An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia broke down on Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations, Arto Pahkin, told the public broadcaster Yle that sabotage could not be ruled out. Finland’s prime…
Blind and partially sighted people are being excluded from the benefits of artificial intelligence tools and facing “a new level of discrimination”, the new president of the Royal Society for Blind Children has claimed as he called for better design of everything from video games to AI agents. Tom Pey said existing difficulties for blind…
The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a formal review of five highly toxic plastic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, the notorious compound at the center of the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck fire. The move could lead to strong limits or bans on the substances. Vinyl chloride is most commonly used in PVC pipe and packaging…
A federal judge ruled on Monday that sections of an Arkansas law, which sought to impose criminal penalties on librarians and booksellers for distributing “harmful” material to children, were unconstitutional. The law, known as the Arkansas Act 372, was signed into law last year by Republican governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It was challenged by a…
US tax authorities have announced that special, $1,400 payments are going out to 1 million taxpayers who did not claim under the 2021 recovery rebate scheme, in what may be a final installment of pandemic-era stimulus checks. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said in an advisory that the disbursements were a “special step” after a…
Political parties are on course to hand over responsibility for examining allegations of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct by MPs to parliament’s independent investigator. A parliamentary committee is preparing to endorse proposals to refer complaints about MPs’ misconduct to the Independent Complaints and Grievance System (ICGS), instead of letting political parties deal with them. Sources…
A new scheme enabling families to sign up to free school meals has enabled 20,000 more children to be fed. As well as preventing those children from going hungry, the “auto-enrolment” pilot project is saving households hundreds of pounds a year. A total of 20 local authorities in England this year decided to identify pupils…
The return of former drug trafficker Fabio Ochoa to Colombia following his deportation from the United States has reopened old wounds among victims of the Medellín cartel, with some expressing dismay at the Colombian authorities’ decision to let Ochoa walk free. Some of the cartel victims said they are hoping the former drug lord will…
DJ Alfredo, who had a significant influence on Ibiza becoming a global centre for dance music culture, has died aged 71. Amnesia, the club where he held a residency during the 1980s, announced the news, writing on Instagram: “Thank you for the nights and beats we shared together. Your music and vision shaped the sound…
Nigel Farage has said he would be willing to help Peter Mandelson negotiate with the Trump administration, after the Labour grandee was confirmed as Westminster’s new ambassador to the US. Lord Mandelson has indicated he believes the Reform UK leader, a friend of Donald Trump, could serve as a link between the UK and the…
