"Lot Of Amazing Ideas": Peter Steinberger, OpenClaw's Creator, Joins OpenAI

02/17/26 4:26 PM

Austrian software developer Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework, is set to join OpenAI.

'Big news': New scheme hatched by Dems to take on Trump's tariff

02/09/26 8:47 PM

A journalist was floored Monday as Democrats signaled they were hatching a plan to overturn one of President Donald Trump's tariffs.Democrats were expected to vote to force a vote Wednesday to overturn Trump's Canada tariffs — a legislative push to try and restore economic relations and ease tensions with the North American ally. Laura Weiss, Congress reporter for Punchbowl News, described what to expect in the coming days. The legislation was expected to be introduced by Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), who has led previous efforts to push back on Trump's tariffs, including a discharge petition last spring to end Trump's Canada tariffs, citing concerns over a multitude of businesses."News: House Dems are likely to force a vote WEDNESDAY on overturning President Trump's Canada tariffs, per sources familiar w/ the effort," Weiss wrote in a post on X. "Dems’ plans aren’t yet final. But the Canada resolution is expected to be the first Dems call up now that Speaker Johnson’s blockade on tariff votes is over. The resolution is from HFAC top Dem Meeks - and he’s got more that can be called up in the coming weeks too.""BIG NEWS here," Jake Sherman, founder of Punchbowl News, added on X. "The House Republican leadership had a mechanism that blocked tariff overturn votes. That mechanism has expired."Trump's tariff threats against Canada have created tensions between the two countries, with Canadian officials warning that such tariffs would harm both economies and trigger retaliatory measures, while Trump has used the tariff threat as a negotiating tactic on issues ranging from trade deficits to border security and defense spending.

'Have they lost their minds?' Standing ovation for 'ugly' Rubio speech shocks analyst

02/17/26 5:55 PM

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered an unsettling speech to European leaders at the Munich security conference Monday, receiving a standing ovation that left an analyst stunned. In an opinion piece for The Guardian published Tuesday, Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo, described the "disturbing" 3,000-word address from the Trump administration's top diplomat. Hasan questioned Rubio's "love letter to conquest and colonialism" and called out his "gaslighting" as the son of Cuban immigrants who once called President Donald Trump a "con artist" and "lunatic." He's now telling European leaders they should support America's president. "Did they not realize that they may have been clapping for their own demise? That despite Rubio’s gentler tone and polished language, despite all his talk of transatlantic comity and unity, he was advocating for a geopolitics of vicious authoritarianism. That Rubio may be good cop to Trump’s bad, but their goal is one and the same: to make empire great again," Hasan wrote. Hasan pointed out that it wasn't just what Rubio said — it's what he didn't say. Rubio did not mention Russia or China once in his comments, and despite the concerns of European leaders, he also never spoke of Greenland. And after reports that Trump is still considering acquiring Greenland, Rubio reiterated that Trump hasn't let go of the idea of using military force to take the Denmark territory. "Astonishingly, Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force against Denmark, a Nato ally," Hasan wrote. "He has dismissed concerns about international borders and national sovereignty. And, this weekend, he sent his secretary of state to a conference in Europe that was supposed to be about collective security to deliver a speech that amounted to: America must dominate. Trump must lead. And Europe must get onboard – or else."Instead of praising Rubio, European governments should be wary, Hasan argued. "Again, I cannot emphasize this enough: European officials actually stood up in Munich and applauded a US official praising empire, while serving a US administration whose stated foreign policy goals include the imperial seizure of European territory," Hasan wrote. "Have they lost their minds? The Europeans in that audience may have told themselves that they were applauding a return to stability and even friendship with the United States," Hasan added. "In reality, they were offering a standing ovation for the return of something much uglier, bloodier, and more dangerous. Empire. And this time, it may not stop at Europe’s own borders."

'Trump's next target' in place and president will 'weaponize economy' against it: analysis

02/04/26 3:15 PM

Donald Trump has set his sights on a post-Greenland target and may use tariffs as a way of hindering the country in question. The president's administration carried out an operation in Venezuela and then shifted tact to Greenland earlier this month. While Trump confirmed the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, his campaign in Greenland was far less successful. The president was met with strong resistance from European nations at the time, and it seems he has not yet given up in subsuming the country into US territory. For now though, The Hill columnist Jose Chalhoub believes the president has already shifted his attention to a European nation which could offer oil reserves like Venezuela. Chalhoub wrote, "In Venezuela, enforcement actions continued, even as headlines faded, disrupting supply to Asia and exposing billions in Chinese investments. Cuba, heavily dependent on those flows, was warned that oil would move only on Washington’s terms. The region became a testing ground for how much pressure energy leverage can exert before governments cave."The Americas, then, are a rehearsal. The real audience is Europe. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine abruptly ended decades of European dependence on its energy. "A costly divorce — roughly $1,500 per person — was unavoidable. American suppliers surged in, such that the U.S. now rivals Norway as the European Union’s main source of oil, and it is also the source of nearly 60 percent of its liquified natural gas."Despite European countries considering the US an ally, it may not stop Trump from using the economy to his advantage, freezing out some nations who do not give in to his demands. Chalhoub added, "Europe reassured itself that America is an ally, bound by mutual restraint and shared values. But that assumption deserves scrutiny. "Trump’s tariffs demonstrated how readily economic ties can be weaponized. As tensions with Denmark and Greenland escalated, Europeans faced a sobering question: If energy becomes leverage, will Trump take a page from Putin’s playbook?"Europe’s vulnerability is structural. Energy is purchased nationally, not collectively. Pressure applied to a few can fracture solidarity among many. Matching coercion with coercion would invite escalation and play to Washington’s strengths."The gravest mistake would be to continue with the delusion that the U.S. will always be a benign partner. Even an imperfect rules-based order is infinitely preferable to a world governed by oil. Should international restraint dissolve, Venezuela will not be an anomaly, but a warning — the opening of chapter of an era in which power is measured by who controls the tap."

'What's left?' Trump says he'll bomb remaining 'dust' at Iran's nuclear sites

02/13/26 10:00 PM

President Donald Trump vowed to bomb "the dust" remaining at Iran's nuclear sites if he attacks the country again.During a Friday gaggle, one reporter pointed out that Trump had previously claimed the nuclear sites had been "obliterated" before threatening another strike."You said inside the Iranian nuclear sites have been totally obliterated," the reporter said. "What's left to go after?""Well, you could get whatever the dust is down there," Trump replied. "That's really the least of the mission. If we do it, that would be the least of the mission. But we, you know, probably grab whatever's left.""It has been obliterated, as you know," he added. The Pricer estimated that Trump's 2025 bombing of Iran's nuclear sites cost over $500 milllion.

11 Of The Best Things To Do In London This Mother's Day And Paddy's Day Weekend

03/17/23 5:02 PM

It's a Mother's Day *and* Paddy's Day double whammy, people.View Entire Post ›

17 Very British Tweets About The Very British Queue To See The Very British Queen's Coffin

09/24/22 1:25 AM

"If you’re British, this is the queue you’ve been training for all your life. The final boss of queues."View Entire Post ›

30 Minutes, 3 Warnings: Khamenei Targets Trump As US-Iran Talks Begin

02/17/26 5:52 PM

Ahead of the US-Iran talks, Trump said he believed Iran was interested in reaching an agreement. However, recent statements by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have taken a different tone.

53 people dead or missing after migrant boat capsizes in Mediterranean

02/09/26 2:43 PM

Only two survivors rescued after boat overturned off Libyan coast, UN migration agency saysFifty-three people are dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the UN migration agency said on Monday. Only two survivors were rescued.The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned north of Zuwara on Friday, in the latest disaster involving people attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in the hope of reaching Europe. Continue reading...

A binge and a prayer: Italian monks told to avoid Netflix and social media

02/17/26 4:01 PM

Prior of hermitage says digital technologies are designed to be addictive and present ‘challenge for monastic life’The prior of a hermitage in Tuscany has urged monks living in the secluded retreat to avoid the use of social media and streaming services, arguing that their rooms are sacred places for prayer and “not for Netflix or other platforms”.Father Matteo Ferrari, the prior general of the Camaldolese congregation and of the Camaldoli monastery and hermitage in Arezzo, Tuscany, said such digital technologies were “specifically designed to create addiction” and “should absolutely be avoided”. Continue reading...