Atletico Madrid Dominates Barcelona in Copa del Rey; Ariane 6 Launches with Amazon Satellites; Nvidia Unveils LLM Breakthrough; and AfD at Munich Security Conference
MADRID/KOUROU/SANTA CLARA/MUNICH - February 12, 2026 - In a day of diverse developments, Atletico Madrid secured a commanding 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal, while Europe's Ariane 6 rocket successfully launched with Amazon satellites. Additionally, Nvidia announced a new technique to drastically reduce the cost of large language model reasoning, and Germany's far-right AfD party was present at the Munich Security Conference.
Atletico Madrid's decisive win over Barcelona, achieved with four first-half goals, put them in a strong position to advance to the final. According to Al Jazeera, the team "tore Barcelona apart" in the first 45 minutes of the match, leaving the defending champions facing a difficult return leg.
Meanwhile, from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, the Ariane 64 rocket, the most powerful version of the Ariane 6, launched carrying 32 satellites for Amazon's Leo network. Euronews reported that this marked the maiden launch for the Ariane 64, with Amazon as its main commercial partner.
In the realm of technology, Nvidia researchers unveiled a new technique called dynamic memory sparsification (DMS) that can reduce the memory costs of large language model reasoning by up to eight times. VentureBeat noted that this approach compresses the key value cache, allowing LLMs to "think" longer and explore more solutions without sacrificing accuracy.
Also on Thursday, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket experienced a booster problem shortly after liftoff from Florida's Space Coast. Ars Technica reported that the rocket twisted on its axis before recovering and continuing its climb into orbit with a batch of US military satellites. Details of the booster problem are still under investigation.
Finally, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly and Rob Schmitz reported from the Munich Security Conference, where Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was in attendance.
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