A town in northern Italy has started celebrating carnival with its annual Battle of the Oranges, where people hurl the fruit at each other for fun. The historic carnival in Ivrea, an old medieval town near Turin, celebrates the legend of Violetta, a miller’s daughter who freed people from a tyrant starving the town. The...

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian delegation was heading to Geneva on Monday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks with Russian officials, ahead of next week’s fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. There was no anticipation of any significant progress on ending the war at the Tuesday-Wednesday meeting in Switzerland as both sides...

China is focusing on large language models in the artificial intelligence space. Blackdovfx | Istock | Getty Images China’s rapid advancement in AI is threatening to shake up U.S. dominance in the market, with one analyst warning of a tech shock that is just getting started. Rory Green, TS Lombard’s chief China economist and head...

The U.S. men’s ice hockey team is playing for more than just a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Inside the team’s locker room at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, a jersey with the number 13 hangs proudly, honoring the late American hockey player and NHL star Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau, 31, who played for...

A tribute to Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has marked the first day of the iconic carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro. The samba school Acadêmicos de Niterói traced Lula’s life as a boy growing up in poverty in the Brazilian northeast, to a metalworker, union leader and then president, showcasing giant figures...

BUDAPEST, Hungary — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the Hungarian capital on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government during which they plan to sign a civilian-nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has been outspoken in his support for the nationalist Orbán in the...

European markets opened higher on Monday, as investors digest the key points from this year’s Munich Security Conference. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.2% at 8:45 a.m. in London (3:45 a.m. ET), with major bourses and most sectors in the region in positive territory. Geopolitics and defense returned to the spotlight as investors focused...