Author: Darren Smith

The network operator has extended its “Stop Sell” rules to 112 more exchanges, meaning copper phone and broadband products are no longer sold to more than half of the properties it serves. Openreach, the BT-owned network operator, has stopped the sale of traditional landlines to a further 619,000 postcodes across the UK. The latest round covers 112 exchanges and takes the total number of homes and businesses under Stop Sell rules to around 16.4 million. Openreach is connected to roughly 32 million premises, so copper-based phone and broadband products are no longer sold to more than half of them. The…

Showers, hail and strong winds are expected to sweep across much of the UK on Saturday, before conditions improve markedly on Sunday. The Met Office has forecast a turbulent start to the weekend, with Saturday 10 October expected to bring widespread showers and a wintry feel to parts of the country. The national forecaster said the weekend would “bring a brief taste of winter” to certain regions. Snow is expected only on the highest ground, mainly in Scotland. Sunday is forecast to be much calmer and drier for most people. Saturday: showers, wind and a risk of snow According to…

President Claudia Sheinbaum says officials are checking whether unverified footage is genuine, amid long-standing concerns that criminal groups want to learn drone warfare on the Ukrainian front line. Mexico is investigating claims that members of drug cartels have travelled abroad to fight as mercenaries with the Ukrainian army. The inquiry follows the appearance on social media of unverified footage that seems to show an armed man in Ukraine chanting slogans used by the gangs. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the government was “reviewing the case, first to determine whether the video is authentic and, second, to see how these individuals ended…

The delivery firm says it will use new technology to flag riders travelling faster than a legal e-bike could manage, as part of a road safety campaign backed by London Fire Brigade and Transport for London. Deliveroo has announced that riders using illegal e-bikes at excessive speeds face being removed from its platform. The company is introducing technology to flag riders travelling at speeds that a bicycle or legal e-bike could not reasonably sustain, and will contact those riders about their vehicle. The move is part of a new campaign called Ride Safe, in which Deliveroo is also calling on…

Ryan Theaker, a serving Merseyside Police constable at the time of the attack, was sentenced after a jury heard a secret audio recording the victim made of the 80-minute ordeal. Ryan Theaker, 30, has been jailed for 11 years at Liverpool Crown Court for raping a woman he knew in a hotel room in 2023. He was a serving constable with Merseyside Police at the time. The victim made a covert audio recording on her mobile phone, which was played to jurors during what was described as harrowing evidence. Judge Brian Cummings KC said Theaker had caused her “severe psychological…

The company says the new rule targets only extreme, sustained cases, and that ordinary frustration, criticism and testing of its AI model remain permitted. Anthropic has updated its usage policy to prohibit “sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior” towards its Claude AI models. The change was announced on Thursday and was first reported by The Verge. It takes effect on 12 November 2026. The company says the revision reflects emerging risks as its AI systems become capable of handling longer and more independent tasks. It also clarifies several existing restrictions. What the rule covers In a webpage on the…

The Netherlands midfielder, who has been out since rupturing a knee ligament in April, says he wants to “invest in myself beyond football” while he works his way back to fitness. Tottenham midfielder Xavi Simons has enrolled on a course at Harvard University while he continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury. The 23-year-old has joined Harvard Business School’s Crossover into Business programme, which is designed for professional athletes. Simons has been sidelined since rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament in April, an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup. He announced the move on LinkedIn. The course…

The NYPD says it was not involved in the incident in Marble Hill, while local media and eyewitnesses have named US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the agency involved. A man was shot during an encounter with federal law enforcement agents in New York at about 4pm local time on Thursday 8 October, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD). Local news outlets have reported that the agents were from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The man was taken to hospital and is conscious. Officials have not yet explained what led to the shooting. What police have said…

Forecasters say the climate event is building towards a December peak, with the potential to disrupt rainfall patterns worldwide and push global temperatures towards record levels. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that El Niño is intensifying rapidly and could become the strongest since 1950. It expects the event to keep building until it peaks in December, with a warming effect and changes to rainfall likely to be felt across the globe in the coming months. Experts say the combination of a strong El Niño and exceptionally warm oceans could bring floods to some regions and droughts to others.…

A Louisiana doctor has been arrested six months after a seven-year-old died in a neighbourhood swimming pool, with police alleging she was close enough to save him but did not enter the water. Sukanthini Subbiah, 48, was arrested by Orlando Police Department on Wednesday and charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter of a child over the death of Khushil Bandi, seven. Police allege that surveillance footage shows the boy was submerged for more than seven minutes while she stood at the pool’s edge. Ms Subbiah, who was visiting her mother in Orlando, Florida, at the time of the incident on 10…