Letter signed by more than 200 artists makes broad ask that tech firms pledge to not develop AI tools to replace human creativesA group of more than 200 high-profile musicians have signed an open letter calling for protections against the predatory use of artificial intelligence that mimics human artists' likenesses, voices and sound. The signatories span musical genres and eras, ranging from A-list stars such as Billie Eilish, J Balvin and Nicki Minaj to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like Stevie Wonder and REM. The estates of Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley are also signatories.The letter, which was issued by the Artist Rights Alliance advocacy group, makes the broad demand that technology companies pledge not to develop AI tools that undermine or replace human songwriters and artists. Continue reading...
Drop is sign that effects of its price cuts are waning while electric automaker's shares have fallen nearly 30% so far this yearTesla posted a fall in deliveries for the first time in nearly four years and missed Wall Street estimates, a sign that the effects of its price cuts are waning as the automaker battles rising competition and softer demand.Tesla's shares have fallen nearly 30% in value so far this year, sliding 5.7% in early trading on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Countries sign memorandum to develop advanced AI model testing amid growing safety concernsThe United States and Britain on Monday announced a new partnership on the science of artificial intelligence safety, amid growing concerns about upcoming next-generation versions.The US commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, and British technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington DC to work jointly to develop advanced AI model testing, following commitments announced at an AI safety summit in Bletchley Park in November. Continue reading...
Retro video games and aesthetics are having a moment, but it's not just gen X and older millennials reliving their heyday: younger millennials and gen Z are getting in on the nostalgia tooThe bouncy, midi melody of Nintendo's Wii theme descends into a drill beat. A Game Boy Colour opens up into a lip gloss case. A$AP Rocky goes full Minecraft" in a pixelated hoodie, and a panting man bobs up and down with his arm stuck in a bush. This is not a glitch. Both online and IRL, pop culture is embracing the sounds, visuals and experience of retro gaming.On TikTok, #retrogaming videos have amassed over 6bn views. On YouTube, uploads have increased 1,000-fold. Spotify users are creating 50% more retro-gaming-themed playlists than they were at this time last year, and live streamers are cashing in on the repetitive catchphrases and mechanical movements of NPCs (non-player characters). So why, in this age of hyperrealistic graphics and ever-expanding technological possibility, are younger generations captivated by an era of technological limitation? Continue reading...
Tech firms can do more, but it's the government's job to ensure children have safe places to play - and it's not doing itThree-quarters of children want to spend more time in nature. Having spent the Easter weekend trying to force four resistant teenagers off their phones and out for a nice walk over the Yorkshire Dales, admittedly I'll have to take the National Trust's word for this. But that's what its survey of children aged between seven and 14 finds, anyway.Kids don't necessarily want to spend every waking minute hunched over a screen, however strongly they give that impression; even though retreating online satisfies the developmentally important desire to escape their annoying parents, even teenagers still want to run wild in the real world occasionally. Their relationship with phones is complex and maddening, but not a million miles off adults' own love-hate relationship with social media; a greasy sugar-rush we crave but rarely feel better for indulging. Yet lately, longstanding parental unease over children's screen habits has been hardening into something more like revolt.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Suit claimed tech giant tracked activity of people who thought they were privately using its Chrome browser's incognito modeGoogle agreed to destroy billions of records to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the internet use of people who thought they were browsing privately in its Chrome browser's incognito mode.Users alleged that Google's analytics, cookies and apps let the Alphabet unit improperly track people who set Google's Chrome browser to incognito" mode and other browsers to private" browsing mode. Continue reading...
App-based cognitive tests found to be proficient at detecting frontotemporal dementia in those most at riskA smartphone app could help detect a leading cause of early-onset dementia in people who are at high risk of developing it, data suggests.Scientists have demonstrated that cognitive tests done via a smartphone app are at least as sensitive at detecting early signs of frontotemporal dementia in people with a genetic predisposition to the condition as medical evaluations performed in clinics. Continue reading...
The royals are perennial clickbait, but the wild online bunkum over the Princess of Wales reveals new and darker forcesOn TikTok, there is a short clip of what an AI voiceover claims is a supposed ring glitch" in the video in which Princess of Wales reveals her cancer diagnosis. It has 1.3 million views. Others, in which users break down" aspects of the video and analyse the saga with spurious evidence, also rack up millions of views and shares. I have then seen them surface on X, formerly known as Twitter, and even shared on WhatsApp by friends and family, who see in these videos, presented as factual and delivered in reporter-style, nothing that indicates that this is wild internet bunkum.Something has changed about the way social media content is presented to us. It is both a huge and subtle shift. Until recently, types of content were segregated by platform. Instagram was for pictures and short reels, TikTok for longer videos, X for short written posts. Now Instagram reels post TikTok videos, which post Instagram reels, and all are posted on X. Often it feels like a closed loop, with the algorithm taking you further and further away from discretion and choice in who you follow. All social media apps now have the equivalent of a For you" page, a feed of content from people you don't follow, and which, if you don't consciously adjust your settings, the homepage defaults to. The result is that increasingly, you have less control over what you see. Continue reading...
Lena Forsen picture used as reference photo since 1970s now breaches code of ethics, professional association saysCropped from the shoulders up, the Playboy centrefold of Swedish model Lena Forsen looking back at the photographer is an unlikely candidate for one of the most reproduced images ever.Shortly after it was printed in the November 1972 issue of the magazine, the photograph was digitised by Alexander Sawchuk, an assistant professor at the University of California, using a scanner designed for press agencies. Sawchuk and his engineering colleagues needed new images to test their processing algorithms. Bored with TV test images, they turned to the centrefold, defending its choice by noting that it featured a face and a mixture of light and dark colours. Fortunately, the limits of the scanner meant that only the top five inches were scanned, with just Forsen's bare shoulder hinting at the nature of the original picture. Continue reading...
Delaying the Voice Engine technology rollout minimises the potential for misinformation in an important global election yearA new tool from OpenAI that can generate a convincing clone of anyone's voice using just 15 seconds of recorded audio has been deemed too risky for general release, as the AI lab seeks to minimise the threat of damaging misinformation in a global year of elections.Voice Engine was first developed in 2022 and an initial version was used for the text-to-speech feature built into ChatGPT, the organisation's leading AI tool. But its power has never been revealed publicly, in part because of the cautious and informed" approach that OpenAI is taking to release it more widely. Continue reading...
Portable AI-powered devices that connect directly to a chatbot without the need for apps or a touchscreen are set to hit the market. Are they the emperor's new clothes or a gamechanger?Imagine it: you're on the bus or walking in the park, when you remember some important task has slipped your mind. You were meant to send an email, catch up on a meeting, or arrange to grab lunch with a friend. Without missing a beat, you simply say aloud what you've forgotten and the small device that's pinned to your chest, or resting on the bridge of your nose, sends the message, summarises the meeting, or pings your buddy a lunch invitation. The work has been taken care of, without you ever having to prod the screen of your smartphone.It's the sort of utopian convenience that a growing wave of tech companies are hoping to realise through artificial intelligence. Generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT exploded in popularity last year, as search engines like Google, messaging apps such as Slack and social media services like Snapchat raced to integrate the tech into their systems. Yet while AI add-ons have become a familiar sight across apps and software, the same generative tech is now making an attempt to join the realm of hardware, as the first AI-powered consumer devices rear their heads and jostle for space with our smartphones. Continue reading...
New tool may offer prescription safety net' and reduce the 237m medication errors made each year in EnglandDrugs are a cornerstone of medicine, but sometimes doctors make mistakes when prescribing them and patients don't take them properly.A new AI tool developed at Oxford University aims to tackle both those problems. DrugGPT offers a safety net for clinicians when they prescribe medicines and gives them information that may help their patients better understand why and how to take them. Continue reading...
By turning his computer chip-making company Nvidia into a vital component in the AI arms race, Jensen Huang has placed himself at the forefront of the biggest gold rush in tech historyA funny thing happened on our way to the future. It took place recently in a huge sports arena in San Jose, California, and was described by some wag as AI Woodstock". But whereas that original music festival had attendees who were mainly stoned on conventional narcotics, the 11,000 or so in San Jose were high on the Kool-Aid so lavishly provided by the tech industry.They were gathered to hear a keynote address at a technology conference given by Jensen Huang, the founder of computer chip-maker Nvidia, who is now the Taylor Swift of Silicon Valley. Dressed in his customary leather jacket and white-soled trainers, he delivered a bravura 50-minute performance that recalled Steve Jobs in his heyday, though with slightly less slick delivery. The audience, likewise, recalled the fanboys who used to queue for hours to be allowed into Jobs's reality distortion field, except that the Huang fans were not as attentive to the cues he gave them to applaud. Continue reading...
Capturing the sights, smells and heat of India's spiritual capitalVaranasi, on the banks of the Ganges, is viewed as the spiritual capital of India," photographer Svetlin Yosifov says. It's also known as the city of death. While many Hindus undertake pilgrimage to see its temples and ghats, and bathe in the sacred river, some come when they feel death is near. Hindu scripture says dying and being cremated there frees a person from the cycle of rebirth and grants them salvation."In 2022, Yosifov, from Bulgaria, had already visited India four times, including one trip to Varanasi. This time he traversed the city on foot for hours, looking for the perfect shot. The streets are so crowded," he says. Any empty space is filled instantly." Continue reading...
Mayor Eric Adams announced pilot program as part of effort to deter violence, with plans to evaluate scanners at some stationsNew York City officials announced a pilot program on Thursday to deploy portable gun scanners in the subway system, part of an effort to deter violence underground and to make the system feel safer.The scanners will be introduced in certain stations after a legally mandated 90-day waiting period, the mayor, Eric Adams, said. Continue reading...
Revenue at Chinese telecom rose 10% as net profit more than doublesChinese telecoms firm Huawei grew faster in 2023 than it has for four years, as it shrugged off the impact of US sanctions.Revenues rose by nearly 10% to 704.2bn yuan (77bn) as the Shenzhen-based company enjoyed a rebound within its consumer segment, which includes smartphone handsets. Continue reading...
Uber of the skies' Joby Aviation will build its fleet of aircraft at a $500m facility in Dayton and plans to employ 2,000 peopleFor a decade, Dayton in south-west Ohio has fought to shed its rust belt past. New apartment blocks, hotels and breweries have cut into a landscape dominated by derelict warehouses and general industrial decline. But today, that transformation is shifting gears and taking to the skies.A town that 120 years ago produced the pioneers of human flight the Wright brothers is set to build hundreds of futuristic flying taxis each year. Continue reading...
The increased use of AI to replicate the voice and movements of actors has benefits but some are concerned over how and when it might be used and who might be left short-changedWhen she discovered her voice had been uploaded to multiple websites without her consent, the actor Cissy Jones told them to take it down immediately. Some complied. Others who have more money in their banks basically sent me the email equivalent of a digital middle finger and said: don't care," Jones recalls by phone.That was the genesis for me to start talking to friends of mine about: listen, how do we do this the right way? How do we understand that the genie is out of the bottle and find a way to be a part of the conversation or we will get systematically annihilated? I know that sounds dramatic but, given how easy it is to steal a person's voice, it's not far off the mark." Continue reading...
While religion doesn't feature much in video games, I find the theory that we are all characters in a huge sim ever more believable - and appealingIt's Easter weekend, when Catholics like me spend hours in church listening to the extended editor's cut of a story whose ending we already know. Sitting there for the millionth performance of the Passion recently, I got to thinking about how few religious video game characters I've ever encountered. It's interesting that in a world where so many people's lives are dictated by religious beliefs, there is such a scarcity of religion in games. I mean, you could argue that all games are Jesus homages, with their respawns and extra lives, but even I admit that's a stretch.The Peggies in Far Cry 5 are a mind-controlling violent cult; those Founders in BioShock Infinite use religion to elevate and justify hatred of foreigners; and you have those wackadoodles in Fallout worshipping atomic bombs. Religion is almost exclusively used as means for leaders to get minions to do bad things. (Admittedly, they may be on to something here.) I guess that when so many video games are structured so as to set you up as a lone protagonist, up against a huge force, religion is a fairly obvious go-to villain. Continue reading...
by Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent on (#6KPSQ)
Experts say UK-imposed sanctions will make no difference when hacking is part of ecosystem of dealing with BeijingWith the announcement that the UK government would be imposing sanctions on two individuals and one entity accused of targeting - without success - UK parliamentarians in cyber-attacks in 2021, the phrase tip of the iceberg" comes to mind. But that would underestimate the iceberg.James Cleverly, the home secretary, said the sanctions were a sign that targeting our elected representatives and electoral processes will never go unchallenged". Continue reading...
Sam Bankman-Fried oversaw its collapse - now the crypto firm is in bankruptcy proceedings as contentious as his fraud trialSam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, presided over a spectacular collapse that cost his customers billions of dollars. He argues in court filings that anyone owed money by FTX will eventually be paid in full". The US government says he's living in a fantasy land. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday.Last week, FTX's caretaker, John Ray III, appointed to oversee the company's bankruptcy proceedings, reminded the court that Bankman-Fried had masterminded a colossal fraud", lived a life of delusion", and called Bankman-Fried's lawyers' claim that no one had been harmed as categorically, callously, and demonstrably false". Continue reading...
Judge orders disgraced crypto mogul to forfeit $11bn in assets and says he showed no remorse for his crimesSam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul who perpetrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11bn in assets. His lawyer reiterated a pledge to appeal the sentence the same day.The judge, Lewis Kaplan, issued the penalty in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday. Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy to launder money late last year. Continue reading...
A small team of skilled players set themselves a near-impossible task: to complete every level of Super Mario Maker before Nintendo shut its servers. Did they manage it?On 14 March, Team 0% was close to finishing its seven-year mission to complete every single uncleared level in the 2015 Nintendo game Super Mario Maker - all 80,000 of them. Two hellish maps stood in their way: Trimming the Herbs and The Last Dance. And time was ticking. Nintendo had announced it was shutting down the game's servers on 8 April, and if the levels weren't completed by then, they would remain forever unfinished. Team 0% would fail at the last stretch of their marathon.When Nintendo released Super Mario Maker for its Wii U console, it was packed with platforming levels made by its design team. But the game's lasting appeal came from the tools it gave players to make their own levels that they could share online. The only barrier to uploading was that its creator must have completed the level at least once, proving that it was possible. Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hannah Verdier, Hollie Richardson a on (#6KP2A)
In this week's newsletter: The all-time great podcast returns for a fourth season, investigating the infamous detention camp. Plus: five of the best hip-hop podcasts Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereSerial
Readers share their thoughts on maintaining the world physical media after a feature exploring the phenomenonAt home we have been getting into the habit, when we identify (a knack in itself!) a show or movie we are confident we will want to re-watch, of ordering an inexpensive DVD copy. Continue reading...
We were forced to cancel when the host wanted thousands extra, but were still charged a feeMy daughter used my credit card to book a five-month stay using Airbnb after taking up an internship in Toronto. After the host accepted the booking, she got an email saying the price for the overall stay had increased by 4,000 - a further 39%.Panicked, and unable to afford the extra sum, she cancelled. Airbnb has taken a 1,962 fee, plus a further 682 for cleaning and taxes. As my daughter cancelled immediately, it is extremely unlikely that a booking was lost. Continue reading...
by Eva Corlett in Wellington and Jonathan Yerushalmy on (#6KNW4)
New Zealand did not follow the US and UK in imposing financial restrictions after accusing Beijing of links to cyber-attacksPoliticians, journalists and critics of Beijing were among those targeted by cyber-attacks run by groups backed by China, western intelligence services said this week.The separate cyber-attacks hit the US, UK and New Zealand - all members of the Five Eyes alliance. The network of five countries, which also includes Canada and Australia, share security related intelligence. Continue reading...
Extra financing will bring technology giant's total investment in OpenAI rival to $4bnAmazon said on Wednesday it will pour an additional $2.75bn into Anthropic, bringing its total investment in the artificial intelligence startup to $4bn.The technology giant will maintain a minority stake in San Francisco-based Anthropic, a rival of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Continue reading...
The rightwing social network's flotation, supported by fans of the ex-president, makes it look like part of the meme stock' phenomenon Business live - latest updatesDonald Trump's social network went public on Tuesday and quickly achieved a valuation of almost $8bn (6.3bn), a gain of more than 15% on its initial public offering (IPO) value. Shares rose again in volatile trading on Wednesday, rising 14% and valuing it at $9.6bn. That enormous success has raised questions, and not all of them are easy to answer. Continue reading...
My husband, Derek Shaw, who has died aged 83, worked throughout his professional life in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technology which has since become central to the use of MRI scanners.Derek worked initially for the hi-tech US company Varian Associates as an NMR specialist and product manager in the UK. Fascinated with the possibilities of this technology and its potential medical applications, in 1976 he wrote a book, Fourier Transform NMR Spectroscopy, as a guide to the theory and practice of NMR spectroscopy. Continue reading...
Cyber-attack by Inc Ransom yielded data on at least a small number' of patients, health board saysA hacker group is in possession of at least a small number" of patients' data after a cyber-attack, NHS Dumfries and Galloway has said.Reports emerged on Wednesday of a post by the group Inc Ransom on its darknet blog, alleging it had three terabytes of data from NHS Scotland, although the Scottish government said the incident had been contained to the one health board. Continue reading...
In this week's newsletter: Casting away all the tropes of today's open world games, Capcom's unforgiving, unpredictable RPG is a sequel unlike anything else Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereI love when a game properly captures me, to the extent that I'm thinking about it throughout the day while going about my real life. It doesn't happen very often these days, because I have played too many games in the past 30 years and am becoming immune to their most common spells. When it does happen, it's usually because a game does something I haven't seen before - like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom last year, with its madcap contraptions. Or sometimes - as with Dragon's Dogma 2, which I am very much still playing after reviewing it last week - it's because it does something I have seen before but not for a very long time.In the 12 years between the original Dragon's Dogma and this sequel, the only game that has come close to recapturing its chaotic and stubbornly idiosyncratic brand of fantasy action role-playing was Elden Ring. This is a game in which you can screw up quests by faffing about for too long before pursuing your next objective, where a griffin can show up in the middle of an otherwise unexceptional journey through the countryside and claw you near-instantly to death, where the interdimensional being who serves as your travelling companion can contract a mysterious illness and unleash the apocalypse on your game save. There's only one save slot, so every decision you make matters. Makethe wrong one, and you have to live with it. Continue reading...
Report claims posts on abortion and contraception have been deleted while misinformation on the feeds of social media users in Africa, Latin America and Asia has not been tackledMeta and Google are accused in a new report of obstructing information on abortion and reproductive healthcare across Africa, Latin America and Asia.MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate claim the platforms are restricting local abortion providers from advertising, but failing to tackle misinformation that undermines public access to reproductive healthcare. Continue reading...
Yes, it's a museum piece - but this mini Atari home console, reconfigured for modern gaming systems, offers a compelling retro experienceTo a kid growing up in the UK in the 1980s, the Atari 400 and 800 machines seemed impossibly glamorous. While most of my friends had Commodore 64s or ZX Spectrums (along with the occasional Amstrad or Acorn Electron), I only ever saw Atari computers on cool TV shows and movies, such as Videodrome and Police Story. Launched in 1979, these two models boasted an Antic video processor providing superior graphics for the era, as well as a sound chip named Pokey for improved audio. They were, like the Apple II, seminal machines for young game coders looking to create new types of experience beyond simple arcade conversions.Opening up the new Atari 400 Mini was, then, an oddly emotional experience. The latest nostalgic release from Retro Games is a nicely detailed facsimile of the original computer, featuring a non-functional version of its famed membrane keyboard in luscious 1970s beige, orange and brown, as well as four joystick ports along the base (now USB rather than the original Atari joystick port standard). The console comes with a new version of the classic Atari CX40 joystick, which subtly adds eight extra buttons, thereby allowing for the fact that Atari 400/800 games could call on the keyboard to provide extra input options. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#6KN9D)
Operators hope newly opened Dutch track will help prove feasibility of high-speed shuttle systemThe longest hyperloop test track in Europe has opened, raising faint hopes once more that the maglev meets vacuum tube transport technology could be the future.Operators said the facility would help prove the hyperloop's feasibility, saying it could allow a 6,200-mile (10,000km) network of high-speed tubes to be in place around the continent by 2050. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#6KN0V)
Women, younger workers and lower paid are at most risk from artificial intelligence, says IPPR thinktankAlmost 8 million UK jobs could be lost to artificial intelligence in a jobs apocalypse", according to a report warning that women, younger workers and those on lower wages are at most risk from automation.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that entry level, part-time and administrative jobs were most exposed to being replaced by AI under a worst-case scenario" for the rollout of new technologies in the next three to five years. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6KMNP)
Beijing's charge d'affaires told that UK government will not tolerate threatening' cyber-attacksMinisters summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber-attack on the British elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on politicians.The department called in China's charge d'affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate threatening" cyber-attacks. Continue reading...
App users for social media site, rebranded as X, down by 23% since November 2022 according to Sensor TowerUse of Twitter in the US has slumped by more than a fifth since Elon Musk bought the site and rebranded it to X, according to data from app-monitoring company Sensor Tower.As of February 2024, the social network's daily app users in America had fallen by 23% since November 2022, just after Musk completed his takeover. Every other major social network experienced a reduction in the same period, but none by anywhere near X's drop in user numbers. Continue reading...
The tech giant fights regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, as the US government launches a grab-bag of accusations. Plus, Elon Musk's bad day in court Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereApple's problems have gone transatlantic. Even as it squabbles with the EU over the Digital Markets Act and nervously eyes the UK's passage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers bill, the company's biggest fight is now back at home, after the US government launched what will likely be the antitrust case of the decade.From our story:The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct". The complaint states that the case is about freeing smartphone markets" from Apple's anti-competitive practices, arguing that the company has thwarted innovation to maintain market dominance.Apple has maintained its power not because of its superiority, but because of its unlawful exclusionary behavior," the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, stated in a press conference on Thursday. Monopolies like Apple's threaten the free and fair markets upon which our economy is based." Continue reading...
Warning comes after UK and US announce sanctions against Chinese companies following mass hacking of UK dataCyber-attacks linked to Chinese intelligence agencies are increasing in capability and frequency as they seek to test foreign government responses, analysts have warned in the wake of revelations about a mass hacking of UK data.On Tuesday, the UK and US governments accused hacking group Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT 31), backed by China's government spy agency, of conducting a years-long cyber-attack campaign, targeting politicians, national security officials, journalists and businesses. The UK said the hackers had potentially gained access to information on tens of millions of UK voters held by the Electoral Commission, as well as for cyber-espionage targeting lawmakers who have been outspoken about threats from China.This article was amended on 27 March 2024 to correct the spelling of Che Chang's name Continue reading...
The change to Instagram and Threads comes as the parent company also prepares to retire the news tab from Facebook in Australia and the USInstagram users will see less of what Meta deems to be political" content in their recommendations and feed suggestions unless they opt into it, in a change the company implemented in the past week.The change requires users to delve into their settings to specifically opt in to political content through their preferences and was first picked up by users on the platform in recent days, implementing a change first announced on 9 February.Sign up for Guardian Australia's free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Information about 40 million UK voters was stolen by Chinese spies in a hack that also targeted elected officials. A cybersecurity experts walks us through whether these are isolated incidents, or the tip of a digital iceberg Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. You're probably not an MP or peer on the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), so that part of yesterday's cyber-attack revelations needn't concern you excessively. If you are among the 40 million UK voters included on a register held by the Electoral Commission, though, I have bad news: the Chinese government has your personal details.Yesterday afternoon, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden laid out sanctions in response to the attacks - in the case of the Electoral Commission hack, more than three years after it happened. In co-ordinated announcements, the US announced sanctions over a years-long campaign involving 10,000 malicious emails sent to politicians, journalists and businesses, and New Zealand said it had raised concerns with Beijing over an attack on its parliament in 2021.Israel-Gaza war | The UN security council has voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time after the US dropped a threat to veto, bringing Israel to near total isolation on the world stage. Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned White House visit by two ministers, while the Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, called the result a belated vote for humanity to prevail".US news | A New York court has handed Donald Trump a lifeline, reducing his $454m bond to $175m over the judgment against him in a huge fraud case. Separately, the judge overseeing the hush-money case against Trump involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels refused to delay the trial, setting a date for jury selection of 15 April.Garrick club | At least four senior judges, Sir Keith Lindblom, Sir Nicholas Cusworth, Sir Nicholas Lavender and Sir Ian Dove, have resigned from the men-only Garrick Club, the Judicial Office has said, as men in the legal profession come under increasing pressure over their close association with an organisation that has repeatedly blocked attempts to allow women to join.US news | Federal agents have raided properties in Los Angeles, Miami and New York that local news outlets have reported are tied to rapper and mogul Sean Diddy" Combs. US media reported that the searches were part of a sex trafficking investigation, though the exact reason for the raids remained unclear.Conservatives | Rishi Sunak is to face another tricky byelection after former Conservative backbencher Scott Benton resigned before the conclusion of a recall petition among his constituents. The Blackpool South MP was facing likely ejection from the Commons after being suspended for 35 days over his role in a lobbying scandal. Continue reading...
While diplomatic rows are inevitable, the priority is to keep channels open, and engage with Beijing about the climate crisisOnce upon a time Britain would have sent a gunboat up the Yangtze River. That would teach those Chinese a lesson. To hear some MPs talk about Beijing's espionage activities, you would think gunboats were already on their way.Of course, it is malicious and hurtful for a foreign state patently to hack into Britain's Electoral Commission and target senior parliamentarians - as the government on Monday claimed China did in 2021. It is equally malicious to fabricate MPs' emails and use a Commons researcher as an informant. No less evil is the culture of fear sown among Britain's 150,000 Chinese students by agents of Beijing, albeit tolerated by British universities greedy for money.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Chinese hacking group APT 31 has been accused by UK and US officials of targeting critics of Beijing, while New Zealand's systems have also been attackedThe US and UK have imposed sanctions on individuals and groups that they say targeted politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing in an extensive cyber espionage campaign - allegedly operated by an arm of China's ministry of state security.The scale of the operation was revealed on Monday, although some of the attacks have been previously reported on. On Tuesday, New Zealand blamed state-sponsored" Chinese hackers for a 2021 cyber-attack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems. Continue reading...
China's NZ embassy denies involvement with the cyber-attack as fresh details provided in the wake of similar breaches in UK and USA group backed by the Chinese state targeted New Zealand government services in a cyber-attack in 2021, New Zealand's intelligence agency has said.The government and intelligence agency - the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) - confirmed the breach on Tuesday after the UK and the US accused China of similar attacks. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian