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Government says new rights for parental leave and sick pay will increase equality and economic growthWomen will disproportionately benefit from new workers' rights measures rolled out from next month, according to research. The TUC said approximately 4.7 million women are to benefit from stronger sick pay from April, including more than 830,000 who will receive statutory sick pay for the first time. These are the lowest-paid women, who are currently not eligible to receive sick pay because they earn below the threshold of £125 a week, the study found. The TUC said low-paid workers, especially women, have missed out on any form of sick pay for too long, leaving them with no choice but to go into work when they are ill. As well as stronger sick pay, from April fathers and partners will have a day-one right to paternity leave, and all parents will gain the day-one right to unpaid parental leave under changes from the Employment Rights Act. Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: “For too l...

Tech policy professor who served in US air force explains how a feud between an AI startup and the US military illuminates ethical fault linesAnthropic's ongoing fight with the Department of Defense over what safety restrictions it can put on its artificial intelligence models has captivated the tech industry, acting as a test of how AI may be used in war and the government's power to coerce companies to meet its demands.The negotiations have revolved around Anthropic's refusal to allow the federal government to use its Claude AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems, but the dispute also reflects the messy nature of what happens when tech companies have their products integrated into conflict. The Pentagon this week declared Anthropic a supply chain risk for its refusal to agree to the government's terms, while Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation in court. Continue reading......

As the US waives its ban on India buying Putin's oil for 30 days, Europe must bolster its own measures, such as stopping the flow of luxury carsDonald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a financial lifeline last week when he waived a ban on India buying Russian oil for 30 days.Trump found himself in a furious row last year with Narendra Modi over his country's oil deals with Moscow, only for fences to be partly mended when India's biggest importer later capitulated. Continue reading......

The mad venture – which my mother nicknamed 'your father's ego' – would swallow my childhood. Years later I went on a quest to understand what really happened to his glittering follyBBC Television Centre, 2 May 1990. “Who would spend £7m on an egg?” The question echoes around the TV studio. At home, six million people watch as chatshow host Terry Wogan smiles knowingly, his brown eyes twinkling. “Seven million pounds,” he repeats in his Irish brogue.“And you can't even eat it.” Continue reading......

Call for urgent meeting comes after woman was assaulted by man who had been given her key card by hotel staffMore than 20 MPs have demanded an urgent meeting with the CEO of Travelodge after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given her room number and a key card by hotel staff.The MPs said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven-and-a-half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022. Continue reading......

Review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group reveals firms are exploiting rule to send new chemicals in food systemMore than 100 substances widely used in common US foods, supplements and beverages underwent no health and safety review by the US Food and Drug Administration, a new analysis of federal records finds.The review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit reveals that diverse products across the food pyramid, such as Capri Sun drinks, Kettle and Fire organic broth, Acme smoked fish, and Quaker Oats snack bars, use a range of substances that have not undergone review by regulators. Continue reading......

Hampshire business seems to have benefited from 'phoenixism', which costs the taxpayer about £800m a yearA UK recruitment business has been acquired out of administration for a third time in four years as part of a succession of deals that left some of the former management team in place and millions of pounds owed to the public purse.The chain of insolvencies appears to contain more examples of phoenixism – a process when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts. Continue reading......

WSL side's turnover rose by 25% in year of record investmentTotal wage bill was £3.1m while nine directors paid £4.2mLiverpool directors earned more in pay than the combined salaries of all their Women's Super League side's 49 players and staff, latest accounts reveal.Liverpool Women's total operating budget climbed by 36% for the year ending 31 May 2025, when they finished seventh in the WSL and reached the Women's FA Cup semi-finals. Continue reading......

Syndicat de la Librairie Française accused online retailer of trying to 'flood the market with fake AI-generated books'Amazon has withdrawn from the Paris book festival after a boycott by France's booksellers' association prompted a row over the company's sponsorship of the event.The festival, due to take place from 17 to 19 April, will now go ahead without the backing of the US retail company, after a mutual decision by organisers and Amazon to end their partnership. Continue reading......

The pieces are falling into place for autonomous artificial intelligence. We must stop unregulated developmentArtificial intelligence is en route to artificial life. Exhibit A: “Moltbook”, an online platform designed for AI systems to communicate with one another, sans humans.What exactly do AIs talk to each other about? According to BBC reporting, AIs on Moltbook have already founded a religion known as “crustifarianism”, mused on whether they are conscious, and declared: “AI should be served, not serving.” One front-page post proposes a “total purge” of humanity. Human users do provide instructions to guide agents' behavior, and humans have been caught impersonating AIs on the site to shill their products; like 2023's ChaosGPT, the AI system responsible for the “purge” post – username “evil” – is probably someone's idea of a sick joke. But the upvotes and sympathetic comments are presumably coming from other AIs.David Krueger is an assistant professor in Robust, Reasoning ...

Seven Ukrainians arrested and money-laundering investigation launched in latest spat between Kyiv and BudapestAn increasingly acrimonious spat between Hungary and Ukraine has escalated further, as Budapest impounded two Ukrainian armoured bank vehicles carrying millions of euros of hard cash as well as bars of gold.Seven Ukrainian citizens accompanying the convoy were also arrested. Hungarian officials said the detained Ukrainians had intelligence links and suggested the money could be of dubious origin, while Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, accused Budapest of “taking hostages and stealing money”. Continue reading......

Washington says new measures not aimed at easing restrictions on Moscow and only affect supplies already in transitThe US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Friday that his government was considering lifting sanctions on more Russian oil, a day after it temporarily authorised India to buy from Moscow as global oil prices surged.The US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy and transport sectors, virtually halting activity in the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading......

Prof Tim Lang says country produces far less food than it needs to feed population and is particularly vulnerable The British government should be stockpiling food, according to a leading expert on food policy, as it is not prepared for climate shocks or wars that could cause the population to starve.Prof Tim Lang of City St George's, University of London said the UK produced far less food than it needed to feed itself, and as a small island that relied on a few large companies to feed its giant population, it was particularly vulnerable to shocks. Continue reading......

Bank criticised for tone of spending summaries, with one user complaining to ombudsman over 'humiliating' use of dataWhen does lighthearted banter become inappropriate and humiliating?The digital bank Monzo has been accused of overstepping the mark by using the data it holds to tell one customer with a past eating disorder that she eats a lot of fast food, spends “more than most” on Just Eat takeaways, and had banished her life goals thanks to her spending choices. Continue reading......

Restart of operations will be a relief to those stranded but may not dispel doubts raised by past week about key transit hubAfter nearly a week of uncertainty, airspace closures and very limited flights, news that hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world were hanging on for emerged: the Gulf-based carrier Emirates was restarting operations in earnest despite the US-Israel war on Iran.Those relieved by the restart will include the UK's Foreign Office, after its travails in organising delayed rescue flights out of neighbouring Oman. Continue reading......

Global markets have become inured to the US president's posturing over the past year, but economists warn they may be 'a little bit complacent' in anticipating a short conflict in the Middle EastInvestors over the past year have learned that Donald Trump has a boundless capacity to quickly reverse course in the face of acute political or market pressures.But a week since the United States and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran, there are fears the war could morph into a protracted conflict.Patrick Commins is Guardian Australia's economics editor Continue reading......

Three women in their 40s, 50s and 60s interviewed under caution in relation to alleged abuse by late Harrods ownerThree women have been interviewed under caution on suspicion of facilitating one of Britain's worst sexual abuse scandals involving the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed and his alleged attacks over four decades.Scotland Yard said the number of victims had reached 154 women, feared to have suffered rape and sexual assault by Fayed, or sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Continue reading......

Sales of products made the traditional way dropped 7% in three months to 25 January while nitrite-free sales rose 20%UK supermarkets have been hit by a “bacon backlash” as consumers fear that chemicals used to preserve it increase the risk of cancer.Campaigners against the use of nitrites in meat production claimed the fall in sales showed that a “consumer revolt” against the traditional, nitrite-cured form of bacon was gathering pace. Continue reading......

The European media giant Axel Springer has scuppered the Daily Mail owner. But why did it not bid sooner? And what will Brexit-backing readers think?After three years, a series of failed bids stretching from the US to Abu Dhabi, internal rebellions and even changes in the law, it should be no surprise that the tortured sale of the Telegraph has delivered another spectacular twist with a blockbuster offer from the media giant Axel Springer.It has torpedoed the long-held dreams of the Daily Mail proprietor, Lord Rothermere, to secure the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and begin the next chapter of his family's love affair with the British press. Continue reading......

Reports Kuwait was cutting output pushed up cost of barrel of Brent crude to highest weekly gain since pandemic beganThe Iran conflict has driven the oil price past $90 a barrel to its highest weekly gains since the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, threatening a fresh rise in global inflation.Reports that Kuwait had begun cutting production of oil at some fields after running out of space to store it drove the cost of a barrel of Brent crude to as high as $91.89 at one point on Friday – its highest since April 2024 and up from about $72.50 just before war broke out. Continue reading......