92 m. ago Creative industries are among the UK’s crown jewels – and AI is out to steal them | John Naughton

The tech firms’ efforts to change copyright laws and gain free access to intellectual property is patently wrongThere are decades when nothing happens (as Lenin is – wrongly – supposed to have said) and weeks when decades happen. We’ve just lived through a few weeks like that. We’ve known for decades that some American tech companies were problematic for democracy because they were fragmenting the public sphere and fostering polarisation. They were a worrying nuisance, to be sure, but not central to the polity.And then, suddenly, those corporations were inextricably bound into government, and their narrow sectional interests became the national interest of the US. Which means that any foreign government with ideas about regulating, say, hate speech on X, may have to deal with the intemperate wrath of Donald Trump or the more coherent abuse of JD Vance. Continue reading...

Events

1 hour ago ‘My paedophile letters’: French surgeon to stand trial accused of abusing 299 patients, mostly children

Joël Le Scouarnec’s ‘black books’ of handwritten notes in which alleged sexual abuse was recorded are at the heart of case against himWhen two gendarmes knocked on her door in 2019, Marie had no idea that she was about to find herself at the dark heart of one of the world’s biggest child abuse cases.The French mother of three, now 38, was shocked when the officers told her she had been the victim of Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon and an alleged serial paedophile accused of raping and sexually abusing hundreds of children. Continue reading...

Science

2 h. ago Trump could ditch US’ $93 billion efforts to return to the moon to fuel Musk’s Mars dreams

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has called the moon a ‘distraction’ and signaled a shift toward Mars

Politics

3 h. ago Styling baggy jeans can be tricky – here’s how to do it at any age

The French tuck is your secret weapon

Politics

4 h. ago ‘We’re clearly heading towards collapse’: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang

An explosive succession trial and an astonishing interview with one of Rupert’s sons have exposed the paranoia and hatred at the heart of global media’s most powerful family. This could get messy When some of the mind games and manoeuvres that turned a Murdoch family “retreat” into an ordeal appeared in Succession, the TV drama about squabbling family members of a right-wing media company, members of the real-life family started to suspect each other of leaking details to the writers. The truth was more straightforward. Succession’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, said that his team hadn’t needed inside sources – they had simply read press reports.Future screenwriters have been gifted a whole load of new Murdoch material in the past few days, after two astonishing stories in the New York Times and the Atlantic lifted the lid on the dysfunction, paranoia and despair at the heart of the most powerful family in global media. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago Mum 'shamed for breastfeeding' around her own family as they say it's 'distracting'

A mum has been left horrified after her own family shamed her for breastfeeding her newborn baby while they were visiting - but most people are firmly on her side

Politics

6 h. ago Serial paedophile surgeon with 300 child victims kept sick diary bragging about evil crimes

Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, was previously jailed for the rape and sexual assault of four victims, but faces a further trial next week after police discovered diaries detailing hundreds of abuses

Events

7 h. ago Woke funds have gone to the dogs: Bestinvest reveals ESG has fallen behind for investors

Sustainable funds have fallen firmly out of fashion and dailed to deliver good returns for investors, a new report says.

Economics

10 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas handed over as Hamas prepares to release six more hostages

Hamas says six captives expected to be freed from Gaza on Saturday in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA convoy of Red Cross vehicles is now heading to a hostage handover site set up by Hamas in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Times of Israel is quoting an Israeli defense official as saying.The Red Cross is expected to receive two hostages there, the report says. According to Al Jazeera, hostages Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu will be freed in Rafah. The other four — Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert and Hisham al-Sayed — will be released later in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.On the stage prepared by Hamas in Rafah are the usual placards with messages including “We are the flood” as well as military weapons and equipment the group claims were stolen from the IDF on October 7 2023.One piece is a gun on which the group wrote “Ravshatz,” the Hebrew acronym for the head of a community’s local security team, indicating it was taken from such an individual killed by terr...

Events

11 h. ago 'Dangerous sexual predator' caged after travelling 150 miles to rape child he met on Snapchat

Wayne Philip Phillipson, who is already behind bars for a series of child sex offences, was found guilty of attacking the girl following a trial at the High Court in Livingston in August 2024

Events

12 h. ago Meet the 5 top court justices in Brazil who could decide the future of former President Bolsonaro

Five of Brazil’s 11 Supreme Court justices will decide in the next three weeks whether former President Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others charged by the country’s prosecutor-general with attempting a coup will stand trial

Politics

17 h. ago Stagflation fears rise as firms slash jobs thanks to Reeves Budget debacle

In yet another blow to the Chancellor, a damning report showed firms are now slashing jobs at the fastest pace since the financial crisis - excluding the pandemic - as they brace for tax hikes in April.

Economics

18 h. ago Luigi Mangione's jaunty courtroom flex slammed as 'major fashion faux pas'

As supporters caught a glimpse of accused killer Luigi Mangione at a New York courthouse on Friday, some were shocked by what he was wearing.

Events

18 h. ago Los Angeles DA opposes new trial for Menendez brothers over parents’ deaths

Nathan Hochman casts doubt on sexual abuse claims but declines to say whether he would support resentencingLos Angeles’s new tough-on-crime district attorney made clear on Friday he is taking a much less sympathetic view of Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case, though his office has not yet announced what position it will take on the issue of whether the brothers should be resentenced.Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killings of José and Kitty Menendez in 1989, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Continue reading...

Events

20 h. ago Airlines could soon charge overweight passengers more for plane tickets. Do you agree?

A debate is brewing over whether airlines should adopt weight-based pricing, charging passengers based on their weight to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Politics

21 h. ago Man found guilty of attempting to murder Salman Rushdie after stabbing him multiple times in vicious New York lecture attack

Hadi Matar, 27, was found guilty after a little less than two hours of deliberations following a trial in Chautauqua County Court, New York.

Events

21 h. ago Trump says Starmer and Macron ‘haven’t done anything’ to end Ukraine war

Sir Keir has faced pressure to take a firm line with Mr Trump on support for Ukraine when he visits the US next week.

Politics

22 h. ago Salman Rushdie trial: Guilty verdict reached in trial of man accused of trying to kill author

The British-American novelist was seriously wounded and blinded in one eye in the August 2022 attack. Hadi Matar pleaded not guilty to the charges

Events

22 h. ago Luigi Mangione is depicted as a SAINT in sick scene as court hearing is besieged by dozens of fans eager to catch glimpse of insurance boss's 'killer'

Luigi Mangione, 26, heads to a pre-trial hearing today in Manhattan as swaths of fans show their support and attempt to catch a glimpse at the alleged CEO killer.

Events

22 h. ago Man found guilty of attempted murder in Salman Rushdie stabbing trial

Jury convicts Hadi Matar, 27, charged with trying to kill author at literary gathering in New York state in 2022A jury on Friday afternoon convicted the man who was charged with stabbing and trying to kill the author Salman Rushdie as he delivered a lecture at a literary gathering in western New York state in 2022.Jurors in Chautauqua county quickly declared the defendant, Hadi Matar, 27, from New Jersey, guilty. They had received the case after lawyers delivered their closing arguments, wrapping up seven days of testimony that included a vivid account from Rushdie of how he was certain he was going to die after being rushed on stage by a man with a knife. Continue reading...

Events