World

4 days agoRichard Irvine-Brown, Shayan SardarizadehandAdam Durbin, BBC VerifyBBCClaims that Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres reduced Kremlin-linked bot networks have spread widely online, but experts have told BBC Verify there is no evidence the attacks have significantly reduced them. Viral social media posts have claimed there has been a significant drop in influence operations in recent days, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggesting on Monday there was "less hate, less division and fewer provocations" online because of "fewer bots". Russian influence operations, which promote pro-Kremlin narratives and spread disinformation, have been tracked by researchers and journalists including BBC Verify for more than a decade. These campaigns push disinformation on to people's social media feeds on issues like the Ukraine war or post messages in support of Moscow's interests. Ukraine has struck three of Russian tech giant Yandex's five data centres since 8 October in response to Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian internet hubs.

Netflix has secured exclusive broadcasting rights to the 2030 FIFA World Cup in Spain and Andorra, giving the streaming giant all 104 matches of the tournament as it continues to expand its live sports portfolio. The agreement with FIFA covers the centenary edition of the tournament, which will see Spain, the reigning world champion, co-host the competition alongside Morocco and Portugal.

In exactly a month, on November 13, 2026, the world will end. Fittingly, our impending apocalypse falls on Friday the 13th. At least, that was the prediction made by University of Illinois physicist Heinz von Foerster in a highly cited Science paper published in 1960. Though talks of supposed doomsday have renewed in recent months thanks to hyperbolic anxieties over runaway, sentient artificial intelligence, von Foerster had a much different calamity in mind.

The threat of an AI share price crash rippling out across global markets is putting world financial stability at risk, the International Monetary fund has warned. In its twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF highlighted the sky-high valuations for AI companies along with their increasing debt pile as one reason that risks in the system are “elevated”. “The consequences of an AI correction could be global,” it warned. Aside from the US, Asian markets would be most exposed, and the UK and euro area potentially more insulated – though investors with US holdings would be hit. Athanasios Vamvakidis, the deputy director of the IMF’s monetary and capital department, launching the report, said: “The exposure of the rest of the world to US assets, particularly AI, is the highest it has ever been. So this is supporting the global economy through wealth effects today; but if we get a market correction it could have broad implications.”An AI crash was one of three “salient risks” to stability identified by the IMF, alongside rising government borrowing costs and the threat of a big cyber-attack.

Jon Rahm will play his first DP World Tour event since leaving LIV Golf in early November. Just last week, Jon Rahm made it clear that he would not be joining LIV 2.0. Now, the two-time major champion is set to make his first start since leaving the upstart league he joined in late 2023. Rahm has committed to play next month’s Abu Dhabi Championship, the second-to-last event of the DP World Tour season. The news came one day after that tour made a major anti-LIV move of its own. Here’s what you need to know. Jon Rahm to play Abu Dhabi Championship on DP World TourOn Wednesday, in court for LIV Golf’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Rahm’s lawyers declared that the terms laid out by LIV for the future of the tour were “unacceptable,” and that Rahm would “not be participating” in LIV 2.0 in 2027. With his LIV Golf career suddenly over, and an immediate PGA Tour return impossible, Rahm’s only realistic plan was to start playing the DP World Tour full time. The only question was when. Now, Rahm is officially set to make the first start of the rest of his golfing life.

Montreal has been named the second-best city in the world for cycling, according to a new survey by Time Out, putting the Canadian city ahead of some of the world’s most celebrated cycling destinations, including Copenhagen, Stockholm and Amsterdam. This ranking is different. Instead of any objective measure, it is based on responses from more […]Montreal has been named the second-best city in the world for cycling, according to a new survey by Time Out, putting the Canadian city ahead of some of the world’s most celebrated cycling destinations, including Copenhagen, Stockholm and Amsterdam. This ranking is different. Instead of any objective measure, it is based on responses from more than 24,000 residents around the world. The respondents were asked how easy it was to get around by bicycle in their communities. Montreal received an impressive 82.5 per cent approval rating, narrowly trailing Cambridge, England, which topped the list at 83.2 per cent. The result also makes Montreal the highest-ranked cycling city in North America.

Every few years, someone takes over World Cup racing with distracting prowess. Nino Shurter, Jolanda Neff, Stevie Smith, and Myriam Nicole are some easy examples. Capping the World Cup DH season with 2220 points, Vali Höll had the season overall win locked in long before that final drop in Lake Placid. Silver medalist Harriet Harndin, who also performed exceptionally in 2026, finished with nearly half the points at 1135. Vali also earned the top spot in the World Championship race this summer, wrapping her in rainbows for yet another season.

In a statement of intent about its live ambitions, Netflix will exclusively stream every FIFA World Cup 2030 game live in Spain and Andorra.

Eleven sailors are missing following a drone attack on a vessel off the coast of Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian officials, prompting the country’s government to summon the Russian ambassador.

David Ramos/Getty ImagesNewsFIFA World Cup 2030: Netflix Scores Exclusive Rights in Spain and AndorraEvery match of the 100th anniversary tournament will stream live to fans in the neighboring countries. Oct. 13, 2026The FIFA World Cup 2030™ marks the 100th anniversary of the world’s largest soccer tournament, and Netflix will exclusively broadcast every match to fans in Spain and Andorra. With defending FIFA World Cup 2026 champion Spain serving as one of the competition’s three host nations — alongside Morocco and Portugal — Netflix will feature full live coverage of the tournament, including pregame, halftime and postgame shows, a daily roundup show on match days, and additional programming in the tournament lead-up. “Few events unite people like the World Cup,” says Bela Bajaria, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. “I was in the stands this year as Spain lifted the trophy and witnessed the passion, the pride, the stories — they all become part of a nation’s culture and are remembered for generations. With Spain set to host in 2030, we’re thrilled to bring every match to fans across Spain and Andorra on Netflix.”When is the FIFA World Cup 2030?

HOCR Race Director Brendan Mulvey called both the men's and women's Champ Eights fields "deeper than they've been in recent years," and there is much to look forward to late Sunday afternoon when the big boats take to the water. In the women's field, USRowing will defend its championship with a boat that includes everyone from the gold-medal four at last August's World Championships. It'll also be Thames-on-the-Charles in the Women's race, with boats from Molesey, Leander, Tyrian, and Thames Rowing all entered, in addition to crews from Oxford and Cambridge maybe providing a preview of next spring's Boat Race. And Yale, Brown, Radcliffe and Princeton will lead a full complement of American colleges. USA W8 in 2025 USA 2026 World Champion and WBT holder Women's Four

World Energy Transition Outlook calls for system-wide reforms and sets actionable agenda for secure, affordable, and competitive energy in this decade and beyond Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 13 October 2026 – Accelerating electrification powered by renewables must be a priority for the decade to 2035. A genuine energy transition means progressively displacing fossil-fuel systems, not simply adding new power capacity to an unchanged energy mix.

When Keanu Reeves demanded that Dogstar rock harder, the result was their punchiest album yet. Reeves and Bret Domrose break down how they did it

3 days agoJames FitzGeraldEmergency call records have revealed the confusion that developed among prison staff and emergency call handlers after the execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike went wrong last month in Tennessee. Pike, 50, who killed Colleen Slemmer alongside her then-boyfriend in 1995, was given two doses of lethal injection on 30 September. Once it became clear that she was not going to die from the dosage, she was taken to hospital. The confusion resulted in part from an apparent disconnect between prison staff, according to the AP news agency, which first obtained audio of the emergency calls. This allegedly delayed Pike's treatment. The BBC has asked the state corrections department for comment. The department has not yet stated what it thinks went wrong in the attempted execution of Pike. Pike's legal team has offered the explanation that the pentobarbital chemical, with which she was injected, probably spread under skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in a sufficient quantity to kill her. Pike has now been discharged from hospital, though in their most recent update on her health, her team cautioned that she faced a "long road to recovery".

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of a planet orbiting a star 60 lightyears away, that astronomers say is one of the strangest they've ever seen. The exoplanet, 14 Herculis c, is one of two known worlds orbiting star 14 Herculis, and is the coldest exoplanet ever imaged to date.