Month: February 2025

OpenAI says its board of directors has unanimously rejected a 97.4 billion dollar (£77.3 billion) takeover bid by Elon Musk. “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” said a statement from Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI’s board. OpenAI lawyer William Savitt, in a letter to Mr Musk’s lawyer on Friday, said the proposal “is not in the best […]

A London resident who has been without water for more than three days has said Thames Water’s plan to charge customer even more than previously agreed is “just greed”. Leigh McAlpine, 44, who lives in the SE20 area of Crystal Palace in south London, one of the postcodes affected by the water outage, said she has not had water since about 5am on Tuesday after a water pipe burst. Thames […]

Caroline Flack’s mother has said she wants her daughter to be remembered “for inspiring people to live”, after a suicide prevention bench was installed in honour of the TV presenter. The bench unveiled by Christine Flack in north London last September features a QR code which links users to the TV star’s story, and messages offering help to those in need. Flack, who was born in London and grew up […]

The Southport child killer’s sentence will not be referred to the Court of Appeal, the Attorney General has said. Axel Rudakubana, 18, was jailed for minimum of 52 years in January, after murdering three girls at a dance class, but the sentence sparked criticism from a family involved in the attack and MPs, alongside calls for law changes. Rudakubana received one of the highest minimum custody terms on record for […]

World leaders have been discussing the next steps to end the brutal three-year war “We are some way from a negotiated peace” between Russia and Ukraine, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has suggested, as Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants “security guarantees” ahead of peace talks. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the Ukrainian leader that Britain is committed to Ukraine being on an “irreversible path” to joining Nato, after the US […]

David Newton, 70, will likely die in jail A 70-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years for the 2013 murder of retired postmistress Una Crown after DNA which matched his profile was found on her nail clippings. Mrs Crown, an 86-year-old widow, was found with her throat cut, stab wounds to her chest and her clothing burnt in her bungalow in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on January 13 2013. […]

It's the latest health scare for the 88-year-old Pontiff Pope Francis has been admitted to hospital after a week-long bout of bronchitis worsened and is receiving drug therapy, the Vatican said. It is the latest issue with the 88-year-old pontiff’s health that has forced him to cancel his agenda until Monday at least. Francis was serene, in good spirits and had read some newspapers after arriving at Rome’s Gemelli hospital […]

They'll see their families tomorrow after more than 400 days Hamas has released the names of three more hostages it plans to release this weekend. It had been facing a resumption of the Israeli military offensive if the release programme had faltered.Here are some details of the three men who've been held since the start of the conflict in October 2023. They all lived at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Sasha Troufanov, […]

The Government faces questions on how it will respond to US President Donald Trump’s latest trade announcement, which threatens to impose tariffs as a retaliation for charging VAT on US goods. Mr Trump announced on Thursday that he would impose “reciprocal tariffs” on all other countries, charging the same amount as levies imposed on American exports, claiming it was “fair to all”. The impact of the announcement on the UK […]