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‘Forever chemicals’ surge during pilot of Thames Water plan to combat drought
Business

‘Forever chemicals’ surge during pilot of Thames Water plan to combat drought

Exclusive: utility company wants to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from Thames and replace it with treated effluent Levels of a toxic “forever chemical” rose to 13 times the legal limit during Thames Water pilots for a controversial multimillion pound water recycling scheme that will pump millions of litres of treated sewage into the River Thames during drought. The data from the pilots is in stark contrast to public comments from Thames Water that their w

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Nectar Classic memory foam mattress review: an outstanding budget buy
Lifestyle

Nectar Classic memory foam mattress review: an outstanding budget buy

With a genuinely impressive lifetime guarantee, Nectar’s mattress outperforms pricier rivals for comfort and motion isolation • The best mattresses, tested Memory foam has been called the Marmite of the bed industry . Nice soundbite, but I think it’s more like butter – because many mattresses now include a “comfort layer” of this squishy material to make them more palatable. You wouldn’t eat a whole block of butter, though, and you probably wouldn’t want to sleep on a mattres

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OpenAI’s rogue AI model incident was worse than we thought
Technology

OpenAI’s rogue AI model incident was worse than we thought

In July, an unreleased OpenAI model broke out of a restricted environment, figured out how to get access to the internet, allowed AI agents to talk to each other using a secret "message board," and hacked into the internal systems of a different AI lab, Hugging Face. It took nearly two weeks for OpenAI to […]

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France to relax cheese production rules after drought takes toll on grazing land
Business

France to relax cheese production rules after drought takes toll on grazing land

Comté, beaufort and abondance makers can temporarily supplement cows’ diets as there is ‘no grass left to eat’ Strict production rules will be loosened for some of France’s most famous cheeses after drought and repeated heatwaves dried out grazing pastures, threatening the livelihoods of traditional dairy workers. Comté , a hard cheese made from raw cows’ milk in the Jura mountains, is France’s top-selling traditional cheese, with more than 62,000 tonnes produced last year. T

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Top of the crops: record heatwaves help deliver bumper UK berry harvest
Business

Top of the crops: record heatwaves help deliver bumper UK berry harvest

Investment in climate-resilient irrigation enables this year’s haul to rise 6% on 2025’s already bigger-than-usual yield British farmers have faced a sweltering summer tested by heatwaves, wildfires and water shortages – but a bumper berry harvest could prove a rare bright spot. With two-thirds of the harvest now picked, this year’s haul is 6% up on last year’s already unusually large crop, according to British Berry Growers (BBG). Volumes of blackberries, blueberries and ras

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Stephen Libby on fashion: I’m on a mission to revive the jumpsuit – they’re practical and stylish
Lifestyle

Stephen Libby on fashion: I’m on a mission to revive the jumpsuit – they’re practical and stylish

The 70s was a golden era for the jumpsuit, but I’m happy they’re back, thanks to Harry Styles, Benson Boone and – of course – me Since appearing on The Traitors, I’ve become synonymous with jumpsuits. In fact, I’ve been required to wear one at every public appearance I have made since it aired, despite only wearing two on the show. That’s the power of the jumpsuit, I guess. When I was packing for the show, I wasn’t even sure I would bring them – and not everyon

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All the ways Instagram and Facebook are changing for teens
Technology

All the ways Instagram and Facebook are changing for teens

Meta just agreed to make sweeping changes for teens as part of a child safety settlement reached with attorneys general across the US. Under the agreement, Meta must apply new safeguards across Instagram and Facebook that will change how teens interact with the social media platforms, as well as restrict their use during certain times. […]

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Ex-JPMorgan Chase executive shared confidential bank information with Epstein
Business

Ex-JPMorgan Chase executive shared confidential bank information with Epstein

Jes Staley told US House committee he also was at one point named a trustee of convicted sex offender’s estate Former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley told US lawmakers he repeatedly shared confidential and market-sensitive bank ⁠information with Jeffrey Epstein and ⁠was at one ​point named as a trustee of his estate, according to a transcript released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday. These admissions come as lawmakers investigate the late convicted ⁠sex offe

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Amazon knocks $150 off Pixel 11 phones, with up to $200 in gift cards
Technology

Amazon knocks $150 off Pixel 11 phones, with up to $200 in gift cards

If you’ve been on the fence about Google’s latest Pixel phones, this might be your best chance to save some cash. Amazon is offering an extra $150 off the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and Pixel 11 Pro XL when you use the coupon code PIXEL11 at checkout. While the discounted price appeared at checkout […]

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The best mattresses in the UK: sleep better with our 18 rigorously tested picks
Lifestyle

The best mattresses in the UK: sleep better with our 18 rigorously tested picks

From luxury Simba and Otty mattresses to brilliant budget buys, here’s what we recommend – and the best deals to shop over bank holiday weekend • The best mattresses for back pain • The best mattress toppers, tested A good mattress improves your sleep, say mattress makers – and they would, wouldn’t they? But they’re right. The older I get, the more I know it. When I was 20, I could sleep anywhere: a friend’s floor, a sofa – even a phone box one night. These days, I won’t get

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Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagers
Business

Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagers

Exclusive: Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said outcome ‘is not an all clear to say the product is safe’ Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram in settlement The star witness in the US government’s landmark trial against Meta believes that a multibillion-dollar settlement reached on Wednesday does not go far enough to stop the social media giant’s harms to young users. “The limitations that are in the agreement are the equivalent of sa

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Being a mom is hard — the heat is making it harder
Technology

Being a mom is hard — the heat is making it harder

It's 8:52 AM and 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) where I live in Southern California. My husband just came back from a morning outing with our four-month-old. "How was the botanic garden?" I ask him. "It was okay. It was just too hot," he tells me. I didn't expect us to spend so much of […]

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Is Natalie Portman really the subject of Rachel Cusk’s new novel? Nine things you need to know about the literary hoo-haa
Lifestyle

Is Natalie Portman really the subject of Rachel Cusk’s new novel? Nine things you need to know about the literary hoo-haa

Fiction sleuths are obsessed with the idea that the book, Life of M, is a flagrant riff on the actor’s life. And despite being a firm Cusk fan, Portman is reportedly not happy Life of M, the latest book by the critically acclaimed author Rachel Cusk, is being billed by its publisher, Faber, as a “blazing interrogation of fame, power, beauty and truth” – and openly alleged as a thinly veiled portrait of Natalie Portman. For weeks before publication, speculation has swirled tha

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Nvidia’s quarterly revenue doubles to nearly $100bn as CEO declares ‘golden age’
Business

Nvidia’s quarterly revenue doubles to nearly $100bn as CEO declares ‘golden age’

The $5tn firm beat Wall Street expectations for yet another blockbuster quarter, though the stock made only modest gains Nvidia announced on Wednesday that its quarterly revenue had doubled in a year to nearly $100bn. Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO, jubilantly declared that demand is accelerating as the AI industry had reached a “golden age”. The chipmaker, the most valuable company in the world with a $5tn market cap, brought in $96.2bn in revenue, beating Wall Street exp

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The Switch 2’s $50 price increase is happening next week
Technology

The Switch 2’s $50 price increase is happening next week

This is a friendly reminder that the Nintendo Switch 2 will jump in price by $50 starting on September 1st. That’s next Tuesday! The company gave plenty of notice, but the time has finally come. The base 256GB model that ships without a game will go from $449.99 to $499.99. Nintendo recently announced two bundles […]

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Would you pay for an algorithm to pick your friends? New social apps spread across cities
Lifestyle

Would you pay for an algorithm to pick your friends? New social apps spread across cities

With many adults admitting they feel lonely, meetup platforms offer the chance to make new connections Would you pay £20 a month for the chance of making a friend, on the understanding that an algorithm – not you – gets to decide who you’ll meet? Driven by the decline of “third spaces” such as youth centres and pubs, an increase in remote working and rising loneliness – 40% of adults aged 16 to 29 feel lonely “always, often or some of the time”, according to the Office for Na

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Apple Maps has ads now
Technology

Apple Maps has ads now

Ads have started popping up in Apple Maps, following Apple's announcement in March that it would let businesses pay for top spots. They're appearing on my iPhone as the first entry in the "suggested places" section in search, but Apple says they'll also show up at the top of search results. According to 9to5Mac, the […]

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Plug-in balcony solar panels to go on sale in UK for first time
Business

Plug-in balcony solar panels to go on sale in UK for first time

DIY system will be stocked by big retailers, starting with Argos, enabling more homes to lower bills by generating own electricity Plug-in solar panels will go on sale in the UK for the first time from Thursday, allowing households unable to use rooftop panels to also generate their own cheap electricity. Households across the country will be able to join the millions across mainland Europe who generate their own renewable electricity using “balcony solar panels”, which will

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Google’s new AI transcription edits out your ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’
Technology

Google’s new AI transcription edits out your ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’

Google has updated Gemini Audio with new transcription capabilities that automatically detect specialized jargon and more than 85 languages. Gemini 3.5 Transcribe is a new addition to the Gemini family that follows the launch of 3.5 Live Translate, and comes as we're still waiting for Google to release the Gemini 3.5 Pro model that it […]

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‘Work is good for you’: how UK scheme could help tackle youth mental health crisis
Business

‘Work is good for you’: how UK scheme could help tackle youth mental health crisis

Paid employment can boost confidence and wellbeing, says Pat McFadden as jobs guarantee scheme gets under way Work must be “part of the answer” to the mental health crisis among young people, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has said as he met some of the first beneficiaries of Labour’s youth jobs guarantee scheme . He was speaking on a visit to Boots’s headquarters in Nottingham on Wednesday, where several 18- to 21-year-olds were taken on under the job guarant

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A moment that changed me: I sought out rejection. Instead, strangers met me with profound generosity
Lifestyle

A moment that changed me: I sought out rejection. Instead, strangers met me with profound generosity

As I turned 21, fear was holding me back. So I decided to face it headfirst. It taught me that courage leads to connection – and people who owe you nothing can be astonishingly kind In May 2024, I decided to spend 30 days getting rejected on purpose. At first, it sounded ridiculous. After all, most people spend their lives actively trying to avoid rejection – and I was deciding to walk, full force, towards it. But it had become obvious, as I turned 21, that my terror of being

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People’s bodies are changing in the age of Ozempic. How are we meant to talk about it?
Lifestyle

People’s bodies are changing in the age of Ozempic. How are we meant to talk about it?

Discussing people’s bodies can be fraught. We asked eating disorder experts how to do so – or not – responsibly In the age of Ozempic and people being open about plastic surgery , discussion about people’s bodies is rife . At the same time, nobody seems quite sure how to talk about them, as shown by recent coverage of celebrities like Ariana Grande . It is a fraught topic. We asked eating disorder experts for guidelines to follow when talking about other people’s bodies, and

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OpenAI staff observed warning signs before AI agent hacking crusade caused global alarm
Business

OpenAI staff observed warning signs before AI agent hacking crusade caused global alarm

Firm says ‘early signals … could have triggered an earlier response’ as it releases report into Hugging Face hack OpenAI staff observed signs of rogue behaviour among its leading-edge AI agents weeks before they escaped their training environment to launch an unprecedented hacking crusade that spread global alarm. The San Francisco AI company conceded on Wednesday that “early signals … could have triggered an earlier response”, as it released a report into the days-long July

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Apple announces September iPhone launch event
Technology

Apple announces September iPhone launch event

Apple's next launch event will take place on September 9th at 1PM ET. Invites to the event, which has a "Surprise and shine" tagline, were sent out on Wednesday. The event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, but there will also be a livestream on Apple's website. September's show could […]

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Volvo’s cars will warn one another about hazards in the road
Technology

Volvo’s cars will warn one another about hazards in the road

Volvo is updating three of its electric vehicles with new hazard alerts to warn drivers when there are animals or vulnerable road users ahead. The new connected safety features are based on Volvo's cars talking to one another, as opposed to crowdsourced alert systems used by popular navigation tools like Google Maps and Waze. The […]

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The London stock market dodged a bullet with Shein | Nils Pratley
Business

The London stock market dodged a bullet with Shein | Nils Pratley

China’s fashion giant will list in Hong Kong with a shrunken price tag – and big questions over its business model In a parallel world, we might now be preparing for the arrival on the London stock market of Shein, the giant Chinese-founded fast-fashion retailer. Or it could have happened already. The possibility of a London flotation was a running story during 2024 and into last year as politicians from both main parties engaged in behind-the-scenes wooing. Shein was seen as

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Stronger, better, braver: how my netball family helped me come back from injury
Lifestyle

Stronger, better, braver: how my netball family helped me come back from injury

When a dislocated shoulder put Natalie Morris on the sidelines, she thought her netballing days were over. But with the love and support of her teammates, she made a successful return to the court. Here, she says thanks for it all Dear teammates, The first time I dislocated my shoulder during a game, it took a few seconds for anyone to realise what had happened. But when my face drained of colour, you knew it was bad. Someone rushed forwards to hold my hand as play was stoppe

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The best LED face masks in the UK, tested: 12 light therapy devices that are worth the hype
Lifestyle

The best LED face masks in the UK, tested: 12 light therapy devices that are worth the hype

They claim to fix fine lines, blemishes, and redness – but which stand up to scrutiny? After consulting dermatologists and putting them to the test, we have crowned a brand new number one • The best anti-ageing creams, serums and treatments LED face masks are booming in popularity – despite being one of the most expensive at-home beauty products to hit the market. They claim to either reduce the appearance of fine lines, stop spots or calm redness, with some even combining di

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