The mother of a British-born man detained for nearly nine years without trial in Syria has called for his repatriation to the UK or Canada as the US plans to airlift 7,000 Islamic State-linked prisoners from Syria to Iraq. Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts, 30, said she was “frantically trying to find out as much as possible” and that it was unclear if he would face the death penalty in Iraq or...
The mother of a British-born man detained for nearly nine years without trial in Syria has called for his repatriation to the UK or Canada as the US plans to airlift 7,000 Islamic State-linked prisoners from Syria to Iraq. Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts, 30, said she was “frantically trying to find out as much as possible” and that it was unclear if he would face the death penalty in Iraq or remain in Syria – or be sent to Canada or the UK in line with US demands. Neither the Canadian nor British government has updated her after an outbreak of fighting in Syria last week left the future of Letts and other prisoners from up to 70 countries uncertain. “We’ve heard absolutely nothing. They think we don’t deserve to know,” Lane said. But she said the UK and others could not easily ignore the issue after the US intervention. “I can’t see that western governments will allow their citizens to be put on trial in Iraq where they have the death penalty and flawed trials.” She said if the authorities in Canada or the UK wanted to, they could charge Letts with terror offences on home ground as a condition for his return. “If there’s evidence, put them on trial. But there is no evidence,” Lane said. View image in fullscreen Sally Lane and John Letts, the parents of jack Letts. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer Oxford-raised Letts travelled to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq aged 18, during the early phases of the terror group’s caliphate. He had converted to Islam aged 16 and dropped out of sixth form because of mental health problems. He was captured by Syrian Kurdish forces fighting against IS in May 2017 and has been held without trial ever since. British ministers removed his UK citizenship two years later, leaving him a Canadian national, the birth country of his father, John. Letts’ only contact with the world has been through a handful of television interviews. “I’m not going to say I’m innocent. I’m not innocent. I deserve what comes to me. But I just wan...
is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Strava and Komoot — two of the most popular apps for cyclists, hikers, and runners — are each bringing offline maps to the Apple Watch, ending a major ...
is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Strava and Komoot — two of the most popular apps for cyclists, hikers, and runners — are each bringing offline maps to the Apple Watch, ending a major source of frustration for many. Now you can easily see routes and record your workouts all in your preferred app, without having to bring along a relatively heavy and cumbersome iPhone. Strava says the offline maps are only available to subscribers, but Komoot’s offering is free and also bakes in turn-by-turn navigation. Strava subscribers pay $11.99/month or $79.99/year plus any taxes. Stava’s implementation is very basic so far, without offering any turn-by-turn navigation. Image: Strava One of the biggest selling points of the Apple Watch Ultra has been its ability to function without an iPhone. But athletes still needed to bring their phones along if they wanted glanceable, turn-by-turn routes on their wrists, or pay extra for apps like WorkOutDoors or (my personal favorite) Footpath. Switching between apps was less than seamless, and downright oppressive compared to wearing a Garmin watch. Offline maps in Strava and Komoot brings the two platforms closer together as Apple slowly pecks away at Garmin’s advantages. DesFit has an excellent overview of the Komoot app which does the basics for now, but does them better than Strava. Komoot says more advanced features like auto-rerouting will arrive in future updates. “Our goal was to make Komoot’s Apple Watch app fully capable on its own,” said Tom Eldred, product manager at Komoot. “For many of us, the ability to disconnect is the best part of being outdoors, so we wanted the community to have the freedom to leave their phone at home — or at least in their pocket.”
Micron Technology is expanding its manufacturing base in Singapore as global memory markets come under growing strain from AI-driven demand. The US-based chipmaker said it will commit around $24 billion to expand wafer manufacturing at an existing NAND complex, adding capacity at a time when supply across several memory segments remains tight. The investment will add about 700,000 square feet of c...
Micron Technology is expanding its manufacturing base in Singapore as global memory markets come under growing strain from AI-driven demand. The US-based chipmaker said it will commit around $24 billion to expand wafer manufacturing at an existing NAND complex, adding capacity at a time when supply across several memory segments remains tight. The investment will add about 700,000 square feet of cleanroom space to the site. Cleanrooms are highly controlled environments used in semiconductor fabrication to minimise contamination risks. Micron expects production of NAND memory at the expanded facility to begin in the second half of 2028, extending the company’s long-term manufacturing presence in Southeast Asia. Pressure on memory supply NAND memory is a core component in personal computers, servers, and smartphones, but demand has intensified as artificial intelligence and data-centric workloads scale rapidly. AI training and inference require vast volumes of memory, increasing pressure across the supply chain and reshaping production priorities for chipmakers. To manage these pressures, Micron and its competitors have been adjusting output strategies. Memory producers, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, have also raised production in response to shortages. Even so, supply has struggled to keep pace with demand, particularly as manufacturers prioritise advanced memory products tied to AI. Micron’s manufacturing operations in Singapore form part of a broader Asian production network that also spans China, Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia. The latest expansion reinforces Singapore’s role as a central hub within that network, supporting both current output and longer-term capacity planning. High-bandwidth memory focus Alongside the NAND expansion, Micron is building a $7 billion advanced packaging facility in Singapore to produce high-bandwidth memory, a type of dynamic random-access memory used in AI applications. The plant is located within the same manufacturing ...
The Commission said it will tell Google how it should grant rival AI-service providers equal access to features and tools, and will assist it to comply with letting competing search engines access datasets for areas such as ranking.
The Commission said it will tell Google how it should grant rival AI-service providers equal access to features and tools, and will assist it to comply with letting competing search engines access datasets for areas such as ranking.
Key Points Fears of AI disruption have made software stocks very unpopular at the moment. Figma continues to slide, but the company could grow its revenue by 50% over the next couple of years. That could ignite some impressive returns from the stock's current valuation. 10 stocks we like better than Figma › Figma (NYSE: FIG) was a hot stock when it went public in the summer of 2025. But after init...
Key Points Fears of AI disruption have made software stocks very unpopular at the moment. Figma continues to slide, but the company could grow its revenue by 50% over the next couple of years. That could ignite some impressive returns from the stock's current valuation. 10 stocks we like better than Figma › Figma (NYSE: FIG) was a hot stock when it went public in the summer of 2025. But after initially rocketing higher, the stock has been on a long slide. Figma now sits more than 75% off its all-time high, stomach-churning results for most who bought shares at some point. Given how quickly Figma went from hot to cold on Wall Street, the enterprise software company could be one of the market's most underestimated names right now. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » Here is why writing off Figma stock for 2026 could be a huge mistake. Tough times in the software space Figma isn't alone in its dire circumstances. The market has turned an icy shoulder toward almost every software stock. There seems to be an overwhelming sentiment right now that artificial intelligence (AI) will make many software applications obsolete. Time will tell, but as with the internet in the late 1990s, sentiment is often many years ahead of a new technology's real-world impact. It seems unlikely that entrenched software products will go away overnight, or anytime soon. People can create almost any digital website, product, or interface in Figma, even collaborating in real time with others using its multiplayer technology. It utilizes AI features and third-party AI applications such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. If anything, Figma is a new-age software company. What makes Figma a potential long-term winner Figma's financials back up the narrative here. The company is approaching $1 billion in trailing-12-month revenue, and analysts expect it to increase to nearly $1.3 bill...
In the beginning, collecting a takeaway was the epitome of a lazy night in. Then delivery apps saved some more energy. Now, consumers can skip even bothering to read the menu as AI takes over the job of choosing the perfect evening meal. Just Eat is rolling out an AI voice assistant that lets customers discuss what they might be interested in eating, and then offers personalised recommendations. T...
In the beginning, collecting a takeaway was the epitome of a lazy night in. Then delivery apps saved some more energy. Now, consumers can skip even bothering to read the menu as AI takes over the job of choosing the perfect evening meal. Just Eat is rolling out an AI voice assistant that lets customers discuss what they might be interested in eating, and then offers personalised recommendations. The food delivery company is launching what it calls a “personal food concierge” within Just Eat’s existing chat function on its UK app on Tuesday. The voice assistant has been designed to understand whatever culinary desires customers are trying to ask, even it is a “rambling stream of consciousness”. “No matter how you ask, you get exactly what you’re craving,” the company said. “The assistant cuts through the noise to deliver accurate, meaningful answers.” Just Eat said the app era had aggregated such an overwhelming number of takeaway options for consumers to consider that they now face the dilemma of “choice overload”. “[This is] designed to make deciding ‘what’s for dinner?’ more intuitive than ever before,” the company said. “With the addition of conversational abilities, it streamlines the checkout process and offers tailored recommendations based on genuine interaction.” The chatbot can communicate in dozens of languages and its accent can be personalised. Just Eat said that the voice-activated AI assistant also “significantly enhances” the ordering experience for users with mobility or visual impairments. “This custom-built conversational assistant represents a major step forward, making our service more intuitive and accessible,” said Mert Öztekin, the chief technology officer at Just Eat. “We are harnessing the power of AI to empower everyday convenience across our entire network.” Just Eat is launching the new AI assistant in the UK first, before a wider international rollout during this year. The AI assistant can also be used to ask for recommendations from the...