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Houthi attacks close Saudi pipeline as crude oil prices jump above $108
Oil prices surged past $108 a barrel after Saudi Arabia was forced to shut a key east-west crude pipeline following drone attacks, part of a broader escalation in the Middle East that also pushed global bond yields sharply higher and stoked fears of renewed inflation. Brent crude jumped 3.7% to more than $108.5 on Monday…
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Viddo image to video Review For Theatre Posters
This article is a promotional guide to using Viddo’s “image to video” AI tool for creating animated theatre posters, aimed at programme desks and marketing teams at venues. It stresses that any motion added to a cleared poster image must preserve the exact cast and details already approved on the venue’s official night sheet, warning…
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AI Leaders Are Calling for a Slowdown. Trump’s Team Says It’s on Them
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has called on the US government to help slow the pace of AI development through regulation, a proposal notably endorsed by rival executives Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, along with Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. The unusual show of unity among competing tech leaders came after a week of heightened…
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What happens after a town de-Flocks
Local governments across the United States, from Florida to Washington state, are cancelling contracts with Flock Safety, the company behind AI-enabled licence plate readers, following mounting public pressure over privacy and surveillance concerns. However, ending a contract does not necessarily mean the cameras come down immediately or that previously collected data is deleted, leaving significant…
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TalkFuse morning briefing, 14 Sep 2026 10:39
The NSPCC has dropped its same-sex supervision guidance for children changing, sparking backlash, while Australia faces calls to ditch coal and petrol cars. A deadly North Carolina shooting ended in an Ohio manhunt, Google brings Gemini to Android Auto, Celine Dion returned to the stage, and punk guitarist Cheetah C…
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More than 800,000 have applied for citizenship to new microstate aiming to become ‘utopia’ for crypto billionaires, founder claims
A Czech libertarian politician, Vit Jedlicka, says more than 800,000 people have applied for citizenship of “Liberland”, a self-declared crypto micronation on an uninhabited stretch of disputed floodplain along the Danube River, between Serbia and Croatia. Founded in 2015 on the principle that unclaimed land belongs to whoever occupies it first, the project aims to…
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The Route to Cappyness review – capybara boosterism is an ode to the internet’s favourite rodent
The Route to Cappyness is a homespun documentary by Midlands film-maker Sharon Walia that explores the global surge of enthusiasm for capybaras, the large, sociable rodents native to Latin America that have become social media favourites. The film follows Walia, accompanied by a basic camera, a drone and her five-year-old son, as she visits capybara-centric…
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Businesses beg Burnham for help at No10 summit amid fears of more Budget tax hikes
Businesses are appealing directly to Andy Burnham for support as he hosts a Downing Street summit aimed at forging a new “partnership” with industry to boost economic growth. More than 800 leading pubs, hotels and restaurants have urged him to cut hospitality VAT to protect jobs, while banks have separately voiced alarm at the prospect…
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‘We’re not going to back down’: tiny Dorset B&B stands up to Airbnb’s legal bid to ‘monopolise’ letters ‘bnb’
A small six-room bed and breakfast on the Isle of Portland, called bnb-side, is fighting a legal challenge from Airbnb over its use of the letters “bnb” in its name. bnb-side was set up in 2024 to raise funds for the long-running local arts festival b-side, but Airbnb argues the name threatens its global brand…
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Oil prices rise after drone attacks shut down Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline
Oil prices surged above $108 a barrel on Monday after drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut its east-west crude pipeline, with Houthi rebels in Yemen also seizing the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait. The escalation matters because it threatens key energy and shipping routes at a time when Gulf states…