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Liberal MP speaks of AI's shortcomings as cyber chief tells inquiry the tech is needed to fend off highly capable malicious cyber actors'

It will be the first time the PM uses No 10 North to host an overseas visit while the chancellor will be in Dublin meeting with EU finance ministersHere is the statement Tom Watson issued about his decision to take a job with Palantir.I'm terrifically excited to be joining the young Palantir team who make the tools that public service workers need to transform how they serve the British people.Whether that means reducing the time it takes to be diagnosed, treated and discharged from hospital, helping our military personnel keep us safe and secure, or enabling our police to crack crimes and root out corruption, Palantir software can transform the country's public services. Continue reading...

At least one person dead as stormy weather causes severe flooding in Barcelona and ValenciaIntense and slow-moving thunderstorms broke out on Wednesday afternoon across parts of eastern Spain, bringing some severe flooding and killing at least one person.Storms first struck over the Castilla-La Mancha region during the afternoon before passing over Spain's east coast, becoming very slow-moving and continuing overnight. Torrential rainfall, strong winds and large hail were reported in Valencia and Barcelona, causing widespread flooding in both cities. Weather stations west of Barcelona recorded some of the highest totals with more than 100mm (4in) of rain falling in the space of a few hours, and locally 70mm in just 30 minutes in the early hours of Thursday morning. Cars and roads were submerged, and flights were cancelled across the region. Continue reading...

Sharangan Maheswaran denies message he received about NSW minister was related to work for fugitive property developer

More than 180 writers sign letter renewing calls for information on 12 authors detained incommunicado since 2001 crackdown on free speech by Isaias AfwerkiMore than 180 writers have signed a letter to Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki calling for proof of life for 12 writers arrested in 2001.Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee join prominent writers including Colm Toibin, Elif Shafak, Isabel Allende, Ben Okri, Yann Martel, Kamila Shamsie and Tsitsi Dangarembga in signing the letter dated 18 September, marking 25 years since a government crackdown on the independent press. Within days, Eritrea's free press and the nation's independent voices were systematically crushed," opens the letter. Continue reading...

Australian Greens senator compares government's policy to ICE as Tony Burke calls it a ridiculous claim'

Authorities called to Sorrento Beach on Friday morning following reports of shark-related incident

Latest data to defy economic gloom shows 0.5% rise boosted by purchases of sports items, aircon units and fans during heatwaves

Increase from 1% to 1.25% follows US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank tightening monetary policy

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Shabana Mahmood says she wants to distinguish between far-right extremism and legitimate local concerns over asylum sitesShabana Mahmood has described the anti-asylum activist Daniel Thomas as a far-right and outright racist" who will feel the full force of the law" if his organisation commits crimes near contested asylum sites such as Piddington.In an interview with the Guardian, the home secretary also wanted to reassure" concerned villagers that asylum seekers due to move in to a neighbouring former defence site would not put pressure" on local resources because they would be given self-contained facilities". Continue reading...

Incorrect media reporting is leading to inconsistent treatment of children across states and territories, the report found

Research shows tens of millions of people are being forced to use platform that amounts to backdoor' on their deviceOver the past 18 months, tens of millions of Russians have been forced to install a new app on their phones - a violet-blue button designed for messaging and payments, called Max.Authorities have touted it as a patriotic alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp; Russian glitterati have promoted it in rap videos and comic routines. This summer, it became the country's most-used messaging app. Continue reading...

Peer takes full-time position at the controversial company as it fends off pressure from both Andy Burnham's government and Sadiq KhanAnother former government minister has been hired by a controversial US AI company, this time Palantir, which has appointed Andy Burnham's former ministerial colleague Tom Watson.The Labour peer and former deputy leader will operate alongside Palantir's UK and Europe chief executive, Louis Mosley, as the company attempts to fend off pressure on Burnham's government to axe its 330m NHS contract. It is also fighting Sadiq Khan in court over the Labour London mayor's block on a 50m contract to use its AI in Metropolitan police investigations. Palantir also wants to win more public sector work in the UK, where it already has an annual turnover of 427m. Continue reading...

Seoul resolves recent speculation over sending military to strait of Hormuz, saying there won't be deployment that would involve or enter war'South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung, has said he will not deploy the military to the Middle East in a way that could draw the country into conflict, resisting calls from Donald Trump to support his war in Iran.There won't be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly," Lee said at a news conference on Friday. We won't deploy military assets in any form to that end." Continue reading...

Efra committee calls for emergency legislation enabling government to take public control of the companyAndy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company.Adding their voices to demands that the prime minister takes public control of the company, which has debts of 20bn and is being controlled by a group of 100 hedge funds and distressed-debt investors, the MPs said in a report that ministers should consider emergency legislation to take control of its financial affairs to stabilise the company. Continue reading...

Switch to business attire' is a sign of the times, but formal neckwear still has its place, say some of Savile Row's finest-dressedThe House of Lords has long been derided as a stuffy relic of the past. But now its benches, usually filled with haughtily dressed men, could soon resemble something more akin to dress-down Friday".One of the nation's most storied chambers of power has enacted a rule change: men are no longer required to wear a tie in the House of Lords. Instead, they should opt for business attire". Continue reading...

Disposal of the body in this case was as thorough as it was brutal,' justice Peter Hamill said when sentencing 55-year-old Nirmeen Noufl

Former prime minister says US would scuttle itself back to San Diego', leaving Australia to deal with retribution from China

The gift from Italy has sparked fierce debate among defence analysts and opposition politicians who question its true cost and purposeIndonesia has received its first aircraft carrier, a former Italian warship that the government says will strengthen the archipelagic nation's maritime security and disaster response capabilities.The 41-year-old former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, with capacity for short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters, arrived Friday morning at a naval base in North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port, where it was welcomed with a military ceremony. Continue reading...

President's United Russia party faces no meaningful opposition after liberal anti-war party barred from ballotRussians are going to the polls to elect a new State Duma in a tightly controlled vote stripped of meaningful competition and with little doubt about the result.Vladimir Putin's United Russia is expected to extend the grip on parliament it has held for 23 years, alongside a handful of nominal opposition parties that reliably vote with the Kremlin on the issues that matter. The three-day vote begins on Friday, with results expected after polls close on Sunday. Continue reading...

Educator talks of moral obligation' and urges every wealthy white celebrity' to make similar donationYouTube star Ms Rachel has said she is matching rapper Macklemore's $1m donation to organizations supporting Palestinians, calling on other public figures to follow suit.Macklemore, who was fired as the opening act on Ed Sheeran's tour after saying Free Palestine" on stage at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, pledged to donate the entirety of his earnings from Sheeran's tour to several organizations focused on the Palestinian people. Continue reading...

For the second year in a row, the administration has barred the Palestinian delegation from US travel for the forumThe US state department said on Wednesday that it had again denied entry visas to Palestinian officials ahead next week's United Nations general assembly gathering in New York.The state department said in a statement the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had failed to live up to their commitments", accusing the groups of taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)" and of glorifying terrorism" among other allegations. Continue reading...

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, part of Bashar al-Assad's regime, was in charge of Adra prison where prisoners were torturedThis article contains descriptions of torture.A US federal court in Los Angeles sentenced a former Syrian government official who ran one of the country's most infamous prisons to 60 years in prison on Thursday - the most significant punishment handed to an official of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's regime by a foreign court and to a defendant present in person. Continue reading...

Drinking locally made alcohol is common in Nigeria, especially in rural areas where it is more affordable and poorly regulatedAt least 48 people have died and about 100 others are receiving treatment in southern Nigeria after consuming a locally brewed alcoholic concoction suspected to contain methanol, officials said on Thursday.Banji Ajaka, Ondo state's commissioner for health, said the cases had been reported in the Odigbo and Irele local government areas. A total of 182 people are believed to have been affected and some are being treated in the hospital, he said. Continue reading...

Government spending watchdog warns of price of keeping publicly owned firm in businessLabour has been urged to lay out a credible plan for the future of British Steel, as the government spending watchdog warned of the startling" costs of keeping the struggling manufacturer in business with no end in sight.British Steel was taken into public ownership in July to protect the future of steel production", 15 months after the government stepped in to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sisters of Nicholas Brandram recount 44-year-old's deteriorating mental health in days before he took his lifeDays before Nicholas Brandram, the man suspected of being the Putney pusher", killed himself, he told his family that the police investigation was murdering him".He had no fight left" in him, he told his sisters, Alexia Hicks and Sophie Voelcker, and could not see an end to the Metropolitan police investigation, or the online abuse. Continue reading...

Mark Rutte said Britain will need to steadily increase defence spending to meet Nato target of 3.5% of GDP by 2035Britain needs to show a credible path" of annual increases in its defence budgets to meet a Nato target of spending nearly 30bn more on the military by the middle of the next decade, the head of the alliance said on Thursday.Mark Rutte, Nato's secretary general, said that Britain could not wait until just before 2035 to lift defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, in an unusually pointed intervention a day after he met prime minister Andy Burnham. Continue reading...

In latest extracts from upcoming memoir, Diana's brother suggests some in Buckingham Palace were relieved' at her deathThe brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has claimed in published extracts of his new memoir that King Charles sounded giddily elated - like a lottery winner" in a phone call to him immediately after her death.Earl Spencer also says he believed Buckingham Palace wanted William and Harry and himself to walk behind Diana's coffin because the then Prince Charles was adamant" he was going to walk and palace officials feared members of the public might shout abuse at him". Continue reading...

Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has welcomed the EU's proposal for Canada to become the bloc's first associate member', despite threats from Donald Trump over the plan. The US president said Washington could impose very serious tariffs' or halt trade if the EU went ahead with the idea. But in a defiant speech to the European parliament, Carney called for deep cooperation' and said polling showed the overwhelming majority of Canadians supported closer ties with Europe. Lucy Hough speaks to Europe correspondent Jon Henley - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Ireland joins joins Dutch broadcaster in refusing to take part in 2027 song contest, in second consecutive year of protestsIreland is to boycott Eurovision for the second year running over the appalling" ongoing killing in Gaza, the national broadcaster has said.Ireland was one of five countries, along with Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia, that refused to take part in the competition this year in protest against Israel's participation. Continue reading...

Attorney also said Elizabeth Siders, 34, had been almost continuously pregnant since age 15 without regular healthcareAn Ohio mother whose 16 children were rescued from appalling conditions pleaded not guilty to child endangerment and neglect charges in court on Wednesday.Elizabeth Siders, 34, is one of four family members, including her husband, Gary Siders Jr, charged with 16 charges of child endangerment and neglect after investigators found the children, who were 17 months to 18 years old, in deplorable conditions" at the decrepit family home in the tiny village of Hamden in July. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The Green leader has not spoken publicly about the motion, which is likely to be debated at the party's conference in OctoberThe Greens are pushing Zack Polanski to take a stance on a potential party policy stating Zionism is racism", with some fearing it could alienate Jewish supporters if it was passed.Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales, has not spoken publicly about the motion, which came top of a members' vote of policy motions to be debated at the party conference in Brighton at the start of October, and is thus almost certain to feature. Continue reading...

After being read charges, Layne Lundeen said: I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says? I don't have my glasses'An American Airlines passenger who was duct-taped to his seat following an alleged outburst including racial and homophobic slurs said that he does not recall the incident.On 3 September, 67-year old Layne Lundeen was restrained to his first class seat with duct tape and zip ties over alleged unruly behavior. The American Airline Flight 618 was originally traveling from Dallas, Texas to Newark, New Jersey and was diverted to Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall airport in an emergency landing. Continue reading...

Rapper won prestigious award as an unsigned artist before breaking UK Top 10 and nurturing artists including KSIThe British rapper Sway, who proved inspirational to a generation of Black British musicians thanks to his independence and frank, dextrous storytelling, has died aged 44.The news was announced by the Mobo awards, with whom Sway won best hip-hop act in 2005, the first unsigned act to do so. Proud to have him as part of our history. Our love goes out to his family, loved ones and fans," the statement read. Continue reading...

Two women who filed the suit against the Epstein estate are seeking a court-ordered program to notify potential victimsJeffrey Epstein's estate is facing a new lawsuit filed by two women who allege that Epstein possessed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of them. They want a judge to order that a program be set up to identify and notify all individuals whose unlawful sexualized images" might have been in Epstein's collection, and are also seeking monetary damages.The complaint was filed this week in the US district court for the southern district of New York on behalf of two plaintiffs, who are anonymous in the filing but described as survivors of Epstein's child sexual abuse material crimes. The lawsuit was filed against Epstein's former lawyer Darren Indyke, and Epstein's former accountant, Richard Kahn, who are being sued in their capacities as co-executors of Epstein's estate. Attorneys for Indyke and Kahn, who have both said that they had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes during their employment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the complaint on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Banker, 44, was arrested in connection with 2017 incident but family say no credible evidence' he was involvedThe family of Nicholas Brandram have denied he was the so-called Putney pusher" and said he took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan police investigation".Brandram, 44, was found unresponsive at a property in Chiswick, west London, believed to be his home, on Tuesday evening. Continue reading...

Donald Tusk says very consistent and convincing' intelligence assessment point towards Russian plans for strikesMeanwhile, we are getting some interesting lines from Paris that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, convened the chiefs of the different political parties to discuss the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine and their consequences on the energy market.The meeting will be held on Friday morning at 10:30am local time on Thursday (that's 9:30am UK) and military and intelligence officers will share the information they have provided to Macron, his office said in a statement. Continue reading...

Although Mark Carney welcomed offer to become bloc's first associate member, no one seems to know what that means

Ulf Kristersson has stood down from his post, paving way for Social Democrats leader to form a governmentSweden's centre-right prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has stood down, clearing the way for Magdalena Andersson, the Social Democrats leader, to attempt to form a government.In a victory speech on Thursday, Andersson said the Swedish people had voted for a new direction for our country, voted for unity and against division". Continue reading...

Farming lobby says shoppers will see emptier shelves and higher prices because of restrictions on backpackers

The country's migration settings have become a source of discontent - but will Tony Burke's approach be seen as the right mix?

Terrible thing' happened to infant boy found wrapped in 1910 newspaper at Bishop Auckland property, says coronerA baby boy who was found with twine looped and knotted round his neck and wrapped in a 116-year-old newspaper was unlawfully killed, a coroner has concludedCrispin Oliver on Thursday said the child, known only as Baby Auckland, had been garrotted by an unknown person. Continue reading...

As concern about loneliness and social isolation grows, we spoke to people who have joined groups and set up activitiesAmid growing concern about loneliness and social isolation, new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research found the number of young people in England with no close friends has risen fivefold since 2014, with one in 20 now reporting having none at all.Making new friends as an adult is not always easy. We spoke to people who have taken deliberate steps to make new connections about what worked for them. Continue reading...

Community groups and schools work with Wales's folk arts organisation to set stories of the area's people to musicGrowing up in Wales, Liz Puleston-Jones was familiar with the country's rich heritage of storytelling and traditional music, but none of it ever seemed to have much of a connection to her life in Swansea.Researching the history of the area as part of Can y Cymoedd (When Valleys Sing), a project in nearby Port Talbot, she came across the story of Isabel Thomas, a 14-year-old girl in the 1940s who left school and lied about her age to work in a tin plate works to support her family. Continue reading...

Central bank announces surprise plan to sell billions of pounds in government bonds back to the Treasury

PM's push to cut cost of living is threatened by rising inflation and higher government borrowing costs

Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, is due to address the European parliament on Thursday. Plus, how the attention economy overwhelmed children's TV

Keith Townsend says he hopes death of Ronald Paquin in prison helps victims and families to keep pressing forward'A survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a defrocked Boston Catholic priest who was portrayed admitting to molesting minors in the Oscar-winning Hollywood film Spotlight says he hopes the clergyman's recent death in prison helps victims of his crimes and their families keep pressing forward every single day".We live with a big burden in our hearts and on our backs," Keith Townsend said on Wednesday while reflecting on the criminal charges which he successfully pursued against Ronald Paquin, who was imprisoned in 2019 and died in custody at age 83 on 11 September. And my hope is that people can find closure and move on." Continue reading...