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Post Office used jail threat to persuade accused to keep quiet about Horizon

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An investigator accused of acting like a “mafia gangster” when securing false convictions against post office...
An investigator accused of acting like a “mafia gangster” when securing false convictions against post office operators has admitted softer charges were offered in exchange for silence over the culpability of the Horizon IT system.In several instances, the accused were told they could avoid a jail sentence if they k...
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Majority of debtors to US hospitals now people with health insurance

theguardian.com

People with health insurance may now represent the majority of debtors American hospitals struggle to collect...
People with health insurance may now represent the majority of debtors American hospitals struggle to collect from, according to medical billing analysts.This marks a sea change from just a few years ago, when people with health insurance represented only about one in 10 bills hospitals considered “bad debt”, analys...
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US oil lobby launches ad campaign to promote oil as 'vital' to global security

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The American oil lobby has launched an eight-figure media campaign this week promoting the idea that...
The American oil lobby has launched an eight-figure media campaign this week promoting the idea that fossil fuels are “vital” to global energy security, alarming climate experts.“US natural gas and oil play a key role in supplying the world with cleaner, more reliable energy,” the new initiative’s website says.The c...
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Renewable energy capacity grew at record pace in 2023

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Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years in...
Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years in 2023, which could put the world within reach of meeting a key climate target by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).The world’s renewable energy grew by 50% last year to 510 gigawatts (GW)...
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Gambling boom detrimental to New Jersey economy, report says

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A promised economic boom from online gambling’s rapid expansion across the United States may be a...
A promised economic boom from online gambling’s rapid expansion across the United States may be a mirage, according to new research.New Jersey, which led the charge for mobile sports betting’s legalization, has received hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes from the sector. But economists cautioned that the cost ...
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US transportation grounds Boeing 737 MAX 9

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The US transportation secretary announced on Wednesday afternoon that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would...
The US transportation secretary announced on Wednesday afternoon that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would return to service “until it is safe”, after Alaska Airlines announced the cancellation of all flights on its 737 Max 9 planes at the direction of the Federal Aviation Administration.Pete Buttigieg said he was “no...
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Elon Musk doesn't understand Sweden's unions. If he did, he'd work with them

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Elon Musk, the notoriously anti-union CEO of the electric car giant Tesla, finds himself on the...
Elon Musk, the notoriously anti-union CEO of the electric car giant Tesla, finds himself on the ropes in his dispute with Swedish workers. After more than two months of strikes – the first against Tesla anywhere in the world – 10 Swedish unions have so far launched industrial action against the company and the press...
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The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored

theguardian.com

In early 2022, journalists began to ask us how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was affecting...
In early 2022, journalists began to ask us how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was affecting the climate crisis. While we could point to landscape fires, burning oil refineries and the thirst of diesel-hungry military vehicles, the emissions data they sought just wasn’t available. When it came to the reverbe...
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How the Post Office's Horizon system failed: a technical breakdown

theguardian.com

The Horizon IT scandal, frequently called the largest miscarriage of justice in British history, is back...
The Horizon IT scandal, frequently called the largest miscarriage of justice in British history, is back in the headlines thanks to a prime-time ITV dramatisation. The resulting surge of interest has led to Paula Vennells, who ran the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, agreeing to return her CBE. But there’s also a tech...
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2023 smashes record for world’s hottest year by huge margin

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2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of...
2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilisation developed.The planet was 1.48C hotter in 2023 compared with the period before the mass burning of fossil fuels ignit...
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Greenland startup begins shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars in the UAE

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NASA Peregrine 1: US lander will not make it to moon's surface due to fuel leak

theguardian.com

The first moon lander to launch from the US in half a century will not make...
The first moon lander to launch from the US in half a century will not make it to the lunar surface due to a fuel leak, its operators have announced, adding that their goal was now to travel as far as possible before losing power.Peregrine 1, which is also the first commercial space probe to attempt a soft landing o...
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United Airlines finds loose bolts on multiple Boeing 737 Max 9 planes

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HyperVerse crypto promoter 'Bitcoin Rodney' arrested and charged in US

theguardian.com

A promoter of the HyperVerse crypto investment scheme has been arrested and charged in the US...
A promoter of the HyperVerse crypto investment scheme has been arrested and charged in the US for his alleged role in the scheme, with court documents claiming he was part of a network that made “fraudulent promotional presentations” to investors and potential investors.Rodney Burton, who goes by the name “Bitcoin R...
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Cookies and candy are latest victims of climate crisis as sugar prices surge

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The climate crisis has been previously identified as a threat to coffee and beer, and its...
The climate crisis has been previously identified as a threat to coffee and beer, and its impact could now be stretching to another of life’s joys: dessert.The global cost of sugar has surged to its highest level since 2011 following concerns of underproduction rates from India, which has experienced an extreme dry ...
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In race for AI supremacy, China, US are travelling on different tracks

theguardian.com

Of the many events that stand out as noteworthy in online discussions across Chinese social media...
Of the many events that stand out as noteworthy in online discussions across Chinese social media in 2023, it’s perhaps the rise of ChatGPT that will prove to be the most significant.Although the chatbot made by the US-based OpenAI was officially launched in late 2022, it took until 2023 for its unprecedented growth...
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Epstein had 'sex tapes' of Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, witness claimed

theguardian.com

Jeffrey Epstein’s defence team sought to undermine the reliability of one of the witnesses against him...
Jeffrey Epstein’s defence team sought to undermine the reliability of one of the witnesses against him by revealing she had claimed the billionaire had kept “sex tapes” involving prominent people, a new batch of unsealed documents has disclosed.Those who were filmed were alleged to have included Prince Andrew, Bill ...
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NASA Peregrine 1: moon lander suffering from 'critical loss of propellant'

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A private moon mission that blasted into space on Monday appeared to be in jeopardy after...
A private moon mission that blasted into space on Monday appeared to be in jeopardy after suffering a “critical loss of propellant” and operators said they are considering alternatives for the mission.After lift-off on Monday, the Peregrine Mission One (PM1) – which carries a piece of technology developed by UK scie...
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'Impossible' to create AI tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted material, OpenA

theguardian.com

The developer OpenAI has said it would be impossible to create tools like its groundbreaking chatbot...
The developer OpenAI has said it would be impossible to create tools like its groundbreaking chatbot ChatGPT without access to copyrighted material, as pressure grows on artificial intelligence firms over the content used to train their products.Chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators like Stable Diffusion are...
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'Greener, cheaper, much warmer' – heat pump owners laud their new system

theguardian.com

Gillian Woodward, 50, says her house has been “completely transformed for the better” by installing an...
Gillian Woodward, 50, says her house has been “completely transformed for the better” by installing an air source heat pump. Woodward, a community nurse in north Wales, was “astounded” to discover that she was eligible for a government-backed means-tested grant that covered the whole cost of insulating and installin...
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I'm 24, but I used a Nokia 'dumbphone' for the whole 2010s

theguardian.com

My gran has a new smartphone, and I am trying to help her navigate it. But...
My gran has a new smartphone, and I am trying to help her navigate it. But she doesn’t see the point. She says her smartphone is “malevolent, sneaky and sly” because things on the screen disappear and cannot be retrieved. Her old “dumbphone” is more reliable. “I love it,” she says. “It never lets me down.” I ask how...
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'Constantly monitored': the pushback against AI surveillance at work

theguardian.com

From algorithms firing staff without human intervention to software keeping tabs on bathroom breaks, technologies including...
From algorithms firing staff without human intervention to software keeping tabs on bathroom breaks, technologies including artificial intelligence are already upsetting workers and unsettling workplaces.At call centers, AI systems record and grade how workers handle calls, often giving failing grades for not sticki...
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Mouse secretly filmed tidying man's shed every night

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A mouse has been filmed secretly tidying up a man’s shed almost every night for two...
A mouse has been filmed secretly tidying up a man’s shed almost every night for two months.Wildlife photographer Rodney Holbrook noticed that objects he left out of place were being mysteriously put back where they belonged overnight.Holbrook, from Builth Wells in Powys, Wales, set up a night vision camera on his wo...
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Americans living in their cars are finding refuge in 'safe parking lots'

theguardian.com

Starting in October 2021, about 40 motorhomes or recreational vehicles (RVs) parked in a lot on...
Starting in October 2021, about 40 motorhomes or recreational vehicles (RVs) parked in a lot on Grayson Street in Berkeley, California, as part of the city’s first attempt at a “safe parking lot”.According to Google Maps photos, the space had been mostly unused since 2008. But a local non-profit, the Dorothy Day Hou...
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