China’s military canine robots have evolved into intelligent “wolf packs” with specialised roles and a shared “brain” to coordinate complex tasks in urban warfare, according to state media. Compared with earlier models deployed and tested by the People’s Liberation Army, these “robot wolves” have achieved a transformational leap from a “single-soldier support system to a coordinated swarm combat p...
China’s military canine robots have evolved into intelligent “wolf packs” with specialised roles and a shared “brain” to coordinate complex tasks in urban warfare, according to state media. Compared with earlier models deployed and tested by the People’s Liberation Army, these “robot wolves” have achieved a transformational leap from a “single-soldier support system to a coordinated swarm combat platform”, state broadcaster CCTV said in a documentary series episode that aired on Thursday. The...
Singapore will explore opportunities arising from Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis megaproject and its coming five-year development plan, the city state’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said, highlighting that relations between both economies are “more important than ever” in a fragmenting world. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Friday that Wong’s visit – his first official trip to Hong K...
Singapore will explore opportunities arising from Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis megaproject and its coming five-year development plan, the city state’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said, highlighting that relations between both economies are “more important than ever” in a fragmenting world. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Friday that Wong’s visit – his first official trip to Hong Kong since becoming prime minister in 2024 – was indicative of the strong ties and friendship between...
With President Trump urging Iran to "get serious" and make a deal before it's "too late," the tenor of the vague negotiations has gone from productive to fraught.
With President Trump urging Iran to "get serious" and make a deal before it's "too late," the tenor of the vague negotiations has gone from productive to fraught.
Beyond oil, the Middle East conflict is fuelling fears of a shortage of helium – a by-product of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production that is critical for semiconductors, aerospace applications and high-end medical equipment. The medical sector is on alert, as magnetic resonance imaging machines depend on liquid helium to cool their superconducting magnets, and a supply crunch could jeopardise d...
Beyond oil, the Middle East conflict is fuelling fears of a shortage of helium – a by-product of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production that is critical for semiconductors, aerospace applications and high-end medical equipment. The medical sector is on alert, as magnetic resonance imaging machines depend on liquid helium to cool their superconducting magnets, and a supply crunch could jeopardise diagnostic services. A warning from Marc Johnson, a virologist and professor at the University of...
It’s been 15 years since Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek brought the streaming platform to the US, changing the way Americans discover and consume music. His next project—a startup that offers full-body health scans—will soon arrive stateside with its own ambitious plans to reshape an industry. Neko Health , founded in 2018 as Ek began planning for life after Spotify Technology SA ’s initial public o...
It’s been 15 years since Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek brought the streaming platform to the US, changing the way Americans discover and consume music. His next project—a startup that offers full-body health scans—will soon arrive stateside with its own ambitious plans to reshape an industry. Neko Health , founded in 2018 as Ek began planning for life after Spotify Technology SA ’s initial public offering, operates in Sweden and the UK. If Neko receives regulatory approval in the US, something it’s working through now, the company’s first American location will open in New York as soon as this spring, with more US clinics planned in the following months, says Chief Executive Officer Hjalmar Nilsonne. In the UK, the company’s full-body health scans—which use a combination of imaging and other tests, including a blood test, to check for conditions such as skin cancer, heart disease and diabetes risk—cost £299 (about $400); Nilsonne says the price in the US will likely be higher due to greater costs for medical staffing and real estate. The US is the world’s largest health-care market, with over $5 trillion in annual spending, “so you can be sure we’re ambitious about serving folks there,” he says. “Growing this organization at the pace we want and delivering the impact we want is a challenge, just as it would be for any company, but we’re very much up for it.” Whole-body health scans—which feel a bit like a nicer version of what you go through at airport security, if TSA also drew your blood—have been gaining traction in recent years, backed by consumer interest in preventative health, improving artificial intelligence capabilities and, in some cases, splashy celebrity endorsements. (California-based competitor Prenuvo’s scans , the most expensive of which cost $4,500, have become a status symbol among Kate Hudson , Kim Kardashian and other A-listers.) Advocates maintain the scans can detect potential problems before a patient might have otherwise been diagnosed by a d...
The tale of seven dogs from China allegedly fleeing captivity from a dog meat restaurant won hearts globally, but the reality has recently come to light, taking an unexpected turn. Local media and official fact-checks later revealed that the German shepherd in the video was in heat, attracting the other six dogs who followed it. This dramatic and heartwarming story began with a video captured by a...
The tale of seven dogs from China allegedly fleeing captivity from a dog meat restaurant won hearts globally, but the reality has recently come to light, taking an unexpected turn. Local media and official fact-checks later revealed that the German shepherd in the video was in heat, attracting the other six dogs who followed it. This dramatic and heartwarming story began with a video captured by a road user in Changchun, Jilin province, northeastern China, showing seven dogs walking along a...
Social media biggies have taken it on the chin from juries this week. And although, for reasons I’ll get to, I’m skeptical that the verdicts will hold up on appeal, I do think there are some important lessons here. The cases themselves are, by now, well known. On Tuesday, a jury in New Mexico awarded $375 million against Meta Platforms Inc. for harm that its products allegedly cause to children an...
Social media biggies have taken it on the chin from juries this week. And although, for reasons I’ll get to, I’m skeptical that the verdicts will hold up on appeal, I do think there are some important lessons here. The cases themselves are, by now, well known. On Tuesday, a jury in New Mexico awarded $375 million against Meta Platforms Inc. for harm that its products allegedly cause to children and teens. The next day, a California jury handed down a $6 million judgment against Meta and Alphabet Inc.’s Google for allegedly creating the plaintiff’s social media addiction, which in turn led to broader mental health challenges. If nothing else, the outcomes of these trials illustrate the scope of national anger at Big Tech generally, and social media companies in particular. Literally thousands more lawsuits are pending. But I’m not sure the money will ever get paid. On appeal, the principal battle will be whether Meta and Alphabet fall within the safe harbor protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which immunizes social media companies from most forms of liability for content created by third parties. In the trials that ended this week, and in dozens of pending cases around the country, plaintiffs have tried to get around Section 230 by arguing, for example, that the companies have made false and deceptive statements to the public, and that they’ve created a product designed to addict their users. The arguments aren’t bad — some are quite clever — but my realist side still suspects that the defendants will win in the end. Exhibit One: In recent years, the US Supreme Court has been noticeably skeptical of efforts to impose expansive liability on companies that primarily connect users to other users’ content. The justices have been unsympathetic to efforts to tag the social media giants for the activities of their users, no matter what knowledge the companies are alleged to have had , even when YouTube was alleged to have indirectly (and ac...
Tech mogul Bill Gates said he never went to Jeffrey Epstein ’s island, where some of the late financier’s sex crimes occurred. But over a four-year span, Epstein made a concerted effort to lure him and members of his family to the Caribbean destination, emails show. The correspondence reflects an enduring friendship between Epstein and Gates’ key science adviser, Boris Nikolic, that extended far b...
Tech mogul Bill Gates said he never went to Jeffrey Epstein ’s island, where some of the late financier’s sex crimes occurred. But over a four-year span, Epstein made a concerted effort to lure him and members of his family to the Caribbean destination, emails show. The correspondence reflects an enduring friendship between Epstein and Gates’ key science adviser, Boris Nikolic, that extended far beyond business and philanthropy to include the exchange of nude photography, notes on the attractiveness of women and discussion of Gates’ preferences and prospects with them. The emails, part of a trove of Justice Department records released as part of its investigation, suggest Nikolic, who worked at Gates’ venture firm, acted as Gates’ proxy, often coordinating meetups between the Microsoft Corp. co-founder and Epstein, and occasionally discussing Epstein’s potential to connect Gates with companions. Gates has worked to downplay his relationship with the convicted sex offender since their ties came to light in 2019. Nikolic, who was listed as a managing member of BioIntel Venture Fund as of 2024 according to SEC filings , didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from Bloomberg. In 2019, Nikolic was listed as backup executor of Epstein’s will — which he said at the time that he was “ shocked ” to be a part of. His work as an attempted conduit between Epstein and Gates has not previously been reported in this depth. Multiple email threads between 2011 and 2014, riddled with typos and grammatical errors, demonstrate Epstein’s attempts to lure Gates onto his private island via Nikolic, according to the DOJ documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The records show no evidence that Gates or Nikolic knew of Epstein’s crimes. “June 2-5 do any of these dates work for you and bill for the island,” Epstein wrote to Nikolic in a February 2011 email. “Will check,” Nikolic responds. In November of that year, Epstein told Nikolic “Melinda can come to island,” referencing Gates’ then-wif...
Thousands of No Kings events will be fueled by anger over ICE violence, the Epstein files released and a war in Iran. These protests have power Things have changed since the last major No Kings protests, in October 2025. Back then, an estimated 7 million people poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration; this Saturday, at more than 3,000 events planned nationwide, the crowds are l...
Thousands of No Kings events will be fueled by anger over ICE violence, the Epstein files released and a war in Iran. These protests have power Things have changed since the last major No Kings protests, in October 2025. Back then, an estimated 7 million people poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration; this Saturday, at more than 3,000 events planned nationwide, the crowds are likely to be even bigger. In part, that’s because the Trump administration keeps pursuing more and more unpopular agendas, often with a sadism and indifference to popular opinion that becomes prominent in the news. In January, ICE agents in Minneapolis killed two protesters – first Renee Good on 7 January, and then Alex Pretti on 24 January – who were in the streets trying to obstruct the agency’s kidnappings and voice their opposition to the Trump administration’s ethnic cleansing program. The two dead Americans were among the thousands who have become enraged at ongoing revelations of the extent and cruelty of Trump’s mass kidnapping, detention, and ethnic cleansing program, which has swept up tens of thousands of men, women and children. Continue reading...
Girlguiding’s response to last year’s supreme court ruling is not the humane option – and changes the organisation’s identity Great work, Guides; you’ve taken some members you had no idea even existed, and expelled them from your organisation with effect from September . This gives trans girls a humane half-year to extricate, because that’s definitely what kids want: to participate for six months ...
Girlguiding’s response to last year’s supreme court ruling is not the humane option – and changes the organisation’s identity Great work, Guides; you’ve taken some members you had no idea even existed, and expelled them from your organisation with effect from September . This gives trans girls a humane half-year to extricate, because that’s definitely what kids want: to participate for six months in a uniformed, voluntary, social organisation that has explicitly kicked them out, while they look for somewhere more welcoming. “Like every charity, we have to follow the law,” Girlguiding says in an online info pack whose FAQs are almost comically Stasi-lite. “Will volunteers be expected to carry out additional checks or ask for proof?” (The good news, folks, is that they won’t; the mind boggles at what those additional checks might be that didn’t breach at least some safeguarding protocols.) “How should volunteers check that trans girls have left?” (Some sort of dunking stool? In actuality, again, they won’t check.) Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink? On Thursday 30 April, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour faces from the Green party and Reform UK – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader. Book tickets here Continue reading...
Yousef Pezeshkian’s daily social media posts reveal no state secrets, but expose questions dominating Iranian society An Iranian keeping a diary expressing his doubts about the war’s outcome, even shedding a tear over its impact on his grandmother, might not seem extraordinary but for the fact the diarist is the son of the president. Apart from fierce loyalty to his father, Masoud Pezeshkian, the ...
Yousef Pezeshkian’s daily social media posts reveal no state secrets, but expose questions dominating Iranian society An Iranian keeping a diary expressing his doubts about the war’s outcome, even shedding a tear over its impact on his grandmother, might not seem extraordinary but for the fact the diarist is the son of the president. Apart from fierce loyalty to his father, Masoud Pezeshkian, the former heart surgeon elected to the presidency in 2024 who he says he has not seen since the war started, Yousef Pezeshkian’s daily reflections on social media chart how the war effort is going, its impact on ordinary Iranians and how he believes the fight could be made more effective. Continue reading...
Conserving the watershed of the Tana and improving farming methods is securing water supplies and livelihoods alike in a changing climate When in 2017 David Nyoro became one of the first farmers to partner with Africa’s first water fund to conserve the watershed of Kenya’s biggest river, he received 180 high-value avocado seedlings. The 67-year-old’s farming methods had been dominated by annual cr...
Conserving the watershed of the Tana and improving farming methods is securing water supplies and livelihoods alike in a changing climate When in 2017 David Nyoro became one of the first farmers to partner with Africa’s first water fund to conserve the watershed of Kenya’s biggest river, he received 180 high-value avocado seedlings. The 67-year-old’s farming methods had been dominated by annual crops that left large sections of his five-acre piece of land bare, increasing soil erosion and contributing to river sedimentation. “We used to lose a lot of topsoil to the river. Such loss of soil nutrients and poor farming practices meant we had less farm produce,” he says. The avocado seedlings enabled him to grow his farm income to close to 2m Kenyan shillings (about £11,500 at today’s exchange rates), with each mature avocado tree yielding 70kg (154lbs) annually. He introduced cover crops to improve soil health and reduce soil erosion and sediment loads. Continue reading...
The author on the Steinbeck novel that moved him to tears, how becoming a father inspired him to reread Marilynne Robinson, and the culinary comforts of James M Cain My earliest reading memory When I was eight, my mother bought me Stanley Bagshaw and the Short-sighted Football Trainer by Bob Wilson. I grew up thinking he was the same Bob Wilson who played in goal for Arsenal and presented sport on...
The author on the Steinbeck novel that moved him to tears, how becoming a father inspired him to reread Marilynne Robinson, and the culinary comforts of James M Cain My earliest reading memory When I was eight, my mother bought me Stanley Bagshaw and the Short-sighted Football Trainer by Bob Wilson. I grew up thinking he was the same Bob Wilson who played in goal for Arsenal and presented sport on ITV. That wasn’t true, but it has never dampened my appreciation of this brilliant rhyming picture book, which ought to be reissued to inspire more kids to read. My sons adore it. My favourite book growing up The Red Pony by John Steinbeck had a profound effect on me in secondary school. I was amazed by how vividly a writer could evoke a landscape in words. It was also the first novel that moved me to tears, and stories that can do that will always stay dear to me. Continue reading...
Show up, speak up … and just be nice. Here is one anonymous server’s advice for a happy meal Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those ...
Show up, speak up … and just be nice. Here is one anonymous server’s advice for a happy meal Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you , our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff. Turn up … Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God). If you buy a ticket to the football or a gig, say, you’ll be out of pocket if you can’t be arsed to turn up. Why should restaurants be any different? What’s more, even if we have charged you a cancellation fee, remember that we’ve still lost out on drink sales and service charge. As told to Bob Granleese Continue reading...