Exclusive: Data bill faces being shelved amid standoff over plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted content
Defiant peers have delivered an ultimatum to offer artists copyright protection against artificial intelligence or risk losing a key piece of legislation.
The government suffered a fifth defeat in the House of Lords over controversial plans to allow the AI companies to train their models using copyrighted material.
Continue reading...Music executive claims defamation in suit seeking $20m from the film-makers and distributors of On the Record
Russell Simmons is suing HBO and the film-makers of a 2020 documentary detailing allegations against the music mogul of sexual abuse, claiming that together they defamed him and ignored his version of events.
On The Record, directed by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, expanded on reporting by the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times and other publications on numerous allegations against Simmons. It featured the testimony of several women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Simmons in the 1980s and 90s, when he was at the height of his influence as the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, the hip-hop label behind LL Cool J, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and other top acts.
Continue reading...MPs on Treasury committee hear that those affected were being contacted and would face ‘no financial loss’
HM Revenue & Customs has lost £47m after a phishing scam breached tens of thousands of tax accounts, a group of MPs has heard.
Two senior civil servants at the tax authority told the Treasury committee that 100,000 people had been contacted, or were in the process of being contacted, after their accounts were locked down in what the officials said was an “organised crime” incident that began last year.
Continue reading...Researchers enlisted help of AI along with radiocarbon dating to produce new insights into ancient texts
Many of the Dead Sea scrolls could be older than previously thought, with some biblical texts dating from the time of their original authors, researchers say.
The first of the ancient scrolls were discovered in the caves of Qumran in the Judean desert by Bedouin shepherds in the mid-20th century. The manuscripts range from legal documents to parts of the Hebrew Bible, and are thought to date from around the third century BCE to the second century CE.
Continue reading...FBI detains 32-year-old from Washington state over links to blast in which authorities believe bomber died
The FBI arrested a man in connection with last month’s bombing of a facility clinic in Palm Springs, California, US authorities said on Wednesday.
Daniel Park, a 32-year-old US citizen who lives in Kent, Washington, was taken into custody at John F Kennedy airport in New York on Tuesday after he was deported from Poland, said Bill Essayli, a US attorney for California, at a press conference. Park allegedly provided materials for explosives to the person who carried out the bombing, which officials have described as the largest incident of its kind in southern California. Authorities believe the bomber died in the blast.
Continue reading...Scheme aims to exploit ‘teachable moment’, when someone is wavering between criminality and turning their back on violence
A scheme aiming to turn children arrested for violence away from crime has claimed staggering success, with up to nine out of 10 diverted from further offending, according to a report.
Under the scheme, which is funded by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), special youth workers are placed in police custody centres across the capital.
Continue reading...Hugo Aguilar, who has links to governing party, topped unprecedented and controversial popular vote
An Indigenous lawyer from the state of Oaxaca is set to become the president of Mexico’s supreme court following the country’s unprecedented elections to appoint its entire judicial system by popular vote.
Activists hailed the election of Hugo Aguilar, a member of the Mixtec Indigenous group, as a symbolic victory – while noting that Aguilar, who topped the poll of candidates for the supreme court, had long since shifted from his own roots as an activist to a figure much more closely aligned with the state, and involved in controversial mega-projects such as the Maya Train.
Continue reading...Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs spent 17 years in prison for murder she said she did not commit, a story told in books, play and film
After enduring hellish years on America’s death row for a crime she said she did not commit, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs found an idyll, and healing, in rural Ireland. But in a final, cruel twist, her sanctuary claimed her life.
Jacobs, 78, and her carer, Kevin Kelly, were found dead on Tuesday after a fire at her cottage near the village of Casla, in County Galway.
Continue reading...Wesley Mission says the ‘devastating impact deepens every day’ with one western Sydney area averaging $2m a day lost to pokies
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The New South Wales government has failed to prevent serious gambling harm with $2.7bn lost to poker machines in the first 90 days of this year, according to a charity group pushing for tougher regulation.
Analysis of state government data by Wesley Mission has found the amount of money lost to poker machines during the first quarter of 2025 increased by 5.7% when compared with the same period in 2024.
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Continue reading...Health department defends panel as chosen based on specialist expertise and says public can contribute via consultation process
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Transgender advocates have criticised the panel assembled to conduct the Queensland government’s review of puberty blockers for lacking experts in gender affirming care and people with lived experience of trans healthcare.
The state government opened its independent review of stage 1 and stage 2 hormone therapies in Queensland’s public paediatric gender services to public submissions last week, but kept the panel conducting the review secret.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Report finds rebates not keeping up with specialist fee rises and experts say soaring number of people putting off care is easy to understand
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The cost of an initial dermatology appointment is now up to nearly $300 on average, new data shows. It reflects a broader problem: that Medicare rebates are not keeping up with the pace specialist fees are rising.
Online healthcare directory Cleanbill, which has tracked bulk billing rates among GPs, is expanding to provide data on out-of-pocket costs to see other health professionals, starting with dermatology.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Rift comes as Pesutto supporters remain optimistic a deal for the party to loan him money to help pay $2.3m in defamation costs will be struck
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Several Victorian Liberals have accused the party of “hypocrisy” after it paid lawyers to represent its administrative wing in an unfair dismissal claim, while so far declining to save former party leader John Pesutto from bankruptcy.
On Monday, lawyers for Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Pesutto after he failed to meet a deadline to pay her $2.3m in legal costs. Pesutto has less than 21 days to pay, enter into a payment agreement or face bankruptcy, which would lead to a byelection in his seat of Hawthorn.
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Continue reading...The popular YouTuber has received pushback for speaking out on behalf of children affected by war and famine
Ms Rachel, the children’s entertainer and educator whose YouTube videos have been watched by millions of families around the world, said she is willing to risk her career to keep advocating for suffering children in Gaza.
In an interview with WBUR, a Boston-based public radio station, Ms Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, said she had received pushback for speaking out to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza, where more than 54,000 people have been killed in Israel’s ongoing military assault.
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