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Google DeepMind workers in UK vote to unionize amid deal with US military
Exclusive: Worker pointed to Iran war and Pentagon’s Anthropic feud as indications the department is ‘not a responsible partner’
Workers developing Google’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week.
In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of the lab’s UK-based staff.
Continue reading...Concierge firm co-founded by queen’s nephew went on ‘ill-timed’ hiring spree before Iran war
Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in Middle East and Asia less than year before wealthy began to flee Gulf
The embattled luxury concierge service co-founded by Queen Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliot embarked on what appeared to be an inopportune hiring spree in the Middle East and Asia before wealthy individuals began fleeing the region because of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in the regions from 22 to 84 during its financial year to 30 April 2025, according to newly released annual accounts, which again reported multimillion-pound losses and warned of “material uncertainty” about its future.
Continue reading...Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters
Party leader says vote for Labour or Greens in closely run seats will result in Reform victory at local elections
Voters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.
The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it was a “straight fight” between his party and Reform at the English local elections.
Continue reading...‘Time the rest of us stepped up’: terror survivors’ group writes letter in support of UK Jews
Letter coordinated by Survivors Against Terror, which includes bereaved relatives, after spate of attacks on Jewish community
Dozens of survivors and bereaved relatives of 19 separate terror attacks have written an open letter of solidarity to the Jewish community, saying: “Standing together in the face of hatred is not just the right thing to do – it’s the most effective way of defeating terrorism.”
The letter was coordinated by the group Survivors Against Terror (SAT), after terror attacks on two Jewish men in north London earlier this week, in what was the latest in a series of attacks on the community in the UK.
Continue reading...Jaguar Land Rover could have shifted production from UK without £380m battery subsidy, officials warned
Government officials said in December that Britain’s largest automotive employer could lead exodus from UK
Jaguar Land Rover would have considered moving car production out of the UK and slashing jobs if not for a £380m subsidy for its sister battery company, government officials claimed privately.
Officials at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) warned in December that Britain’s largest automotive employer may have triggered an exodus from the UK car industry, according to state aid documents prepared by the competition regulator.
Continue reading...A small plane crashes into building in Brazil, killing three
Australian author Craig Silvey pleads guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material
Prosecutors drop two other charges against Jasper Jones author, 43, including allegations he produced child exploitation material
Award‑winning author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material, while a charge that he produced such material has been dropped.
Silvey, 43, was first charged in January after detectives from Western Australia police’s child abuse squad raided his Fremantle home, allegedly catching him communicating online with child exploitation offenders and seizing his electronic devices.
Continue reading...States should tax windfall oil profits to fund their way out of crisis
‘They came to kill us’: royal commission hears horrific accounts of antisemitism faced by Jewish children in Australia
Jewish children face antisemitic abuse, swastikas etched on school walls and other students performing Nazi salutes, hearing told
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Jewish children in Australia face antisemitic abuse at school, see swastikas daubed on walls and witness classmates perform Nazi salutes: they live with antisemitism “all day, every day”, a Sydney Jewish mother has told a royal commission hearing.
The woman, known as Dina before the commission, said Australia had become a more hostile, more dangerous place for Jews, most horrifically demonstrated by the Bondi massacre in December in which 15 people were shot and killed.
Continue reading...Two volunteers among three dead off NSW coast after rescue boat rolls while trying to help sinking yacht
‘Hero’ rescuers aged 78 and 62 confirmed dead, while four others made it to shore after yacht broke up
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Two marine volunteers who died while attempting a dangerous rescue mission have been remembered for their courage and heroism.
The men were deployed as part of a six-person Marine Rescue New South Wales team after a good Samaritan saw a yacht in distress near the breakwater at south Ballina, in the state’s north, on Monday night.
Continue reading...Next Scottish government faces ‘really difficult’ spending choices, economists say
Parties accused of ‘fiscal denial’ and failing to tell voters the scale of the challenge
The next Scottish government will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions soon after taking power, including tackling its large public sector pay bill, senior economists have said.
Economists with the Fraser of Allander Institute, at the University of Strathclyde, believe the manifestos published by Scotland’s political parties during the campaign failed to tell voters about the true scale of the challenge.
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