenge and ethnic discrimination. The soldiers were insulting the victims and saying to the prisoners, 'In any case, you’ll die.'

I survived along with four other people. We made it to a service station alongside the road, and the owner let us in and gave us shelter. Three days later, he brought us to an area outside of Kurdish control."

Mukhtar thinks that between 40 and 45 people were executed on January 22.

“The number is much higher than the 21 bodies that you can see in the video because there were other executions elsewhere,” he explained.

The yellow indicates the area that was still under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces on January 22, 2026, the date when the video was filmed. The massacre took place in this area. © FMM graphics studio


The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that the images were authentic, though they claimed that the bodies were those of armed fighters killed during clashes. Our Observer’s account casts doubt on this claim, as do the videos themselves. The bodies are lined up neatly, and there are no weapons to be seen. They are also all wearing civilian clothing.

Adnan Al-Hussein, a journalist based in the region, says that the videos provide evidence.

"Everything in the video indicates that the area has been secured. If there had been fighting, we would see the remnants. Here, you see men who have been gathered here, restrained and killed.”

‘I am telling my story for those who died’

Mukhtar says that speaking out comes with risks.


"I hesitated. But if I remain silent, then they die a second time. I am not asking for international justice. I’m asking for the truth to be spoken. I am telling my story for those who died.”

People in Manbij are still working to identify the bodies. However, the number of casualties remains unknown.

Tributes to two young men thought to have been killed in the massacre were published on the Radar Sarin Facebook page. One man, Ismail Al-Hassani, known as Abu Halab, was from the village of Al-Qubba. The second, Abbas Muhammad Al-Hussein, was from the village of Al-Abdkliya in Sarin district. Our Observer also spoke of the death of these two men.

This Facebook post features a photo of Ismail Al-Hassani alive alongside a screengrab of the video believed to show his body. © Facebook

This Facebook post features a photo of Mohammed Al-Hussein alive alongside a screengrab taken from the video believed to show his body.

This article has been translated from the original in French by Brenna Daldorph.

 

EU countries need to 'urgently coordinate' to adapt to climate change, EU's advisory board warns

Copyright AP / Europa Press / Francisco J. Olmo. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By Marta Pacheco

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

More frequent climate-related events such as flooding, wildfires, repeated heatwaves, and droughts call for a precautionary approach, according to the latest report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change.

EU countries need to "urgently coordinate" to anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change, such as flooding, severe storms, and heatwaves, a report from the EU's advisory board on climate change warned on Tuesday.

The scientific report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) urges the EU27 to strengthen its rule-making to ensure the bloc is prepared to address the impacts of climate change by mitigating hazards and adapting to risks, exposing the European Commission's failed 2021 climate adaptation strategy.

The warning comes as Spain and Portugal are reeling from the impact of three powerful storms that triggered widespread flooding, landslides, and storm surges, leaving multiple people dead and causing billions in damage.

Storm Marta alone led to the deployment of more than 26,500 rescue workers in Portugal, with waves towering up to 13 meters and rivers bursting their banks.

Mass evacuations were carried out, and critical infrastructure suffered severe damage, especially in Andalusia, southern Spain. Emergency shelters housed thousands of displaced residents, supported by medical teams on the ground.

Portugal’s economic losses are projected to surpass €3.3 billion, while farmers face devastating crop destruction, according to local media.

Related

• France on record flood alert as storms slam Spain with deadly winds

Floods in Valencia in October 2024 and in Germany and Belgium in July 2021, with devastating consequences for human life and infrastructure, have also roused more calls for climate adaptation.

The ESABCC's Chair, Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, said extreme weather and climate-related events are already causing severe damage across Europe.

“Extreme heat alone has resulted in tens of thousands of premature deaths in recent years, including an estimated 24,000 in summer 2025," said Edenhofer. "Economic damages to infrastructure and physical assets now average around €45 billion per year."

"These mounting impacts underline that strengthening adaptation is not optional, but essential to protect lives, livelihoods and Europe’s economic foundations."

A boy watches floodwaters after heavy rains in Coimbra, Portugal, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. AP Photo / Sérgio Azenha

Adaptation and mitigation, hand-in-hand

ESABCC warns that "adaptation and mitigation must advance together" to prepare for "unavoidable temperature increases" and safeguard Europe’s strategic priorities, as projections indicate climate hazards will continue to intensify.

"A fragmented approach to adaptation could undermine collective resilience, as insufficient measures in one country may trigger impacts and increased exposure in neighbouring areas," reads the report.

Professor Laura Diaz Anadon, vice chair of the Advisory Board, backed a robust EU adaptation framework as the key to addressing systemic risks that can disrupt access to food, water and energy.

Adaptation goes beyond climate policy, Anadon added, noting that taking action today will help protect the health of EU citizens and ecosystems as well as the integrity of the bloc's single market and competitiveness.

Professor Jette Bredahl Jacobsen, vice-chair of the Advisory Board, said adaptation can't prevent all losses, noting that mitigation efforts will remain essential to limit climate hazards to manageable levels.

“Robust risk management means the EU should prepare for a range of possible futures to ensure a resilient Europe. Strengthening adaptation alongside mitigation is essential to safeguard citizens, security, and the EU’s wider strategic goals,” Jacobsen said.

Climate risk assessments, mobilising capital

ESABCC's scientists have offered recommendations for upcoming EU legislation, as the European Commission is slated to present a climate resilience strategy by the end of the year.

Scientists defend harmonised climate risk assessments across EU policies and national governments, using common climate scenarios and methodological standards.

They also urge the EU to adopt a common concept for adaptation planning, preparing for climate risks consistent with global warming of 2.8-3.3 °C by the year 2100.

Mobilising public and private investment for climate adaptation is another key recommendation by climate scientists, who claim such funds would help establish and manage the "growing costs of climate impacts through the EU budget, economic governance, and risk-sharing mechanisms".

Related

• ‘World is perishing in luxury’: Green MEP calls for Austria to tax the rich while on the red carpet

"Adaptation has already played an important role in reducing mortality during heatwaves through measures that lower people’s vulnerability to extreme temperatures, such as building and infrastructural changes, heat-health warning systems, or increasing urban green space," reads the report.

The EU has allocated around €658 billion of its 2021-2027 long-term budget to climate action. Negotiations are ongoing to allocate funds under the 2028-2034 budget.

Austrian Green MEP Lena Schilling recently insisted that the wealthy should be taxed in an appearance at the Vienna Opera Ball, which is being sponsored by OMV, one of Austria’s largest industrial companies dealing with oil, gas and petrochemicals, where she appeared in a "Tax the Rich" dress.

“We cannot prevent the climate crisis as long as the super-rich live off untaxed inheritances as if there were no tomorrow, especially while life is becoming unaffordable for so many people,” Schilling told Euronews Green.

'All records broken' as Storm Nils leaves swaths of southwest France under water

France's flood alert agency has been working round the clock over the past month amid relentless rain and a series of winter storms, the agency's chief said Saturday, as large swaths of the southwest remained under water following the passage of Storm Nils.


Issued on: 14/02/2026 
Share
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Gabrielle Nadler

This aerial photograph shows the overflowing Garonne river inundating a residential area in Tonneins, southwest France, on February 13, 2026. © Christophe Archambault, AFP
01:02

The flood alert system in France has been working at a record pace as relentless rain over the past month has saturated soils, the head of the agency told AFP on Saturday.

"For 30 days we have been in continuous orange or red alert somewhere on the national territory," Lucie Chadourne-Facon, director of Vigicrues, told AFP, referring to the two highest alert levels.

"That is 81 departments in alert simultaneously for 154 rivers, so we have exceeded all our records," she said.

WATCH Floods and high winds hit France as Storm Nils sweeps in

Chadourne-Facon said soil moisture had also reached a record since data collection began in 1959.

"We are facing a generalised flood situation across the entire country because all the soils are saturated everywhere" and have "lost their infiltration capacity", she said.

"As a result, today rivers are extremely sensitive to the slightest precipitation, the slightest rainfall that hits the country, and they react very quickly," she added.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

 

Cheating row at Winter Olympics challenges curling's culture of trust

Copyright AP Photo

By Kieran Guilbert

Published on 17/02/2026 - EURONEWS

A cheating row over "double-touching" has rattled curling at the Winter Olympics, testing the sport's culture of trust and self-officiating.

Curling has slid into scandal at the Winter Olympics.

A sport built on trust, respect and self-regulation has been rocked by a cheating row at the Milano-Cortina Games.

The saga began on Friday, when Oskar Eriksson of Sweden accused Canadian Marc Kennedy of breaking the rules by touching the stone again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice — a violation known as "double-touching".

Kennedy responded with an expletive-laden outburst that drew widespread attention to a sport that rarely dominates headlines outside the Olympic spotlight.

In response, the sport's governing body, World Curling, announced that it would monitor matches and deploy additional officials to check for double-touching — even though it was already midway through the Olympic men's and women’s round-robin competition.

The controversy deepened on Saturday, when officials accused the Canadian women's team of committing the same violation, triggering a second cheating row within 24 hours.

Canada's Rachel Homan in action during the women's curling round robin session against Japan at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026 Fatima Shbair/Copyright 2026 The AP. All rights reserved

Several Olympic curlers have said that a double-touch does not necessarily signal an attempt to cheat, noting that a fleeting, accidental graze of the granite can happen in the split second after release.

Strictly penalising such minor contact, some argued, risks punishing mishaps rather than misconduct.

By Sunday afternoon — with players and coaches fed up with the increased surveillance — World Curling reversed course following a meeting with national federations.

Umpires would step back from routine monitoring, the governing body said, remaining available on request rather than overseeing every shot by default.

Why would Olympic curlers — competing in a sport where centimetres can separate victory from defeat — choose to send the umpires away?

The answer lies in curling’s long-standing ethos: a culture of self-policing and mutual trust that many athletes are determined to preserve, even as the game grows more global, more professional and more intensely scrutinised.

"I think there’s a lot of pride in trying to be a sport that kind of officiates ourselves a little bit, so to speak," said Nolan Thiessen, CEO of Curling Canada, whose teams have been at the heart of the uproar over the past several days.

"I think it was just everybody taking a deep breath and going, OK, let’s just finish this Olympics the way we know our sport is to be played."

Beyond the rink, curling has unexpectedly found viral appeal online, drawing viewers who are as entertained by the chemistry of mixed doubles as they are by the broom-sweeping theatrics, often likened to housekeeping turned high-stakes competition.