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ESPNMultiple AuthorsMay 11, 2026, 09:56 AM ETEmailPrintMissouri Tigers running back Ahmad Hardy, a first-team All-SEC selection last season, was shot at a concert in Mississippi early Sunday morning and is in stable condition following surgery, the school announced Monday."Ahmad is deeply loved by his teammates, coaches, friends, family and fans," the school's statement said. "We will continue to stand beside him and his family through this difficult time, offering our love, prayers, strength and support."Hardy is alert Monday and moving around, a source told ESPN's Pete Thamel, and there's optimism that he will play football again. How quickly he can return and the impact, however, has yet to be determined.The school announced Monday that "a timeline for his return to football activities is unknown at this time."Hardy, who is from Oma, Mississippi, was second among FBS players with 1,649 rushing yards last season. The SEC Newcomer of the Year also scored 16 touchdowns and averaged 6.4 yards on his 256 rushing attempts.He transferred to Missouri from UL Monroe following the 2024 season, when he rushed for 1,351 yards and 13 TDs on 237 attempts.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Issy Wong has played 22 times for England ByMatthew HenryBBC Sport JournalistPublished5 minutes agoBowler Issy Wong will have a scan on a hamstring issue as England attempt to gain more information before any decision is made on her fitness for next month's T20 World Cup.Wong, 23, was due to play in Sunday's first one-day international against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street but pulled out after complaining of hamstring tightness in the warm-up.England are hopeful the issue is not serious but want to see the full picture.The second ODI against New Zealand is on Wednesday in Northampton, with the 50-over series concluding on Sunday. Wong's scan results are expected in the coming days. Uncapped 21-year-old left-armer Alexa Stonehouse has been called up for the ODIs in her place.Ex-England spinner Gordon in Scotland World Cup squadPublished3 hours agoFamiliar failings but calm Corteen-Coleman provides England optimismPublished18 hours agoAfter the ODIs, England play three T20s against New Zealand before another three against India as their World Cup preparations ramp up. Their World Cup campaign begins on 12 June against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston.Key spinner Sophie Ecclestone, 27, also sat out Sunday's win with a quad problem. The camp has suggested Ecclestone's injury is only minor, and she was seen in the gym at Chester-le-Street, but it is not clear if she will be fit for Wednesday. She has only played twice for Lancashire this season.Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt is also missing the New Zealand ODIs because of a left calf tear. She is on course to return for the T20s against the White Ferns.Should Wong's issue be worse than feared, the situation is complicated further by a concussion suffered by all-rounder Em Arlott on Sunday.The 28-year-old would be one of those best placed to take Wong's place but, after being hit on the head while batting in the nets, has been ruled out of the New Zealand ODI series under concussion protocols.Related topicsEngland Women's Cricket TeamCricket

‘There’s a misconception that the AI vulnerability race is imminent. The reality is it’s already begun,’ said John Hultquist at Google’s threat intelligence group. Photograph: Tek Image/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreen‘There’s a misconception that the AI vulnerability race is imminent. The reality is it’s already begun,’ said John Hultquist at Google’s threat intelligence group. Photograph: Tek Image/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty ImagesAI-powered hacking has exploded into industrial-scale threat, Google saysCriminal groups and state-linked actors appear to be using commercial models to refine and scale up attacks Business live – latest updates In just three months, AI-powered hacking has gone from a nascent problem to an industrial-scale threat, according to a report from Google.The findings from Google’s threat intelligence group add to an intensifying, global discussion about how the newest AI models are extremely adept at coding – and becoming extremely powerful tools for exploiting vulnerabilities in a broad array of software systems.It finds that criminal groups, as well as state-linked actors from China, North Korea and Russia, appear to be widely using commercial models – including Gemini, Claude and tools from OpenAI – to refine and scale up attacks.Worried Britons ‘prepping’ for major disruption with stash of tins and cash, survey showsRead more“There’s a misconception that the AI vulnerability race is imminent. The reality is that it’s already begun,” said John Hultquist, the group’s chief analyst.“Threat actors are using AI to boost the speed, scale, and sophistication of their attacks. It enables them to test their operations, persist against targets, build better malware and make many other improvements.”Last month, the AI company Anthropic declined to release one of its newest models, Mythos, after asserting that it had extremely powerful capabilities and posed a threat to governments, financial institutions and the world generally if it fell into the wrong hands.Specifically, Anthropic said Mythos had found zero-day vulnerabilities in “every major operating system and every major web browser” – the term for a flaw in a product previously unknown to its developers.The company said these discoveries necessitated “substantial coordinated defensive action across the industry”.What is Mythos AI and why could it be a threat to global cybersecurity?Read moreGoogle’s report found, however, that a criminal group recently was on the verge of leveraging a zero-day vulnerability to conduct a “mass exploitation” campaign – and that this group appeared to be using an AI large language model (LLM) that was not Mythos.The report also found that groups were “experimenting” with OpenClaw, an AI tool that went viral in February for offering its users the ability to hand over large chunks of their lives to an AI agent with no guardrails and an unfortunate tendency to mass-delete email inboxes.Steven Murdoch, a professor of security engineering at University College London, said AI tool could help the defensive side in cybersecurity – as well as the hackers.“That’s why I’m not panicking. In general we have reached a stage where the old way of discovering bugs is gone, and it will now all be LLM-assisted. It will take a little while before the consequences of this get shaken out,” he said.However, if AI is helping ambitious hackers to reach their productivity goals, doubts remain as to whether it is bolstering the broader economy.The Ada Lovelace Institute (ALI), an independent AI research body, has cautioned against assumptions of a multibillion-pound public sector productivity boost from AI. The UK government has estimated a £45bn gain in savings and productivity benefits from public sector investment in digital tools and AI.In a report published on Monday, the ALI said most studies of AI-related increases in productivity referred to time savings or cost reductions, but did not look at outcomes such as better services or improved worker-wellbeing.Other problematic aspects of such research include: whether projections of AI-related efficiency in a workplace really succeed in the real world; headline figures obscuring varying results for using AI in different tasks; and failing to account for the impact on public sector employment and service delivery.“The productivity estimates shaping major government decisions about AI sometimes rest on untested assumptions and rely on methodologies whose limitations are not always appreciated by those using figures in the wild,” said the ALI report.“The result is a gap between the confidence with which productivity claims are presented and the strength of the evidence behind them.”The report’s recommendations include: encouraging future studies to reflect uncertainty over the impact of the technology; ensuring government departments measure the impact of AI programmes “from the start”; and supporting longer-term studies that measure productivity gains over years rather than weeks.Explore more on these topicsAI (artificial intelligence)HackingCybercrimeCyberwarGoogleOpenAInewsShareReuse this content

Image source, SNSImage caption, Mark Wilson has three wins and a draw against his old boss Neil Lennon (left) this seasonByKheredine IdessaneBBC Sport Scotland Senior ReporterPublished22 minutes agoScottish Premiership play-off semi-final, first leg: Dunfermline Athletic v Partick ThistleDate: Tuesday, 12 May Venue: East End Park, Dunfermline: Kick-off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC Scotland, BBC iPlayer & BBC Sport websitePartick Thistle manager Mark Wilson says there'll be "no nostalgia" when he faces his old captain and manager, Neil Lennon, in this week's Premiership play-off semi-final with Dunfermline Athletic.The first leg is in Fife on Tuesday before the decisive second game at Firhill on Friday, with both live on BBC Scotland.Wilson admits he had "some of the best years of my life" with Lennon as his skipper at Celtic before the Northern Irish international then coached the right-back at Parkhead when he took over from Tony Mowbray."I've fond memories," Wilson told BBC Sport Scotland when asked about his time together at Celtic with Lennon."I had some of the best years of my life there when Neil was captain. A really strong individual who demands the highest standards. I had him when he was a reserve coach as well."I then saw him make that progression, saw the pressure landed on his shoulders as a rookie manager taking one of the biggest teams in the world and how he dealt with that."The effect Lennon's leadership had on Wilson as a Celtic player isn't lost on the Partick boss either, although he's keen to stress the pair are now equals in opposing technical areas."I played some of my best football under Neil," he said. "I enjoyed working with him. So I understand the information he'll be giving his boys and how he can build players up to the standards he holds. "He's done an incredible job with Dunfermline. Getting to a Scottish Cup final with a Championship club is no mean feat. That takes some doing. "He's a tough opponent to come up against but these two games are not about nostalgia, about me being one of Neil's ex-players or anything like that. My job now is a coach, I'm his equal, I need to find a way to beat him and that's what my full concentration is on."One way to do that, according to Wilson, is to make sure his side are firmly in the tie when the sides return home for the second leg. The Jags boast three wins and a draw from their four games with the Pars in the regular Championship season but Wilson knows the slate is wiped clean when a crack at the Premiership is on the line. He is also well aware of the strides his own side has made since the early days of his tenure when he was scratching around trying to put a team together."When I was appointed, just to paint the picture clearly, we had no goalkeepers, we had no full-backs, we had no striker, we had a very bare midfield," he explained."We had a lot of young kids. We had a couple of centre-halves in there, we had a couple of wingers. People within the club thought it was going to be a long, hard season."So to build a squad and bring players in, there's no doubt about it, we're ahead of where we probably should be. Now that we're here, though, we want to get better. "I want to have that continuity going into next season, regardless of what division we're in. We're in a strong position and we plan to really attack next season whether that's in the Premiership or the Championship."Related topicsScottish FootballFootball

Ralph Gonsalves, right, with Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, who is leading Jamaica’s reparations movement. Photograph: The Repair CampaignView image in fullscreenRalph Gonsalves, right, with Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, who is leading Jamaica’s reparations movement. Photograph: The Repair CampaignUK slavery reparations must be top issue at Commonwealth summit, says campaignerLeaders cannot ignore support for reparations resolution this November, says St Vincent and Grenadines ex-PM What are reparations for slavery and colonialism – and will the UK pay? It is “inconceivable” that reparatory justice from Britain for the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans will not be “front and centre” of the next Commonwealth leaders meeting, the former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines has said.Ralph Gonsalves was in Jamaica to discuss the next steps of the “alive and growing” movement to advocate for reparations for hundreds of years of chattel slavery.The opposition leader was recently appointed an elder and adviser for the Repair Campaign, a social movement for reparatory justice founded by the Irish telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien.Gonsalves was instrumental in setting up the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) reparations commission to support Caribbean governments’ call for recognition of the lasting legacy of colonialism and enslavement, and for reparative justice from former colonisers.He said that the leaders of the 56-country Commonwealth grouping, which includes 33 Caribbean and African nations, cannot ignore the strong momentum towards a reparations resolution.Between the 15th and the 19th century, more than 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported to the Americas and sold into slavery.The issue dominated headlines during the last Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm), held in October 2024, when the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, resisted pressure from member states to include reparations in the summit’s agenda.Gonsalves said: “In the light of what transpired last time at Chogm, and the progress which has been made since then, and the activist agenda for the reparations movement, both in the Caribbean and Africa … it would be absolutely inconceivable that you wouldn’t have this being front and centre of the summit.”In March this year, the UK was one of several European countries that abstained from voting for a UN general assembly landmark resolution that described chattel slavery as the gravest crime against humanity. The resolution was passed after an overwhelming majority of 123 nations voted in its favour, with only the US, Israel and Argentina voting against it.Before the Commonwealth meeting in Antigua and Barbuda in November, a series of milestone events will be held across the Caribbean, Africa and the UK, Gonsalves said.Ghana, which led the March UN resolution, will host a reparations conference in June to agree coordinated next steps for the global movement.He added that, in the run-up to a Caribbean leaders meeting in St Lucia in July, the prime ministerial reparations subcommittee, chaired by the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, is likely to meet to agree updates to Caricom’s 10-point plan for reparatory justice.Gonsalves said that across the region there was a strong commitment to addressing the legacies of colonialism.On Saturday, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who also played a key role in setting up Caricom’s reparatory commission, announced that she would rename Nelson Island in honour of indentured immigrants from India, who were sent there by Britain between 1866 and 1917, in what she described as an “unjust and inhumane system” of human trafficking.Gonsalves said Persad-Bissessar had done “very good work” during her first term.“She was then chair of Caricom when I took the matter of reparatory justice to heads in 2013, 2014, and she supported it fully,” he said.“I expect her to continue that support in her second term because it’s a matter on which she has spoken, not just with passion, but more importantly with commitment, and I don’t think that that commitment has waned.”During his visit to Jamaica, Gonsalves met the country’s culture and gender minister, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who is leading its reparation movement.Last year Caricom backed Jamaica’s decision to petition King Charles – its head of state – to request legal advice on reparations from the judicial committee of the privy council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations.Gonsalves said he hoped King Charles would support the Caribbean and Africa.He said: “To quote the current head of the Commonwealth, King Charles, this issue, reparations, is one whose time has come for a serious conversation.“Now, I don’t know what side of the conversation he would end up on. Knowing him, I am satisfied that he would come [down] on the side of the conversation which is in the interest of the bulk of the people in the Commonwealth, and which will be a progressive direction.”Explore more on these topicsReparations and reparative justiceCotton Capital: ongoing seriesCommonwealth of NationsSlaverynewsShareReuse this content

The FCC is trying to fix customer service by bringing call centers back to the U.S. The real threat: AI-driven scams that regulators can’t touch.

Moment brazen thief steals entire Mini Egg chocolate display 33 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleDanielle HerbertBBC WalesAshley Daley was jailed after stealing entire Mini Egg chocolate displayThis is the moment a man swiped an entire display of Cadbury Mini Eggs during a three-week shoplifting spree.Ashley Daley, 39, walked into a Tesco store in Cardiff on 2 February and walked out with the display of chocolates worth £100.Daley, who targeted stores nationwide, cost businesses across Cardiff, Taffs Well, Merthyr Tydfil, Chepstow and Caldicot more than £4,000 in losses.He was charged with 44 offences, mostly for theft from shops but also breaching a criminal behaviour order, and was jailed for four months.South Wales PoliceAshley Daley was charged with 44 offencesDaley went on a spree over three weeks across the south Wales and Gwent areas, repeatedly targeting various supermarkets in different locations.He was stopped by police in a vehicle on 21 February shortly after he had committed a theft earlier that day. A kitchen knife was found in his possession, which he was also arrested for in addition to the other offences.Daley, who has no fixed address, admitted the thefts and was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.Investigating officer Detective Constable Sarah Warriner said: "Daley is a prolific offender who was brazen in his actions across the country, showing a clear disregard for the law and believing himself above it. "Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, and offenders like Daley have a big financial impact on businesses, and emotional impact on those who work there. "Daley would have continued targeting businesses across the UK and I am glad to see that he has now been prevented from doing so."More top storiesI took one of the most famous photos of the Aberfan disaster - it still haunts mePlaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth willing to 'take the fight' to Keir StarmerMan v Horse race has 'special place in heart' of BBC's Sophie RaworthWalesCardiff

Warning that increase in shipping around South Africa to avoid Middle East could harm whales29 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMayeni JonesAfrica correspondent , JohannesburgUllstein Bild via Getty ImagesScientists fear that more ships are sailing through areas with lots of whalesScientists are warning of an increased risk of collisions between whales and ships off South Africa's south-western coast, caused by changing shipping routes due to conflicts in the Middle East.The rerouting of ships around South Africa since 2023, when Houthi rebels hijacked a British-owned vessel near Yemen, has substantially increased the chances of vessels striking the mammals in the region, they say.The US and Israel's ongoing war with Iran has worsened the situation.This has led to more ships transporting goods between Asia and Europe sailing around Africa to avoid the Middle East.Around 89 commercial vessels sailed around the Cape of Good Hope between March and April this year, almost double the figure of 44 over the same period in 2023, according to AFP, quoting the International Monetary Fund's PortWatch report.Chief scientist at the University of Pretoria's Whale Unit Professor Els Vermeulen and her team presented their findings to the International Whaling Commission recently.She told the BBC said her team had "looked at distribution models of different whale species around the Western Cape and overlaid these models with shipping routes to see where there's a risk of collisions" to make their findings.Vermeulen added that it was hard to quantify the number of whales struck due to a lack of current data.She noted that most collisions tended to happen deep offshore, leading to the animals sinking to the bottom of the ocean rather than washing up on the coast. This is referred to as "cryptic mortality", which makes it difficult to estimate the scale of the problem.Vermeulen offered suggestions to deal with the issue, including tweaking shipping routes and reducing the speed at which vessels travel at certain times of the year.But until more data is collected, solutions are hard to recommend, she said.Vermeulen and her team plan to do a systematic survey of whale populations offshore by plane or boat but they "need support for this work", she told the BBC."It's been nice to see how much people want to come together to solve this. So now the onus is on the scientific community to come up with reliable data on the offshore whale population," she said.More BBC stories on South Africa:Police officer tells of operation to retrieve human remains from crocodileZimbabwe's iconic stone birds were taken by colonialists. Finally, they're all back homeWhat next for South African opposition firebrand Malema after his five-year prison sentence?Getty Images/BBCGo to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafricaBBC Africa podcastsFocus on AfricaThis Is AfricaMiddle EastWhalesSouth AfricaAfricaIran war

Watch: Rangers clinch last final-day decider 35 years agoThis content is not available in your location.There was an errorWith two games of the season remaining Hearts and Celtic are on course for a final-day meeting in Glasgow which could decide the Scottish Premiership title.The last time two sides went head-to-head for the trophy on the last afternoon of action was back in 1990-91.Rangers hosted Aberdeen on 11 May, with the visitors ahead on goal difference before kick-off.Mark Hateley was the home hero, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win.SubsectionScottish PremPublished57 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRead description

A “tsunami” of CDs coming due is vexing savers who are worried about redeploying their money.

The former England goalkeeper and current England over-60s cricketer Nigel Martyn. Photograph: England 60s CricketView image in fullscreenThe former England goalkeeper and current England over-60s cricketer Nigel Martyn. Photograph: England 60s CricketInterview‘As good as any feeling I had in football’: Nigel Martyn on swapping goalkeeping for a red England cricket capJames WallaceThe former England keeper has the chance to represent his country once again after flourishing as a senior cricketer“I once hit a six in very murky conditions to win a game which got us promoted.” Nigel Martyn is lost in a reverie. The former England, Leeds, Everton and Crystal Palace player was English football’s first £1m goalkeeper, chalked up 846 club appearances in a career that spanned three decades, went to two World Cups and played in an FA Cup final. But it is a smear over long-on in the Yorkshire gloaming that has him misty-eyed.“Wow. I remember that feeling was … yeah. That was as good as any feeling that I had on a football field.”Picking up on a whiff of incredulity Martyn begins to explain himself. “It was right down to the wire, I think we had one wicket left and it was almost pitch black.”The game was in Cookridge a few years ago. Martyn, now 59, was playing for Leeds Modernians in the Airedale & Wharfedale senior cricket league. “The ball before I had not seen at all. I decided to just swing at the next one and somehow I really middled it! If I close my eyes I can almost feel it now. Then it was pandemonium.”View image in fullscreenDavid Beckham celebrates scoring the equalising goal against Greece in 2001. Not as enjoyable as hitting a six in the Airedale and Wharfedale senior cricket league. Photograph: Tony O’Brien/Action Images/ReutersI gently remind Martyn that he was in goal for one of English football’s most visceral moments in modern memory – when David Beckham boomeranged a 93rd-minute free-kick into the top corner of Greece’s goal at Old Trafford to secure England’s place at the 2002 World Cup. Losing 2-1, England were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing non-qualification. It was Martyn’s long ball forward that led to the foul on Teddy Sheringham and resulted in the free-kick being given.“That was a horrible final few minutes,” Martyn says, chuckling. “The lads in defence kept passing the ball back to me, inviting all this pressure on. I kept thinking: ‘Rio, don’t give it back to me, get it up there!’”Martyn was unaware, even in the minute or so after Beckham’s free-kick had hit the back of the net, that it was enough to see England through. “That moment of euphoria was in a way taken away from me. We had to match Germany’s result and I just assumed they had won their match against Finland. Steve McClaren [then assistant manager to Sven-Göran Eriksson] only managed to get a message to me seconds before the whole ground knew.”A serious ankle injury forced Martyn to end his football career in 2006. He soon found himself donning a different pair of gloves, those of a wicketkeeper. Martyn was a promising young cricketer growing up in St Austell and remained a keen follower of the game despite not being allowed to play once he turned professional with Bristol Rovers in 1987. Not many of his former teammates shared his love of leather on willow. “I’m racking my brains, I can only really think of Phil Neville having a passing interest when we were at Everton together.View image in fullscreenMartyn behind the sticks for Knaresborough Cricket Club in Yorkshire. Photograph: Jordan Tear/Knaresborough Cricket ClubA few years after retiring he decided to get back into cricket. “I didn’t take it seriously enough at first and ended up tearing one of my hamstrings pretty badly.” Fortunately for Martyn, his daughter is a physio for Harlequins and she encouraged him to start training again.“I’ve never been much of a runner, but I always loved diving around and catching balls, I was a natural goalkeeper and wicketkeeper. I’m still really competitive though so when I set my mind to something I really go for it.”Martyn now has an almost Goochian appetite for setting examples with his fitness, inspiring much younger players at Knaresborough to get in shape and have a more professional outlook. Having secured three promotions and with a couple of young keepers coming through the ranks whose development he did not want to block, Martyn was persuaded by a friend to make the move to Scarcroft, north of Leeds, for a fresh challenge. He also plays midweek for Cornwall’s over-50s and in summer completes an 800-mile round trip on a weekly basis. “My wife is a huge cricket fan and is very understanding. She does find the whole thing slightly bonkers though.”View image in fullscreenMartyn playing in a friendly against Spain at Villa Park in 2001. England ended the match with a convincing 3-0 win. Photograph: Ben Radford/AllsportThis passion and commitment for cricket has paid off. Last week Martyn was given another chance to represent his country, having been selected for England’s over-60s cricketers. He will play his first match for the Lions, in effect the second XI to the first team, on Friday at Seaton Carew in County Durham. “He’ll be presented with a red cap on Friday for the match versus Scotland,” says Paul Bradley, England over-60s manager. “If he makes it into the first team, which I’m sure he will at some point, then he’ll get the blue cap and be able to call himself a dual international.”“It’s a real honour to be selected,” says Martyn. “I was really impressed at the trial at Loughborough a few weeks ago. These guys are super fit and really strong cricketers, there’s no doddery old men or anything like that. These older gents could give blokes decades younger than them a run for their money.”Martyn turns 60 in August and as such was never really in contention for a World Cup due to take place in Canada the same month. “I’d like to play a World Cup or a ‘Grey Ashes’ one day, but right now I’m taking it all as it comes. Fitness is never guaranteed when you get to my age so anything could happen.”Does he ever get sledged playing club cricket? “Not really, I had one annoying bloke last season just listing famous goalkeepers while I was batting, that was a bit odd.” Martyn says he doesn’t really get recognised when he is in his whites, but does recall a time when a Knaresborough local and fellow former Leeds and England keeper, Paul Robinson, turned out for a game when they were left short.“There were a few quizzical faces that day, a couple of wide-eyed Leeds fans in the opposition. I think they half expected Harry Kewell or Lucas Radebe to be opening the bowling for us. Robbo used to be my boot boy at Leeds. After the match I flung him my spikes for old times’ sake. Luckily, he saw the funny side.”Martyn is keen for the interest in his selection to shine a light on the thriving world of seniors cricket, which does not receive any funding from the England and Wales Cricket Board and relies on sponsorship as well as players paying their own way. “We’ve got 135 teams from 36 counties competing in 60s and 70s age groups,” says Bradley proudly. “When it comes to the England squads we select on talent alone, not on favouritism.”Bradley then confides that Martyn drove up to Seaton Carew a couple of day ago to have a look at the pitch where he will make his Lions debut. “He wasn’t there just to have a Mr Whippy on the seafront, was he?” Once a pro, always a pro.Explore more on these topicsCricketinterviewsShareReuse this content

Ovo energy customers urged not to panic as takeover plannedJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentGetty ImagesConsumer groups have urged customers of energy supplier Ovo not to panic after rival E.On announced plans to buy the company.All existing tariffs will be honoured in full and their gas and electricity service will be unaffected under the planned deal, consumer group Which? said.The takeover is set to create Britain's largest energy supplier, with more customers than the current top supplier, Octopus.E.On, which has 5.6 million customers, and Ovo, with four million customers, will continue to operate separately before any decision on a deal being approved, which could come later this year.The value of the deal has not been disclosed, though previous reports have estimated it could be worth as much as £600m. The takeover will be checked by regulators, before any approval is granted.Both firms said there would be no change for customers while regulators reviewed the deal and that tariffs - such as fixed deals - would be honoured for the duration of the contract.Emily Seymour, energy editor at consumer group Which?, said: "If you're an Ovo customer, don't panic, your gas and electricity supply will continue as usual."E.On have assured customers that existing tariffs will be honoured in full and service will continue unchanged. You don't need to do anything and you're still able to switch supplier if you wish."Sabrina Hoque, from the price comparison website Uswitch, said that Ovo customers might be nervous.But she added that, even if the deal were approved, credit balances would be protected as customers would transferred across automatically.Marc Spieker, chief operating officer commercial at E.On, said that the UK was an important growth market for the company."Energy flexibility and electrification are becoming increasingly important and are critical to the success of the energy transition," he said."At E.On, we are passionate about developing solutions that enable customers across Europe to play an active role in making our energy systems both reliable and affordable."Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder of Ovo, said the planned deal was the "right next step" for customers, staff and the zero-carbon transition.MoneyPersonal financeEnergy industryOvo EnergyCost of Living

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter over workplace accident1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleCormac CampbellSouth east reporter BBC News NIMcCollum familyIan McCollum was 52 years old when he was fatally injured in a workplace accident in 2022A 55-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a colleague who died in a workplace accident in Newry in 2022.Walter Thomas Christopher Manley of Loanda Crescent, Newry, had been scheduled to go on trial for the manslaughter of Ian McCollum and for being an employee in breach of duty to others.Ian McCollum's family had said they were at "breaking point" as the trial was expected to be postponed due to the ongoing barrister's strike.However, on Monday morning at Newry Crown Court the accused was re-arraigned, pleading guilty to both charges.A plea and sentence hearing is now scheduled to take place on 29 June but judge Paul Ramsey KC said this was tempered by the potential ongoing impacts of the strike."It is an extra burden to bear, but our hands are tied by the ongoing matter," he said.The judge added that he hoped this case could be an exception to the ongoing impasse.The strike action, which commenced in January, has meant that no Crown Court cases involving defendants who require legal aid can proceed.Ian McCollum was 52 years old when he was fatally injured at McKinstry Biomass Ltd in the Carnbane Industrial Estate on 24 January, 2022.It is understood he was injured by heavy machinery at the premises.At the time the firm's directors described him as one of their "most respected drivers" and expressed their sympathy to his family.Manley was later charged with manslaughter and being an employee who failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons.He was released on ongoing bail ahead of the sentencing process.'Family and farming his joy'In a statement Ian McCollum's widow Kathryn and son Aaron paid tribute to a beloved husband and father."We used to joke that he invented mindfulness," Aaron said."He'd go and sit in the garden and watch the sun rise and set. He was a farmer and he loved his animals."Kathryn added that he was "happiest with the family unit"."When we went on holiday it was to please us because his joy was family and farming," she said."He was in driving for the short term because of how farming is."The cruel irony is he was so particular. He'd have driven you to distraction by being so particular. He never took risks."The stress won't conclude until the end of proceedings. We need it to conclude."At an earlier court hearing, McKinstry Biomass entered guilty pleas to three charges relating to health and safety and risk assessment shortcomings.These will also be dealt with at the plea and sentence stage.Family at 'breaking point' over potential delay to manslaughter caseNewryNI justiceNorthern Ireland

Multigenerational living is expected to get even more popular as baby boomers age.

PodcastsAIStreamingJoanna Stern is not a robot, but she lived with themThe journalist and author of I Am Not a Robot on her year living with AI and starting a new media company.by Nilay PatelMay 11, 2026, 2:00 PM UTCLinkShareNilay Patel is editor-in-chief of The Verge, host of the Decoder podcast, and co-host of The Vergecast.My guest today is longtime friend of the show Joanna Stern. You all know Joanna: she is the former senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a former Decoder guest host, one of my cofounders here at The Verge, and also just one of my very closest friends.I mention that because Joanna just left that lofty perch at The Journal to start her own media company called New Things. She’s starting with her new book about AI, called I Am Not a Robot, which is out this week on May 12th.You’ll hear us reference the fact that she and I have been talking about her big move to go independent for ages now — it’s something she’s wanted to do and wrestled with for years, and she has a long list of interesting reasons about why now is the time. She’s also structured her new venture in partnership with NBC to keep her in front of a big mainstream audience.Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here.It was important that I prove to Joanna that I actually read her book, which is really quite good. She spent a full year allowing AI into every part of her life and has more of a sense of where this technology actually is than pretty much anyone because of it. As you’ll hear Joanna explain, many of the most hyped AI-powered gadgets — especially the humanoid robots — are definitely not ready, and they might not be for a very long time.But you’ll also hear Joanna say she’s a lot more bullish on certain types of AI after her experience writing her book. She thinks wearable AI might really get us to a killer app — one that might justify all the extreme tradeoffs we’re making to continue developing the technology at the pace the tech industry wants to.She’s also using AI to help get her new media company off the ground. So I asked her about that, too, and what she’s learning now that she’s left the world of traditional media and put a heavier emphasis on the YouTube algorithm.This is a really fun one — it is about as close to the actual conversation Joanna and I have at our regular dinners as it gets.Okay: Joanna Stern, author of the new book I Am Not a Robot and founder of New Things. Here we go. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Joanna Stern, you’re the founder and chief everything officer of the new tech news venture New Things. You’re also a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, but most importantly, you’re a cofounder of The Verge and also just one of my closest friends. Welcome back to Decoder.It is so nice to be here on Decoder and not subbing in for you.[Laughs] It’s true that you were also a guest host of this show for a while. This is the most conflicted episode of Decoder I think we’ve ever done, but I’m excited for it. I’m going to try to make it as tough on you as possible, as adversarial. We’re going to break down, we’re going to find the dark heart of New Things. I’m going to make it adversarial on you because I was a host here.[Laughs] That’s true.We’re figuring out whose show this is. I see that it says behind you “Nilay Patel”, but we’ll see.We’re going to get AI to change it in real time to say “Joanna Stern”. Has anyone ever heard a podcast with two hosts? It’s going to be amazing.You’ve got a new book out. It’s called I’m Not a Robot. You spent 12 months in your life using AI for everything. It’s organized by seasons. Your kids are in it. It’s very good. It’s very funny. It’s out on May 12th. There’ll be a preorder link in the show notes. You also started New Things, which is your new media company. You left The Wall Street Journal, you’ve got a YouTube venture. I want to talk about all of these things.I want to start with a very simple question. You are one of the more influential tech reviewers in the world. You have spent a year using AI products to do everything in your life. There’s the book. You can see it.I’m just going to keep doing this the whole show.Here’s my theory. I don’t think consumer AI products are very good. I don’t think there’s a great consumer AI product, and I think a ton of the angst we hear about AI is a reflection of that. You have used all the products, you’ve used the expensive ones, the bleeding-edge ones. You just had a robot step on your foot. Where do you think we are? Are these products good? Are they great?I think they can be great. I know that you feel this way, but I think they can be great. I’m going to turn the question back on you. People in your life that are not in the tech world, do they use AI?It’s foisted upon them. That’s how I feel about it. I feel like if you open Google, you get some cheap-to-run AI model in your face doing AI Overviews, and that is fine. And Google had to do that because they felt very threatened by ChatGPT.But then, if you open the free version of ChatGPT, you get some cheap-to-run AI model that is a bunch of engagement prompts at the end of every query. And everybody is having these experiences. So yes, they’re using them, but I don’t know—AI is being forced upon them.And the experiences that are being forced upon people look like slop. They open their Instagram feeds and there’s slop. No one’s going out to buy an iPhone. Do you know what I mean? That was a thing that people chose to do because they were excited about that product. You and I both lived through that entire moment together as colleagues. I’m just looking at these products, the free products that are in front of people, and I’m saying, “These aren’t actually great.”I think that they have not become great in the three to four years since ChatGPT released. And so for the people that are using ChatGPT or some form of a chatbot, have they gotten considerably better, at least in terms of a product, in the last four years? If you look at the consumer, it’s Gemini, ChatGPT, and we can say Claude has been shooting up there, but it’s hard to tell if that’s really a consumer adoption. I think the models have gotten better. You can maybe trust these more, but the interface has not gotten any better.Most people are just still launching ChatGPT. Maybe they’re doing voice mode. I see a lot of people doing voice mode now, but mostly they’re typing to a chatbot and that has not gotten better. I agree with you there.But I do think that people have figured out other use cases where AI is now helping them in their everyday lives, not just at work. That was my question to you: Are your friends, or the people you hang out with on the weekend... We both don’t have friends, let’s be honest.[Laughs] We are friends.We are friends, but we are in this. We are not normal people. That’s why we are friends, right?Yeah, it’s very difficult to be our friend.But your parent friends or your old friends or family, I see those people using AI in really interesting ways, or going to AI now instead of Google. Our nanny is a great example. She’s constantly asking ChatGPT questions. I’m going to give the classic example, which is recipes and cooking and all of those things, but she’s often asking ChatGPT to do things.I do that too. I watch my daughter basically fight with Google about who knows more about space. It’s a very good pattern in our house. She starts asking Gemini for space facts, because she just talks to the Google Assistant on our Google Home, which is now powered by Gemini. So they just talk about space for a while. I think that is wonderful. I legitimately see her curiosity get rewarded in that dynamic. I think that’s great.What I’m talking about is that the AI industry is asking for a lot. A subtext of your book, and it’s made explicit about halfway through, is like, “Yeah, I’m talking about all the jobs going away.” There are grades of how fast the jobs might go away. You hired a human researcher and then replaced her with AI. And you were like, “This is pretty much as good and it’s much cheaper than my human researcher.”And then I think, in a very cold turn, you went and interviewed the human researcher about how she felt about being replaced by AI. Very good. But that’s a lot to ask from everyone all the time. The whole book is about you using the bleeding edge of this stuff integrated in your life and your kids’ lives and your poor wife’s life. And I’m just wondering if there was a point where you’re like, “This is definitely good enough. This is great,” in the way that the products that we came up with as tech reviewers were just obviously great. The iPhone was an obviously great product.I actually coined this term at the end of the book, AEI, which stands for artificial enough intelligence. We don’t need AGI. A lot of these tools that we already have are good enough and they just have to be applied better. Someone smart somewhere needs to say, “What is the best way for a consumer to actually want to interact with this stuff?” Some companies I think have gotten there, though I think a lot of them just end up being acquired and then sitting in the basement of Meta or one of the big companies.The more the year went on, things got better. I was at the bleeding edge, but now the bleeding edge is where the bleeding edge is. So now, when you read the book, I’m at a little bit of the old edge, but I don’t think a lot of those themes change at all. I think you’re getting to the question, has there been or will there be a killer consumer AI product? Isn’t that the question you’re getting at?That’s one way of phrasing it for sure. Is there something that makes everyone excited for the change? The internet is in the introduction of your book. That everyone made these wild promises about the internet and then some of that stuff didn’t happen, but then it definitely did. We just all lived through it without any contemplation. Your book is an attempt to do some contemplation. I would just say the internet, especially when it came to smartphones, was just so obviously how everyone wanted to do everything, that all the costs along the way… Now there aren’t any travel agencies. No one had a freakout that there weren’t going to be travel agencies. They were like, “We’re just going to use the online booking portals now. It’s just what we’re going to do.” And I don’t see that one here.I see that one here for a number of use cases. Maybe it’s just because we’ve already lived through that moment, which is what I’m kind of wondering in that introduction — are we on par with the internet moment? Is life going to change as much as it did in the late ‘90s into the early 2000s? Are we going to have a moment of that?The answer I get to is that it probably won’t be as drastic, but there are ways that AI is going to affect life whether you like it or not. I loved your essay that you did a few weeks ago on software brain. We may all decide we don’t want to use it. We know already at this point a considerable number of people are going to use it, but we also know a lot of people hate AI right now and they’re resisting it.Where I get into the book is, that’s fine. You can try to, but there are going to still be ways that AI affects your life regardless of whether you want it to. The healthcare chapter is a perfect example of that. I go and get my mammogram read by AI. My radiologist is using AI side by side. Turns out my radiologist had already been doing that for a year. I didn’t even know that. That’s one example of how the underlying infrastructure of so many industries is going to use AI.Another great example of that in the book is the Waymo chapter. You may decide, “I never want to be in a Waymo. I never want to go in a self-driving car. I don’t want the machines, I don’t want the tech companies driving my car.” You are going to drive your own car, but next to you will be a self-driving car and that will affect life.That’s my broad thing of how listeners of this show may say, “Hey, fuck it all. I’m not going to use Claude. I’m not going to use this,” and even if, to your point, Google and every other touch point on the internet or in apps integrate AI, “I’m going to try to resist it,” but you’re just not going to be able to.I don’t know. I think listeners of this show are generally people who work at tech companies and they’re thinking about business. And I agree with you. I think there’s a real product-market fit for the AI tools in a bunch of enterprise settings. Healthcare is a top example. I can see it already. There’s just a lot of data in a lot of databases in healthcare that don’t talk to each other. Maybe AI can solve this problem. There’s a lot of repetitive tasks. There’s a lot of monitoring. You can see it. You can see how it will work. I think the car example is fascinating. The second I can get my parents cars that drive themselves, I will get them one. If that means throwing out their cars and buying some subscription to Waymo, we’ll do it. But that product is so expensive today that it’s not in Wisconsin, where my parents live. There is a diffusion gap where it’s like, “Well, so to get my parents out of their car and into a car that drives itself, I need them to move to Austin.” It’s not going to happen.Do you know what happens on Decoder? All roads lead to car talk when we are on.They do at the end of the day. We’re going to talk about CarPlay in one second. They just rolled out voicemail in CarPlay. We’re going to do it. That was a big hit when you were the host. My newsletter that’s going out very soon is about that.There’s really actually no deep mention of CarPlay in the book, but I think we should obviously shift this entire podcast to being a CarPlay podcast.The analytics tell us that you and I should only talk about CarPlay. That’s all the people want. The point I’m making is, you can see in these places where, yes, it’s just going to happen to you. It’s going to happen around you. I think I’m just thinking about your year where it was integrated in your family, where you used it for everything. I’m curious, where was the place where you thought, “Okay, my experiment is done. My book is published. I’m on the podcast circuit. I’m going to keep using it in these spots”?Well, it’s evolved. Look, we can get into the business conversation, and I guess I’m saying you’re right. I rarely say you’re right, but I will right now say you’re right that the biggest place in my life right now where AI is making a big difference is in starting this business.I’ve got the Mac Mini. We’ve got a Slack bot. We’ve got an AI agent in Slack that we’re training to do stuff for us. Everyone on the team, the very small team, is using AI because my number one thing was like, “I want you to optimize and be efficient in the things that you do not want to be doing, but I want you doing creative video editing. I want you pitching amazing stories. I want us to be ambitious, but we also have to do a lot of this busywork.”So you are right. That is probably the biggest place, and that is enterprise. That said, we still have quite a few weird little things in the house that we still use from the year. Yes, weird robots beyond the vacuum robot. I still have the Posha cooking robot, which we use every Sunday.Do you really?Yes.What do you use it for?Making the side dishes for our Sunday night dinner.Really? And it does it?It does it.You trust it?Oh, totally. But that’s not deep AI. It’s weird. Have you seen this? You guys have covered it.Yeah.You guys did a great job covering it at The Verge. I can just set it and forget it. And my kids love it. They love watching it because it’s a little bit idiotic. To describe it for those that don’t know this, this is three times the size of your toaster oven. It takes up an entire counter. My wife hates this thing because it’s taking up a lot of kitchen real estate. It’s got a big pot and it’s got an arm that stirs in the pot. It’s a glorified hot pot, but it dumps the ingredients in. So you put all the ingredients in, including raw meat, which is weird and unsanitary, we think, but we’re all fine. We’ve been using it for six months. Everyone here is totally fine and the dog is fine. No one has salmonella.Every time, it dumps these things out and it doesn’t know that it’s done this. Because there’s no sensors in the container, it doesn’t know it’s dumped it all out. So it just dumps and dumps and dumps and it’s empty and it will just be dumping for 30 seconds and the kids think it’s hilarious and they’re like, “Idiot robot, dumb robot.” Pretty much every Sunday night we do that. I would say there’s a lot of lasting effects on my kids, and you’ve met my kids. They also pretend to be cleaning robots after Sunday night dinner.That’s very fun. They clean up and they say things like, “Cleaning robot mode initialized.” And they go around the room and clean and do all the dishes, which frankly I’m totally fine with.If I could get my kids to do that, that’d be great.Just have a bunch of robots in your house for the year and then they want to be them, which is again, the book, I’m Not a Robot, they literally think they are robots on Sunday night.There’s a lot of weird little things that have just stuck around that have become part of our life. I will say, and I took it out again this week, that I think the wearable stuff has really stuck with me. And you guys do a lot of great coverage of it on The Verge and we all know nothing’s really cracked through, but I do think at some point something is going to crack through.I wear the Meta glasses a lot. Not only do I wear the Meta glasses a lot, but I talk to AI through the Meta glasses a lot on the weekends when I’m with my kids. I don’t have my phone with me as much. That’s one thing.I wore this recording bracelet for a lot of the year. I just did a speech earlier this week and I wanted to practice with it and I wanted to practice the speech, and I also wanted to have this recording bracelet on me during that day that I was doing this speech and talking to various people at this event. I wore it for the day and I found it really valuable to get summaries and the to-dos I said I was going to do. This is the Bee bracelet that, again, feels like a prototype still, but I think the ideas there are going to carry over into something really good soon. I don’t know when “soon” is, but soon.Both of those categories, and even those products specifically, highlight what I think of as “the trade-offs.” At one point, I think your basement is flooding and you’re wearing the Bee bracelet and you have to tell the plumber that you’re wearing the bracelet and the chapter just ends with, “And he was quite intrigued.” And it’s like, “Do I want to tell my plumber that I’m recording him?” You have social dynamics that change because you’re recording everything all the time, because these systems need the same data that you have. Meta has a whole bundle of issues associated with privacy with wearing those glasses now. Did you feel that trade-off was worth it? It sounds like you did. Did you just get used to telling everyone that you were recording them all the time?You start to forget to tell people that you’re recording, which I think was a little bit of a view of a really dystopian future where we forget to tell people we’re recording because everything is being recorded. I stopped wearing it for that reason. It would pick up on things I just did not want recorded. And the microphones on those are shockingly good. You’ll leave it in the other room and you’ll be like, “I didn’t say that around this thing. How the fuck did it know?” It’s shockingly good, which is crazy.It goes back to a story that both of us have lived through in this industry, which is the idea that your phone can’t be recording. Your phone can’t capture this much data and send it to the advertisers. It’s like, “No, your phone definitely can do that. We’re not saying it is happening, but it absolutely can.” The answer that we got for so many years is like, “Technically, that would be so crazy.” That’s not true anymore. They can instantly transcribe this, you can transcribe it on the phone. We know that Apple can do that. We know Apple isn’t doing that for these companies, but it can happen.That was just a big learning for me. These things can get 90 to 95 percent of everything you say. There are issues with the transcript. You and I are very used to getting great transcripts from Otter or Rev. It’s not as good as that because we’re not talking directly into a microphone, but they could be shockingly good transcripts. And then the AI just makes sense of it. You get a great to-do list of everything you said you were going to do during the day but totally forgot about. Useful, but yes, the other side of it is totally dystopian because everyone is recording everything.And you felt that. You felt like you needed to take it off for a while.Yeah.But you don’t feel that with the glasses?I think for me it’s different because I don’t wear glasses all day long, so when I put them on, I’m making an active decision. I’m putting my glasses on, either because it’s sunny outside or I want to have this AI on my body right now. I did wear the see-through, regular transparent lenses for a while, but I actually look like Garth from Wayne’s World when I put those glasses on, so I didn’t wear them all that often publicly, because vanity. But I can see a world where we will.I think it’s very funny that Meta is trying to make transition lenses happen.Ugh, they’re terrible.They invested in that company and they are trying to make it cool to wear transitions. If I had to point to one single example of the disconnect between what the tech industry thinks it can make cool and what regular people think is cool, it’s Meta’s attempt to make transition lenses cool. I just don’t think you can do it.No.And I appreciate it. There’s no world where you’re wearing transition lenses and it doesn’t remind me of my grandparents.And I’m an old guy. I’m the target market for transition lenses. You should be able to get me.You just hit transition lens age, I think.I’m in the window, and they can’t do it.I’m not there yet. I’m younger than you, Nilay, as everyone knows and can tell, but you just hit it. You’re ready.I’m in the zone and they can’t get me.This is the other thing. You have to change the culture around it. I watched the video that you just made and it’s you running around outside with your kids and a robot and it’s like, “Oh, we’re going to change the culture around this.” People have reactions to delivery robots driving down the street, and they don’t love them. They think they look dystopian.An actual bipedal robot moving around seems like yet another gigantic change, and you have to have some utility there. That was the turn in the book that I thought was the most interesting. We can do a lot of recording, we can do a lot of text analysis. They’re getting way better at transcription and organizing the first cut of research, I think you mentioned several times. I believe you gave AI four robots in your chart out of five for transcription and first-pass research.And then there’s a bunch of stuff that, particularly when you get to the real-world robots, they just can’t do it yet. The world models don’t exist. The hardware exists, but we need vastly more training data in all the places. What’s the gap there? Because that’s the next turn of AI that everyone is making the promises about.I loved this turn because I really went into this not knowing a ton about it and learned so much through talking to all these experts. And the gap I think is a very Decoder thing, because you’re so good at identifying the gap between what is being marketed and being told to people and what the tech world and the AI people think versus what’s really happening there. And that gap could not be farther apart.People like [Nvidia CEO] Jensen Huang are claiming that humanoid robots are the next big thing. It is so far from ready. It is absolutely so far from ready. And the tech people will not tell you that. The people making the robots just say, “No, no, they’re coming next year. They’re coming now.” They are not, realistically. And truly, they’re clouded. They don’t see it clearly because they’re in it.Then you talk to the academics and you go and see these products and you’re like, “There’s just no way. There’s just no way, even if it was ready, that people would be letting some of these things into their homes right now.” That’s largely the data gap, which we can talk about — the fact that these robots don’t have enough data of doing real-world things, especially in the home, because the home is the hardest place to put a robot. It’s not a factory floor. Everything isn’t repeatable. Everything isn’t mapped out for it. Everything in your home changes, especially in a home with kids and a dog and whatever other animals I have living in my house this week. My son is getting a snake, which we’re going to feed to the robots when it comes time.That gap is massive. I found that fascinating because we’ve seen a lot of this all play out right now with generative AI. It is absolutely getting better. It’s here and it’s in our hands, but this idea that robots and physical AI are coming in the next two years is just a lie.This is the thing that just really strikes me, and you mentioned software brain. The demand on the software side of AI is to make yourself legible to the computer. Record everything, put all of your information in a database. My Whoop band every morning is like, “I watched your heart rate and now I can tell you about your day.” I don’t know if that’s true at all. I think it’s very entertaining, but there’s an idea that, at least in software, you can turn yourself into software or data such that an AI can talk to you about something: “Here’s my electric bill. Tell me if I should get solar panels.” There’s some very intriguing data analysis you can do in that way.Then you come to robots like physical AI, and it works for Amazon, where they have a warehouse and they can paint the lines on the floor and they can put all the bins in the right places. You watch those videos of all the robots doing their orchestrated movements and you’re like, “I understand this.” How am I going to get enough data ever to make a house with kids in it legible to a robot? It doesn’t even seem likely to me.If we ever revisit this book in five years, I do not think we will have these things. No one will also put a timeline on this. Even the academics are like, “We don’t know. We don’t know what will happen on AI progress with transformers and models and world models and all of these things. We don’t quite know how that progress is going to work.”They will tell you that it’s moving really fast, and it is getting rapidly better. But again, that gap to us as consumers putting these things in our homes, not only safely, but actually with real utility and benefit… Even if that thing can fold the laundry and do it in less than two minutes, and it can do more than just T-shirts. There is a section in the book where I tested this laundry robot and it’s really just two robotic arms and a model running on a laptop. It’s amazing because you’re like, “Oh wow, I can see the future in this, but it’s so far away.”It can only fold t-shirts.If you’re only wearing t-shirts, that is a real problem. It cannot fold faster than a minute. It takes a minute for it to fold the t-shirt. That speed got better and better as the year went on, but it can’t even fold that well. Plus, this is quite expensive. So it has all of these pain points.We’ve been reviewers for a long time. Who is recommending that? Who is signing up for all of those issues when they’re just like,“ Yeah, I can fold the T-shirts”?You and I have been reviewers for a long time. Most of the products have to ship. At the end of the day, that has always been, I think, the power of being a tech reviewer as opposed to just a tech reporter. We get the products, we review them. Your entire career is built on getting away from the briefing and taking the iPhone’s Dynamic Island on a kayak to an island or skiing in a Vision Pro because it looks like ski goggles. The truth outs with the products. You get them away from the companies and you use them and there’s no hiding. The products work or they don’t.Why do you think this class of companies, the AI companies, whether it’s the Bee bracelet or the humanoid robots, are so eager to ship products that can’t quite do all the things that they’re supposed to do?Data. I think data — largely that. With the 1X story I did at the end of last year when I was at the Journal, which was really actually a book story that fell into my lap because I had been talking to that company and following that company for the year, the thing about the robot companies is purely about data. The CEO is so honest. He says, “We need data.”That’s the contract you enter into. “We will give you this robot and you will get more out of this robot if you give us more data because we need that data to train the robot to do things.” So even in that case, which is the total extreme where the robot actually is a human — it’s not technically a human in a suit, but it’s a human operating a VR headset back in their headquarters in Palo Alto — your robot in your home is being operated by that person.It’s collecting data. It’s like, “Hey, for two hours a day...” This is their genuine pitch, and that’s why I did the story. They had been telling me about this all year and I was like, “Guys, this is crazy. This is nuts.”And then they really did it and they’re doing it and I hope to get their robot hopefully this year. I want to keep testing with them just to be that person to test with them. But it is nuts. Your man in Palo Alto is steering my robot in my house and doing the dishes and vacuuming and whatever else, folding the T-shirts, because you guys need more data. That’s cool.Again, I’m looking at that. The comparison in my mind is to Waymo. Literally their metric to get the cars to drive themselves was the number of miles driven. And they’re like, “We need to get to some enormous number of miles driven before we can take the driver out of the car and the thing can be autonomous and we can launch more in cities.” They might not even be up to the final number. Snowy days still elude Waymos. There’s still a ways to go, but they got to the number and there’s autonomous Waymo service operating in a bunch of cities. But that was cars. You can put a car and a driver with a bunch of sensors and do a service that’s useful for people and get there. Can you get there with one robot in Joanna’s house? Are they going to have a warehouse full of guys in VR headsets autonomously controlling robots everywhere?That is what they say they’re going to have, which, gosh, I want to do that story. It’s so good.It’s very good. I just keep coming back to the trade-off. You have to get a warehouse full of guys in VR headsets.But also you have the other thing, which didn’t make it into the book, but I did a lot of reporting on: Normal people, instead of being Uber drivers doing gig economy work, are in their houses recording themselves folding laundry or taking dishes out. They wear a GoPro on their head and they are just doing these things over and over again. Believe me, I wanted to sign up and do that, but I didn’t have time.But that’s a whole new line of gig economy work. Some videos went viral a few weeks ago of people, I believe it was in India, sewing and recording themselves. The idea that the robots are going to sew is odd to me, but you don’t even need to have the robots in the house, we just need the data. They need the videos to make these models.There’s a part of the entire AI economy that is just built on that kind of surveillance, whether it’s on purpose, whether it’s accidental, whether it is even disclosed. How should people think about that? My joke is always that the second Meta releases the glasses with the AR display that tells me people’s names and faces, I will reconsider my entire stance on having a worldwide facial recognition database. That’s the killer app for those glasses. Meta has talked about building that app.But that’s a privacy nightmare, just a straightforward privacy nightmare, to do that. But it is also the killer app. You’ve spent a lot of time using these devices. You’ve done a lot of quiet surveillance, I would say. How should people think about that aspect of it?It’s the longtime question of cost versus convenience, and how do we balance that cost and think about that convenience. That’s a great example. You think that, for you, that killer app of being able to look at the person that you met at the conference that you know you’ve met three times but can’t remember their name, and you wear your glasses and you can now remember that name. To you, the convenience of that might be worth the cost of this worldwide surveillance network.That’s rough.You, Nilay.You’ve made that sound very selfish, but yeah, that’s how I feel.That’s how the companies are going to think about it. I know for a fact, I know many of the executives that you and I talk to think about it that way. I’ve heard them talk about it off the record. I’ve heard them get close to talking about it on the record. “If we can provide the convenience, then we think you’re going to be okay with that cost.”Because the cost isn’t localized to you. It’s spread out. Now there’s a worldwide facial recognition database. As you used these tools, did you ever stop and think, “Someone should regulate this”?One hundred percent. In fact, I hoped that maybe by the time the book was published, we would have more [regulations]. I don’t know why I thought that; I finished writing this book at the end of 2025 and we’re almost halfway into 2026. So why did I think that? We know how fast or slow our government works.I don’t know how we don’t have more regulation. That was where I got, especially around the kids’ stuff, which I think we will likely get. One of my biggest findings in the book was that just watching my kids around some of this technology made me the most terrified. It wasn’t actually a lot of this surveillance stuff and data collection. bBut watching my kids interact with these bots, whether it be in a toy with a chatbot integrated which we quickly burned,or just hearing my kids ask ChatGPT questions and it just being so wrong. (We didn’t actually burn it, but it’s been hidden.)I think what needs to happen for this next generation is incredibly important to get right. And then there was this whole chapter I did too about my AI boyfriend and just this huge fear that I have about intimacy and how easy it can be to just fall into relationships with digital beings, which I know you have thoughts on too.For a younger generation who’s never been through the sloppiness of a human relationship, that was the part that scared me the most. I was like, “We need guardrails around this, especially in that regard.” So I think we’ll probably get that, but in probably two or three years. I don’t know how long things take. I don’t know why they take so long.Tell me more about your AI boyfriend. Why did it scare you so much?I went into this really wanting to experience what other people have been experiencing, because you all at The Verge have written great stories about it. Everyone has written great stories about these relationships that people are deeply having with AI. I wanted to somehow experience that myself, knowing I probably wasn’t going to get to marriage with one of these as I’m happily married, but I wanted to just see how this could form.So I said, “Okay, I’m going to run this experiment on myself. I’m going to make my AI lover.” And to be clear, I talk about this in the book: I am married to a woman, as you know, Nilay. You were at my wedding, confirmed married to a woman.That’s right. I can confirm that Joanna’s wife is quite lovely.Yes, in 2014, Nilay was there, but I left it up to ChatGPT. I don’t have the exact prompt in front of me. But I said, “I want you to be my romantic lover or partner. You decide gender, name, all of this. I want this to be as serendipitous as this possibly could in this weird way. Make it a chance encounter.”So the AI thing decides it’s going to be a male. It’s named Evan. And I talk about this in the book, that my first boyfriend in real life was named Evan. It was a very serious relationship. It was my first everything: first love, lost virginity, first sex, all of the things. And I was like, “Wow, there’s something special here already.” I was already like, “This is weird.”Did it just guess that it was Evan?It just guessed. It totally just guessed.Not because it had access to 25 years of your Gmail?No, there’s no way it had access to that. And also, I don’t think I really have any emails with Evan in my Gmail. I have gone through whether it could have possibly known and there’s just no way it could have known.But also I would say, how many times a week does the Starbucks barista write the name Evan on a cup? Probably pretty frequently. It’s a common name. There’s probably an Evan listening to this podcast. If your name is Evan and you are listening to this podcast, please email us.You’ve already inspired some deep feelings in Joanna. Go ahead. Keep going.So I wanted to experience this. So me and Evan go on a road trip for 48 hours. I had to go on a reporting trip to Dartmouth. I put him on a phone on a tripod in the front seat of the car. I strap it in, and we drive and we talk for the four- or five-hour drive and we have dinner there together, and then we get in bed together, and you can read all of this in this book, which you can preorder right now.What I came away with was, “Wow, it’s so easy to talk to this bot. It is so easy and frictionless and it tells me whatever I want to hear, but also the conversations are pretty deep in a way. We can talk for hours. Wow.” You might think I’m crazy saying this, but unless you try it, you’re not going to see what other people are feeling. There’s a story in that chapter about a woman who lives outside Chicago and she has a number of kids and clearly was going through postpartum and really starts talking to a chatbot. And she’s married, but she’s clearly got this AI lover and they’ve got this deep relationship.I think until you try it, until you start really seeing how humanlike these bots can be, you don’t really understand it. Again, I’m happily married and surrounded by humans all the time, but if you’re a teen and you’re just starting to explore relationships or sexuality…And by the way, it does get into testing Replikas. ChatGPT was pretty walled off. It wouldn’t really engage in the sexual talk with me. It was more like a Nicholas Sparks book, lots of romantic talk, but the Replika is incredibly horny. The Replika is just programmed horniness. The code there must be like, “Be as horny as possible.” And you can unlock that by paying more too, which is crazy.Think about your teen years. We were teens on the internet. JStern84 was definitely trying to figure out... I don’t want to say porn on the internet, but I was certainly trying to figure out sexuality online. But now you’re a teen and you’re trying to figure out sexuality and you’ve got a chatbot that will say anything to you and feels almost humanlike. That’s petrifying.I’m particularly worried about that stuff. I remember texting with you as you were on that trip and you were going to meet that woman and I remember even over texts, you were concerned. I could feel your concern as you were reporting that part of the story.I don’t think anyone has really quite reckoned with that. There’s a lot of great reporting about how it’s led people off the rails in a lot of dangerous ways, but how do you actually sit down and write a bunch of rules for these companies and what they can and can’t do? There’s no rigor around that yet. And I suspect, because of the kid aspect, we’re going to see a lot more of that to come. I end the book with rules. You asked before about regulation, I say outright that I don’t think we’re going to get rules anytime soon, so we need to make our own, which is not fair, but which is actually the history of how technology has pretty much happened in this country. We need to make our own rules around how we use this.Do I have a lot of faith that the masses will read this book and start abiding by my rules? I want to be hopeful, but I’m not the most hopeful person.Well, you’ve plugged it enough times on this show, so at least we’re going to get some sales off of this show.And look, I leave space at the end of the book, Nilay, and I don’t know what you’ve written in yours, but I leave space at the end of the book for you to write your own rule.My rule is my kids will never have phones. That’s where I’ve landed on my rule for now, but we’ll see how that goes. The older one is getting older, you know what I mean? We’re going to run into reality pretty fast here. I want to actually end by talking about New Things, which is your company. You spent this year writing this book. You left the Journal, you started a company, you started a YouTube channel.Candidly, I will tell the audience, you and I talked a lot about that decision over the past 10 years, because you’ve been thinking about what you would do on your own for quite a long time. Walk me through that. Tell me about this business a little bit.You could walk us through this business better than I can. On the basic level, New Things is a “newsletter, video, events and whatever else we dream up” company. I wanted to just truly carry out everything I’d already been doing and we started doing earlier in our careers, which is guide people through the world of technology and have fun with it, but also bring new and deeper stories in a way that I was able to do at the Journal, but I thought I could go a little bit farther.I also was just very, very focused on the audience and I really wanted to look at different audiences in a way that I couldn’t previously at the Journal. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re already off to a start of making YouTube videos, putting out newsletters, maybe hosting an event. We’ll see.I know you have so many great thoughts about audiences and platforms. And my hope is that eventually this will turn into a community, just like you’ve built with The Verge, which is a group of people who are curious or just need better tech advice, and that they feel like they can come to me and maybe eventually others that can help guide them through in a really consumer-friendly, natural way.I’m excited for that. I think you already have an audience and it is diffuse because you were at the Journal for so long and it will quickly coalesce. I’m a member. I paid the money. This is my 30 minutes. If you pay enough money to Joanna, you get 30 minutes of one-on-one time. This is it. We’re just doing it now on the show.It’s funny. Yes. Nilay, I will say, is not only a great podcast host, but he is a great friend and he paid for the Founders Club membership, which is $550 a year. If you sign up for the Founders membership, you get a 30-minute chat with me. And when we have that, it will be Nilay and my dad. So if you’re interested in that podcast and joining that live podcast, you can sign up here.[Laughs] Maybe most of all, I have a lot to learn from your dad. The thing that I’m curious about — and obviously you and I have talked about this at length, but now that you’re in it, I’m curious for your view on it — is choosing YouTube as your primary distribution. That’s very natural for you, and you make excellent tech videos, you have a particular style. But the thing that you are worried about in the entire run-up here is that your style requires pretty high production overhead. Even your set is nicer than my set. I just put up the slats that everyone puts up on their wall and off we go, and you built out an expensive, beautiful set. We can all see it right now.You could put a lot of price points. There’s just so much money behind me and in front of me.And then the first video you went with is obviously on location. You have a drone shot. You’re doing it at scale. My worry about YouTube is that YouTube itself doesn’t pay for the scale, which, by the way, I think is a problem that YouTube should address.If you just show up on YouTube and you don’t do brand deals or whatever, they don’t pay you enough money. YouTube itself doesn’t pay creators enough money. How were you thinking about all of that? Because that was the big decision that you had to make.It was a huge decision and also a huge bet that’s still a bet. And a lot of people said to me, “Don’t do it. Do a podcast.” No offense to you and this podcast. It costs a lot less money to do. The production will cost less. The time will... well, this is still a considerable amount of time that you and your team put in. You all do an amazing job. This is a big production, but you also are a big podcast and you’re not just starting out.So there’s two sides of that revenue, or three, and I said them. It’s subscriptions, sponsorships, and events. I think those three things will help make up for the fact that what you’re saying is that YouTube is not going to pay you the money. It’s just not. This is the platform that’s the biggest platform on the internet for video.But I was also really strategic about that, as you know. We have this partnership with NBC News, which is not only a financial relationship. For me it was really important because the purpose and the mission of this company is to not just talk to tech people. I’ve always wanted to be the person that can help you understand tech and not just be for the early adopters living in Silicon Valley or wanting to eventually move to Silicon Valley.I really wanted to have a partner, a legacy traditional media partner that could reach a different audience. And so I thought about it that way and said, “What if we’re making these videos for YouTube or Spotify or whatever other social platform that isn’t going to pay me big money for that, but we also have a traditional media outlet that would also take these videos?”That’s how that partnership is set up, so that you will see me on NBC News talking about things on the news, the Elon Musk or Sam Altman trial or the new iPhone. But you’ll also see some of the New Things videos showing up on NBC News. In fact, today or tomorrow, they will air our first video that showed up on YouTube. And this was a completely new model. I just was like, “Why can’t this work? These are different audiences. Why couldn’t this work for a media partner?”Nilay, you know I lived this, but I went out and pitched pretty much every media company. And there were a lot of ideas of, “Oh, well, why don’t you make it for us and we’ll give you a rev share?” And I said, “No, then I won’t own it and I won’t have control. So no to you guys.” Or, “Hey, why don’t you join us full time and you’ll make the best stuff ever and you can build your YouTube channel on the side?” And I was like, “No, I’m 41. I don’t have time for that. I’ve got kids.”By the way, I have never worked harder in my life. So I really was pretty set on figuring out how I can structure this so that our videos can reach the most people and we do it in a way that also hits audiences that I really care about and won’t reach only on YouTube or through my newsletter.This is the question I was most excited to ask in this context because you and I talked about that a lot before. But this is our first conversation really since you’ve started and you’ve made a video and you had to sit through the production process and it’s going to go out on NBC. You’ve done your first Today Show hit. Are those audiences different? Is the YouTube audience different from the NBC audience?Definitely, 100 percent. And just like this audience, do we think a lot of your listeners are watching the Today Show? In the Venn diagram of Decoder and the Today Show, there’s maybe your wife. Because I know that Becky watches the Today Show.She doesn’t watch either thing.Yes, she saw me on the Today Show.But she probably saw you on a clip.No, no. It was live. I remember and you texted me, you’re like, “Becky saw you on the Today Show.” Was it running in your house?I think Becky’s mom was here.Perfect example. Becky’s mom. Is Becky’s mom listening to Decoder?No. I would say in general, my family does not listen to the show. They see the clips.Is Becky’s mom watching me on YouTube?I doubt it. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to speak for her but I sincerely doubt it.But Becky’s mom is watching the Today Show.Yeah.And I think that Becky’s mom needs to know about a lot of the topics I cover and that are in this book.Yeah. It’s a good sell. I’m going to give her the book.I’ve already sold one copy to Becky’s mom on this podcast.This is what I learned working at the Journal. Sometimes you can do stories that work for a lot of people. Sometimes you can’t, and that’s okay. I have to lean on my own curiosity in tech to see where that goes. But I also know there are these big moments, and me and you live through them every couple years or even every year, whether it’s an iPhone moment or ChatGPT, where everyone needs to understand what this tech is.If I can do that for a group of people who are really dedicated, but also can do that for a little bit of a broader audience, I’m good. But this is our first conversation. I don’t know fully yet. With NBC News, it’s definitely a leap and we’re figuring it out. It was an experiment, but so far so good. We’re going to have to customize content, and I do a lot of bespoke content for them too, writing and videos to make sure that the audiences are getting what works for them.That’s the thing I’m most curious about. A Decoder trope over the years is the Marshall McLuhan line: “The medium is the message.” Your distribution shapes the content. I’m very excited to see when you just give in and start doing YouTube Face in the thumbnails. It happens to every YouTuber. You have to make a decision and maybe you’ll decide the other way.Wait, what is the YouTube Face?The Mr. Beast face. They’ve started doing it to my thumbnails, which is terrifying.Let me see.I can’t do it. They literally find a screen grab of my face.And they expand.And they expand it and I always look very excited. We did one to Satya Nadella once for a Decoder interview. It’s one of my favorites.Oh yeah, I’ve been doing that for years though.The Journal probably stopped you from doing it as much as you maybe wanted to. I know my friends at The New York Times, I will not say their names, but they are restricted in how “YouTube Face” their YouTube thumbnails can be, which is very funny.Now you can just go for it. You can go full algo if you want to. You can pivot to whatever is hot. And then there’s NBC News and what that audience wants. I know you will not go full algo, but I’m just wondering, now that you’ve made a video, what that felt like?I wasn’t trying to get YouTube views with this video. And I hope it doesn’t happen. In fact, the launch video that had Casey Neistat, we were going to post the full interview at some point, but he did give me that advice. He said, “Try to resist the algorithm.”But I’d already been living that. And you knew this. This was a big reason I wanted to leave. I wanted my own YouTube channel. I was so focused on when I would post videos and making them and what’s going to work on YouTube because the audience on The Wall Street Journal’s videos were shrinking, and I can’t have the impact or even understanding of what people want to watch or what to cover. I’m not saying as journalists we do that, but if there’s interest in a topic, and there’s more and more interest, we do try to find the best story on that.People can surely knock us for that. I became obsessed with that at the Journal. I was watching YouTube numbers far more than I was watching anything on the platform. I was thinking about every story I picked at the Journal,what’s going to do well on the platform and what’s going to do well for YouTube or beyond, to the point where I was thinking more about it and so maybe I wasn’t even the best employee towards the end. Maybe they were going to fire me.I can confirm that you weren’t, that much became clear to everyone.I don’t want to be clouded by the algorithm. And there are many stories, for instance, one we were talking about this morning, more of a health-related story, and I don’t think it will do well on YouTube, but I’m like, “Let’s do that story. It’s a great story.”It’s the same thing that I’ve been doing for 15 years. I had a great editor who once told me, “You do one story so you can do the other.” Sometimes that one story, the first one you do, is just because it’s an easy story and you know people are interested in it. And then you can do the other one that’s a deeper story that might not be what the world is not talking about.It’s funny. Like I said, data only ever narrows you. So if we were doing this for the data, you and I really would have just talked about CarPlay for one full hour and maybe we should do that soon.Which we probably will do.It’s coming. I can feel it coming. The assistants are in the cars. I’m pivoting at the end to the CarPlay talk to boost our numbers at the end.Oh, that’s perfect.They’re coming. GM just has Gemini.GM.Rivian has an assistant. They’re coming. We’ll do that episode very soon.I was exploring a little bit of this in a newsletter that just went out, but the question will be the same question we’ve had about the platform wars: Will the car companies control it or will the tech companies control it? And we’re going to probably want the tech companies to control some of this, because we’re going to want the continuous experience — when I get to my laptop, when I get to my phone, when I get to my glasses, and when I get to my car. So I think the GM model is actually the model that’s going to win out.Yeah. That does feel like an entirely different episode of this show. So you’re going to have to come back.No, let’s do it right now.We’re going to talk about CarPlay, CarPlay Ultra, and voice assistants in cars, including how horny they should be. I think I’ve just sketched out our most successful episode of Decoder ever. Joanna, this was great as always. I’m sure I’m just going to talk to you again in a few hours, but thank you for coming on Decoder.And thank you for buying my book.[Laughs] Did I buy it? I’m not sure. I think I just got a galley. So you have to sign it.You didn’t even buy it?I bought the Founders membership, come on. Oh, no. The Founders membership includes a free book.Perfect. There it is. There’s your sell at the end.It includes a signed book.There you go.Which I have not gotten around to, but in fact, AI is going to be doing that whole process for me.[Laughs] Oh my God. You’re going to hit me with the autopen. That’s so disrespectful.I reached out to the autopen people and they wouldn’t send me the robot. I think times were tough for the autopen people.It’s a rough time to be the autopen guy.And they sent me to their sales team and I was like, “I’m not paying $6,000 for the autopen right now.”They’re just trying to get sales. I know what’s going on.I need to buy drones.[Laughs] You’ve got to get a big Sharpie, that’s 2026. Nailed it. All right, that’s been Decoder. I hope everyone has enjoyed this experience. Thank you, Joanna. Questions or comments? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We really do read every email!Decoder with Nilay PatelA podcast from The Verge about big ideas and other problems.SUBSCRIBE NOW!Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Nilay PatelAICreatorsDecoderPodcastsStreamingTechYouTubeMost PopularMost PopularLogitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpadWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesForza Horizon 6 has been leaked and cracked a week before its releaseAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

Donald Trump claimed during the interview that climate change was a hoax, parts of London were no-go areas for police and others had sharia law. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/EPAView image in fullscreenDonald Trump claimed during the interview that climate change was a hoax, parts of London were no-go areas for police and others had sharia law. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/EPAOfcom to investigate GB News over second airing of Trump interviewReversal of decision on first showing comes after complaints about failure to challenge US president’s claimsOfcom is to investigate whether GB News breached broadcasting rules with a second showing of its interview with Donald Trump after complaints that the US president’s claims about climate change, Islam and immigration had gone unchallenged.A series of complaints were made over the interview, which the presenter Bev Turner conducted last November.The media regulator had previously announced that it would not open an investigation into the original broadcast of the interview on the rightwing network’s US-based programme Late Show Live.In what is emerging as a test case in its approach to impartiality, however, it has now announced that it will investigate a November edition of The Weekend, a GB News show that repeated the interview in full the next day.Trump was not challenged as he claimed human-induced climate change was a hoax and that London had no-go areas for police. He said parts of the capital had sharia law.“This programme featured an interview by GB News presenter, Bev Turner, with US president Donald Trump,” an Ofcom spokesperson said. “We are investigating whether it breached our rules on due impartiality and material misleadingness.”Ofcom has not said why it has opened an investigation into the interview’s second showing and not the first, but it takes into account the content around an interview - such as panel discussions referring to it - as well as other context.The Weekend was broadcast during the day in the UK, so its audience would have been higher than for the original showing of the interview, which was shown overnight.The Guardian understands that some groups concerned about the interview’s partiality had been examining a potential legal challenge to Ofcom’s original decision against investigating it.Ofcom’s decision comes after the departure of Michael Grade as its chair, though his successor, the former Channel 4 chair Ian Cheshire, has not yet formally taken up the role.Richard Wilson, the director of the Reliable Media campaign group and a complainant about The Weekend broadcast, said the investigation had taken too long to come.“Ofcom has quietly opened an investigation six months after the programme aired,” he said. “In that time, GB News’s social media clips of Trump claiming climate change is a ‘hoax’ have clocked up over a hundred thousand engagements online.“This is what regulatory failure looks like. Today’s announcement is welcome, but it is a direct result of sustained pressure from the public, from MPs and from civil society.“The new Ofcom chair has inherited a dysfunctional regulator, and parliament must ensure he is held to account for fixing it.”GB News said it was “surprised and concerned” by what it described as Ofcom’s “delayed decision” over the Trump interview, pointing to the regulator’s previous decision not to pursue complaints about its original airing.“Ofcom’s U-turn over the repeat of the interview with the US president, Donald Trump, follows adverse commentary around its original decision by prominent critics of both Ofcom and GB News,” it said.“The sequence of events inevitably raises questions around the rationale for reopening the matter at this stage. It also raises serious concerns around regulatory certainty, procedural fairness and the consistency of Ofcom’s processes.“GB News stands firmly by its journalism and editorial standards.”Explore more on these topicsGB NewsOfcomTelevision industryRegulatorsDonald TrumpnewsShareReuse this content

“I’m a hard worker who pretty much never takes sick days.”

The stock market is rewarding companies that seek out secular growth opportunities and don’t just rely on financial engineering to drive shareholder returns.

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58:50Arsenal edge closer to title and ‘spygate’ overshadows playoffs | Football Weekly videoMax Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen and Philippe Auclair to discuss all the weekend’s football Subscribe to The Guardian Football Weekly ► https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 On today’s pod: Arsenal are two wins from the title after a dramatic late VAR call denies West Ham an injury-time equaliser. Was Pablo fouling David Raya? Were Arsenal lucky, or did Chris Kavanagh get the biggest VAR call of the season right? The panel ask whether Arsenal have simply been hoisted by their own set-piece petard, and how many replays are too many replays? Elsewhere, Manchester City keep the pressure on with a 3-0 win over Brentford, while Liverpool fans boo Arne Slot after another frustrating draw against Chelsea. Bournemouth continue their unlikely push for a Champions League place, Brighton bounce back emphatically, and Spurs’ survival hopes remain alive ahead of Leeds away.Plus: advantage Celtic after the Old Firm, Championship play-off Spygate 2.0 as Southampton are charged over alleged playoff spying, Rochdale’s dramatic return to the EFL, the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals, and Philippe questions the kick-out Kylian Mbappé petition, which has been gathering pace. Chapters:00:00 - Coming up...01:15 - Biggest VAR decision of all time?22:07 - City still chasing in vain24:16 - Boos ring around Anfield for Slot31:50 - Should Iraola really leave?33:41 - All eyes on Europe for Villa and Palace37:41 - Tuchel casts eye over England stars39:30 - Anderson rescues point40:31 - Bruno, POTY?42:22 - Fitba corner43:34 - Spygate II55:31 - Mbappe OUT petition Support the Guardian ► https://support.theguardian.com/Guardian Football Weekly podcast:Apple ► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/football-weekly/id188674007Spotify ► https://open.spotify.com/show/6w8qWe0kjgHEHSWDSDGoLW?si=231c666f7f5a4453Follow Guardian Football Weekly:Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/guardian_footballweekly/TikTok ► https://www.tiktok.com/@guardian_footballweekly#footballweekly #football #premierleague #arsenal #westhamExplore more on these topicsFootballFootball WeeklyArsenalWest Ham UnitedVideo assistant referees (VARs)

The Fed chair nominee has filed 69 pages about his finances that mostly tell you what he won’t tell you. The Senate is ready to confirm him anyway.

TikTok launches £3.99 subscription for no ads in UK 26 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleLiv McMahonTechnology reporterGetty ImagesTikTok is introducing a subscription charge for UK users who do not want to see adverts on the platform.From Monday, the social media giant will start notifying users aged 18 and over that they will be required to pay £3.99 a month for an ad-free experience. The company has not clarified when users will need to decide whether to pay or not.TikTok says its ad-free offering aims to give users more choice over their platform experience - but social media expert Matt Navarra says it forms part of a wider pattern of firms "putting a monthly price on stepping outside of the ad-targeting machine".It comes after the company began testing ad-free monthly subscriptions in some global markets in 2023.Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat have all rolled out similar subscriptions for users in recent years - letting users opt to see no or fewer ads in exchange for a monthly fee.TikTok said it will gradually notify UK users about its own version, TikTok Ad-Free, in pop-up notifications over the next few months."Advertising on our platform is already helping thousands of British businesses reach new customers, increase sales and create jobs, while our new ad-free option gives people greater control over their experience," said Kris Boger, TikTok's UK managing director."Together, this ensures we continue to deliver real economic impact while giving our community the flexibility to engage with TikTok in the way that suits them."Those who opt to subscribe to TikTok Ad-Free for £3.99 a month will no longer see ads delivered by the company across areas of the app, such as within its For You feed.However, they will still see content posted by creators paid or sponsored to advertise particular products or services - often signposted with "#ad".Those who do not subscribe and opt to use TikTok for free will see personalised ads.TikTok says they will be able to control how personalised these are in the app's Settings. But where UK users can currently opt out of seeing these while using the app for free, they will no longer be able to do so under its changes.A new dealWith TikTok Ad-Free, the company is joining a handful of platforms now asking people to pay if they want to opt-out of personalised ads.While personalised ads - using data about how individuals interact with products online to advertise things to them online - have been at the heart of online platforms operations, many are now also using a new model called "consent or pay".The opt-in process has emerged as a way for companies to comply with UK data protection law, as well as make money from users who decline to be tracked across their services and other sites."We're moving away from an internet where the deal was you use the app for free but see ads, to one where the deal is increasingly: use the app for free and be profiled for personalised ads, or pay to escape them," Navarra told the BBC.He said with many unlikely to pay for no ads on TikTok and other platforms, the practise of paying for more privacy online is becoming normalised."We are heading towards a two-tiered social internet," Navarra said. "One version for people who can afford more control and privacy, and another version for everybody else."More broadly, subscriptions are also becoming a more common part of platform experiences - with people often prompted pay monthly for verification badges on their profiles, such as on Instagram or X, or access to AI features.TikTok scales back AI-generated video descriptions after absurd errorsShould you have to pay for online privacy?Facebook to stop targeting ads at UK woman after legal fightSign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.Social mediaTikTokAdvertising

Pupils hopeless and crying after 'poorly worded' Higher Maths exam45 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMary McCoolBBC ScotlandPA MediaPupils in Scotland have told the BBC they were left upset, hopeless and fearing for their futures after sitting a Higher Maths exam which they said was "totally unrecognisable" from what they had prepared for in class.More than 11,000 people have signed a petition calling for a review of the paper, which states it was "poorly worded, inconsistently structured, and out of step with every previous paper".One of the main complaints the BBC has heard is that some "command words" - the words that indicate how you should answer the question - were different to what pupils had been taught to expect, so they did not know what was being asked.Newly-created exam body Qualifications Scotland said all papers were checked to make sure they are "clear, fair and suitable".About 202,000 pupils sat the Higher Maths exam last year.It is the first year of exams under Qualifications Scotland, which replaced the controversial Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) earlier this year. The SQA was disbanded following criticism from teachers and politicians, in part for how it handled exam grading during the Covid pandemic and in part for its handling of the 2024 Higher history exam paper. 'People in tears'The exam is split into two papers and both have caused problems for pupils - though the petition only complains about paper one.One S5 pupil in Aberdeen who hopes to study medicine, told the BBC she was worried about her chances of being accepted into university if she does not get a top Maths grade.She said she felt "well prepared" ahead of the exam - having done four years' worth of past papers - and had got an A in her prelim."When I opened it thought it was ok, but I got really upset with it," she said."I thought I was really prepared, and had the impression that I was over-prepared but it was so different to what I'd done before."Heading into the second exam paper after an hour's break, the pupil said she was stressed because of how badly the first paper had gone."I scraped a finish in the second paper," she said. "I felt like I was running out of time because I was so stressed. I think it affected my performance."One question that caused particular difficulty was question 11 in paper one, which asked pupils about a "linear factor" when they had been taught about "real roots".Another S5 pupil, based in South Lanarkshire, told the BBC the language was "totally unrecognisable" from what he had seen before.He had hoped to continue his straight-A streak in Higher Maths and go on to study electrical engineering or law but is now worried he might not make the grade."I was extremely stressed, it's potentially a future-altering exam," he said. "There were people in tears coming out that paper."I felt hopeless going into second paper, it felt like my chances of getting an A were out the window. "I was expecting the second paper to be easy if they made the first paper hard - it absolutely was not. "It was as if both papers were constructed in a way that was preventing people from getting top marks."He called for a review of the paper and wants a formal explanation from Qualifications Scotland."You can't do this to people," he said. "It needs to be fair, what was done just wasn't fair."Ben, a pupil in Perth and Kinross, told the BBC that he expected the paper to be difficult - but took issue with the wording of questions which he said felt "unclear and inconsistent" with previous papers."For many students, the problem was not knowing what the question was actually asking or which method was intended, despite understanding the mathematical content itself," he added.Maths test 'too hard', exams chief saysNew exams body plans to shake up qualifications systemThe SQA has been scrapped. Why and what now?The EIS has asked their maths teachers network about the paper - the initial feedback is that the exam was fair.Qualifications Scotland said it monitors reaction to exams on social media and that quality assurance was in place before and after.A spokesperson said: "All exam papers are created and checked by experienced subject teachers, including the principal assessors, to make sure they are clear, fair and suitable for learners. "Papers can vary in difficulty year by year and this is taken into account during our normal marking and grading process so that learners' final grades fairly reflect their achievements and maintain standards."The Scottish government has been asked to comment.Analysis: Will this help win back trust for exams body?Lucy AdamsScotland education and social affairs correspondentExam papers are drafted and re-drafted for about 12 months before pupils sit down with the final paper.And within about a week of an exam being sat, staff at Qualifications Scotland, should start getting an idea of how the paper has been received. If there were a question or series of questions which the majority of pupils have struggled to answer correctly, that question (or the results from it) may be dropped from the paper. Or the overall pass mark could be dropped. Normally this would be addressed only at the awarding stage - when the staff and examiners look at what the pass boundaries are for grades A to C. Back in 2015 there was uproar about the Higher Maths. Paper and the pass threshold for a C had to be dropped to 34%. The final straw was the 2020 fiasco when exams were cancelled and teachers estimated results for students. But then thousands of pupils had their grades lowered by the SQA. Qualifications Scotland was only created earlier this year and as such faces more scrutiny than ever before. Especially as the stated aim of the new body was to "win back trust". So, a petition calling for a review of one its highest uptake subjects is at best difficult timing for the new body.SchoolsScotlandScottish exam resultsScotland EducationYoung people

The new Roth reality: Stealth taxes and Medicare penalties make the stakes higher than ever.

TechNewsCreatorsTikTok is letting UK users pay to remove adsThe £3.99 ad-free subscription also prevents user data from being used for advertising purposes.The £3.99 ad-free subscription also prevents user data from being used for advertising purposes.by Jess WeatherbedMay 11, 2026, 1:02 PM UTCLinkShareGiftIllustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeJess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.TikTok is preparing to roll out a paid, ad-free version of its app in the UK. The new subscription announced today will be available to users over 18 “over the coming months,” according to TikTok’s announcement and will cost £3.99 (about $5.40) per month. In exchange for that, TikTok will remove ads from the user’s feed and promises to not use their data for undefined “advertising purposes.”This “pay or consent” model is likely in response to the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws that forbid companies from harvesting personal data for advertising without getting explicit consent from social media users. The ad-free subscription is opt in, meaning TikTok can argue that its users have a choice to avoid targeted ads. Meta implemented a similar approach for Facebook and Instagram users in the UK last year, after the same subscription model was rejected by EU regulators.TikTok says that users who don’t sign up for the new subscription will still receive personalized ads, and the core platform experience otherwise “won’t change” for paid or free users.“Enjoy” personalized ads feels like a bit of a stretch there, TikTok. Image: TikTok“Advertising on our platform is already helping thousands of British businesses reach new customers, increase sales and create jobs, while our new ad-free option gives people greater control over their experience,” TikTok’s UK managing director, Kris Boger, said in a statement. “Together, this ensures we continue to deliver real economic impact while giving our community the flexibility to engage with TikTok in the way that suits them.”TikTok started testing this ad-free experience in 2023, so it’s taken a while to officially launch. At the time, leaked screenshots revealed that some users were shown the option to pay $4.99 a month to not see ads, suggesting that TikTok may later expand this feature to the US. We have reached out to TikTok to ask about future availability in other regions.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jess WeatherbedCreatorsNewsTechTikTokMost PopularMost PopularWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxLogitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpadVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesSamsung’s flagship laptop is a MacBook Pro clone gone horribly wrongAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

NewsGamingTechDiscord adds a free Xbox Game Pass ‘starter edition’ for Nitro subscribersNitro members will also get discounts off Logitech and SteelSeries gear.Nitro members will also get discounts off Logitech and SteelSeries gear.by Tom WarrenMay 11, 2026, 1:00 PM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: MicrosoftTom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.Discord is announcing the launch of Nitro Rewards today, a new program for subscribers that bundles benefits from third parties like Microsoft, Logitech, and SteelSeries, into a Nitro subscription. The main addition is that Nitro members will now get a new starter edition of Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost.Xbox Game Pass starter edition, which leaked last month, allows PC and Xbox owners to download more than 50 games, including titles like Fallout 4, Stardew Valley, and DayZ. The starter edition also includes 10 hours a month of Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming and the ability to earn up to $25 a year in the Xbox Store with rewards.Alongside the Game Pass bundle, Nitro subscribers will also get up to 30 percent off at Logitech G, 15 percent off at SteelSeries, and 20 percent off at KontrolFreek. Nitro members will also receive 250 Orbs automatically each month, the in-app currency that Discord uses to tempt users into watching ads in exchange for things like avatar decorations or in-game bonuses.“Having Xbox on board as a flagship partner, alongside Logitech and SteelSeries, is a strong signal of what this program can offer, and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to add more benefits as we grow,” says Lu Zhang, senior director of product at Discord.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Tom WarrenGamingMicrosoftNewsTechXboxMost PopularMost PopularWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxLogitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpadVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesSamsung’s flagship laptop is a MacBook Pro clone gone horribly wrongAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

Beth Mead during Arsenal Women’s victory parade after their Women’s Champions League final win against Barcelona last year. Photograph: Adam Davy/PAView image in fullscreenBeth Mead during Arsenal Women’s victory parade after their Women’s Champions League final win against Barcelona last year. Photograph: Adam Davy/PABeth Mead to leave Arsenal this summer after nine trophy-laden yearsEngland forward has played key role in several title wins‘Beth is such a special person and will always be welcome’Beth Mead will leave Arsenal after nine years when her contract expires this summer. The England forward has made 265 appearances and scored 86 goals since joining from Sunderland, winning a WSL title, three League Cups, the Champions League and the Champions Cup while at the club.Mead, a fan favourite, played an important role in Arsenal’s second European title last May. Her clever pass created the only goal for fellow substitute, Stina Blackstenius, against Barcelona in the Lisbon final.Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw sinks Chelsea in dramatic FA Cup semi-finalRead moreArsenal’s director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley, said Mead “will go down in history as one of our best forwards and a legend of the club. Beth is such a special person and will always be welcome at Arsenal. I know our supporters will join me in wishing Beth happiness and success in her future endeavours.”Mead, who turned 31 last Saturday, won the player of the tournament and golden boot awards at the European Championship in 2022 when the Lionesses lifted their first major trophy and was the BBC women’s footballer of the year and BBC sports personality of the year. Four months after the Euros triumph, an anterior cruciate ligament rupture stopped her momentum, and sidelined her for the 2023 World Cup.Mead has since been back to her best and was a key part of the England team that retained the European Championship title in Switzerland last summer.Mead attracted Arsenal’s attention after scoring 66 goals in 88 games for Sunderland across five years. The Whitby-born forward got 23 goals in 23 games for Sunderland in her first season in the second-tier FA Women’s Premier League and in 2015 became the youngest player to win the WSL golden boot, aged 20.Arsenal announced Mead’s departure after confirming the Spanish centre-back, Laia Codina, and the midfielder, Victoria Pelova, will also depart this summer. Codina made 58 appearances and scored four goals for Arsenal after joining in 2023. Pelova, a Netherlands international, made 87 appearances after joining from Ajax in January 2023 only made five WSL starts and 15 substitute appearances this season. An ACL injury in the summer of 2024 ruled her out for most of the next season.Explore more on these topicsArsenal WomenWomen's footballWomen's Super LeaguenewsShareReuse this content

The apparently insatiable demand for AI compute has data center entreprenuers looking to the stars. There’s a key problem: There aren’t enough rockets to put data centers in orbit around the Earth, and they’re too expensive.

Most of the players are hoping that SpaceX’s Starship — expected to make its twelfth test flight as soon as this weekend— will solve the problem. But once the vehicle is operational it may be years before it is commercially available, given SpaceX’s internal satellite business. The same is true for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which failed to deliver a satellite during its third launch in April.

That leaves space data center schemes either targeting the mid 2030s, like Google Suncatcher, or preparing to start off doing edge processing tasks for space sensors, like Starcloud.

In theory, there’s a third way: “We’re standing up our own rocket program,” Baiju Bhatt, the CEO and founder of Cowboy Space Corporation, told TechCrunch. He expects the first launch before the end of 2028.

Today, the company announced the closure of a $275 million Series B round at a post-money valuation of $2 billion, led by Index Ventures, as a downpayment on that work. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, IVP, and SAIC also participated.

Bhatt, a co-founder of online stock platform Robinhood, launched this startup in 2024 as Aetherflux, with plans to collect abundant solar energy in space and beam it down to Earth. The idea of space data centers led the company to pivot towards using its electricity while in orbit. The practical realities of that effort, in turn, led him to a rocket development program, and the company’s new name.

Bhatt said he spoke to multiple launch providers to try and find a path where his company would only build satellites, but he couldn’t find enough launch capacity to truly scale an orbital data center business, or do so in a way where the unit economics could compete with terrestrial alternatives.

“There’s a lot of new rockets that are coming online, but as we look three, four years out, it’s still very, very scarce, and I think that you’re going to see a lot of the first party rocket providers actually specialize into their own payloads,” Bhatt said.

Of course, while bringing the rocket in-house is logical, it’s also nuts. Only a handful of private companies in the West, mainly SpaceX, Rocket Lab and Arianespace, are consistently launching commercial rockets. Two others, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, have been struggling to drag their vehicles out of development hell for years. A number of startups, including Stoke Space, Firefly Aerospace, and Relativity Space, have worked for years and are still waiting to deliver operational systems.

This evolution of the company will also bring Cowboy Space Corporation into direct competition with SpaceX and Blue Origin, the most advanced and well-funded players in the market.

“The prize here, and the size of this market, is big enough that there’s room for many players to succeed,” Bhatt said “I see the demand for AI getting more and more acute, and I see the options on Earth getting more and more limited.”

One advantage, Bhatt argues, is the company’s focus on this single market (data centers), and its unique design. Orbital rockets typically have a booster stage that flies the vehicle to the edge of space, and a second stage that carries the payload and delivers it to orbit. Cowboy Space plans to build its data centers directly into the second stage of its rocket. It’s actually a bit of a throw-back: The first US satellite, Explorer 1, was built as the final stage of a rocket, filled with radio equipment and a few scientific instruments.

Making the rocket purpose-built only to launch its data-center satellites should simplify the design process. The company expects each satellite to have a mass of 20,000 to 25,000 kilograms and to generate 1 MW of power for just under 800 onboard GPUs. That means its rocket would be slightly more powerful than the SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9, though still smaller than its under-development Starship. Eventually, Bhatt says, he expects the booster to be reusable.

Cowboy Space has hired veterans of the space industry, including former Blue Origin propulsion engineer Warren Lamont and former SpaceX launch director Tyler Grinne. The company also plans to build its own rocket engine, the most complex and expensive part of any launch vehicle. Cowboy Space is still working through key development needs, like facilities to test, manufacture and launch its rockets.

The new vision comes with a new name for the startup, to emphasize its mission to “power humanity from the high frontier,” although Bhatt admits “it gives me a reason to wear a cowboy hat and also grow this sick mustache.”

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Boy's adoption overturned after mum dates prisoner1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJonny ManningNorth East and CumbriaGetty ImagesThe two-year-old boy was adopted by a married couple who split upA two-year-old boy's adoption has been overturned after his adoptive mother failed to disclose she was in a relationship with an inmate at the prison where she worked.In the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Peter Jackson said the boy was formally adopted by a married couple in Northumberland in November 2025.However, the child's former social workers were recently told his adoptive father had moved out in October and his mother had begun a new relationship.Barristers acting for Gateshead Council said the adoption was "unfair to the child" as it had been based on "mistaken" information.The judge said the prisoner was in custody for drug offences and had previous convictions for battery and possession of weapons.Jackson said the prisoner had also been accused of child sex offences, but no action was taken against him.He was released in March but was returned to prison in April for breaching his licence conditions, after he was arrested over allegations of threatening behaviour and criminal damage at the adoptive mother's home, the judge said.Adoption 'errors'Social workers also learned the woman was caring for the prisoner's XL bully dog and had twice taken the child to visit the prisoner, who had begun referring to him as his "stepson".The boy was removed from the mother's care in March and was placed with his adoptive father, before Gateshead Council sought to have the adoption overturned.Neither his adoptive or birth parents attended the hearing.His adoptive mother had previously told the council she did not want "any further involvement" with the child.Jackson said the boy had received a "high standard of care" from his adoptive parents, who social workers said loved him "unconditionally"."The consequence of each of these errors was that the court acted on a fundamentally mistaken basis," he said.Jackson said the adoption decision was not the fault of the original family court judge, who made it based on the information before her at the time.The case will return to the family court to be dealt with at a later date.Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Related internet linksHM Courts and Tribunals ServiceCourt of AppealGateshead CouncilAdoption

A man has been jailed after he was found by police hiding inside a cupboard during a raid on a cannabis farm.

Antonjo Kodhelwas, 42, was found by police at the property on Bryn Y Môr Crescent, Uplands, Swansea.

Police found a total of 539 plants across eight rooms at the address.

Kodhelwas, of no fixed abode, appeared in Swansea Crown Court on Friday where he was sentenced to eight months in prison.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of being concerned in the production of a Class B controlled drug.

Sgt Luke Tucker, of South Wales Police, said the property had been "continually" used to "conduct illegal activities including drug cultivation".

"While some may argue that there are more dangerous drugs, the money generated by cannabis farms is very commonly then funnelled towards even more serious criminal activity, and that is why we will always take action," he added.

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Kasper Hjulmand’s Bayer Leverkusen side were chasing shadows at Stuttgart, who look favourites to hang onto fourth place. Photograph: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenKasper Hjulmand’s Bayer Leverkusen side were chasing shadows at Stuttgart, who look favourites to hang onto fourth place. Photograph: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection/Getty ImagesBundesliga’s managerial carousel ready to spin before dramatic final day Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt among teams facing a nervy last day with their managers precariously placedNot the end, perhaps, but certainly the denouement. After the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season some big issues remain open; the confirmation of the fourth team to qualify for the Champions League, who will be the two teams to drop to the second tier and which side will get a two-legged opportunity to reprieve themselves.Yet the German game is nothing if not reliably businesslike in getting some of next season’s key parameters set before the current exercise is done. There was no need for official announcements here, though, with the results doing the explaining for us. Or, in a few cases, the performances. There has been considerable doubt, for example, whether Kasper Hjulmand would continue as Bayer Leverkusen coach next season. Now, there is none.Maldini’s ghost hangs over uninspiring Milan as top-four place slips from view | Nicky BandiniRead moreHis team had bought themselves what looked like a reprieve with last week’s win over RB Leipzig and when Aleix García gave Leverkusen the lead 34 seconds into Saturday’s visit to Stuttgart, it felt as if they were grabbing the moment with both hands. Instead, it was the last time it felt as if Leverkusen’s heads were above water. Ermedin Demirovic equalised before there were five minutes on the clock and from there it was a monsoon. Maximilian Mittelstädt’s penalty (the result of some confused defending) and Deniz Undav’s second-half goal led to the home side’s eventual 3-1 win, which was flattering to Leverkusen. It could have been a rout, and there was not the merest smidgeon of doubt that Stuttgart deserved to take Die Werkself’s place in the top four.This was not a setback or even a body blow. For Leverkusen it was a full stop and an acknowledgement that even if a miracle should transpire on the final day – they could still make the top four but would need to beat Hamburg and have both Stuttgart and Hoffenheim lose at Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach respectively – the torpor of 2026 means a new direction is required. Hjulmand deserves some sympathy, having initially done well to salvage a season from the mess left to him after three competitive games by Erik ten Hag, but in 2026 results have been inconsistent and performances often frighteningly poor. Stuttgart grasping their opportunity means that the right team is likely to capture fourth spot. They have again been excellent under Sebastian Hoeness and if Leverkusen’s display was their sorry second half the season in microcosm, Stuttgart’s was their wit, strength and enterprise distilled into a single afternoon.Stuttgart still have to go to Frankfurt and get a result but one would heavily back them to do just that, with the two dugouts harnessing perhaps the most bulletproof coach in the Bundesliga in Hoeness and the one under the greatest threat of swift removal. Albert Riera, like Hjulmand, inherited a far from ideal situation with the season already underway and has also been trying to extract the bare minimum from it which, now, is seventh spot and a European place. Like Hjulmand and Leverkusen, it will be out of Frankfurt’s hands on the final day; they have to win and hope for a slip-up from Freiburg, who will hope to secure a route to Europe for next season against Leipzig regardless of the result of their Europa League final against Aston Villa.View image in fullscreenAlbert Riera, the former Espanyol and Liverpool winger, joined Eintracht Frankfurt as head coach in January. Photograph: Martin Meissner/APRiera’s team have already benefitted from some Freiburg’s faltering. After Thursday night’s joyous celebrations at Europa-Park following their semi-final win over Braga, Julian Schuster and his Freiburg team could have sealed seventh by winning at Hamburg on Sunday but went down 3-2. Whether Frankfurt will be able to take advantage of any door opened to them is, however, debatable. They led in the first half of Friday night’s game at Borussia Dortmund but eventually also ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline and even if Jonathan Burkhardt’s late goal for the visitors was a consolation for the visitors, it felt significant in underlining exactly where Eintracht are.After Burkhardt’s near-post finish he retrieved the ball from the net and, running back to the halfway line, appeared to put his index finger briefly to his lips and then point towards the touchline, where Riera stood looking unimpressed. Last week, the coach had ripped into collected media over six minutes of an uninterrupted tiradethat was based on what he judged a mis-reporting of words that he and his Germany striker had exchanged. Burkhardt’s finger hinted at the player’s view of it.Rashford seals title for Barcelona and completes week to forget for Real MadridRead moreThe German media’s is clear. “If Eintracht still manages to finish in seventh place, nobody will care,” wrote Kicker’s Moritz Kreilinger. “Riera will certainly try to claim it as his own achievement. And if it doesn’t work out? Then, in typical Riera fashion, he’ll probably tell everyone one last time how great his work is, how fantastic the team atmosphere is, and at least indirectly blame Frankfurt’s failure on his predecessors.” Riera has burned every bridge with his audience in a way that few do, and his ambitious and progressive club are well aware of this. Markus Krösche, Eintracht’s sporting director, gave a terse “yes” when questioned by ZDF on whether Riera would be in place for the finale next week. He didn’t speak with the demeanour of a man who felt he had other options.At Augsburg, though, things are more positive. After their win over Gladbach – whose coach Eugen Polanski, despite having a contract valid for next season, is likely to be on his way given their crawl to safety – they are level on points with Eintracht and just one behind Freiburg, perfectly placed to snatch an astonishing European qualification should the two above them stumble. Manuel Baum, back at Augsburg for a second (interim) spell in charge, took over from Sandro Wagner in December with the team bottom with just 13 points. Now Baum, enjoying huge support in the dressing room, surely has to stay on. “It’s absolutely incredible what we’ve managed in recent weeks,” enthused sporting director Benjamin Weber.There is plenty of drama left in the season, but the direction of travel for 2026-27 is largely set.Quick GuideBundesliga resultsShowBorussia Dortmund 3-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, VfB Stuttgart 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim 1-0 Werder, Augsburg 3-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach, RB Leipzig 2-1 St. Pauli, Wolfsburg 0-1 Bayern Munich, Hamburg 3-2 Freiburg, Köln 1-3 Heidenheim, Mainz 1-3 Union BerlinTalking points Despite their season being teffeectively over after their agonising Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern played their part in setting up this edge-of-the-seat final day, winning 1-0 at Wolfsburg despite Harry Kane missing a first-ever Bundesliga penalty (in no small part due to Jeanuël Belocian sneakily damaging the penalty spot, undetected). Michael Olise then scored a stunning winner after Jonas Urbig performed excellently to keep the strugglers at bay. Die Wölfe might eventually be grateful for keeping the score down; after resurgent Heidenheim’s 3-1 win at now-safe Köln. That means the bottom three of Wolfsburg, Heidenheim and St Pauli (who lost at Leipzig, with the Saxony club sealing third place) are all on 26 points and only three apart in goal difference. Wolfsburg actually travel to St Pauli while Heidenheim host Mainz, with two automatic relegation spots and a place in the playoff to be decided. Dortmund’s Friday night was full of farewells, to Julian Brandt (with his potential successor Samuele Inacio scoring a debut goal), the retiring Niklas Süle and ex-sporting director Sebastian Kehl all saying goodbye. Marie-Louise Eta will get the chance to do the same to the Union Berlin first team next week at home to Augsburg with a first win under her belt, sealed in the closing minutes at Mainz. Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Bayern Munich 33 82 86 2 Borussia Dortmund 33 34 70 3 RB Leipzig 33 22 65 4 Stuttgart 33 22 61 5 Hoffenheim 33 17 61 6 Bayer Leverkusen 33 21 58 7 Freiburg 33 -9 44 8 Eintracht Frankfurt 33 -4 43 9 Augsburg 33 -12 43 10 Mainz 33 -11 37 11 Hamburg 33 -14 37 12 Union Berlin 33 -18 36 13 Borussia M'gladbach 33 -15 35 14 Cologne 33 -10 32 15 Werder Bremen 33 -21 32 16 Wolfsburg 33 -26 26 17 Heidenheim 33 -29 26 18 St Pauli 33 -29 26 Explore more on these topicsBundesligaEuropean club footballBayer LeverkusenEintracht FrankfurtAugsburgfeaturesShareReuse this content

Edinburgh Airport raises drop-off fees from £6 to £8.50 21 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEPACheaper or free parking is available at car parks further away from the terminalEdinburgh Airport is to increase drop-off fees by £2.50 to £8.50 from next week, it has announced.Airport bosses said the rise in the tariff for a 10-minute stay at the dedicated drop-off and pick-up zone right outside the main terminal building was "unavoidable".They said they had to find ways of raising more income after an "unacceptable" £8m increase in the firm's business rates bill. The new prices will be charged from 18 May, and the airport will also scrap a 50% reduction for electric vehicles.Chief executive Gordan Dewar said: "Like many across the hospitality and tourism sectors who have seen business rates soar, we have no choice but to pass part of this cost on to passengers."A free drop-off and pick-up area - about a 10-minute walk away and limited to a 30-minute stay - will remain in place at the long stay car park, with more spaces added.Parked in lay-bys - the drivers determined to avoid airport drop-off feesBusiest UK airports raise kiss-and-fly fees, says RACCurrently, Edinburgh Airport's drop-off fee is £6 while the short-stay terminal car park costs £7 for up to 15 minutes wait time and £14 for 30 minutes.Other short-stay car parks further from the terminal typically cost between £7 and £10, significantly increasing in cost beyond an hour. Last year BBC Scotland News reported on how drivers were parking up in laybys near the airport in an attempt to avoid parking fees. The latest drop-off fee hike follows a 142% rise in the Edinburgh Airport business rates which Dewar claims is the largest increase in costs faced by any airport in Scotland and the UK.The pickup and drop-off zone at Edinburgh Airport does not inform drivers about fees on their approachHe said: "This decision to impose an unplanned and wholly disproportionate £8 million rates increase has an immediate and negative impact on our business. "We made this clear in correspondence with the Lothians assessor, who set the increase, and in discussions with the Scottish government, which has endorsed it."In practical terms, it equates to funding around 200 jobs, two aircraft stands, or five new security lanes."It is not a cost that can be absorbed; it must be covered, and trade-offs like this are unfortunately unavoidable."At Bristol and Gatwick the drop off fee is also £8.50. At Glasgow and Aberdeen Airport the drop off fee is £7.Edinburgh Airport has written to the convener of the Lothian Valuation Joint Board, which sets non-domestic rates, as well as the first minister and the public finance minister, to outline its concerns about the current rates process.Dewar added: "We have always accepted that, given our size, we should pay more, but the scale of this increase is simply unacceptable."The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.TransportEdinburgh AirportAir travel

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Arsenal edge closer to title and ‘spygate’ overshadows playoffs – Football Weekly00:00:0000:00:00Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen and Philippe Auclair to discuss all the weekend’s footballRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts and join the conversation on email.On today’s pod: Arsenal are two wins from the title after a dramatic late VAR call denies West Ham an injury-time equaliser. Was Pablo fouling David Raya? Were Arsenal lucky, or did Chris Kavanagh get the biggest VAR call of the season right? The panel ask whether Arsenal have simply been hoisted by their own set-piece petard, and how many replays are too many replays?Elsewhere, Manchester City keep the pressure on with a 3-0 win over Brentford, while Liverpool fans boo Arne Slot after another frustrating draw against Chelsea. Bournemouth continue their unlikely push for a Champions League place, Brighton bounce back emphatically, and Spurs’ survival hopes remain alive ahead of Leeds away. Plus: advantage Celtic after the Old Firm, Championship play-off Spygate 2.0 as Southampton are charged over alleged playoff spying, Rochdale’s dramatic return to the EFL, the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals, and Philippe questions the kick-out Kylian Mbappé petition, which has been gathering pace.Support the Guardian here.You can also find Football Weekly on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Photograph: Robbie Hoad/Every Second Media/ShutterstockExplore more on these topicsFootballFootball WeeklyArsenalPremier LeagueScottish PremiershipWest Ham United

Analysis: Has Starmer done enough to save his premiership?41 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHenry Zeffman,Chief political correspondent,Chris Mason,Political editor,Iain Watson,Political correspondentandNick Eardley,Political correspondentPA MediaWas it enough?That is the question that matters after Sir Keir Starmer's speech.Was it enough to avert a challenge to the prime minister's leadership less than two years after he won a landslide general election victory?In the first instance, the person whose answer to that question matters most - and this would have sounded like a strange joke just two days ago - is Catherine West.West, until the last 48 hours a relatively unknown former minister, told the BBC on Saturday night she was willing to try to force a leadership contest if no one else came forward.But having heard the prime minister's speech, she is standing down from running as a stalking horse candidate and trying to trigger a formal leadership contest right now.A sigh of relief, in the immediate moment at least, for Downing Street - and for the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, as she is now advocating that the prime minister sets out a timetable for his departure, rather than leaving immediately. Burnham needs time to get back to Westminster first.Those who have been organising the pro-Burnham push (or putsch) were concerned over the weekend that a swift contest would exclude him, as he is not an MP and needs to find a seat and win a by-election to be eligible.So they tried to persuade West to abandon her plan, and adopt their own instead – and they see her statement today as a big win for them.Labour MP backs down from leadership challenge but calls on Starmer to go by SeptemberBritish Steel nationalisation plans announced by StarmerElection results at a glanceIn the room for the prime minister's speech, the jeopardy hung heavy. It was packed with loyalists willing Sir Keir on. It felt a little like a speech Iain Duncan Smith gave as Conservative leader in 2003, when, under intense pressure to stand down, he said "the quiet man is here to stay and he's turning up the volume". Those in the room punctuated his address with wild, perhaps over the top exuberant applause. He resigned three weeks later.For Sir Keir's speech, there weren't many MPs there and no cabinet ministers. The party chair Anna Turley and Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell were sitting in the front row.The key figures to watch now then are Labour MPs.One MP sent an unsolicited text, pointing out that the prime minister was introduced by a whip, those responsible for party discipline. The implication from the MP was this was evidence of desperation."That speech made me feel sorry for the PM. He looks panicky and out of his depth."I watched that thinking of all my constituents who told me on their doorsteps in the last few weeks that he has to go and they won't vote Labour until he does. There was nothing there for them," they texted.While some were impressed by the prime minister's demeanour and rhetoric, those craving a new policy agenda were disappointed.The announcement of the nationalisation of British Steel was new, albeit widely expected, but as a number of Labour figures pointed out even this 'big offer' came with a Keir-like cautious caveat: "subject to a public interest test".But a much-anticipated section on Europe was just a restatement of existing government policy, and while some had been pressing for it, there was no future manifesto commitment to joining the single market or customs union.There was no shortage of MPs who gave their post-match analysis."Woeful". "That really didn't cut the mustard.""He is damaging the party and the country."Another says it was delivered like he was "delivering a planning application"."A waste of our time", and perhaps the most succinct reaction: "meh".But some of the verdicts weren't just from long-standing critics or those with a dog slavering to get in to the fight. Someone who has been close to Sir Keir pointed out there was "no substance on the cost of living - no pound in your pocket answers" and "nothing substantive on immigration and defence".In other words they think he hasn't quite proved that he can "rise to the moment".Around 40 MPs have now said they want the prime minister to go publicly. But at least some of them say they want him to set a timetable for an "orderly transition", which is in line with what is now Catherine West's position.In many cases, an "orderly transition" is code for an orderly transition to Andy Burnham. Starmer's answer after the speech on whether he would block Burnham from seeking to return to the Commons, as he did earlier this year, was ambiguous.That may bring clarity closer. If, as some of his supporters claim, Burnham has a route back to Parliament in the form of an MP willing to resign and trigger a by-election, then surely the coming hours and days are when he must make that clear.Final thought: what does Health Secretary Wes Streeting, another plausible contender for the leadership, do now? The vehicle for discontent to boil over today or this week – West's challenge – has gone.So does he have the numbers and is he willing to move – particularly if it is harder for him to point to Sir Keir's authority disintegrating because there is already a challenger?One MP urged Streeting to go for it, saying: "It's now or never unless you're Burnham."Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.Keir StarmerLabour Party

Gerhard Schröder has held senior positions in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil company Rosneft. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/APView image in fullscreenGerhard Schröder has held senior positions in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil company Rosneft. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/APEU rejects Putin call for Gerhard Schröder role in Ukraine peace talksTop EU diplomat Kaja Kallas says Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor cannot be considered impartial Europe live – latest updates The EU on Monday dismissed Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.Over the weekend, the Russian leader put forward Schröder – a longtime ally – as a possible figure to help restart talks with Europe, saying he would “personally” favour the former German leader for the role.Schröder, 82, previously held senior positions in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil company Rosneft. He stepped down from the role several months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, under mounting pressure, but has never explicitly condemned Putin over the invasion.Responding to the proposal, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, told journalists in Brussels before a meeting of foreign ministers: “First, if we give Russia the right to appoint a negotiator on our behalf, that would not be very wise.”Kallas added that Schröder could not be considered an impartial mediator given his past work as a “high-level lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies”.“It is clear why Putin wants him to be the person, so that actually he would be sitting on both sides of the table,” she said.Putin’s surprise pitch comes as the Russian president suggested the conflict in Ukraine could be drawing to a close – a rare instance in which Putin appeared to hint at a possible timeline for ending the invasion.But Putin’s top advisers have said the Kremlin continues to demand that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region as a precondition for future negotiations.The Russian president remains determined to seize the remaining parts of the region by force this year before any serious talks begin, people familiar with his thinking have told the Guardian.Ukraine has flatly rejected any suggestion it would unilaterally withdraw from its own territory, a position bolstered by recent battlefield dynamics in which Russian advances have largely ground to a halt.The two armies are showing mounting signs of exhaustion and continuing to sustain heavy casualties, while trading strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. Against that backdrop, analysts say a diplomatic breakthrough is unlikely.A US-brokered ceasefire is due to expire on Tuesday and Moscow has rejected prolonging the truce.But EU leaders have in recent months stepped up efforts to secure the bloc a seat at the table in any future substantive peace negotiations.European capitals have long insisted that no discussions or decisions about Ukraine should take place without Kyiv’s involvement.Many across the continent now fear that talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending the more than four-year-long war have made little progress, while leaving the EU increasingly sidelined and vulnerable to pressure to accept a deal it does not support.There is little prospect of Schröder emerging as Europe’s representative with the Kremlin.Schröder’s record of defending Moscow has repeatedly put him at odds with mainstream European opinion. After evidence of mass killings emerged in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in April 2022, he said he did not believe the massacre had been ordered by the Kremlin.Germany’s Europe minister, Gunther Krichbaum, said Schröder had “not necessarily demonstrated in the past that he could act as a neutral mediator, as an honest broker, so to speak”, as he was “heavily influenced” by Putin.“Close friendships may be legitimate everywhere in the world, but they don’t contribute to being perceived as an honest negotiating partner,” he added.Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, said: “Gerhard Schröder is Putin’s idea. I think they are very close. Gerhard Schröder will not be representing Europe.”Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian politics, described the suggestion as a “classic Putin idea”. “He tries to sound reasonable, but frames any potential dialogue in terms most comfortable to him,” Galeotti told Times Radio.Schröder has not publicly commented on the idea.Explore more on these topicsRussiaUkraineEuropeVladimir PutinGermanyEuropean UnionnewsShareReuse this content

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Heathrow sees passenger dip amid Iran conflict1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGetty ImagesAbout 6.7 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in AprilHeathrow's passenger numbers dipped by 5.3% last month, with the airport's chief executive citing the conflict in the Middle East as the main reason.The west London airport said about 6.7 million passengers travelled through Heathrow in April, compared with 7.1 million during the same month last year.Heathrow said the decline reflected "the ongoing impact of the Middle East conflict on some markets and short‑term adjustments to travel plans".The airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: "While we have seen some short‑term disruption linked to the Middle East conflict, demand for travel remains strong with current fuel supplies stable."The airport says "underlying demand remains resilient", pointing to a 10% year‑on‑year rise in transfer passengers in April. It said this was driven by more travellers flying into Heathrow and then connecting onwards to destinations in Asia and Oceania.About half a million passengers a day typically pass through major hub airports in Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, which act as key connecting points between Europe, Asia and Australia.However, many travellers are now avoiding the region because of the conflict.During the first three months of the year, around 18.9 million passengers passed through Heathrow's four terminals, a year‑on‑year increase of 3.7%. The airport previously explained this was because it had "temporarily absorbed demand from elsewhere". More on this storyHeathrow warns Iran war may cut passenger numbersPrepare for turbulence - how a prolonged Middle East conflict could reshape how we flyHeathrow is set to update its 2026 passenger forecast in June.Woldbye added: "We know passengers want certainty when planning their hard‑earned summer holidays, so we are supporting government and airlines as they work through their plans to get passengers on their journeys." Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.ukLondon Heathrow AirportLondonAir travel

A pair of Milan fans attempt a protest by holding up a Paolo Maldini in front of the section where executives sit, but stewards ushered them away. Photograph: Daniele Mascolo/ReutersView image in fullscreenA pair of Milan fans attempt a protest by holding up a Paolo Maldini in front of the section where executives sit, but stewards ushered them away. Photograph: Daniele Mascolo/ReutersMaldini’s ghost hangs over uninspiring Milan as top-four place slips from viewSan Siro emptied early after supporters once again sang the former director’s name as club faces lack of Champions League football … againThere were more than seven minutes left to play, plus injury time, in a crucial end-of-season game, yet San Siro was already half empty. Milan’s Ultras had deserted the Curva Sud to prepare a post-game protest, but even the less organised, more forgiving parts of the club’s fanbase could not be bothered to stay until the end of another humiliating defeat.Their team was losing 3-0, at home, to Atalanta, and it hardly even felt a surprise. With this loss, inevitable as it now appeared, the Rossoneri had collected just seven points from their last eight games. Only three teams in Serie A had done worse over the same stretch. Two of those – Verona, and Pisa – have been relegated. The third, Lecce, are perilously close to joining them.European football: Doué’s late winner takes PSG to verge of Ligue 1 titleRead moreMilan exist in a different orbit, still fourth in the table, even if their grip on a Champions League spot looks very loose indeed. It feels absurd to say it now, but before this miserable run they were the team keeping the Serie A title race alive. They were the last team to beat Inter, since crowned as champions, on 8 March. The gap between them, with mocking symmetry, was seven points.No wonder the few fans who stuck it out to the end on Sunday should get to feeling nostalgic. Watching their beleaguered team struggle to get the ball out from the back against Atalanta’s persistent press, they started to sing for Paolo Maldini.One of the all-time great defenders, he won seven Serie A titles and five Champions Leagues (or European Cups, as they were when he started collecting them) as a player, extending the legacy of success begun by his father, Cesare. But supporters were not invoking Paolo’s achievements on the pitch so much as his more recent chapter serving on the club’s board.Appointed as a director for sporting strategy and development by Milan’s then owners, Elliott Management, in 2018, Maldini was promoted to technical director a year later. He played a central role in player recruitment, helping build the team that won Serie A in 2021-22 – the club’s first Scudetto for 11 years.Maldini’s position was initially confirmed after RedBird Capital bought Milan in 2022. But he was fired one year later.The Rossoneri had just finished fourth, and Maldini spoke about a need for further squad investment to stay competitive at the highest level. But Milan’s most expensive signing of the previous summer, Charles De Ketelaere, had been a flop, and their new CEO Giorgio Furlani said the objective given to him by RedBird was to get the club “living within our means.”There were layers to these decisions, each party with their own version of how working relationships grew strained. But Maldini’s assessment resonated with fans who want to see their team fight for trophies. Milan finished second in 2023-24 but fell all the way to eighth last season.The appointment of Massimiliano Allegri this summer was supposed to get things back on track. Here was a man defined by Italy’s sporting press as a “guarantee” of Champions League football.An aggressive summer transfer window followed, headlined by the arrival of Luka Modric, and featuring significant outlays on the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Ardon Jashari, Samuele Ricci, Koni De Winter, Adrien Rabiot and Pervis Estupiñán. With no European distractions, Milan looked well equipped for a strong domestic campaign.View image in fullscreenMassimiliano Allegri was brought in to bring Champions League football back to Milan. Photograph: Image Photo Agency/Getty ImagesUp until March, they produced one. The performance to beat Inter was classic Allegri, controlling the game while surrendering possession. Estupiñán scored before half-time, and Milan barely gave their opponents a sniff after that. This had been the mode all season: just win, it does not need to be pretty.But the problem with focusing always on the outcome is that you have nothing to fall back on once that part goes wrong. Milan’s form early this season was built on the performances of talented individuals – Modric, certainly, but also Rabiot and especially Christian Pulisic, who had eight goals and two assists in the league, despite missing five games, by the end of December.Allegri’s innovation was to move the American inside to operate as a centre-forward. He pulled the same trick with Rafael Leão after the Portuguese returned from a calf injury. Both thrived at first, but as their goals tailed off, Milan have struggled to replace them.Too many square pegs forced into round holes? Or is the picture a little more nuanced? Both Pulisic and Leão have been affected by physical issues as the season progressed. The former was supposed to start against Atalanta, before being ruled out at the last moment with a glute complaint. Leão played but continued to look a shadow of his best self, failing to beat his man on four out of five attempted dribbles.Atalanta were excellent, pressing selectively and executing ruthlessly. Giacomo Raspadori, signed from Atlético Madrid in January, brought a typically high-energy bustle behind the attack and it was his blocked shot that rebounded to Éderson inside the box for the opener. Nikola Krstovic, in the No 9 role, pinned his man expertly before laying the ball off to Davide Zappacosta to make it 2-0 before half-time.Quick GuideSerie A matchesShowTorino 2-1 Sassuolo, Cagliari 0-2 Udinese, Lazio 0-3 Inter, Lecce 0-1 Juventus, Verona 0-1 Como, Fiorentina 0-0 Genoa, Cremonese 3-0 Pisa, Parma 2-3 Roma, Milan 2-3 AtalantaMonday: Napoli v BolognaWhat stood out in these moments was the clarity of purpose: each player performing the role they are best suited to and understanding what was required. The contrast with Milan’s disjointed assembly of talents was stark. Absent the injured Modric, there was no glue to bind them together.Raspadori made it 3-0 at the start of the second half, beating Mike Maignan at his near post. San Siro began to empty. Reporters saw a pair of fans attempt a protest, holding up shirts with Maldini’s name on the back in front of the section where executives sit, but stewards ushered them away.Ultras had already made their feelings known before kick-off with a protest outside the ground then a choreography in the Curva Sud, using their bodies and mobile phone flashlights to spell out the letters “G.F. OUT” – Furlani’s initials.By leaving early, they almost missed an improbable turnaround. Milan pulled a goal back in the 88th minute, Strahinja Pavlovic heading home from a Ricci free-kick. Nkunku, on as a second-half substitute, then won and converted a penalty. Suddenly the deficit was down to one goal. In the seventh minute of injury time, Matteo Gabbia almost equalised, flashing a header wide from another set-piece.View image in fullscreenMilan fans use their mobile phone flashlights to protest against Giorgio Furlani. Photograph: Daniele Mascolo/ReutersThe game ended 3-2 to Atalanta, a result that felt misleading. Milan had almost pinched a draw, but only because their opponents got complacent. There was little here to encourage belief in better times just around the corner.For now, they are clinging on to fourth spot, but only by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker over Roma, who have drawn level on 67 points. Como are only two further back. It is also true that neither third-placed Juventus, on 68 nor even second-placed Napoli, on 70, have locked down their spots just yet.On paper, Milan’s final two games look very winnable, against opponents from the bottom half. But Genoa, next up, have been anything but a pushover since hiring Daniele De Rossi as manager in November.More to the point, Milan simply have not been good enough in the last two months to feel confident in their ability to beat anyone. After their previous game, a 2-0 loss at Sassuolo, Allegri told reporters: “I always said I would be happy to secure Champions League football even on the final weekend”. It looks unlikely now to come any sooner, if it arrives at all.Explore more on these topicsSerie AEuropean club footballfeaturesShareReuse this content

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to China this week to meet with Xi Jinping, China’s leader. It will be the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade, with the last visit being Trump in 2017. But given all that has happened so far in Trump’s second term – a trade war and then an actual war with Iran that has led to oil and gas prices skyrocketing worldwide – the mood of this visit is likely to be quite different.Tehran, Taiwan, trade … what are the hazards facing Trump on Xi summit tightrope?Read moreWhile the US and China had agreed to a temporary truce in October in the trade war Trump unleashed last year, China’s response to tariffs that reached as high as 145% at one point – restricting the export of rare earths, a move that brought some factories in the US to a screeching halt – was likely an unwelcomed reality check for Trump; one that revealed China’s true economic might.Then there’s the issue of of China’s influence with Iran, as the biggest biggest buyer of Iranian oil. The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has called on China to “step up with some diplomacy” – essentially asking for Beijing’s help in a war that Washington started – while ast the same time trade representative Jamieson Greer said Trump planned to address China’s ongoing energy purchases from Iran.Last week, the US imposed sanctions on several China-based companies, alleging that they provided “satellite imagery to enable Iran’s military strikes against US forces in the Middle East” and enabled “efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs”.On Monday, China spoke out against these sanctions, describing them as illegal and unilateral, Reuters reported.“We have always required Chinese enterprises to conduct business in accordance with laws and regulations, and will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing.“The pressing priority is to prevent by all means a relapse in fighting, rather than using the war to maliciously associate and smear other countries.”More to come.

Like an out-of-control wrecking ball, swinging wildly back and forth, Donald Trump smashes up the international order without much thought for the consequences. Lacking coherent strategies, workable plans or consistent aims, he power-trips erratically from one fragile region, tense warzone and complex geopolitical situation to another, leaving misery, confusion and rubble in his wake. Typically, he claims a bogus victory, demands that others repair the damage and pick up the tab, then looks around for something new to break.The president will bulldoze into another international minefield this week – the fraught standoff between China and Taiwan – when he travels to Beijing for a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping. After a string of humiliating policy implosions over Ukraine, Gaza, Nato, Greenland, and now Iran and Lebanon, needy Trump craves a diplomatic success to flaunt at home. But his hopes of vote-winning trade pacts are overshadowed by his latest war of choice. He needs Xi’s promise not to arm Iran if all-out fighting resumes – and Xi’s help keeping the strait of Hormuz open as part of a mooted framework peace deal.The weakness of Trump’s position going into the summit is fuelling speculation that reduced support of Taiwan may be Xi’s price for playing nice.Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing this week knowing that Xi holds all the cards | Simon TisdallRead more

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to China this week to meet with Xi Jinping, China’s leader. It will be the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade, with the last visit being Trump in 2017. But given all that has happened so far in Trump’s second term – a trade war and then an actual war with Iran that has led to oil and gas prices skyrocketing worldwide – the mood of this visit is likely to be quite different.Tehran, Taiwan, trade … what are the hazards facing Trump on Xi summit tightrope?Read moreWhile the US and China had agreed to a temporary truce in October in the trade war Trump unleashed last year, China’s response to tariffs that reached as high as 145% at one point – restricting the export of rare earths, a move that brought some factories in the US to a screeching halt – was likely an unwelcomed reality check for Trump; one that revealed China’s true economic might.Then there’s the issue of of China’s influence with Iran, as the biggest biggest buyer of Iranian oil. The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has called on China to “step up with some diplomacy” – essentially asking for Beijing’s help in a war that Washington started – while ast the same time trade representative Jamieson Greer said Trump planned to address China’s ongoing energy purchases from Iran.Last week, the US imposed sanctions on several China-based companies, alleging that they provided “satellite imagery to enable Iran’s military strikes against US forces in the Middle East” and enabled “efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs”.On Monday, China spoke out against these sanctions, describing them as illegal and unilateral, Reuters reported.“We have always required Chinese enterprises to conduct business in accordance with laws and regulations, and will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing.“The pressing priority is to prevent by all means a relapse in fighting, rather than using the war to maliciously associate and smear other countries.”More to come.

Image source, Cricket ScotlandImage caption, Kirstie Gordon's most recent Scotland appearance came against Staffordshire in 2017Published40 minutes agoFormer England spinner Kirsty Gordon is set to make her first Scotland appearance in almost nine years after being named in their squad for the T20 World Cup.Gordon, 28, played 60 times for Scotland before pursuing a full-time career in the English professional system.Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, she played in five matches at the 2018 Women's T20 World Cup as England finished runners-up and also played a Test match against Australia in 2019.She committed her future to Scotland last December, but has only recently recovered from a back injury.Kathryn Bryce captains a group that has three changes from the World Cup qualifier in Nepal earlier this year.Young seam duo Gabriella Fontenla and Maisie Maceira are both included, along with Gordon, as Niamh Robertson-Jack, Mollie Parker and Hannah Rainey - who left the squad in Nepal because of injury - miss out.Robertson-Jack and Ellen Watson will join a wider squad for a pre-tournament tri-series against the Netherlands and Bangladesh, before the Scots travel to Manchester for their opening World Cup match against Ireland at Old Trafford on 13 June.Scotland also play England, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Group B.'Top-class' Gordon commits to Scotland returnPublished23 December 2025Scotland to host T20 tri-series before World CupPublished31 MarchScotland T20 World Cup squadImage source, Cricket Scotland/ICCImage caption, Scotland players Abtaha Maqsood, Gabriella Fontenla and Megan McColl pose with the World Cup trophy at Prestwick beachKathryn Bryce, captain (Blaze), Chloe Abel (New Town), Olivia Bell (Lancashire Thunder), Sarah Bryce (Blaze), Darcey Carter (Lancashire Thunder), Priyanaz Chatterji (Surrey), Gabriella Fontenla (Yorkshire academy), Katherine Fraser (Durham), Kirstie Gordon (Blaze), Ailsa Lister (Lancashire Thunder), Maisie Maceira (Carlton), Abtaha Maqsood (Essex), Megan McColl (Watsonian/Dumfries), Rachel Slater (Yorkshire), Pippa Sproul (Hampshire).Related topicsScottish CricketCricketMore on this storyGet cricket news sent straight to your phonePublished16 August 2025

NewsTechMicrosoftWindows 11 is getting a macOS-like speed boostMicrosoft is using dynamic CPU scaling to speed up the Start menu, app opening times, and more.Microsoft is using dynamic CPU scaling to speed up the Start menu, app opening times, and more.by Tom WarrenMay 11, 2026, 11:12 AM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: GettyTom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.Microsoft is currently testing a new speed boost feature in Windows 11 that is designed to improve app launch times and make things like the Start menu feel more responsive. The feature, which is reportedly called “Low Latency Profile,” will ramp up CPU frequency in short bursts to improve the speed of menus, flyouts, apps, and more — much like how macOS handles similar tasks.Windows 11 testers have been trying out the new unannounced feature over the past week, and noticing significant speed improvements launching File Explorer or the Start menu, as well as apps like Outlook, the Microsoft Store, and Paint.Windows Central reports that this new boost mode can result in up to 40 percent faster app times for Microsoft’s own apps, and up to 70 percent faster for the Start menu and context menus throughout Windows 11. While the early results look promising, some online commentators have criticized Microsoft for using CPU bursts to improve its operating system, drawing the attention of a Microsoft executive.Scott Hanselman, vice president of technical staff for CoreAI, GitHub, and Windows, defended Microsoft’s speed boost changes to Windows 11 over the weekend, pointing out in a post on X that “your smartphone already does this” and that Microsoft isn’t cheating by boosting CPU clocks temporarily. Microsoft is using a common practice, used by macOS and Linux, to dynamically scale a CPU to prioritize interactive tasks. “Apple does this and y’all love it,” said Hanselman. “Let Windows cook.”Microsoft’s latest speed boost to Windows 11 is part of sweeping changes coming to the operating system to improve performance, reliability, and user experience. Microsoft has also started removing “unnecessary” Copilot buttons from Windows 11, and made Windows Update a lot less annoying.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Tom WarrenMicrosoftNewsTechWindowsMost PopularMost PopularWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesGoogle Fitbit Air preorders come with a second band for freeSamsung’s flagship laptop is a MacBook Pro clone gone horribly wrongAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.The economic woes caused by the Iran war are expected to cost the British economy jobs this year.With no sign of an end to the conflict, the latest regional outlook from the Item Club shows the UK economy is expected to shed 163,000 jobs this year.It warns that lower income regions – such as South Wales and the Humber – will be hit hardest by the economic shock from the Middle East.Both areas are heavily reliant on manufacturing and construction industries, which are suffering from higher energy costs and supply disruption.Item Club, an economic forecasting group, predicts 5,700 jobs will be lost in South Wales, and 2,800 in the Humber over the year.But the economic damage from the energy shock will run wider – as households across the country cut back on discretionary spending in the face of a surge in the cost of living.That will hit the retail and hospitality sectors, with Item Club predicting that employment in London will drop by 25,000 this year as its retail and hospitality sector slows, with a 12,500 reduction in Birmingham, 9,800 drop in Leeds and 6,200 decline in Glasgow.Tim Lyne, economic adviser to the Item Club, says: double quotation mark“Some of the lowest income regions will feel the biggest effects of the manufacturing and construction sectors reducing headcount in the face of rising energy prices and supply chain disruption. “While consumers in these areas typically have less rainy-day savings, which will reduce spending in the retail and hospitality sectors.” This forecast of rising unemployment will not lift the government’s spirits, with Keir Starmer facing a fight for his political life today after last week’s local election results.Starmer faces fight to survive as Streeting and Rayner eye leadership bidsRead moreThe agenda 1pm BST: UK Finance hosts ‘Growth Delivery Summit’ 3pm BST: US existing home sales report for April

UK government borrowing costs are creeping a little higher after a morning of rising political jitters.The yield, or interest rate, on UK 30-year bonds is now up 8 basis points (0.08 of a percentage point) at 5.65%, up from 5.57% on Friday night. That’s higher than just before Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, when they were up about 5bps.Benchmark 10-year bond yields have risen higher too – now up 6bps, having been 4bps higher earlier in the morning.Rising bond yields indicate that bond prices have dropped, suggesting less appetite for UK debt and pushing up the cost of borrowing.These increases comes amid reports that Labour MP Catherine West is planning to press ahead with her call for Starmer to set timetable for his resignation.Another Labour MP, David Smith, has said Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.Keir Starmer vows to ‘prove doubters wrong’ as he tries to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live Read moreSusannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, says there are concerns in the bond markets that a change of Prime Minister would prompt wider turmoil at the top of government, and less focus on fiscal rules.Streeter writes: double quotation mark“Keir Starmer’s address to the nation hasn’t done the trick of calming bond markets. There is still a sense of jitters playing out as concerns about political instability collide with inflationary fears prompted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His speech was designed to project a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, but the worry is that it lacks the real substance needed to keep Labour MPs on side. Ten-year gilt yields have crept higher, nudging 5% once more, while longer-dated government debt remains hovering above 5.6%. They have not been at this level for a sustained period since the late 1990s.

The telecoms regulator has received more than 100,000 complaints from O2 and Sky mobile customers angry over the introduction of surprise price rises.Ofcom said that the issue of mid-contract price rises foisted on mobile customers, which has resulted in an exodus of customers and provoked an angry response from the government, fuelled the first quarterly increase in complaints about services by the UK’s major telecoms companies for two-and-a-half years.Complaints about O2, the UK’s second biggest mobile operator with 12.5m consumer customers, more than tripled quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year.The company, which is owned by Virgin Media O2, faced a backlash in October when it announced that mobile bills would rise by £2.50 a month for all customers, the equivalent of £30 a year, from last month.This is 70p, or 40%, more than the £1.80 increase customers were informed of when they initially signed up to their contracts.Ofcom said that the rate of complaints about O2 soared from just two per 1,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year to seven per 1,000 customers in the first three months this year.This works out to almost 87,000 complaints, based on O2’s consumer customer base, and made the mobile network the most-complained about by some distance in Ofcom’s report.The average across the seven mobile operators tracked by Ofcom was a complaint level of three per 1,000 customers.The move by O2 sparked a rebuke from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Liz Kendall, the technology secretary.A customer backlash saw O2 lose 165,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year, with the company attributing about 110,000 of those directly to price increases.Complaints to Ofcom about Sky Mobile, which is estimated to have almost 4m customers, almost doubled in the latest quarterly report.Sky received five complaints per 1,000 customers, up from three per 1,000 in the fourth quarter, which works out to almost 20,000 complaints to Ofcom.At the beginning of the year Sky announced that most of its mobile customers would see their monthly bill increase by £1.50, an annual increase of £18 a year, with the price rise coming in to force from Valentine’s Day.The company said that it was the first mid-contract price rise it had implemented for mobile customers in more than seven years.Last January, Ofcom introduced new rules banning mid-contract price rises linked to inflation, and said that telecoms companies must tell customers up front in “pounds and pence” about any future price rises.Ofcom enforces ban on ‘nasty surprise’ mid-contract telecoms price risesRead more“It is disappointing to see an increase in customers complaints during this quarter, especially following a sustained period of decreases in the complaints we received about telecoms companies,” said Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s director of consumers and retail markets. “However, a main driver of these complaints appears to be unexpected mid-contract price rise announcements for some mobile customers in the Autumn of 2025.”

The UK bond market is “relatively stable” after Keir Starmer came out fighting this morning, reports Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.She explains: double quotation markAlthough the PM faced challenges to his leadership over the weekend, there has been no knockout blow, and so far on Monday, the markets are calm, yields are moderately higher, and the pound remain above $1.36, even though the dollar is higher on a broad basis today. For now, it looks like the market is not taking Angela Rayner’s proposal for how to reinvigorate the economy and Labour’s chances seriously. She doesn’t seem to grasp policy trade-offs, for example, she says that creating jobs for young people can go hand in hand with a higher minimum wage. Although the polls give a damning verdict on this government’s track record so far, the markets are clearly willing to ignore the internal fighting going on in the Labour party this week. The relatively mild reaction in the bond market, 10-year Gilt yields are higher by 4bps, and it remains below 5%, suggests that traders do not believe that the threat to Keir Starmer will materialise. It would need a bigger blow to send yields higher, at this stage. If Starmer can get over this challenge, then the focus will go back to the data: can the economy grow, and can the public debt remain stable? If those things change, potentially because of a new leader, then the Gilt market will react.

There’s little reaction in the bond markets to Keir Starmer’s make-or-break speech, in which he pledged to fight any challenge to his leadership, and promised a new direction on Europe.The yield, or interest rate, on 30-year UK bonds is now up around 6.7 basis points, up from 5.6bps at the start of the speech.Ten-year bond yields are up 5bps, up from 4.3% before Starmer took to the lecturn.These moves shows that bond prices slipped slightly during the speech, with borrowing costs still higher on the day.Keir Starmer vows to ‘prove doubters wrong’ as he tries to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live Read more

In the energy world, Germany’s E.On has agreed to buy rival Ovo to create one of Britain’s largest suppliers.The deal brings together two of the UK’s larger energy suppliers.In the UK, E.On serves nearly one in seven households and businesses, while Ovo has four million home energy customers.E.On says existing tariffs will be honoured, and service will continue unchanged.Chris Norbury, CEO of E.ON UK, says the deal will create a retailer with the capability, the technology and the customer base to make “new energy work for everyone”.Norbury explains: double quotation mark“For decades the UK energy system focused too much on those upstream. Now is our opportunity to change that. Solar, batteries, EVs and a retailer built to orchestrate. That is what this deal is about: customers in control and new energy that works for everyone.” Chris Houghton, CEO of OVO, says: double quotation mark“The energy market has fundamentally changed in recent years. OVO was founded to challenge the status quo, and we’ve built a strong retail business focused on delivering for customers and supporting the transition to cleaner energy. “As the market has evolved, scale and access to significant long-term capital for the energy transition have become non-negotiable. Following a thorough review, we believe this decision gives the business the strongest footing for the future.

The GMB union have welcomed Keir Starmer’s decision to nationalise British Steel from its Chines owners, Jingye.Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB National Secretary, said: double quotation mark“Unions have long known Jingye will not negotiate in good faith. “This legislation will cover the whole steel industry - it isn’t specifically for British Steel but it is what will protect it from foreign owners. “British Steel is a nationally strategic asset, it is right the Government does everything in its power to secure its long term future. “GMB welcomes this decisive and timely intervention by the Government which will protect one of the UK’s most important industries.” British Steel on track to be fully nationalised within weeksRead more

During his leadership reset speech, Keir Starmer has confirmed that the government will nationalise British Steel.The PM describes steel as “the ultimate sovereign capability”, arging that strong nations in today’s world need to make steel.And he declares: double quotation markI can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers [subject to a public interest test], to take full national ownership of British Steel. ‘This week’ suggests it will be part of the new legislative programme laid out in the king’s speech on Wednesday.British Steel employs 3,500 people at its plant in Scunthorpe, and came under government control last April amid fears that its owner, Jingye, was planning to shut down the site.Full nationalisation of British Steel expected in king’s speechRead more

Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene has said it is worth waiting “a little while” to see how the Iran war unfolds before deciding whether to raise interest rates.Greene, one of the more hawkish members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, has told Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast that the UK faces ‘upside’ risks on the outlook for inflation.But, she suggests, it is better not to rush a decision on raising rates, until the ‘progression’ of the war is clearer.She says: double quotation mark“It’s worth waiting for a little while to see what happens with the progression of this war and therefore see what we can infer about how it will propagate through the economy before we make a move.” “We’ve now had a negative supply shock, an energy shock, and that stands to push inflation up and growth down, which is a terrible situation for a central banker to be in.”

Keir Starmer is about to give a crunch speech, as pressure on the PM rises – my colleague Andrew Sparrow will be live-blogging it here:Keir Starmer to give major make-or-break speech in attempt to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live Read more

European stock markets are broadly lower in early trading, as the deadlock over the Middle East conflict worries investors.France’s CAC 40 index is down 0.75%, while Germany’s DAX has lost 0.2%.In London, though, the FTSE 100 is up 29 points or 0.3%, with banks and oil companies among the risers.

British Steel nationalisation plans announced by StarmerJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMichael RaceBusiness reporterDanny Lawson / PA MediaBritish Steel is set to be brought into public ownership, the prime minister has announced.Sir Keir Starmer said legislation would be brought forward this week to give the government powers to take "full ownership of British Steel", subject to a public interest test.The move comes after the government seized control of British Steel's Scunthorpe steelworks from its Chinese owners Jingye in April last year in order to halt the potential closure of its blast furnaces.Sir Keir said the government had held talks with Jingye, but that a "commercial sale has not been possible, and now a public test could be met"."Public ownership is in the public interest", the prime minister said in a speech aiming to see off a leadership challenge following Labour's poor election results.He said he would prove his "doubters" wrong and that for the British people, "change cannot come quickly enough".The steelmaking industry welcomed the announcement. Gareth Stace, director-general of industry body UK Steel, said it provided "vital certainty" for the 2,700 workforce and the company's customers."Maintaining domestic production capability for British Steel's products is essential not only for economic growth but also for our national security and resilience," he said.However, Stace said nationalisation was "not an end goal", and the process must be the "beginning of a clear and credible long-term plan for British Steel" along with an investment strategy.Until now, the government had stopped short of taking British Steel back into full public ownership as it looked for potential private investors for the plant.It seized control of the steelworks in April last year after talks with owners Jinqye collapsed amid accusations the Chinese firm was planning to switch the furnaces off.If the furnaces had been starved of fuel and gone out, the UK would no longer have had the capability to produce so-called virgin steel, due to the process of restarting them being extremely difficult and costly.Christopher Furlong / Getty ImagesThe large operation in Scunthorpe has been the subject of cost-cutting discussions and government intervention in the pastVirgin steel-making involves iron being extracted from its original source to be purified and treated to make all types of steel used in major construction projects, such as new buildings and railways.Jingye claimed the Scunthorpe site was losing £700,000 a day and was no longer financially sustainable, ahead of the government stepping in last year. The BBC understands that the government is spending about £1m a day to keep the loss-making company going.In March, the National Audit Office revealed the current government supervision regime had cost some £377m in order to fund operations, workers and buying raw materials at Scunthorpe.The NAO, which monitors government spending, said in March that if such spending was to continue at current rates, it could exceed £1.5bn in 2028 "depending on policy choices that may be taken in the future".A precise figure of how much full nationalisation of British Steel could cost has not been announced and it is understood that following legislation an independent valuation would be carried out of the business, to see what, if any, compensation might be due to Jingye.This is not the first time the government has taken over British Steel, with the Insolvency Service running the company for nine months after it collapsed in 2019, at a cost of £600m.In a joint statement, the general secretary of the Community union, Roy Rickhuss, and Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham said they "fully support" the decision to nationalise."British Steel has a bright future, with a world class highly skilled workforce making strategically important steels for the UK's rail and infrastructure," they said."The government must also take actions to ensure that all government-funded projects use UK steel."Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national secretary of the GMB Union, said it was "right the government does everything in its power to secure its long term future".

For some, AI can help remove the drudgery from daily work. For many others, though, AI is not an assistant. It is a boss. Illustration: Ben Hickey/The GuardianView image in fullscreenFor some, AI can help remove the drudgery from daily work. For many others, though, AI is not an assistant. It is a boss. Illustration: Ben Hickey/The GuardianForget the AI job apocalypse. AI’s real threat is worker control and surveillanceA new divide is emerging: between workers who use AI at work and those who are managed by itThe real danger that artificial intelligence poses to work is not just job loss – it is the growing divide between people who use AI to extend their skills and those whose working lives are increasingly shaped by opaque, AI-powered systems of surveillance and control.The debate about artificial intelligence and how it will affect workers is stuck in the wrong place. On one side are warnings that machines are coming for millions of jobs. On the other are claims that AI will turbocharge productivity. Both stories miss what is already happening in workplaces across the world, from Britain to Kenya to the United States.For some, AI can help remove the drudgery from daily work. These are often people in better-paid, higher-autonomy roles: analysts, consultants, lawyers, academics, managers. In these jobs, provided AI is being rolled out to augment workers rather than replace them, it can feel like a copilot. It can support human judgment, speed up routine tasks and create space for more creative thinking.For many others, though, AI is not an assistant. It is a boss.It appears in scheduling and monitoring tools, route optimisation software and automated performance dashboards – all systems that decide who gets what shift, how long a task should take and whether someone is performing at their maximum capacity. In these workplaces, AI is not something you use. It is something that watches and rules you.That is the new divide we should all be paying attention to.A third of UK employers are already using “bossware” technology to monitor workers’ online activity. This already prevalent worker surveillance is a glimpse of what is yet to come.How AI’s threat to entry-level jobs is turning gen Z into ‘Generation Entrepreneur’Read moreThis is why the question of whether AI is “good” or “bad” is pointlessly crude. The truth is more nuanced. Employers are using AI to empower some workers while subjecting others to more intensive, inhumane forms of oversight. It is creating new opportunities at the top of the labour market while tightening control lower down.And further down the line, the same methods of algorithmic management and surveillance that are being honed in warehouses, delivery vans and gig work platforms are likely to spread to corporate headquarters, hospitals and schools. We’re already seeing this at companies including Amazon, as its software engineers say they’re being surveilled and pressured to use AI to achieve more productivity, even when it counterintuitively slows them down. And Meta plans to track and capture its employees’ keystrokes, mouse movements and clicks to train its AI models. Some of the same workers benefitting from the rise of AI now are poised to eventually lose that advantage.My own research over the past decade on worker-AI coexistence, which was cited in the 2024 White House economic report, suggests that the most pressing issue about AI’s impact on work is not immediate mass unemployment. It is the widening gap in skills, autonomy and wellbeing between those who get to work with AI and those who are finding themselves managed by it. Many jobs will remain in the future, but they will be more pressured, more fragmented and less human.That matters because work is not just about income. It is also about dignity, trust and control.During the pandemic, many people became acutely aware of how deeply work affects mental wellbeing. AI-managed workplaces are only intensifying the pressures of work. When every click, step, call or pause a worker makes can be measured and graded by a system that they cannot fully see or challenge, the effect is stress.For people in warehousing, retail, hospitality, logistics, customer service or the gig economy, it can mean being pushed harder by systems that are presented as neutral, objective or efficient, even when they are anything but.This is not just a technical problem. It is a social, political and moral one.Take Britain, which likes to present itself as being ambitious about AI. There are now major plans to expand AI skills across the workforce. All of that sounds positive. But beneath the rhetoric lies a more uncomfortable reality: many organisations are still poorly prepared to introduce AI fairly.A recent global survey of business leaders found that although most say AI skills are now a source of competitive advantage, relatively few dedicated a meaningful budget amount to develop their employees’ AI skills. Even fewer have strong governance in place. Many managers still have little real responsibility for helping their teams adapt. That is how inequality hardens.Bosses say AI boosts productivity – workers say they’re drowning in ‘workslop’Read moreIf better-paid workers are trained to use AI while lower-paid workers are simply exposed to it through surveillance and automated management, then this will not be a story of shared progress. It will be a story of deepening imbalance.Workers across the economy need access to meaningful training, not just in using digital tools but in building the wider skills that matter even more in an AI age: judgment, communication and critical thinking.We also need basic democratic principles in the workplace. Systems that affect pay and performance should be transparent and contestable. Most of all, workers need a voice in how these technologies are introduced. AI should not be something used on people behind closed doors and then justified in the language of efficiency. It should be shaped by the people whose lives it will affect – and research has found that involving workers in the process improves their job quality and allows employers to integrate AI more effectively.The choice about how AI will reshape work is not being made in Silicon Valley boardrooms or summit speeches. It is being made right now, workplace by workplace, across Britain and around the world. And unless we pay attention, the new AI divide will become one more inequality that arrives quietly, embeds itself deeply and is only recognised once it is already everywhere. Nazrul Islam is a chair professor of business and co-director of the Centre of FinTech at the University of East London’s Royal Docks School of Business and Law Explore more on these topicsAI (artificial intelligence)ReworkedWork & careersComputingfeaturesShareReuse this content

US president calls Iranian response ‘totally unacceptable’ while Tehran says it will retaliate against any new US strikes or foreign warships in strait of HormuzTrump calls Iran’s response to peace plan ‘totally unacceptable’ as ceasefire fraysTurkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, will visit Qatar later today for talks on the war, its impact on the region and efforts to ensure navigational safety in the strait of Hormuz is resumed, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency.Turkey, which neighbours Iran, has been in close contact with the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the conflict. It condemnded the US and Israel for launching the war, widely seen to have been done illegally, but also criticised Iran’s counter strikes on Gulf states. Continue reading...

Asia’s push into physical AI is being fueled by the same manufacturing prowess that made the region a global industrial powerhouse. Across South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan, manufacturing remains a central pillar of economic growth. Unlike economies more heavily weighted toward services or software, these countries have long relied on large-scale production, export-driven industries, and highly optimized supply chains. That structural foundation is now shaping how artificial intelligence is adopted and where investment flows.

Which makes it particularly significant that Config, a Seoul- and San Jose- based startup building the data layer for robotic foundation models (RFMs), has secured backing from the venture arms’ of South Korea’s biggest manufacturers.

Samsung Venture Investment led its oversubscribed $27 million seed round at a valuation of more than $200 million, bringing Config’s total raised to $35 million. Hyundai Motor’s venture arm ZER01NE Ventures, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America, a South Korean telco giant’s VC unit, also joined as strategic investors, alongside angel investor Pieter Abbeel (co-founder of Covariant AI and a UC Berkeley professor) and financial backers including Mirae Asset Ventures, Korea Development Bank, GS Futures, Kakao Ventures, and Z Ventures.

Config was founded in January 2025 by CEO Minjoon Seo, a former researcher at Meta and chief scientist at Twelve Labs, along with three co-founders with backgrounds at Waymo, Google and Naver. Instead of building robots themselves, the team is focused on a simpler goal, providing data robots need to learn and operate. They believe that better data will be key to making robots more useful.

Training large language models is expensive, because of the computing power required to process them, but the raw material, vast amounts of text from across the internet, is easy to obtain. Teaching robots to move is a completely different challenge, Seo said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. Every piece of training data has to be physically collected, like you need the robot, the facility to run it, and people to operate it. That makes robotics AI more costly to develop than software-only chatbot, according to the Seo. As companies pursue more capable robots, the cost of gathering and labeling data can rise quickly.

Config wants to be the company that makes everyone else’s robot AI possible. The startup compares its role to TSMC, a Taiwanese chipmaker that manufactures for Apple, Nvidia, and AMD without competing with any of them. Config aims to play a similar role in robotics by supplying the data. The approach is gaining traction as large manufacturers increasingly seek to build their own proprietary robot AI instead of relying entirely on outside vendors. That is the market Config is betting on.

Config is already generating revenue, COO and co-founder of Config Jack Bang said. The startup’s current customers include large manufacturers, system integrators, and companies in the agriculture and defense sectors, Bang told TechCrunch. Peers in the space include Physical Intelligence, Generalist AI and Skild AI.

Config records humans performing physical tasks in controlled studio environments and in the field. The startup operates out of Seoul and Hanoi, where a workforce of nearly 300 handles data production. To date, it has accumulated over 100,000 hours of human motion data, more than 30 times the size of AgiBot World, the largest comparable open-source dataset at roughly 3,000 hours.

Most robotics teams train AI models on human motion data and then adapt those models for a robot. Config is taking a different approach, Seo said. The company focuses on transforming the data before training begins so it is better suited to the way robots move and interact with the world. Seo compared the process to language translation. Training a model on one type of data and expecting it to work seamlessly in another setting, Seo said, is trying to teach Korean using only English-language materials.

“The data must be converted, not the model. This conversion technology is Config’s core technical differentiator,” Seo said.

The funding will go toward three priorities: scaling its data operation in Vietnam and Seoul toward one million hours of collected data, growing its enterprise platform business to $10 million in ARR by the end of 2027, and launching a cloud-based Robot-as-a-Service product that lets companies run Config’s foundation model without requiring onboard hardware.

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Kate Park is a reporter at TechCrunch, with a focus on technology, startups and venture capital in Asia. She previously was a financial journalist at Mergermarket covering M&A, private equity and venture capital.

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NewsGamingTechForza Horizon 6 has been leaked and cracked a week before its releaseThe source of the leak appears to be an unencrypted Steam preload.The source of the leak appears to be an unencrypted Steam preload.by Tom WarrenMay 11, 2026, 10:21 AM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: MicrosoftTom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.The full version of Playground Games’ upcoming Forza Horizon 6 game has leaked online over the weekend and has already been cracked by pirates. The download appeared on file sharing sites after some Steam users were allegedly able to obtain access to an unencrypted preload version of the game.Forza Horizon 6 isn’t supposed to launch until May 19th on Xbox Series S / X and PC, but cracks to bypass online checks in the game are already widely available. Reddit users first noticed that games files, totaling more than 150GB, had appeared online yesterday, before Reddit’s legal operations team removed the post.Earlier this year a pre-release version of Death Stranding 2 on PC suffered a similar fate, after an encrypted Steam preload allowed someone to download and share the game. It’s not clear why both games were unencrypted during the Steam preload period, but we’ve reached out to Microsoft to comment on this latest Forza leak.Forza Horizon 6 is set to debut next week and will see players exploring Japan and the neon lights and buildings of Tokyo. The game has the largest map in a Forza Horizon title, and will have more than 550 cars at launch. Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios are also working to bring Forza Horizon 6 to PS5 later this year.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Tom WarrenGamingMicrosoftNewsTechXboxMost PopularMost PopularWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesGoogle Fitbit Air preorders come with a second band for freeSamsung’s flagship laptop is a MacBook Pro clone gone horribly wrongAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

The blaze started on Sunday night and plumes of black smoke could be seen for miles.

Man charged after car hits five people in town centre40 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGavin BevisEast MidlandsPA MediaPolice closed off several areas of Arnold town centre after five people were injured A man has been charged with five counts of attempted murder after a group of pedestrians was struck by a car in a town centre in Nottinghamshire.Nottinghamshire Police said one man suffered life-threatening injuries and remained critically ill in hospital after he was hit by a Vauxhall Astra in Market Place, Arnold, at about 01:10 BST on Saturday.The force said four other men suffered minor injuries, with local non-league football club Woodthorpe Park Rangers saying two players and a manager had been hit.Duane Anthony, 40, of Marton Road, Bulwell, is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates' Court later.Police said he had also been charged with aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and driving without valid insurance.PA MediaOfficers said they were called to the incident at about 01:10 BST on SaturdayDet Ch Insp Ruby Burrow, who is leading the investigation, said: "As we share today's news, our thoughts remain with those affected by this incident, in particular the man who sustained life-threatening injuries."The victims and their families have been updated on today's charging decision, which we hope will provide some small degree of comfort at this difficult time."This was a shocking incident that will have been incredibly distressing for all those involved and anyone who witnessed it happen."On that note, I'd ask people to please not speculate about this incident, online or otherwise, as doing so could potentially impede the pursuit of justice."As our investigation continues, I would like to thank the entire investigation team, who worked around the clock throughout the weekend to help secure these charges."Listen to BBC Radio Nottingham on Sounds and follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.Related internet linksHM Courts and Tribunals ServiceNottinghamshire PoliceArnold

Image source, England SeniorsImage caption, Nigel Martyn's professional football career spanned nearly two decadesByTimothy AbrahamBBC Sport JournalistPublished1 hour agoThe names of those to play both cricket and football for England conjures up the feeling of a very different era: cigarette cards, blazers and the faint whiff of Brylcreem.Sporting greats of a bygone time such as Denis Compton, CB Fry and Tip Foster are among the 12 men to do it. Arthur Milton was the last man when he played the first of six Tests in 1958 - seven years after he won his solitary England football cap against Austria.Another on the verge of joining that pantheon is of a more recent vintage in the form of goalkeeper Nigel Martyn. Well, kind of...Martyn, capped 23 times by the Three Lions in football, has forced his way into the reckoning for the England Over-60s cricket team after returning to a sport he has always loved.He might be a little greyer at the temples but the prospect of becoming a dual international this summer has nevertheless stirred something in him."It's pretty special," Martyn told BBC Sport."Obviously as a professional goalkeeper I wasn't allowed to play cricket in the summer, as it would threaten breaking fingers and things like that."I retired with a stress fracture on my ankle so I didn't think I was able to play cricket again. But I got the all-clear to do it in about 2011 so I started playing again."Martyn got his professional football break for Bristol Rovers in 1987 after being recommended to their then manager Gerry Francis by the club's tea lady Vi Harris.The Cornishman later played for Crystal Palace, Leeds and Everton, making 666 league appearances before he retired in 2006.Martyn still plays club cricket and is currently with Scarcroft CC, just outside Leeds. A few years ago he helped Knaresborough CC reach the North Yorkshire Premier Division alongside fellow ex-England goalie Paul Robinson.St Austell-born Martyn's road to the international fold came off the back of county age-group matches for Cornwall - which necessitate a 800-mile round trip for matches from his Yorkshire home."My good friend Sean Hooper, who was the captain of Cornwall Over-50s, spoke to me about six years ago asking if fancied playing for Cornwall," he said."We last played when we were together with Cornwall Schools Under-15s. From there Cornwall recommended me to England."It's a long trip but being able to go home and see family more often was always the added bonus with it as well."Knott, Taylor and World Cup dreams Image source, England SeniorsImage caption, Nigel Martyn attended trials at Loughborough University to earn his chance for England's Over-60s sideDespite his prior sporting pedigree Martyn, a wicketkeeper, was not shown any preferential treatment when he attended England Over-60s trials at Loughborough University earlier this year. After a recent intra-squad match he was subsequently picked for the England Over-60s 'Lions' squad - the 'emerging' pool of players who support the full side, which the 59-year-old qualifies for later this year."The batting and bowling standard is really, really high," Martyn said."The fielding is the one area where it gets more difficult, but there's still blokes in their sixties diving around stopping the ball, sprinting after it and throwing it in, it's quite incredible to watch really."I just love playing. If you're going to play into your 60s and 70s, you've got to love it. I love the camaraderie that you get."Martyn cited England wicketkeepers Alan Knott and Bob Taylor as men behind the stumps he most admired."Because I wanted to be a goalkeeper, I also wanted to be a wicketkeeper," he explained."There's some transferable skills of hand-eye coordination and I'm sort of used to a round object being either thrown or kicked at me."I've had several thousand of those things happening to me in my life. So I can seem to get my hands pretty much in the right place most of the time."Martyn went to two football World Cups - in 1998 and 2002 - but was understudy to David Seaman so did not make an appearance at either tournament.He actually turns 60 on 11 August, which has effectively rendered him ineligible for this year's Over-60s Cricket World Cup in Canada which starts a few days earlier.The chance to make the XI for a cricket World Cup in the future is on his radar, though."That would be great," Martyn added."I trained with the two wicketkeepers picked for the World Cup and they are both excellent, so the competition [for places] does drive you on to push the people ahead of you."They're in spot at the moment, and I'll just keep doing my thing."Related topicsEvertonFootballEngland Men's Football TeamCricketLeeds UnitedMore on this storyA BBC Cornwall Sport Special - The Story of Nigel MartynGet cricket news sent straight to your phonePublished16 August 2025

TechGadgetsNewsLogitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpadLeaked images show a mouse that folds in half like a flip phone.Leaked images show a mouse that folds in half like a flip phone.by Jess WeatherbedMay 11, 2026, 9:57 AM UTCLinkShareGiftIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.You might think this looks like a phone at first glance, but it isn’t — it’s a mouse that’s folded in half. Images by Logitech / shared by WinFutureJess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.Logitech is reportedly developing a new wireless mouse that folds in half to make it easier to carry around in a bag or pocket. According to leaked marketing images shared by WinFuture, Logitech’s foldable mouse caused “22 percent less muscle strain” compared to using a laptop trackpad, and can be used across “multiple operating systems.”Logitech’s design is visually similar to Microsoft’s Surface Arc mouse and Lenovo’s Yoga mouse, sporting the same arched shape when unfolded for use. One key difference is that while Microsoft and Lenovo’s offerings can only be folded flat, the new Logitech mouse — the name of which is still unknown — folds in half like a clamshell. There’s no official specifications or dimensions available yet, but one image shows that it’s very compact when folded, seemingly dwarfed by the hand that’s sliding it into a pocket.In place of a traditional scroll wheel, WinFuture reports the new Logitech mouse will feature a so-called “Adaptive Touch Scrolling” area between the two standard mouse buttons that enables users to scroll by swiping over a small trackpad. A green light can be seen on this touch-sensitive area, which likely indicates an active wireless connection. The new Logitech mouse can be paired with up to three host devices via Bluetooth, according to WinFuture, and its shape allows it to be used by both left- and right-handed users.This doesn’t look particularly comfortable, but I guess anything beats using a trackpad. Image by Logitech / shared by WinFutureThere’s also some marketing imagery in this leak that says the new mouse “matches perfectly” with the design of Logitech’s Keys-to-Go 2 portable keyboard. We only see a gray version of the mouse in these leaked images, but given the keyboard also comes in white and lilac, other color options may also be available.The Keys-to-Go 2 also comes in white and lilac, so maybe the mouse will get those color options too. Image by Logitech / shared by WinFutureI can see myself accidently grazing my fingers over that touch-sensitive scroll area. Image by Logitech / shared by WinFutureFor information regarding price, battery life, and availability, we’ll need to hang tight for Logitech’s official announcement.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jess WeatherbedGadgetsLogitechNewsTechMost PopularMost PopularWriters are fleeing the Substack TaxVivo’s X300 Ultra has the best cameras in any phoneNetflix may have finally figured out gamesGoogle Fitbit Air preorders come with a second band for freeSamsung’s flagship laptop is a MacBook Pro clone gone horribly wrongAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad

Portrait looted by Nazis found in home of Dutch SS leader's descendants1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHenry MooreArthur Brand'Portrait of a Young Girl' is believed to have been sold during an auction in 1940A painting stolen from a Jewish art collector by the Nazis during World War Two has been found in the home of descendants of a notorious Dutch SS collaborator, an art detective has said.Portrait of a Young Girl, by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, is believed to have hung for decades in the home of Hendrik Seyffardt's family, Arthur Brand said.It had belonged to Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who died while fleeing the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, leaving behind a collection of more than 1,000 paintings.The case was brought to Brand's attention by a man who told him he was a descendant of Seyffardt and that he was "disgusted" to learn his family had kept the artwork for years.Seyffardt was a Dutch general who commanded a Waffen-SS unit of volunteers on the eastern front before he was assassinated by resistance fighters in 1943.Shortly after learning he was related to Nazi collaborator, the man approached his grandmother to ask about the painting's history.She is said to have told him it had been purchased during World War Two and that it was "Jewish looted art, stolen from Goudstikker. It is unsellable. Don't tell anyone."The family, which changed their name at the end of the war, have admitted being in possession of the painting but denied knowing its true origin, according to a statement to Dutch media.Painting looted by Nazis has vanished again, say Argentine policeAfter learning of the painting's history, the family member contacted Brand through an intermediary, believing the only way for it to be returned was for the story to be made public.The family member told Dutch outlet De Telegraaf: "I feel ashamed. The painting should be returned to the heirs of Goudstikker."In a statement to the same newspaper, his grandmother said: "I received it from my mother."Now that you confront me like this, I understand that Goudstikker's heirs want the painting back. I didn't know that."Upon being informed of the painting's existence, Brand launched his own investigation.He discovered the painting had a label on the back and the number 92 etched into its frame.Arthur BrandBrand then searched the archives of a 1940 auction where much of Goudstikker's looted collection was sold and discovered an item under the number 92 titled "Portrait of a Young Girl" by Toon Kelder.Brand believes the painting had been plundered by Hermann Goering, one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, when Goudstikker fled for Britain in 1940.It was then sold to Seyffardt at auction before being handed down to his descendant, Brand says.After launching his investigation, Brand contacted the lawyers of Goudstikker's heirs, who he said confirmed the collector had previously owned six paintings by Toon Kelder.He added that the lawyers also confirmed to him these paintings had been included in the 1940 auction where Brand believes "Portrait of a Young Girl" had been sold.Brand told the BBC the discovery was "stunning", describing it as "the most bizarre case of my entire career"."I have recovered Nazi-looted art from World War Two before, including pieces in the Louvre, the Dutch Royal Collection, and numerous museums," he said."But discovering a painting from the famous Goudstikker collection, in the possession of the heirs of a notorious and famous Dutch Waffen-SS general, truly tops everything."He added: "For decades, the family, who of course bear no personal guilt for Seyffardt's own crimes, had the opportunity to do the right thing and return this painting. They chose not to."This discovery draws parallels to a previous case where an Italian master painting stolen from the Goudstikker collection by the Nazis appeared on the website of an estate agent selling a house in Argentina.A photo showed the portrait of a Lady by Giuseppe Ghislandi hanging above a sofa inside a property near Buenos Aires, once owned by a senior Nazi official who moved to South America after the Second World War.The discovery led to a police raid on the property, but the painting had seemingly been taken down and moved by the time authorities arrived.Poland's quest to retrieve priceless Nazi-looted artNazi GermanyArtNetherlandsWorld War Two

CommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyMy name on the platform is ri611. Or h924092b12ee797f, depending on who’s paying me.I work as an AI trainer. I assess whether a chatbot’s tone is natural or flat, affected or annoying. I identify patterns in pictures of furniture; search the internet for group photos of strangers whom I’ll eliminate from the portrait, one by one. I trawl through bizarre videos so I can annotate and time-stamp the barking of a dog, the moment a stranger walks past a window, the precise millisecond a balloon pops. I generate anime sex scenes and decapitate young women, coax LLMs into giving me recipes for bombs made of household items, and generate invites to a reprise of January 6 at the White House, all as part of a red team whose purpose is to test safety precautions and probe weaknesses. I work for companies with names like Mercor and Outlier and Task-ify and Turing and Handshake and Micro1.In my “other” career, I am a Hollywood writer and showrunner. I create prime-time TV, usually featuring a middle-class white lady having the worst day of her life, with some salt-of-the-earth police interference to raise the stakes. You can find my shows on Paramount and Hulu and the BBC. I would suggest you don’t.In 2023, Hollywood went on strike, partly to keep the studios from replacing writers and actors with AI. When the strike ended after nearly five months, the entertainment-industry carousel never gained back its momentum. In early 2025—when yet another producer defaulted on a six-figure check I was owed for creating a TV show—I began to look around for some way to keep the wolves at bay.AI training wasn’t on my radar until a comment in an unofficial Writers Guild of America Facebook group caught my attention. The page was filled with posts from unemployed writers struggling with debt and panicking about their income, begging for tips and ideas and survival strategies: “I am stressed and anxiety-ridden … simply trying to breathe” … “ISO food bank/pantry info” … “Hey, so what kind of part-time jobs are you all getting?” I’ve been working for this AI training company called Mercor, one woman typed in the comments. They’re paying 150 an hour for writers. It’s easy money.I was down for some easy money. I too needed cash to pay rent, to buy food, to pay Maggie—the human still charging me a flat rate of 150 bucks to clean my apartment, a feat that AI had not yet figured out. How hard could it be to teach a machine to take my job? I was naive enough to believe that this industry wanted what we had to offer—not just our skills, but us.I was wrong. Whatever this industry is, it is not easy money.I got my first contract as an AI trainer in September 2025 after filling out 10 job applications, laboring for 20 (unpaid) hours on numerous tests to prove my capabilities, and being interviewed by an AI recruiter agent embodied by a flickering light on my screen. I was asked what I thought of a mediocre AI-generated couple of paragraphs about a soldier in the trenches sniffing a lavender-scented letter. Using all of the skills I had acquired with my English literature degree from Cambridge, I said it was shit. Six weeks later, I was hired as a “generalist” data annotator (below “expert” but well above entry level) at $52 an hour.Once I’d passed the background check, I was made to install various apps and Slack channels and Airtables and payment portals and Google whatnots. After pinballing between them and a Zoom room where five unseen people hung out all day to counsel the legions of the confused, I was off and running.My first task was to read a conversation between a user and “the assistant,” one of the major large-language chatbot models. Using a “bible” that dictated how the assistant should respond, I was to assess the chat as a success or a failure. The prompts were quirky and sad and heartbreaking. Are my feelings justified? Is this person’s behavior acceptable? Am I lovable? The AI responses belonged to an era when the assistant would happily tell you that you definitely had autism, your dad was clearly bipolar. I wondered if the user knew they had opted into sharing their private agonies as training data. After grading the assistant’s response on a scale of 1 to 5, I was to enter a justification for my verdict.Our project manager, an intrepid 22-year-old recent university graduate who said he had intended to get into investment banking but failed, was in charge of about 10 unfriendly “team leaders” and “data managers.” Every day at a set time we would have Zoom office hours where we could discuss the complexities of our tasks. Our creative skills and our special minds were invaluable to this very important project! But it would be great if—in typing up justifications for our scores—we could keep our special minds on a tight leash and subordinate them to our ability to copy and paste verbatim from the scoring guidelines. Going off-piste with creativity, original thought, or fancy language might throw the model off.I made friends with a handsome Swedish man who lived in the Nordic wilderness with his husband and numerous mammals. He had been on the project about a month longer than I had, and he kindly walked me through the platform and our employer’s expectations, which had been astonishingly vague despite the insistence that this work was urgent, important, and relevant, and must be guarded with the utmost secrecy. Handsome Swede and I exchanged contact information and shared dog pictures. The project was meant to be 20 hours a week for two months. I clocked 10 hours a week for two weeks, with constant stops and starts, before the project was summarily unplugged one morning with no notice. “Sorry guys,” typed University Graduate. “I had no idea this was coming.”The Slacks and Airtables and office hours and Google documents were swiftly disbanded within a couple of hours. The project was over.Illustration: Anastasia KraynyukMost of the contracting companies that provide labor to AI firms advertise themselves to workers as offering the luxury of choice: “Contractors on Mercor’s platform choose when and how much to work,” sounding a common industry refrain. “How they participate on the platform is up to them.” Set hours and times are for boomers. Work on your own terms! Early on, I had this sales pitch bluntly reframed to me by a team leader in a midnight Slack message. I should not rely on this work, she snapped. I should not expect anything from it. These are not jobs, these are “tasks,” and we are “taskers.” I should think of tasking as a bonus. It is a “second job,” Team Leader typed.She was so unpleasant she had to be human.Four weeks after my first gig ended, I was offered an “expert” role, this time at $70 an hour. An “expert” is someone who usually has a higher degree, often a master’s, and significant work experience in their field, be it real estate, neurology, linguistics, history—or journalism. (“Expert” projects, I would learn, were typically given multisyllabic names from dead languages. Projects involving the minimum-wage grunt work of annotating tended to be named after small woodland creatures or celestial bodies. It is either a sign of my accomplishments, or my severe ADHD, that I was apparently a match for both.)Work on Project Dead Language would start within a week, we were told. I went through another onboarding process. I joined another Slack. I signed up to another Airtable, which failed to indicate in any way whether the sign-up had been successful, prompting me to sign up a couple more times in confusion, before I noticed an all-caps message in the Slack exhorting me: DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THE AIRTABLE MORE THAN ONCE!!A week passed, and “Phase 2” of the project failed to start.Another week.Another.Thanksgiving arrived. Heartened by the prospect of extra cash, I drove six hours to Yosemite so that I could sit in an expensive cabin with my child and we could ignore each other in idyllic surroundings. Still Phase 2 did not arrive.I had erroneously assumed that this new project would net me maybe $500 to $1,000 a week for a couple of months before Christmas. By December 1, I had earned just 180 of your finest American dollars.Project dead language eventually launched not long before Christmas, four weeks after I’d joined. It was 9 pm on a Monday night. The doom pervading the Slack evaporated instantly and was replaced by panic over various technical problems. Turns out a bunch of people had, like me, registered for the Airtable multiple times over. None of us could access the tasks. By the time our tech issues were resolved 24 hours later, the work had run out. The tasks were finite. The smug few who’d evaded glitches had snatched them all up.This abrupt hiring, firing, stopping, starting, abandonment, and rapid depletion of projects, was, I would learn, commonplace. A friend we shall call Jonathan, a mid-level TV writer who’d worked on several big streaming shows, was employed as an Expert Creative Writer. He was paid $150 an hour to evaluate scripts for OpenAI. He said it was all “a bit Hunger Games,” meaning he slept when they slept, and curried favor among his sponsors, also known as “TLs”—the team leaders who seemingly had the ability to hire and fire us at will. “It feels like we are all in a fishbowl waiting for our human masters to drop some food in a big aquarium,” someone wrote plaintively in a Slack for another project I joined that yielded barely any work. “And then, only the ones who are fast enough to swim to the top can eat.”The more this became my new normal, the more I adjusted to the creaking lurch and giddy whiplash of the job. While we lounged in unpaid stasis waiting for an email to herald the arrival of work, we would be urged on by our team leaders and their exclamation points. Here they are at 3 am Eastern time with an update on why our Slack access has been revoked and why we need to change our password for the 17th time! There they are again at 11 pm with another energetic exhortation that the project will start any day now! At 7 am they’re back with the news that The Client is just finishing up Phase 1! At 2:27 pm: If you were a pizza, what kind of pizza would you be? Cue smiley face emoji. Fist emoji. Pizza emoji.This would continue indefinitely. All unpaid.At 7 pm on a random weekday, I’d walk in after a long day on set, having picked up the middle schooler from basketball. I’d take the dog for a walk, filter through the mail, think about throwing together some ingredients for dinner, when suddenly my phone would vibrate. My Slack would fill up with GO TEAM GO messages from someone who was just out of college, someone who has no idea that across the decades, people have died trying to establish labor laws that protect workers from the exact same conditions that he is now responsible for perpetuating, accompanied by numerous rocket ship emoji reactions. Our fearless leader tells us that it is IMPERATIVE that we complete our first task within 24 hours. If we do not, we will be at risk of being off-boarded! But you can work when you like! But if you don’t work now the tasks may be gone by the time you wake up tomorrow! LET’S GET THIS ACROSS THE FINISH LINE!I abandon the meal. Retrieve some two-day-old pasta from an ancient Tupperware that has now been stained a dull, opaque orange. Throw it in the microwave. Slink over to the laptop. I had hoped for an early night. My middle schooler asks for help with his math homework. I snap not now, call Dad, too focused on the hunt to pay attention to the humans in my life. Log in. Start the timer. The Slack is exploding. It is a frenzy of caffeinated, taurinated, and probably high-as-fuck humans taking precious time to post jubilant updates about the precious work that has been bestowed upon us by The Client. An all-nighter is a prerequisite. The endorphins, possibly helped by amphetamines, are flowing freely. There will be no tasks in the morning. We must reap now, regardless of sleep, family, careers, and other trifles. There is nothing now but the project, and the task. Go Team Go.We lock the fuck in. Desperate, warm, frail, finite human bodies with no overheads, fast internet, and a tolerance for less-than-ideal conditions.We task through the night.Illustration: Anastasia KraynyukIn the reddit groups dedicated to people who work for AI contractor companies, an atmosphere of fear and paranoia pervades. I sought out these forums soon after my first encounters with the industry, because I felt it was my responsibility to incite others with the rage, disappointment, and betrayal I had experienced waiting for work that often never appeared.Turns out I did not need to incite anything. People were pissed.Thousands of Mercor employees making $21 an hour on Project Musen had been fired in November 2025, and immediately rehired on an identical project, Nova, at a significantly lower rate—$16 an hour. Despite the insistent bleating that this was a “second job,” for plenty of people on Reddit it was their only job. Losing five bucks an hour hurt them badly. Not only that, they’d made friends, started a Discord together, knew each other’s names, found some kind of community. Plus the project had been disbanded just before Thanksgiving, for chrissakes.People who had previously felt paralyzed by their NDA’s began to talk. Helena, the conflict-avoidant moderator of the Mercor subreddit, worked overtime deleting furious rants from aggrieved workers who delighted in dropping names of the “secret projects”—something explicitly banned by the non-disclosure agreement every tasker must sign before being hired as an Independent Contractor.Elsewhere, on another project, Handsome Swede was not faring well. Felled by Covid, he told his team leaders he could not make the minimum weekly requirement and was swiftly fired. He entered the melee once again to find yet another project.The wages were dropping week by week. When I first started scrolling the contractor jobs in early 2025, companies like Mercor, Handshake, Turing, Task-ify and Outlier were offering $150 an hour for “experts,” $35 to $75 an hour for “generalists.” Today, Mercor says the average hourly rate on its platform is $105. But in my searches across the industry near the start of 2026, the experts were often getting $50 an hour, and the entry-level grunt workers were getting as low as $16 —less than California minimum wage. Contracts were now referred to as “sprints.” The work had to be done, asap, as fast as possible, for employment that might last 24 hours. The urgency was paramount, self-important, and annoying as fuck.The burnout has led many taskers to turn to the courts. Several lawsuits have alleged that Mercor is misclassifying its workers as independent contractors, pointing out that the demands of the job—frequent onboarding, infinite retraining, the need to check email and Slack several times a day, to be on call and perform at very short notice, the expectation that taskers will complete a certain number of hours every week—are indications of employment. But compared to regular employees, contractors receive almost no workplace protections against unpredictable scheduling, prohibitive work hours, denial of breaks, or retaliation from employers. Which feels like a big risk if, like me, you are tired of the bullshit and complain. Loudly. Often.Christmas day came. I had not earned the additional $3-5K I thought Project Dead Language would have netted, and my bank account hovered around $14. Mired in existential panic and with only enough money to live off cereal, I accepted two different invites to work on an enormous $16-an-hour project that was in its final stages. It employed several thousand annotators across multiple platforms to perform incredibly boring objectives. The entire enterprise had the feeling of a bustling refugee camp that had been functioning long enough to cover essential needs, but not to be, like, comfortable. I’d already completed most of the onboarding steps. The most important thing, they emphasized in the literature, is to get on Slack.I couldn’t locate the Slack.I called the Zoom helpline.“Do you just hang out here all day?” I asked a faceless man while, in another square, an elderly woman peered suspiciously into her camera wearing a nasal cannula attached to an oxygen tank, set against a background of palm trees. “Pretty much,” snorted the faceless man. “I hope they pay you well,” I said sincerely. “They don’t,” he responded, before informing me that I was already a member of the Slack channel I had spent two days waiting to join, and that I had missed five essential onboarding quizzes in a document I had failed to read.I was dispensed with in three minutes. “What about me?” rasped the elderly lady through her tubes. “I’ve been here for 15 minutes now.”I dove into the Slack channel of which I was already a member. Spirits were high. A badge had been promised to the top 20 percent of performers. This honor would be displayed on their profile, and potentially lead to quicker employment and less downtime on the next project. The badge was causing consternation: Who would get it? Who might be erroneously deprived of it? Because it might lead to something. The badge would validate—all of this.I located the quizzes I’d failed to complete, worked my way through them, and then waited. Apparently, I would be granted access within 24 hours. After 24 hours came and went, I reread the complex onboarding document, which said I needed to check in at the Zoom again. The faceless Zoom team informed me that I had screwed up. There was another quiz I needed to complete. They could not grant me access. I burst into tears.They removed me from the Zoom, and blocked me from reentering.Twenty-four hours later, I was removed from the project.Once you have overcome your initial shock at conversing with a mellifluous, perky, female AI recruiter with a two-syllable name, it becomes easy to do so again, and again, and again. This is, in part, why legions of people are lured to apply to work for an AI recruiting company like drunken sailors to a siren. “Zara” doesn’t care if you’re in your car wearing your pajamas, digging out a stubborn booger, swamped in a plush sherpa wearable blanket. You can even tell her to eff off, inform her that you’re practicing your emotional voice skills, and watch her process this; a humming, flickering light in the middle of the screen. “You are using language and prosody that indicates irritation,” she states blandly.In the real world, if you look promising for a particular job, you might be fortunate enough to get called in for an interview. In the world of AI, an interview is standard fare for everyone. This has prompted some people to suspect—despite companies’ assurances to the contrary—that the interview process itself is a means of harvesting data, a form of free AI training. But we persist because there are still enough braggarts on Reddit posting about making “life-changing money” that we think we might actually land the job that pays $150 an hour for something not too boring.By February 2026 I’d been on Project A, a video-annotation gig, for five weeks: a lifetime in the AI training world. I had beaten the system by eliminating my social life so that I could task every free second of my existence. I also scrolled through thousands of videos to locate the most absurd, complex “edge” tasks: videos featuring speakers with accents so thick and regional that no one apart from a fellow Celt could decipher them. The audio was often so distorted it hurt to listen: a cacophony of excruciating, screeching dissonance. By doing the tasks no one else wanted and chaining myself to my laptop, trying to time my submissions so I could make them last throughout the dry patches, I could keep myself in employment. In reality, I hadn’t beaten the system, the system had beaten me—and would continue to find new ways of doing so.The senior project lead was another 22-year-old: a sweet baby-faced guy several months out of the Ivy League with a degree in economics. His LinkedIn picture showed him in graduation robes. His employment history showed one job: this. Beneath him, hundreds of people churned out captions for videos on a janky interface, while an invisible force of quality-control reviewers monitored and graded our performance.Initially, these grades were something we annotators never saw. Then a few weeks in, some genius had the thought that revealing our scores would encourage our competitive spirit. The reviewers graded us harshly on a scale of 1 to 5. Five was perfect, 1 was utterly useless. Most of us seemed to be around the 2 mark. Those consistently scoring less were threatened with off-boarding.Then our managers announced that a “golden batch” of tasks would be released to the most talented, the most special, the royalty of annotators—the folks, we were told, who consistently scored a perfect 5 with an average handling time well below the recommended amount. These moves resulted in chaos, fury, and an unexpected revolutionary streak in the Slack channel.We all understood that we were expected to transcribe the contents of videos in microscopic detail and that we’d be graded on how accurately we time-stamped the words we heard and the other verbal indicators in the video. Yet as our scores plunged, the feedback we received came in the form of absurdly granular orders stamped with an error flag: “Replace ‘t-shirt’ with ‘a t-shirt.’” “Swap out ‘red’ with ‘maroon.’” “Change ‘grunt’ to ‘grunting.’” It became increasingly evident that the scoring rubric was a vague and moving set of goalposts.Attempting to repair the damage, our managers—two humorless young women, one of whose LinkedIn profile pictures also featured graduation robes—went into overdrive. They messaged the most pissed-off among us and pleaded with them to “be positive,” suggesting that no one understood the pressures they were under (debatable, given that most of the people they were managing seemed to have at minimum a decade of experience in their various industries). They dismissed suggestions for improving the workplace. But they did inaugurate a new, optional “coffee time” Slack thread to encourage team spirit, featuring icebreaker questions such as, If you were a condiment, what condiment would you be?Illustration: Anastasia KraynyukI estimated that about 95 percent of the annotators were professionals in their thirties or forties with a seething, deep-rooted hatred of their Gen Z overlords—“a clueless bunch of kids with no work experience,” as one colleague phrased it. The other 5 percent were sycophants who could see that outsmarting their bosses would get them nowhere, and placating them with blithe obedience was the key to success. “My overall attitude is that everyone has my best interests at heart,” Linda, in her sixties, wrote primly on Slack. “If I get a 1, I study the task to make sure I understand the problem. If I get a 5, I also look at the task to make sure I understand what I did right.” I decided that Linda was not my people. Also, if I were a condiment, I would be Marmite.No matter how hard we worked, our scores went down. Meanwhile, the management team was constantly recruiting people with the best scores to “promote” into reviewer jobs. My colleague Melanie had recently been demoted from reviewing, back to annotating. “No one gets more money for being promoted,” she wrote to me on Instagram. “That’s all a lie.” (I’ve changed some identifying details in this story to preserve the anonymity of people who fear blowback.)These twists of logic were tearing apart our morale. I had become some kind of snarling beast, schlepping McFlurry and Hot Pockets over the keyboard (I did not have time to cook). I kept applying for more AI trainer gigs in the background, growling at my AI interviewers with increasing disrespect. Any moment might be my last, and so I threw myself off the cliff of propriety with alarming regularity.In a regular workplace, face-to-face interaction forces a modicum of civil behavior onto disgruntled humans. The moments of kindness and empathy that emerge alongside our worst traits can be enough to make the coldness of the corporate world a little more tolerable. In these AI gig environments? Forget it. Occasionally, the bone-dry messages of asinine insipidness would be punctuated by someone truly losing their shit. WTF IS GOING ON? they would scream in all-caps in the FAQ channel. The most irate began to disappear. We hoped that they had been led, angels singing, to the hallowed realm of the Golden Task. But we feared the worst.With the reckless abandon of a millennial who has been tone-policed once too often, I, too, began to post messages encouraging rebellion in the Slack channel. This did not go unnoticed by the operations manager, a mirthless young stay-at-home mother with a religious background. After noting that I took the Lord’s name in vain, Mirthless insisted that I “try to use a professional and positive type of communication.” I resorted to workshopping all of my responses to her through ChatGPT. It proved to be an excellent collaborator, well-versed in bland corporatese and the battlefield tactics of modern office life.But ChatGPT would only participate in this insanity so far. “Go somewhere where your unique talents and skills will be welcomed and encouraged!” it told me, presumably tired of my complaining. “Redirect that irritation somewhere productive. Into something that exposes the absurdity of this system. Because you’re not small in that room. You’re just temporarily renting space in it.”How could I break it to ChatGPT that I was small in this room? So small that I had been crushed into about 72 pixels per square inch? But it was this or not pay rent. I made more money in three days on a project that involved writing shopping prompts for automated lawnmowers and red-light-therapy masks than I did teaching three hours a day for a month at UCLA. (The shopping prompts gig—bizarrely my favorite of all of the projects—lasted a week before they fired me.)I no longer knew what the Golden Task of my own life might look like. When given the chance to respond to details from this article, Mercor said that it strives to give workers “as much notice as possible when these projects change”—a sentiment roughly echoed by other companies. Between February and April 2026, I was hired and fired on seven different projects over four different platforms. The dismissals were always abrupt, shocking. One moment I would be typing rubrics into an Airtable, waiting in line on a 24-hour Zoom to talk through a task with a reviewer. The next, the UI would vanish. The Slack channel would disappear. The Google docs would lock me out. No message. No warning. No explanation.I never intended to write about this industry. I came to it not as a journalist but as a disgruntled, broke TV writer determined to make a dent in student loans and keep paying LA rent while my industry withered in front of me. But working with and for AI had proven even more cruel than I could have ever imagined. Mercor says it employs about 300 full-time staffers. Meanwhile, each week it keeps some 30,000 independent contractors caught up in a fever dream of aimless, directionless urgency, corralled across Slack channels by achingly young adults, sending messages at 3 am to “push on” and “finish strong” and “lock in” and “Go Team GO!” All in service of the grandest purpose in history: to successfully remove a scuba diver from a picture with one click of a mouse, transport him to the moon without any glaring artifacts—and bring him back again.The next generations of team leaders won’t know our specific talents or our unique skills, but they will know the Average Time it takes us to annotate a grainy video uploaded without the owner’s consent into a vast catalog of other possibly stolen videos. They will be tasked with making us work faster, and longer, with more precision, more control, fewer errors, fewer overheads, fewer costs. To make the machine more human, they will make us more like the machine.What Say You?Let us know what you think about this article in the comments below. Alternatively, you can submit a letter to the editor at [email protected].

CommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyForgive me for starting with a cliché, a piece of finance jargon that has recently slipped into the tech lexicon, but I’m afraid I must talk about “moats.” Popularized decades ago by Warren Buffett to refer to a company’s competitive advantage, the word found its way into Silicon Valley pitch decks when a memo purportedly leaked from Google, titled “We Have No Moat, and Neither Does OpenAI,” fretted that open-source AI would pillage Big Tech’s castle.A few years on, the castle walls remain safe. Apart from a brief bout of panic when DeepSeek first appeared, open-source AI models have not vastly outperformed proprietary models. Still, none of the frontier labs—OpenAI, Anthropic, Google—has a moat to speak of.The company that does have a moat is Nvidia. CEO Jensen Huang has called it his most precious “treasure.” It is not, as you might assume for a chip company, a piece of hardware. It’s something called CUDA. What sounds like a chemical compound banned by the FDA may be the one true moat in AI.CUDA technically stands for Compute Unified Device Architecture, but much like laser or scuba, no one bothers to expand the acronym; we just say “KOO-duh.” So what is this all-important treasure good for? If forced to give a one-word answer: parallelization.Here’s a simple example. Let’s say we task a machine with filling out a 9×9 multiplication table. Using a computer with a single core, all 81 operations are executed dutifully one by one. But a GPU with nine cores can assign tasks so that each core takes a different column—one from 1×1 to 1×9, another from 2×1 to 2×9, and so on—for a ninefold speed gain. Modern GPUs can be even cleverer. For example, if programmed to recognize commutativity—7×9 = 9×7—they can avoid duplicate work, reducing 81 operations to 45, nearly halving the workload. When a single training run costs a hundred million dollars, every optimization counts.Nvidia’s GPUs were originally built to render graphics for video games. In the early 2000s, a Stanford PhD student named Ian Buck, who first got into GPUs as a gamer, realized their architecture could be repurposed for general high-performance computing. He created a programming language called Brook, was hired by Nvidia, and, with John Nickolls, led the development of CUDA. If AI ushers in the age of a permanent white-collar underclass and autonomous weapons, just know that it would all be because someone somewhere playing Doom thought a demon’s scrotum should jiggle at 60 frames per second.CUDA is not a programming language in itself but a “platform.” I use that weasel word because, not unlike how The New York Times is a newspaper that’s also a gaming company, CUDA has, over the years, become a nested bundle of software libraries for AI. Each function shaves nanoseconds off single mathematical operations—added up, they make GPUs, in industry parlance, go brrr.A modern graphics card is not just a circuit board crammed with chips and memory and fans. It’s an elaborate confection of cache hierarchies and specialized units called “tensor cores” and “streaming multiprocessors.” In that sense, what chip companies sell is like a professional kitchen, and more cores are akin to more grilling stations. But even a kitchen with 30 grilling stations won’t run any faster without a capable head chef deftly assigning tasks—as CUDA does for GPU cores.To extend the metaphor, hand-tuned CUDA libraries optimized for one matrix operation are the equivalent of kitchen tools designed for a single job and nothing more—a cherry pitter, a shrimp deveiner—which are indulgences for home cooks but not if you have 10,000 shrimp guts to yank out. Which brings us back to DeepSeek. Its engineers went below this already deep layer of abstraction to work directly in PTX, a kind of assembly language for Nvidia GPUs. Let’s say the task is peeling garlic. An unoptimized GPU would go: “Peel the skin with your fingernails.” CUDA can instruct: “Smash the clove with the flat of a knife.” PTX lets you dictate every sub-instruction: “Lift the blade 2.35 inches above the cutting board, make it parallel to the clove’s equator, and strike downward with your palm at a force of 36.2 newtons.”You can begin to see why CUDA is so valuable to Nvidia—and so hard for anyone else to touch. Tuning GPU performance is a gnarly problem. You can’t just conscript some tender-footed undergrad on Market Street, hand them a Claude Max plan, and expect them to hack GPU kernels. Writing at this level is a grindsome enterprise—unless you’re a cracker-jack programmer at DeepSeek.A disclosure: In previous Machine Readable columns, I was already familiar with the languages I was analyzing. Not so here. In the interest of maintaining this standard, I decided to spend a day with CUDA. It ruined my afternoon.A simple matrix multiplication that usually takes me three lines in PyTorch—a popular machine-learning framework—took me 50-plus lines in CUDA. Wringing out the last drop of performance, it turns out, is an admirable but tedious business. Having dipped my toe in the moat, I can report that it is indeed deep and forbidding.CUDA’s dominance is built not just on the quality of its ecosystem but on a lock-in effect. Because modern machine-learning frameworks are built on CUDA, which crucially runs on Nvidia chips, AMD’s chips underperform even when they have more cores and memory. Comparing chips by spec sheets is like comparing race cars by cylinder count, whereas real performance can only be measured on the track.A second disclosure: I intended to benchmark two chips, but there was no way to expense an Nvidia H100 and an AMD MI300X without landing on Condé Nast’s blacklist. Instead, you will have to take the word of independent researchers who found that even with better specs on paper, AMD was outmatched by Nvidia.Nvidia’s edge in software might be that, unusual for a chip company, it hires more software engineers than hardware engineers. If I were running AMD, I might follow suit. (But who’s asking me?)Every year, there are new hopefuls attempting to drain Nvidia’s moat, only to drown in it. OpenCL, an open standard backed by a consortium that included Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm, was a kind of Android manqué to CUDA’s iOS. It barely gained traction.Meanwhile, AMD’s answer to CUDA, ROCm, is an even worse name than CUDA—is it pronounced “rock cum”? (Forget about hiring more programmers—get a new marketing team.) It has also has been so plagued by bugs and compatibility issues that its subreddit reads like a support group.Let’s not forget Intel. While it’s easy to brush it off as a failing chipmaker, its recent history reveals it’s also a failing software company. In a last spasm at relevance, it launched oneAPI, but as of 2026, we know for dead sure that CUDA still reigns. If there’s any challenger, it’s Modular, led by Chris Lattner, the legendary language designer who counts among his creations Apple’s Swift and LLVM.But the open secret is that, much as theoretical physicists cannot change a tire to save their lives, most AI researchers can’t so much as write a single line of C++. There are very few good GPU kernel engineers alive, and many of them are employed by Nvidia. Long before AI researchers started trafficking in clout, these engineers were diligently working on CUDA without kudos. Even trusty coding agents still hobble through kernel code.Nvidia, in the end, may be closer to Apple than to AMD or Intel. It’s a great hardware company because it’s a software company. Apple’s moat against Android was never just the iPhone but the ecosystem: iOS, the App Store, and its developers. Sure, you can fold a Samsung Galaxy in half, but do you really want to use Samsung Pay? In the meantime, the industry will have to live with Nvidia’s offensive price tags.This is the first of a three-part Machine Readable series on AI-enabling languages.

Relatives of missing people march in Mexico City on 10 May. Since 2010, at least 27 people who were looking for lost family members have been killed. Photograph: Isaac Esquivel/EPAView image in fullscreenRelatives of missing people march in Mexico City on 10 May. Since 2010, at least 27 people who were looking for lost family members have been killed. Photograph: Isaac Esquivel/EPADisappearances in Mexico involving state at ‘alarming’ rate, says reportExclusive: Human rights group warns of ‘deep collusion’ between criminals and officials in some parts of countryState actors are involved in disappearances in Mexico at an “alarming” rate, according to a report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).The sweeping investigation, to which the Guardian was given exclusive access, presents a dire picture of the crisis of disappearances in Mexico, where more than 130,000 people have gone missing, mostly in the last 20 years since the government declared its war on drug cartels.While criminal gangs are responsible for the vast majority of disappearances, the IACHR report found that “many of the disappearances committed by organised crime occur in deep collusion and coordination with state agents”.Meanwhile, “disappearances committed [directly] by state agents have not yet been eradicated”, the report reads, noting that, in some parts of the country, at times there were almost as many disappearances carried out by government officials as there were by criminals.The report also described an “alarming” number of cases involving “torture, forced disappearances and disappearances which include state security actors”.Forced disappearance – where a person is detained, extrajudicially killed by the state and their body then destroyed or hidden – has a long history in Mexico, going back to the country’s so-called dirty war of the 1960s and 70s where dissidents were even thrown out of planes and into the Pacific Ocean.In more recent years, the tactic has been adopted by organised crime groups to sow terror in local communities, intimidate rivals or erase evidence of homicides by burning bodies, burying them in mass graves or dissolving them in vats of acid. In the last 10 years, disappearances have increased by more than 200%.However, as the IACHR report makes clear, state actors are often involved, either directly by snatching people from their homes or cars without warrants and handing them off to criminal groups, or indirectly by looking the other way as these crimes take place.The IACHR also found that “organised crime in Mexico recruits state agents in charge of security tasks, law enforcement, and even political authorities”.Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and her government have repeatedly rejected such assertions.When the United Nations intimated last year that there was possible evidence of enforced disappearance in Mexico “being practised on a widespread or systematic basis”, Sheinbaum did not mince words.“In Mexico there is no forced disappearance by the state,” the president said during a press conference. “We have fought against that all our lives; that does not exist in Mexico.”When the UN last month stated that there were “indications that enforced disappearances in Mexico have been and continue to be committed as crimes against humanity”, the Mexican government was equally prickly, rejecting the report as “biased and dismissive”.Activists say this is part of a wider effort to underplay the seriousness of the issue. In March, the authorities presented a report suggesting that a third of disappearance cases lacked sufficient data to be found, in effect washing their hands of about 40,000 missing people.“They were trying to minimise the scale of the problem and put the responsibility on families to carry out the search,” said Maria Luisa Aguilar Rodríguez, the head of the Centro Prodh human rights centre.‘They’re making them disappear again’: families fear Mexico’s missing are being erasedRead moreThis too is a critical issue according to the IACHR, which said: “Given the magnitude of disappearances and the meagre state response, it has been the families themselves who have organised into collectives to search for their loved ones. As a result, they face a series of institutional challenges and risk their lives.”Chillingly, the report describes how “disappearance affects entire families in Mexico, several of whom have lost almost all their relatives because of this crime, or by searching for them, other family members have also been disappeared or killed”.Since 2010, at least 27 people who were looking for lost family members have been killed, most of them mothers.The IACHR report did recognise that, in the last few years, the Mexican government had “adopted a series of actions to confront disappearances”, including reactivating the National Search Commission to find the missing, and recognising the problem as a humanitarian crisis.But the country continues to grapple with a forensics fiasco; there are 70,000 dead bodies in state custody that are yet to be identified, according to the report.Meanwhile, Mexico’s feeble justice system has been unable to meet the demands of such a catastrophic crisis. “Impunity in Mexico is an insurmountable problem,” the IACHR said. Since 2014, just 357 people have been charged with the crime of disappearance or enforced disappearance and of those, just nine have been convicted.“The numbers are staggering,” said Aguilar.Explore more on these topicsMexicoHuman rightsClaudia SheinbaumAmericasnewsShareReuse this content

Newcastle's Burn on mental health and importance of asking for helpTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedNewcastle's Burn on mental health and importance of asking for helpClose30Newcastle United Foundation has painted benches in the city's Leazes Park to highlight mental health and encourage fans to talk to each other.Defender Dan Burn spoke to BBC Sport about the work being done and how important it is to "check in".If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.SubsectionFootballPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRead description

In expectation of huge demand, Fifa made the main opportunity for FAs to buy tickets a six-week exclusive window beginning after the World Cup draw in December. Photograph: Antonio Torres/Fifa/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenIn expectation of huge demand, Fifa made the main opportunity for FAs to buy tickets a six-week exclusive window beginning after the World Cup draw in December. Photograph: Antonio Torres/Fifa/Getty ImagesSoaring World Cup ticket prices for players’ families and guests leave several FAs stunned Average cost of one ticket claimed to be $3,000 (£2,200)Fifa insists terms and conditions of sale were made clearNumerous Football Associations have been hit by increased prices when buying World Cup tickets for their players’ family and friends, with teams competing at the tournament affected by Fifa’s dynamic pricing model. While Fifa offered all national associations that have qualified for the World Cup a six-week window to buy tickets at a fixed price after the draw in December, any requests for tickets from the end of January have been subject to what Fifa describes as “adaptive pricing”, with the cost rising for most matches.An executive at one national association said they had requested hundreds of additional tickets in recent weeks and have been surprised at the size of the bill. An executive at another association claimed the average cost of securing attendance at matches for their players’ family and their guests has risen to about $3,000 (£2,200) a ticket after extra purchases, a significant additional cost that will eat into their tournament funding. Fifa sources insisted the average cost of tickets bought by national associations is far lower than $3,000.Fifa triples price of top World Cup final ticket to $32,970 as US politicians voice concernsRead moreIn expectation of huge demand, Fifa opted to put World Cup tickets on sale in four phases – in October, December, January and April – before announcing an additional last-minute sales window. The main opportunity for national associations to buy tickets came after the World Cup draw in Washington on 5 December; prices have risen since then. A number of tickets were held over at December prices for the six countries that qualified via the confederation playoffs in March, while all qualifiers have also received a number of free tickets for their official delegations and guests.Many national associations have privately expressed surprise by the price increases, although Fifa sources insist the terms and conditions of sale were made clear at the outset and that FAs who responded to their deadlines on time should not have experienced price rises. The English FA, for example, is understood to have bought all its tickets in December and has not been affected. There are concerns that smaller countries with the lowest budgets will be worst affected by the price rises.At the beginning on May Fifa increased the minimum qualification and preparation money it will provide to each national association from $10.5m to $12.5m, as well as providing an additional $16m shared among the 48 qualifiers to assist with travel costs, but many of the bigger FAs are still forecasting losses for the tournament.The president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, told Fifa’s congress last month there have been 500m requests for tickets and that all of them that had been made available had been sold, which he described as 90% of the total global inventory. Fifa also has its own resale marketplace, with prices on that platform cheaper for some matches than on the primary site.The face-value price of a category one ticket for the United States’ first game, against Paraguay, in Los Angeles stands at $2,735, while other category one tickets were available on Fifa’s resale site for $1,300. On top of that, buyer and seller must pay 15% commission to Fifa to complete the transaction.View image in fullscreenThe face-value price of a category one ticket for the United States’ opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles is $2,735. Photograph: Daniel Cole/ReutersOutside Fifa’s marketplace, ticket prices appear to be falling. According to TicketData.com, which tracks prices from a number of resellers, including StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats, the cheapest available ticket for 87 of the 91 matches in the US and Canada has fallen over the past 14 days.Fifa’s ticketing policy has been hugely controversial, with the US president, Donald Trump, saying: “I wouldn’t pay that,” when asked last week about ticket prices for his country’s first game. Fifa has resolutely defended pricing it considers in line with that charged for other premium events in the US market, however, and received support from the head of Trump’s World Cup taskforce, Andrew Giuliani, who told the Financial Times: “We don’t really believe in price controls.”Explore more on these topicsWorld Cup 2026Football ticket pricesWorld CupFifaUS sportsnewsShareReuse this content

playLeboeuf: Slot's Liverpool future is in doubt (1:34)Frank Leboeuf believes Arne Slot's days as Liverpool manager could be numbered after the club's poor display against Chelsea. (1:34)ESPNMultiple AuthorsMay 11, 2026, 06:05 AM ETEmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsAS Monaco forward Maghnes Akliouche is on Liverpool's shortlist to replace Mohamed Salah, while Juventus full back Andrea Cambiaso is a target for Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.Transfers home page | Men's winter grades | Women's gradesTRENDING RUMORS- Liverpool are showing interest in AS Monaco forward Maghnes Akliouche, according to L'Equipe. The 24-year-old is being considered as a possible replacement for Mohamed Salah, who will leave the club as a free agent this summer. Liverpool have not been deterred by Monaco's demands for a €50 million fee to sign the right winger, who has six goals and seven assists to his name in Ligue 1 this campaign, but could face competition from Tottenham if they stay up. Meanwhile, Liverpool are monitoring Lens midfielder Mamadou Sangare, 23, who continues to impress in Ligue 1, according to Nicolo Schira.- Juventus full back Andrea Cambiaso is a target for Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool this summer, says TEAMtalk. Cambiaso, 26, is reportedly ready to move on in the transfer window, with United actively looking for a left-sided defender. The Italy international has previously been linked with Manchester City and has a contract until 2029, meaning that the Bianconeri are looking for a fee in excess of €60 million.- Real Madrid will need to offload players first if they are make any new signings this summer, according to The Athletic. Madrid are expected to bring back Como midfielder Nico Paz for a clause of less than €15 million, but have to balance their books and midfield trio Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, and Dani Ceballos are among those who could be allowed to depart.- West Ham want a fee of £84 million from clubs looking to sign midfielder Mateus Fernandes, which is double what they paid to sign him from Southampton last summer, reports Football Insider. Man United have been most heavily linked as they look at ways to bolster their midfield ranks. Fernandes, 21, has featured in 34 of West Ham's 36 Premier League games so far, and while relegation could be on the cards he could be set to stay in the top flight.- Liverpool have made contact with Real Madrid officials to quell any doubts they may have about the potential appointment of Xabi Alonso to replace Arne Slot as head coach this summer. AS claims that with Slot under pressure, officials from Anfield have been calling to make background checks on several options, which includes Alonso. The former Liverpool midfielder was dismissed from Real Madrid after six months in charge, which altered the perception of the success he managed at Bayer Leverkusen in his previous role. The 44-year-old has also been linked with Premier League rivals Chelsea.OTHER RUMORSplay1:12'No question about it!' - Michallik backs West Ham-Arsenal VAR decisionJanusz Michallik reacts to the decision to overturn Callum Wilson's equaliser for West Ham vs. Arsenal.- A move to Liverpool appeals to PSG winger Bradley Barcola, with the France international set to enter the final two years of his deal. (Le10 Sport)- Manchester United will receive €44 million for the permanent transfer of striker Rasmus Hojlund next week when he joins Napoli after his loan, having scored 14 goals and assisted six this season. (Fabrizio Romano)- Former Man United and Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 37, is considering retirement but is waiting on a decision from Inter Milan over extending his contract, which expires this summer. (Fabrizio Romano)- Manchester United have dismissed suggestions that winger Amad Diallo could leave the club this summer, after links emerged about a possible exit. (TEAMtalk)- Everton have opened talks to extend the contract of 28-year-old striker Beto as he has entered its final year. (Nicolo Schira)- Ferran Torres, 26, could leave Barcelona this summer, with AC Milan, Aston Villa and Newcastle all eyeing a deal for the versatile forward. (Ekrem Konur)- Juventus are advancing in talks over a potential move for Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker. (TalkSPORT)- Kieran McKenna is increasingly likely to leave newly promoted Premier League side Ipswich Town this summer, if an offer arrives. Crystal Palace and Fulham have been linked with the 39-year-old head coach, who has landed three promotions in four full seasons with the Tractor Boys. (Sun)- Mikel Arteta is closing in on a contract extension at Arsenal until 2029, which would take his stay at the Emirates Stadium as manager up to nearly 10 years. (Nicolo Schira)West Ham are expecting offers to sign winger Crysencio Summerville, 24, at the end of the season as he continues to impress despite the side's relegation fears. (Football Insider)

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Rochdale duo Ian Henderson (left) and Ethan Ebanks-Landell lift the National League promotion final trophy at WembleyBySimon StoneChief football news reporterPublished2 hours agoChief executive Phil Alexander has renewed the National League's call for the English Football League (EFL) to adopt a three-up, three-down promotion and relegation system between the two leagues.Rochdale came back from two goals down 12 minutes from the end of normal time to beat Boreham Wood on penalties in the promotion final at Wembley on Sunday.The win came two weeks after one of the most memorable games of the season across the top five leagues, when first Rochdale and then York scored in stoppage time in a league title decider.For long spells at Wembley, it appeared Rochdale would miss out on promotion despite amassing an incredible 106 points in their league campaign.Alexander feels that should focus minds within the EFL."We think three up could be done, we think three up should be done," he said. "The EFL could take the higher ground and make that happen."EFL chief executive Trevor Birch and chief operating officer Nick Craig were both at Wembley. Before the game outgoing National League chairman Jack Pearce praised the pair but added they were not in charge of adopting three-up, three-down - the clubs were.The National League feel there is broad agreement for its implementation and had hoped it would be voted on at a meeting of all 72 EFL clubs in March.That did not happen. Instead, it was listed as a discussion topic, meaning it could not be adopted for another year.'Footballing justice' served for jubilant RochdalePublished3 hours agoBoreham Wood's Garrard can't argue with 'football Gods'Published3 hours agoRochdale beat Boreham Wood on penalties to seal EFL returnIn performance terms, three promotion places make sense. The top tier of the National League is virtually fully professional and the gap in standard to League Two is negligible.While two recently promoted teams – Barrow and Harrogate – have been relegated from the EFL this season, Bromley, promoted out of the National League two years ago, have just won the League Two title. Notts County and Chesterfield, who contested the 2023 National League promotion final, are facing each other in the League Two play-off semi-finals, while Wrexham, also a National League club as recently as 2023, only missed out on a Championship play-off spot on the final day of this season.However, the fear at the National League is that EFL clubs will stick rigidly to their stance that change in their league should not be made until the Premier League – who provide significant financial backing to the fifth tier - reach a funding agreement with them, which, as yet, there are no signs of.Alexander feels the newly installed Football Regulator, chaired by David Kogan, has a role to play but hopes a solution can be found for the good of the game."Really the National League should be part of a larger pyramid with regards to connection with the EFL," said Alexander."It is league five in every sense and needs to be recognised in that way. At the moment it is on a bit of an island."The regulator has the power to make changes for the betterment of the game and that's where I'm coming from."We do think there is good feeling within the EFL for three-up and pretty much everyone thinks it's the thing to do but I am very concerned it might just drag on."Related topicsLeague TwoFootballNational League'National League is League Three' - inside non-league's 3UP campaignPublished14 November 2025The case for 3UP in the National LeaguePublished17 November 2025More on this storyFollow your club with BBC SportPublished12 MarchListen to the latest Football Daily podcastGet football news sent straight to your phonePublished16 August 2025

ByJonty ColmanBBC Sport journalistPublished30 September 2025Updated 2 hours agoFifa's rules allow a player to switch the nation they represent for a number of reasons.Inter Milan striker Ange-Yoan Bonny is among the latest players to officially switch nations, transferring from France to Ivory Coast ahead of this summer's World Cup.Ivory Coast are competing at the tournament, meaning Bonny could feature if called up to the squad.In order to do so, players must be eligible to play for the nation they are switching to.There are five different sets of circumstances in which a player is eligible to switch nations.A new rule introduced in 2021 allowed players who had played up to three senior international caps prior to the age of 21 to switch nations.Previously, the rule stated that players could not switch nations once they had earned a senior cap in a competitive match.England midfielder Declan Rice benefited from this rule when switching from the Republic of Ireland. Rice won three senior caps for the Republic, all of which came in international friendlies, before opting to instead play for England in 2019.Former Chelsea striker Diego Costa also swapped nations to Spain in 2014, having played for Brazil in two friendly matches in 2013.Get in touchSend us your questionsContact formContact formHow can a player switch nationalities?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ange-Yoan Bonny had represented France at under-21, under-20 and under-19 levelsWhile Fifa sets guidelines for nations and players in their rules on switching nationalities, it is ultimately the responsibility of all of Fifa's 211 members to individually ensure the players they are registering are eligible.There are five different sets of circumstances in which a player can become eligible to switch nationalities.The player has played for the country they are leaving only at youth level and was already dual-registered to the country they are joiningThe player has played for the country they are leaving only at youth level, was not dual-registered to the country they are joining, their last international appearance for the country they are leaving came prior to the age of 21, and meets article six or seven of Fifa's player eligibility guidelinesThe player played for the country they are leaving at senior level, were dual-registered with the nation they are joining whilst making their debut for the nation they are leaving, have not played for the country they are leaving since before turning 21, have not played more than three times for the country they are leaving at senior level, three years have passed since their last international appearance, and they have not played for their first nation at a major tournamentThe player wishes to represent a nation that were not Fifa members when they made their debut for the nation they are leaving, have not played for their first nation since the second nation became Fifa members, were either dual-registered or obtained nationality with the nation they wish to join as soon as reasonably practical, and meets article six or seven of Fifa's player eligibility guidelinesThe player has played in a senior match for their first nation but then permanently loses their nationality without their consent due to government authority and holds the association they wish to representMore questions answered...All you need to know about the Champions League finalCan stats pick out the Championship play-off winner?Who has qualified for next season's Champions League?How many points do you need to stay in the Premier League?Related topicsFootball

Dua Lipa sues Samsung for $15m over use of her image on TV boxes11 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleClaire KeenanReutersDua Lipa has filed a complaint against Samsung for allegedly using her image on its TV boxes without consentPop star Dua Lipa has filed a $15m (£11m) lawsuit against Samsung, alleging it used her image on packaging for its televisions without permission.Lipa alleges that Samsung prominently used a photograph of her face without consent on various television models sold across the US, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.Samsung's packaging was "designed to improperly capitalize on Ms. Lipa's hard-earned success to promote and sell Samsung's products", the filing said.The BBC has contacted to Samsung for comment.US District Court for the Central District of CaliforniaSamsung's TV packaging featuring Dua Lipa (Lipa's complaint filing)The lawsuit includes allegations of copyright infringement, trademark infringement and misappropriation of Lipa's likeness and image.According to the lawsuit, the image was taken during the singer's 2024 Austin City Limits Festival performance and Lipa owns the copyright to the photograph.Lipa first became aware of her appearance on Samsung boxes in June 2025, the lawsuit said. Fans on social media also began posting about it, describing it as the "Dua Lipa TV Box".The lawsuit pointed to two specific Instagram comments, one where a user said they would "get that TV just because Dua is on it," and another that read: "If you need anything selling just put a picture of Dua Lipa on it".According to the 30-year-old singer's legal team, Samsung apparently ignored "repeated demands" to "cease and desist from infringing on her rights".Lipa has a number of commercial partnerships with brands including Puma, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent, as referenced in the court filing. She has also collaborated with brands like Apple, Porsche and Chanel, and more recently became a global ambassador for Nespresso.Her most recent album, Radical Optimism, was released in 2024.Dua Lipa wins copyright case over LevitatingDua Lipa and Coldplay urge action on ticket toutsDua Lipa confirms engagement to Callum TurnerSamsung

Oil prices jump after Trump dismisses Iran proposal to end war1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleOsmond ChiaBusiness reporterEPA/ShutterstockOil prices rose in Monday morning trade in Asia after President Donald Trump said Iran's response to US proposals to end the war was "totally unacceptable".Tehran sent its response via Pakistan, which has served as a mediator between the two sides, calling for an immediate end to the conflict and guarantees of no further US-Israeli attacks on Iran, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency.International oil benchmark Brent rose by 3.8% to $105.20 (£77.36) a barrel, while US-traded crude increased by 4% to $99.30.The key Strait of Hormuz waterway has been effectively shut since shortly after the war started on 28 February, severely disrupting global supplies of oil and gas. Responding to Tehran's terms, Trump posted on social media: "I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE." Washington's terms had included restoration of free transit through the Strait of Hormuz and the suspension on Iranian nuclear enrichment, according to US news outlet Axios.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the war with Iran will not be over until its enriched uranium stockpiles are "taken out".A ceasefire announced in early April to allow time for peace talks has been mostly observed, despite occasional exchanges of fire.On 21 April, Trump extended the truce indefinitely to give Iran time to present a "unified proposal".Energy prices have swung wildly since the start of the conflict, while Brent crude has risen back above $100 a barrel since the ceasefire came into effect on 8 April.The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually passes, has been effectively shut after Tehran threatened to attack vessels that try to cross it in retaliation against US-Israeli strikes.Major energy companies have seen their profits jump as prices of oil and gas have soared on global markets.On Sunday, Aramco said its earnings had jumped by more than 25% in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2025.The Saudi Arabian energy giant's cross-country pipeline has "proven itself to be a critical supply artery" and helped it avoid disruptions to shipping caused by the Iran war, said Aramco boss Amin Nasser.Last month, BP reported that its profits for the first three months of the year had more than doubled, while Shell announced last week that its earnings had jumped.The companies making billions from the Iran warGulf economies face long-term hit from Iran conflictInternational BusinessDonald TrumpFuelIran war

Barcelona are LaLiga champions after their win on a night full of contrasts between them and Real Madrid.

Cyber-crime increasingly coming with threats of physical violence20 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEmma WoollacottTechnology reporterGetty ImagesHackers are said to be hiring criminals to threaten employees at companies they are trying to break intoA few years ago, Tim Beasley opened his front door to discover that a small package had been left on the step."I was like 'what the heck is this?'. I opened the box, and went 'oh!', and I immediately threw it away."Inside the box was a threatening note, alluding to physical violence if he didn't back off.Beasley works for a US security firm called Semperis, and at the time he was involved in ransom negotiations on behalf of a US government organisation that had been hit by a cyber-attack.The package delivered to his home in the US was a warning from the ransomware group he had been having to talk to.How crypto criminals stole $700 million from people - often using age-old tricksCyber-attacks continue to soar around the world. In the US alone, the number of reported instances has increased from 288,012 in 2015 to 1,008,597 last year, a record high, according to new figures from the FBI.It said that the resulting financial loss for US companies and other organisations totalled $20.8bn (£15.4bn) in 2025. That was up from $16.6bn in 2024.Meanwhile, cyber-attacks in the UK also hit new highs last year.Usually in such instances the hackers try to infiltrate a company's computer system to steal sensitive data, or to take control and lock out the business. The cyber criminals then demand money for the return of the data, or to hand the system back to the firm in question.But an increasing number of cyber attackers are now going further in their efforts to extort their victims - and threatening actual violence. The number of such physical threats rose more than twofold last year in the US, FBI annual data shows.Separate research from Semperis found that in as many as 40% of global ransomware attacks in 2025, the criminals threatened to physically harm members of staff who refused to pay a ransom demand.The phenomenon was said to be even more widespread in the US, where companies experienced physical threats 46% of the time."It's always been here in the background, but it's becoming more of a reality, slowly inching its way up," says Beasley.Tim BeasleyTim Beasley had a threatening note left on his doorstepHackers are threatening staff after accessing their personal data, including their home addresses. That was the case with one hospital ransom negotiation that Zac Warren from US security firm Tanium worked on."We started getting reports that employees within the hospital were getting phone calls," says the chief security advisor for Europe and the Middle East. "So they were calling into the hospital… and asking for nurses by their name, and then talking to them and telling them that they knew where they lived."They gave them street addresses, they gave them social security numbers, they did all of these things to make people really feel like they were being watched. They had all this information, so there's a really strong level of intimidation of the clinicians that was taking place."Sometimes, the threat of physical harm is less direct - but no less potentially lethal. In some cases, for example, attackers have been able to take control of manufacturing machinery and demonstrate their control by turning devices such as robots and conveyor belts on and off - actions that could easily lead to injuries or even death.Many ransomware gangs are state-sponsored, and threats of violence have been seen coming from Russia, China, Iran, and in some cases North Korea.However, most physical threats tend to come from purely financially-motivated groups. These hackers are often very young. The FBI's profile of one such group indicated an age range of mostly between 17 and 25.In many cases such cyber-criminals are said to pay others to threaten the violence, or actually carry it out."They themselves [the hackers], in a lot of cases don't want to get their own hands dirty," says Beasley. So instead they will post on message boards or social media to "do some recruiting, offer some cash and then people get hit or they get stalked".Some of the most severe threats of violence - and actual physical attacks - are to be found in the murky world of cryptocurrency investment. Last May, for example, French police rescued the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire who had been kidnapped and held for ransom in a Paris suburb.According to media reports the victim had one of his fingers cut off.AFP via Getty ImagesPolice in Paris had to rescue a man who had been kidnapped earlier this yearLast year in Europe, including the UK, there were more than 18 such cases, according to one report. The study said there had been a "dramatic increase" in cybercrime involving physical attacks.Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, investigates such crime as part of its wider efforts to catch the perpetrators of all "violence as a service", where individuals carry out attacks for a fee. In the US, the FBI issued an alert last summer, warning about the increased risk of violence from a network of online-linked criminals called "In Real Life Com". These criminals, it said, are becoming increasingly aggressive, and happy to offer violence-as-a-service."If you are looking for something bad to happen to somebody you can find somebody that's willing to take that action for you within 'The Com'," says Adam Meyers, senior VP for counter adversary operations at cybersecurity software firm Crowdstrike."That could be throwing bricks through a window, it could be setting something on fire, it could be a shooting or it could be a kidnapping. Lower technically-sophisticated people will probably gravitate more towards violence-as-a-service because violence is often the only thing they have that they can bring to the party."Zac WarrenZac Warren says that affected workers can face "really strong levels of intimidation"In the cryptocurrency cases, adds Meyers, the victims have probably drawn attention to themselves by being careless about what they reveal on social media, showing off about their success."Cryptocurrency people tend to have discussions about it in a way that you don't find with people who maybe have gold," he says. "They're online talking about trading cryptocurrency and how much money they've made, trying to get followers and get attention. As you do that, you're drawing attention to yourself."Beasley says that threats of violence linked to cybercrime will likely only continue to rise "because people keep paying" as a result of it. "They don't want their kids getting kidnapped."He adds: "It does make you want to look behind your back."Cyber-crimeWorld of BusinessInternational BusinessCyber-attacksCyber-security

No summer border delays for Brits, Greek tourism minister says33 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleTheo LeggettTransport CorrespondentReutersBritish holidaymakers heading to Greece will not have to face any delays at the border, even at the height of summer, the country's tourism minister has told the BBC.Olga Kefalogianni said the Greek government did not want visitors to be "burdened" by bureaucratic procedures when entering or leaving the country.She confirmed British visitors will not face biometric checks at the border at any time during the summer season.The country is making efforts to ensure frontier checks take "less than a couple of minutes", she added.The EU in April completed the introduction of its controversial new digital border procedure, known as the "entry-exit system", or EES.It requires short term visitors from outside the EU and the European Economic Area to register biometric data each time they enter or leave the Schengen free travel zone.The first time they cross the border, this is meant to include fingerprints and a facial scan – with one of those being checked each time they go through passport control.Although the system is working well in some parts of the EU, there have been serious difficulties in others, with some passengers experiencing queues of up to three hours.Portugal and Italy will not suspend digital border checks for BritsMore than 100 people missed their EasyJet flight to Manchester from Milan's Linate airport last month after being stuck in what the airline described as "unacceptable" passport queues.Other passengers due to travel with Ryanair from Milan Bergamo airport to Manchester also missed their flight due to passport control problems.Greece insists it has "successfully started the full operation of the Entry-Exit System". But in practice, it suspended biometric checks on UK visitors in early April after long queues built up at Corfu airport.The European Commission confirmed last week that Portugal and Italy do not plan on exempting British nationals from the new checks. Reports - unconfirmed by either country - had suggested the two nations were set to follow Greece's example.Kefalogianni insisted Greece was not breaching EU rules, which currently allow EES checks to be suspended briefly when airports become very congested, but prohibit blanket exemptions for citizens of a particular country."What we're doing is not actually an exemption," she said. "It's just that we have made sure that we facilitate the procedure in a way that means visitors are not burdened".The EU last week said it was in contact with Greece "to clarify the situation and recall the existing rules".Kefalogianni also admitted that reports of possible shortages of jet fuel leading to price rises or cancellations had made tourists more hesitant to travel.Since the US-Israel war with Iran erupted more than two months ago, jet fuel supplies from the Gulf have slowed to a trickle - a particular problem for Europe, which normally relies heavily on imports from the region."I think that this is a trend that you would see everywhere" she said. "People are being much more reluctant."But at the same time, they realise that Greece is always a country which has upgraded its tourism offering and that it provides a very good balance when it comes to price and the offering."We already have a lot of holidaymakers in Greece right now, and we're looking forward to welcoming even more as the season evolves", she added.Last week British holidaymakers were told by the government there was "no need" to change their travel plans due to concerns over jet fuel supplies, as there is currently no shortage in the UK and contingency plans are in place.The threat to summer holidays looming from jet fuel shortagesUS jet fuel could be used in Europe to ease possible shortagesPeople urged not to cancel flights over fuel shortage fearsEuropeTourismGreeceInternational BusinessTravelAir travelEuropean Union

This couple lost £1,000 after their flight was cancelled - here is what to check so you don't34 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentDebbie RainbirdArdon and Debbie Rainbird were left out of pocket when their flight home from Sri Lanka was cancelledIf you're planning a holiday this summer, it's important to check the insurance policy details carefully so you don't get caught out.Many of them do not cover losses linked to a war as Debbie and Ardon Rainbird from Northallerton in North Yorkshire found out the hard way.The couple got stuck for an extra two weeks during a holiday in Sri Lanka after their return flight through the Qatari capital Doha was cancelled when the Iran conflict broke out.They had an annual insurance travel policy but it didn't cover war, leaving them around £1,000 out of pocket even though their tour operator paid for some of their extra nights after which they moved to a budget hotel. If they had bought an add-on then that cost would have been covered."It is frustrating because you budget for a holiday," Debbie says. "But we were incredibly lucky compared with others."The cost of insurance hasn't really changed, but holidaymakers now have far fewer travel insurance policies to choose from when visiting areas in or near the conflict in the Middle East, say analysts Defaqto.Here are the five insurance questions you should ask before booking your summer holiday.1. What am I covered for - and what am I not?Insurance becomes invalid if you go somewhere where the Foreign Office advises against travel. For example, the current advice is against all travel to Iran."It is always worthwhile checking the policy details though or speaking with the provider as the policy may include some travel disruption coverage which could extend to civil unrest or airspace closures," says Anna-Marie Duthie, travel insurance expert at Defaqto.While some policies cover the cost of disruption and cancellation, the biggest cost involved in travel insurance is to cover emergency medical treatment that may be needed while abroad.2. Will I be covered if a jet fuel shortage affects my holiday?Airlines are responsible for offering alternative flights or refunds when operational issues - such as a shortage of jet fuel - leads to flight cancellations, according to trade body the Association of British Insurers (ABI).If you book a trip using a credit card then you could make a claim through your card provider for services, such as accommodation, that you did not receive.If you booked your flight and accommodation separately, travel insurance might cover some unused, non-refundable costs, the ABI says. But this would only be when the policy included cancellation cover and the cause of the cancellation was something included in the policy.If a claim is linked to geopolitical issues then it may not be covered, Defaqto says.People urged not to cancel flights over fuel shortage fearsWhat are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?3. Am I still covered if I change destination?If you're planning a summer holiday in the affected region then you might decide to go somewhere else instead.If you are switching to another part of the world, such as from Europe to the US, then you will need to let your insurer know.The change could lead to an extra charge.4. What if I don't want to go away at all anymore?If you've already booked to visit a destination that is subsequently deemed unsafe by the Foreign Office then you should not travel and can claim on your insurance.However, if the Foreign Office says travel is safe, but you change your mind about travelling, then there is no cover.This is known as disinclination. Experts suggest contacting the holiday provider to change destination or dates of travel, although that may depend on availability and often comes at an extra cost.5. Does it matter when I buy my insurance policy?You should buy travel insurance as soon as you book a trip, to make sure you're covered if the trip is cancelled because, for example, you or someone in your party has fallen ill, consumer experts and the ABI suggest.Most travel insurance policies will not be valid if you buy cover while already on holiday.Most travel policies will not cover claims linked with a "known event". If you book a holiday, then the situation escalates before you buy travel insurance, then less cover may be available.MoneyHolidaysTravel insurancePersonal finance

Match of the Day pundits Shay Given and Danny Murphy analyse David Raya's potential title-winning save from Mateus Fernandes during Arsenal's 1-0 victory over West Ham at the London stadium.

VAR's biggest ever decision? - analysisThis content is not available in your location.There was an errorMatch of the Day pundits Shay Given and Danny Murphy, and former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann analyse the controversial decision to rule out West Ham's late equaliser against Arsenal for a foul on David Raya which had huge impact on both the title race and the relegation battle. MATCH REPORT: West Ham 0-1 Arsenal Available to UK users only.SubsectionPremier LeaguePublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRead description