Tech giant ASML has reported a quarterly record in orders of its chip-making equipment, boosting hopes for the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom and countering fears of an investment bubble. The Dutch firm said on Wednesday that it booked orders worth 13.2 billion euros ($15.8bn) in the final quarter of 2025, more than half of which were for its most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. Net sales came to 9.7 billion euros in the October-December period, ASML said, taking sales for all of 2025 to 32.7 billion euros. Net profit for the year was 9.6 billion euros, up from 7.6 billion euros in 2024. ASML Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said the company's chip-making customers had conveyed a "notably more positive assessment" of the market situation in the medium term based on expectations of strong AI-related demand.

Trump calls Ilhan Omar a'fraud' and suggests she staged shock syringe attack during Minneapolis town hall: 'She probably had herself sprayed' Trader Joe's reveals its best products of 2026 in grocery's own Oscars - and there's a surprise winner America's damning verdict on who's to blame for Minneapolis mayhem between Trump and far-left protesters Melania's shock role in Trump's showdown with Kristi Noem revealed: MARK HALPERIN's fly-on-wall account of Oval Office meeting... and who is ACTUALLY taking the fall for Alex Pretti shooting I've seen possessed children scream like beasts and strung up like puppets... these chilling exorcism cases PROVE hell is real Sickening proof Kanye West's apology was fake: MAUREEN CALLAHAN reveals heinous new Nazi slur everyone missed... and revolting REAL reason he wrote groveling letter She's All That star Rachael Leigh Cook was a 2000s icon... see her now School principal accused of shoplifting from Walmart using'stacking' method at self-checkout Harper Beckham, 14, puts on a stylish display in a fluffy coat and vintage Chanel bag in Paris with her family - after Nicola Peltz's heartbreaking comments about sister-in-law I was barely eating but kept gaining weight. Then I discovered the'taboo' cancer doctors NEVER talk about. Now sex will never be the same... don't ignore these signs Lost tomb of the mysterious'cloud people' unearthed after 1,400 years in'discovery of the decade' LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes lead furious backlash over Bill Belichick's brutal Hall of Fame snub How popular is YOUR pet's name? Use our tool to find out - as chart reveals the most (and least!) common dog and cat names in Britain READ MORE: 'Genius' Border Collie Harvey is hailed'Britain's brightest dog' Britain's most popular names for cats and dogs have been revealed, as data shows that some names are at risk of extinction. Traditional names for our furry friends could become a thing of the past as new owners opt for names more often associated with humans.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' A Russian air attack has killed two people in Kyiv region's Bilohorodska community, and a drone attack killed another person in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, according to local authorities. The deadly attacks came overnight on Wednesday, just hours after a deadly drone attack on a commuter train in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv - an incident denounced as "terrorism" by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who put the number of people on that train at 200.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' A Russian drone strike on a passenger train in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region has killed at least five people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the attack as an act of terrorism.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned as terrorism a Russian drone attack on a crowded passenger train that local officials say killed at least five people and injured several others. More than 200 people were on the train, officials said, when one of the carriages was hit by a drone and two other drones exploded nearby, in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday. Zelensky said 18 people were in the carriage at the time and there was no military justification in targeting civilians. Russia has not commented on the strike, but it has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy and transport infrastructure during the harshest winter in years. Elsewhere in Ukraine, the southern port city of Odesa was hit by dozens of drones and officials said three people were killed and dozens more wounded.

The world is closer than ever to destruction, scientists have said, as the Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight for 2026, the gloomiest assessment of humanity's prospects since the beginning of the tradition in 1947. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a not-for-profit organisation founded by Albert Einstein and other scientists, warned in its annual assessment on Tuesday that international cooperation is going backwards on nuclear weapons, climate change and biotechnology, while artificial intelligence poses new threats. "The Doomsday Clock's message cannot be clearer. Catastrophic risks are on the rise, cooperation is on the decline, and we are running out of time," said Alexandra Bell, the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In a more detailed statement explaining the reasoning for moving the clock closer to midnight, the bulletin expressed concerns that countries including Russia, China, and the United States were becoming "increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic".

'This train isn't going to stop': shocking Sundance film shows promises and perils of AI Is AI an existential threat, or an epochal opportunity? Those are the questions top of mind for a new documentary at Sundance, which features leading AI experts, critics and entrepreneurs, including Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, with views on the near-to-midterm future ranging from doom to utopia. 'The world is hurting right now': politics and protest hit the Sundance film festival The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell and produced by Daniel Kwan (one half of The Daniels, the Oscar-winning duo behind Everything Everywhere All At Once), delves into the contentious topic of AI through Roher's own anxiety. The Canadian film-maker, who won an Oscar in 2023 for the documentary Navalny, first became interested in the topic while experimenting with tools released by OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot ChatGPT. The sophistication of the public tools - the ability to produce whole paragraphs in seconds, or produce illustrations - both thrilled and unnerved him.

SoftBank Group is in discussions to invest as much as $30 billion more in OpenAI, a sharp increase in commitment that reflects founder Masayoshi Son's ambitions to play a central role in developing artificial intelligence. The Japanese company, already one of the ChatGPT-maker's biggest backers, is in deliberations to commit more capital toward the fast-growing startup, people familiar with the matter said. The maximum amount SoftBank is considering is $30 billion, one of the people said, asking to remain anonymous to discuss private talks. They cautioned that the discussions are fluid and the amount of funding could change. SoftBank's shares rose 5.8% in Tokyo on Wednesday. Son has been unwinding positions to increase its stake in OpenAI and ready capital for sweeping investments aimed at injecting AI in all devices.

Devastating impact of Minneapolis shooting on Trump is worse than expected: Poll reveals America's crushing verdict... and what he must do next Bodies are STILL in wreckage of private jet that crashed in Maine on Sunday, killing six including powerful lawyer's attorney wife School principal accused of shoplifting from Walmart using'stacking' method at self-checkout Melania's shock role in Trump's showdown with Kristi Noem revealed: MARK HALPERIN's fly-on-wall account of Oval Office meeting... and who is ACTUALLY taking the fall for Alex Pretti shooting I was barely eating but kept gaining weight. Then I discovered the'taboo' cancer doctors NEVER talk about. Now sex will never be the same... don't ignore these signs Harper Beckham, 14, puts on a stylish display in a fluffy coat and vintage Chanel bag in Paris with her family - after Nicola Peltz's heartbreaking comments about sister-in-law Devastating truth about Blind Side actor Quinton Aaron: More to this'than everyone is letting on', friends reveal... as co-star Sandra Bullock'monitors' situation The wild truth about my influencer sons, their psycho dad and how lawsuits nearly left them bankrupt - by Jake and Logan Paul's MOM Trump knifes'little Napoleon' Border Patrol commander over Minnesota mayhem as he declares: 'We'll de-escalate' Lost tomb of the mysterious'cloud people' unearthed after 1,400 years in'discovery of the decade' Pope Leo XIV has issued a stark warning about'overly affectionate' chatbots that he says are destroying human relationships. The Chicago-born pontiff pleaded with Catholics to not allow artificial intelligence to replace human relationships in his message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications on Saturday. 'Technology must serve the human person, not replace it,' Pope Leo said, decreeing that'preserving human faces and voices' means preserving'God's imprint on each human being,' which is an'indelible reflection of God's love.'

Virtually defenseless: Moscow's attacks in Ukraine put fear into neighboring Moldova Palanca, Moldova - The village of Palanca felt the full horror of the war in neighboring Ukraine one December day. A mother was killed and her three children wounded by a Russian drone as they drove over the border bridge across the river Dniester into this previously quiet corner of southeastern Moldova, Ukrainian officials said. We are right across from there, and it terrified us, villager Maria Morari, 62, said of the two days of attacks on the crossing. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories.