Eurostar slowly resumes but passengers face more cancellations and delays

Rail traffic through the Channel tunnel slowly resumed on Wednesday with more cancellations and delays after an electricity failure on Tuesday stranded thousands of passengers and trapped some for a night in a powerless train.Two London-Paris trains were cancelled and most trips were delayed in both directions as Eurostar warned of “knock-on impacts” on New Year’s Eve.Thousands of travellers in the busy run-up to the new year faced hours of delays after the train operator cancelled services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels on Tuesday because of an overhead power supply problem and a failed LeShuttle train.A spokesperson said “an overhead line fell on to a Eurostar train linking London and Paris, near the entrance to the Channel tunnel”.Some services had resumed on the single available line by Tuesday evening, with Eurostar saying there were “further issues with rail infrastructure overnight”

ITV agrees to invest £3m in fitness app created by Joe Wicks

The broadcaster ITV has agreed to invest up to £3m into the health and fitness app The Body Coach, created by Joe Wicks, who shot to fame by getting people exercising in their living rooms during the Covid pandemic.It is the latest deal made through the group’s media for equity investment fund ITV AdVentures Invest. As part of the agreement, The Body Coach will advertise on ITV’s channels and its video platform ITVX.Wicks launched the app in late 2020, capitalising on the prominence gained during the Covid-19 lockdowns when he streamed daily workout videos online. It offers personalised workout plans, alongside a range of healthy recipes and access to a online group to keep users motivated

Elon Musk’s 2025 recap: how the world’s richest person became its most chaotic

How the tech CEO and ‘Dogefather’ made a mess of the year – from an apparent Nazi salute during his White House tenure to Tesla sales slumps and Starship explosionsThe year of 2025 was dizzying for Elon Musk. The tech titan began the year holding court with Donald Trump in Washington DC. As the months ticked by, one public appearance after another baffled the US and the world. Musk appeared to give a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration, staunchly championed a 19-year-old staffer nicknamed “Big Balls,” denied reports of being a drug addict while advising the president, and showed up at a White House press conference with a black eye – all in the first half of the year alone.“Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast

The office block where AI ‘doomers’ gather to predict the apocalypse

On the other side of San Francisco bay from Silicon Valley, where the world’s biggest technology companies tear towards superhuman artificial intelligence, looms a tower from which fearful warnings emerge.Right in the heart of Berkeley is the home of a group of modern-day Cassandras who rummage under the hood of cutting-edge AI models and predict what calamities may be unleashed on humanity – from AI dictatorships to robot coups. Here you can hear an AI expert express sympathy with an unnerving idea: San Francisco may be the new Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid originated and wreaked havoc on the world.They are AI safety researchers who scrutinise the most advanced models: a small cadre outnumbered by the legions of highly paid technologists in the big tech companies whose ability to raise the alarm is restricted by a cocktail of lucrative equity deals, non-disclosure agreements and groupthink. They work in the absence of much nation-level regulation and a White House that dismisses forecasts of doom and talks instead of vanquishing China in the AI arms race

26 for 2026: unmissable sporting events over the next 12 months

Jannik Sinner will be aiming to become only the second man in the Open era, after Novak Djokovic, to win three consecutive Australian Open singles titles, while in the women’s draw Madison Keys will be seeking to defend the title she landed via a shock victory over Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final. Elsewhere, Roger Federer is scheduled to return to Melbourne Park for the first time since retiring from tennis in 2022 as part of a Battle of the World No 1s match, alongside Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. “It still makes me smile when I think about all the moments I’ve had here,” said the Swiss legend.France begin the defence of their Six Nations crown in blockbuster fashion given they face Ireland in Paris on opening night. It should be some contest between the sides who have won the last four championships between them

Diggins, Schumacher make US cross-country skiing history with World Cup double

American cross-country skiing reached a milestone on Wednesday when, for the first time, an American man and an American woman won World Cup races on the same day.Gus Schumacher and Jessie Diggins delivered the historic double at stage three of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy, both prevailing in a newly introduced 5km heat mass start free event that rewarded speed, pacing and collective tactics rather than head-to-head positioning.Schumacher set the tone in the men’s race, skating aggressively from the outset in a format that split the field into staggered heats, with final placings determined by time. The 25-year-old crossed the line in 9:35.4 to secure only the second World Cup victory of his career, edging Austria’s Benjamin Moser by two-tenths of a second