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British banks in crosshairs as pressure mounts on Burnham to tax profits
Chancellor John Healey is reportedly weighing a windfall tax on banks and oil companies for his late-October budget, the first under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as he looks for ways to fund support for households facing rising energy bills. Britain’s four biggest lenders – HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group – have made £200bn…
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Tim Cook handed $47m package for new role as executive chair of Apple
Tim Cook has been awarded a $47m (£35m) pay package for his new role as Apple’s executive chair, following his handover of the chief executive role to John Ternus on Tuesday. The sum sits close to the $58m package granted to Ternus as his successor, reflecting both men’s continued significance to the $4.7tn company as…
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Dramatic new video shows US strikes raining down hell on 300-mile stretch of Iran’s coast as Trump issues stark warning
The US military has released dramatic footage of intensive strikes along a 300-mile stretch of Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz, as President Donald Trump urged Iranian citizens to “rise up and fight” against the ruling regime. Trump claimed the US now had “almost total control” of the strategically vital strait and insisted Iran’s…
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China has found a new illicit drug market. America must shut it down
An opinion article published on Fox News warns that Chinese chemical manufacturers are shipping an experimental, non-FDA-approved injectable drug called retatrutide (“reta”) directly to American consumers seeking weight-loss treatments. The piece argues this mirrors the fentanyl crisis, in which Chinese suppliers provided precursor chemicals to cartels, and warns that the same illicit infrastructure – customs…
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George Clooney Tackles Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Mark Ruffalo, AI and State of U.S. Politics
George Clooney used his opening press conference at the Venice Film Festival to weigh in on Hollywood’s Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger row, the state of US politics, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the film industry. Speaking ahead of receiving the festival’s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement, the 65-year-old actor voiced doubts that the…
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Madagascar ex-Senate chief sentenced to hard labour over deadly Gen Z protest crackdown
Madagascar’s former Senate president, Richard Ravalomanana, has been sentenced to 10 years of hard labour after being found guilty of complicity in murder over the violent crackdown on youth-led “Gen Z” protests that toppled the previous government. A court in the capital, Antananarivo, ruled on Tuesday that Ravalomanana, a retired general and close ally of…
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5 Songs From 1975 That Give Me Instant Goosebumps Every Time
American Songwriter has published a personal, opinion-driven list highlighting five songs from 1975 that the writer says still produce instant goosebumps. The piece marks the mid-1970s as a particularly rich period for emotionally powerful music, spanning rock, folk and pop, and offers a nostalgic, subjective take rather than a data-driven or news-based ranking. The selections…
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‘He was always a bit of a groundbreaker’: David Bowie enters a new dimension in ‘extended reality’ documentary
David Bowie is featured in a new 3D “extended reality” documentary, David Bowie: Unseen Unheard, premiering at Venice Immersive, the Venice Film Festival’s showcase for immersive storytelling, which is marking its 10th anniversary. Created by Denis O’Regan, Bowie’s former official photographer, with the full backing of the singer’s estate, the piece is part of a…
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Jasmine Jobson Teases Details About Netflix’s ‘Top Boy’ Spin-Off Series ‘Jaq’: “She’s Going Down A Crazy Rabbit Hole”
Actress Jasmine Jobson has previewed Netflix’s upcoming Top Boy spin-off series, working titled “Jaq”, which follows her BAFTA-winning character Jaq Lawrence and will shoot next year as a six-part sequel to the original drama, which ended in 2023. The project forms part of a broader expansion of the Top Boy universe, alongside a prequel series…
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UK cyber bill targets AI users, not the vendors building it
The UK government has turned down proposals from members of the House of Lords to bring AI vendors and frontier model developers within the scope of the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, opting instead to rely on voluntary safeguards. Cybersecurity minister Baroness Lloyd of Effra argued that regulating AI companies through the bill would not…