8 h. ago Girl Taken review – Alfie Allen is incredible in this twisty tale of teen abduction

This tale of a family dealing with a kidnapped daughter is a deeply engaging, psychologically complex thriller that is a cut above the restA summary of Girl Taken is disheartening; a teenage girl is abducted by a man she trusted and kept for his own grim purposes in a remote secret location, and must use her wits to survive the depravities and maybe one day escape. But in full, Girl Taken, like the 2016 book Baby Doll by Hollie Overton on which it is based, is something much better. It takes the neglected parts of such stories – the sadder, quieter, far less titillating and voyeuristic aspects of what it means to take a person out of her home, her world and her life, and away from those of the people who love her – and fleshes all that out instead. It makes for a slower burn, but a much more deeply engaging and psychologically complex thriller than we customarily expect from such a setup, and – in asking what it really means to survive an act of profound violence – harrowing in a mo...

Politics

18 h. ago The Guardian view on granting legal rights to AI: humans should not give house

Anthropomorphising tech helps Silicon Valley shares to soar, but our empathy should be directed to worthier causesMost readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun will have been moved by the portrait of its eponymous AI narrator. As a solar-powered “artificial friend”, bought as a companion and potential substitute for a sick teenage girl, Klara fulfils her duties with a loving loyalty that makes it impossible to think of her as a mere piece of tech.Brilliant, thought-provoking fiction. But back in the real world, anthropomorphising AI may not be such a clever idea. During the summer, Anthropic, a leading tech company, announced that in the interests of chatbot welfare, it was allowing its Claude Opus 4 model to avoid supposedly “distressing” conversations with users. More broadly, amid explosive growth in AI capacities, there is emerging speculation over whether future Klaras may even deserve to be accorded legal rights like human beings. Continue reading...

Politics

19 h. ago Ariana Grande shares dramatic selfie in tears as she says goodbye to Wicked character Glinda after five years

The 32-year-old actress shared a gallery of snaps on Instagram including a selfie featuring tears streaming down her face while wearing her film costume gown.

Events

21 h. ago Inquest opens into the death of autistic teenage girl who was killed on M5 after jumping out of moving police car

Tamzin Ellen Hall, from Wellington, Somerset, suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by a vehicle on the motorway between junction 25 at Taunton and 24 at Bridgwater.

Events

24 h. ago Teen girl who fell out of ambulance on M6 was patient being rushed to hospital

A teenage girl reportedly fell from the back of an ambulance on the M6 Southbound, causing the motorway to close for nearly two hours on Tuesday evening

Science

27 h. ago Teenage girl 'fell out back of ambulance' onto motorway as she was being rushed to hospital

A slip road onto the M6 in Lancashire was closed on Tuesday evening after a teenage girl 'fell out of the back of an ambulance'.

Politics

43 h. ago Teen girl who accused teacher of sex assault faces gruelling cross

Johnathan Morgan, 35, sent the teenage girl pictures of his private parts and of himself performing a sex act but denies sexually assaulting the teenage girl while he was employed as a primary school teacher.

Events

48 h. ago Parents branded 'selfishly oblivious' for taking toddler to 3

A couple have been branded "selfishly oblivious" by cinema-goers after they took their young toddler to a showing of the latest Avatar film, which runs for a whopping three hours and 17 minutes

Politics

62 h. ago Teenage girl, 16, and boy, 17, are killed in crash on country lane after car 'swerved off road'

Emergency services were called to reports that a car had left the carriageway on Old Ferry Road at Iwade, near Sittingbourne, Kent, at around 8.30pm on Saturday, January 3.

Events

65 h. ago Teenage girl from South London among three jailed after ‘callous’ killing of 51

Teenage girl from South London among three jailed after ‘callous’ killing of 51-year-old man last summer  Southwark News

Events

67 h. ago Teenage girl, 15, is placed in coma after falling from her pony in 'freak accident' during Boxing Day children's ride

Maisy Mansbridge, 15, was taking part in a children's race at the New Forest Point to Point event in Hampshire on December 26 when her pony, named Shazzie, stumbled and fell.

Sport

67 h. ago Teens took selfies after killing homeless man with gin bottle

Three teenagers from London - Eymaiyah Lee Bradshaw-McKoy, Mia Campos-Jorge and Jaidee Bingham - violently killed Anthony Marks, to settle a county lines drug score

Events

68 h. ago Teenagers who posed for selfies after killing homeless man jailed

Detective Inspector Jim Barry called the attack ‘a particularly callous murder’

Events

68 h. ago County lines teenage gang who posed for selfies and filmed themselves dancing after beating man to death with a gin bottle are jailed for 23 years 

The gang, who can now be named after turning 18, carried out a savage county lines retribution attack on Anthony Marks, 51, who later died from his injuries.

Events

2 d. ago County lines teenage girl gang who posed for selfies and filmed themselves dancing after beating man to death with a gin bottle are jailed for 23 years 

The girls, who can now be named after turning 18, carried out a savage county lines retribution attack on Anthony Marks, 51, who later died from his injuries.

Events

2 d. ago Sick meme teenage girl sent just hours after homeless man was battered to death

A chilling meme sent on the night that a 16-year-old boy and two teenage girls killed a homeless man they suspected had wronged him was using in court to secure their conviction

Events

2 d. ago Teens who took selfies after killing homeless man with gin bottle are jailed

Three teenagers - Eymaiyah Lee Bradshaw-McKoy, Mia Campos-Jorge and Jaidee Bingham - brutally killed Anthony Marks, 51, in London to settle a county lines drug score

Events

3 d. ago Teen swept away by sea was 'wave watching' when triple tragedy stuck

A teenage girl is still missing and her mother and a Good Samaritan who tried to rescue them both have been confirmed dead aftr Friday's incident

Politics

4 d. ago Mother and Good Samaritan die trying to save girl swept into sea

A teenage girl was swept away by a huge wave on steps near Pier Towers at Withernsea in East Yorkshire on Friday

Events

4 d. ago Desperate mum 'came within inches of saving daughter before both swept away by freak wave'

Tragedy unfolded at Withernsea as witnesses describe heroic attempts to rescue teenage girl caught by 3m wave off East Yorkshire coast

Politics