Barnsley has been rebranded as Britain’s first “tech town”, with ministers unveiling plans to use artificial intelligence to improve local schools, healthcare and businesses as part of the government’s push to embed AI across the economy. The designation was announced by the technology secretary Liz Kendall, who said the South Yorkshire town would act as a national testbed for “how AI can improve everyday life”. Under the initiative, US technology groups including Microsoft, Google, Cisco...
Around one million people missed the deadline to file their self-assessment tax return, leaving them facing automatic penalties, according to HM Revenue and Customs. HMRC said 27,456 taxpayers filed in the final hour before the midnight cut-off at the end of Saturday, after the tax authority kept helplines open and extended webchat services over the weekend in a bid to help late filers. The busiest period for online submissions was between 5pm and 6pm on...
On Tuesday in Washington, Congress is holding a high-stakes hearing that goes well beyond Hollywood — it’s about American jobs, who controls our media and U.S. national security. If Ronald Reagan were alive today, he would urge every American to watch this hearing closely. Reagan understood that culture, storytelling and media are powerful weapons in the battle of ideas — and that foreign adversaries use them to weaken free societies from within. Lawmakers are weighing...
Laura Fernández Delgado declared victory in the Costa Rican presidential election on Sunday after preliminary results showed her Sovereign People’s Party leading the national vote with just over 48% support. The National Liberation Party followed in second place with approximately 33% of the vote, according to the latest official tally from Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which oversees and certifies national elections. ‘Change will be deep and irreversible,’ Fernández said at her victory party in...
President Donald Trump urged Republicans to ‘take over’ and ‘nationalize’ voting on Monday. Trump made the comments during an interview with former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Under the Constitution, states set the rules for both federal and state elections, establishing ‘the times, places, and manner of holding elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate.’ ‘The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,” Trump told Bongino. ‘We should take over the voting...
The Information Commissioner’s Office has launched formal investigations into X Internet Unlimited Company and X.AI over their handling of personal data in connection with the Grok artificial intelligence system. The regulator said the probes follow reports that Grok has been used to generate non-consensual sexualised images and videos of individuals, including children. The alleged creation and circulation of such content raises “serious concerns” under UK data protection law and presents a risk of significant harm...
Relations between President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro have swung sharply from open confrontation to cautious engagement over the past year, setting the stage for a pivotal White House meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Once considered a model partnership in the Western Hemisphere, U.S.–Colombia ties are now being tested by deep disagreements over drug policy, security cooperation and migration. Speaking to reporters ahead of the visit, President Donald Trump suggested the tone between the...
The ongoing partial government shutdown is now in its fourth day, but House GOP leaders are confident that the end is near. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is aiming to hold a chamber-wide procedural vote on the Senate’s funding compromise on Tuesday afternoon, teeing up a subsequent vote on final passage potentially later in the day. It comes after he and President Donald Trump quelled a burgeoning rebellion by House conservatives who were threatening to...
SpaceX has acquired xAI, Elon Musk’s fast-growing artificial intelligence venture, in a move designed to bring the billionaire entrepreneur’s AI, space and communications ambitions under a single corporate structure. The deal unites the world’s most valuable private aerospace company with the developer of the Grok chatbot, marking one of the most striking corporate combinations to emerge from Silicon Valley in recent years. It also comes ahead of a widely reported blockbuster stock market listing later...
The FTSE 100 closed at a fresh record high on a day of whipsawing global markets, as a strengthening US dollar offset sharp falls in commodities including gold, silver and oil. London’s blue-chip index finished up 118.02 points, or 1.15 per cent, at 10,341.56, reversing an early European sell-off and setting a new closing peak. Traders bet that the dollar’s recent rally would boost earnings prospects for UK-listed multinationals, around three-quarters of which generate revenues...
