Uk

The British government has a new unit fighting “alternative news” websites, driving their stories down search engine results and pushing the official government narrative to the top. Civil servant and government communication boss Alex Aiken said the Cabinet Office’s new Rapid Response Unit (RRU), which has begun a pilot, is not a “ fake news unit ” as it was dubbed when first reported in April. In a blog post , he described how the taxpayer-funded unit “monitors news and information being shared and engaged with online” and seeks to tackle narratives, from outside the mainstream media, which the establishment does not favour. “There’s then the question of how we respond to public debate online,” he writes, revealing the government will seek to hide news it does not like rather than use “rebuttal”. “The unit’s round the clock monitoring service has identified several stories of concern during the pilot,” he explains, claiming “the unit identified that a number of false … [Read more...] about UK Government Fights ‘Alternative News’ Websites, Promotes ‘Facts’

A shortage of food due to the Ukraine crisis poses an “apocalyptic” threat to UK consumers, the UK’s central bank head has warned. Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, has warned elected officials in the country that a food shortage caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine poses an “apocalyptic” threat to the UK. Bailey said that shortages in wheat and cooking oils resulting from Ukraine being unable to export produce could lead to major inflationary pressures which would further stress the finances of British consumers, with Ukraine being responsible for a substantial share of the world’s trade in grains and sunflower oil. Speaking to the UK’s Treasury Committee , the Bank of England tsar said that he and his officials believed that inflation would spike in Q4 of this year at around 10 per cent, but that a crisis caused by the likes of Russia cutting the EU off from its fuel supply, or from China further disrupting trade routes with COVID restrictions, could … [Read more...] about Global Food Crisis: Shortages Pose ‘Apocalyptic’ Threat to UK Citizens

The Information Commissioner's Office ( ICO ) in the UK on Monday fined facial recognition surveillance firm Clearview AI more than 7.5 million pounds ($9.5 million) for using images of people in the UK and elsewhere, that were collected from the web and social media to create a global online database that could be used for facial recognition. The ICO has also issued an enforcement notice, ordering the company to stop obtaining and using the personal data of UK residents and delete data from its systems. Clearview AI has collected more than 20 billion images of people's faces and data from publicly available information on the internet and social media platforms all over the world to create an online database. People were not informed that their images were being collected or used in this way, the ICO said in a statement. "The company not only enables identification of those people, but effectively monitors their behaviour and offers it as a commercial … [Read more...] about Clearview AI fined $9.5 million by UK watchdog, here’s why

Close Poco F4 GT The Poco F4 GT and Poco Watch have been unveiled in the UK. The smartphone was launched globally in April 2022 and has now arrived in the UK market. According to a GSMArena report, the company is offering a substantial discount for buyers who are willing to purchase the phone before May 31. Poco Watch will also be available at a discounted price as a part of the introductory offer. The Poco F4 GT smartphone features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and the discount will be available for the model with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage and a single Stealth Black colour option, The company is also offering 2 months of YouTube Premium subscription along with the discounts. Poco F4 GT and Poco Watch: Price, offers and availability The Poco F4 GT smartphone retails at £699 (roughly around Rs 68,600) in the UK, however, the company is offering a £200 (roughly around Rs 19,600) discount for buyers to avail of a … [Read more...] about poco watch: Poco F4 GT, Poco Watch arrives in the UK at a special introductory price

London: Google is facing a class-action lawsuit in the UK for allegedly using confidential medical records belonging to 1.6 million individuals for its artificial intelligence (AI) division called DeepMind. DeepMind allegedly passed data on patients for a smartphone app called 'Streams' that it received from the Royal Free NHS Trust in London, without the patients' knowledge or consent, reports TechCrunch. The smartphone app was developed to detect acute kidney injuries. It was subsequently used by the Royal Free NHS Trust on a discount basis. The deal was subsequently found to be illegal by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office. Law firm Mishcon de Reya is now representing Andrew Prismall who filed the suit on behalf of approximately 1.6 million individuals whose records were passed to DeepMind. The law firm said that the Royal Free is not being sued. "The claim is for Misuse of Private Information by Google and DeepMind. This is under … [Read more...] about Google faces lawsuit for using NHS data of 1.6 million people in UK

The UK is to scrap a number of elements of the post-Brexit agreement it had previously agreed with the EU over Northern Ireland. Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary within Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party government, has announced that she will soon be tabling legislation which would see a number of elements of the Northern Ireland protocol scrapped. Ostensibly designed to keep the peace in the ethnic conflict-prone region, the protocol gave the European Union certain powers in the region over tax, customs and other regulations for the purposes of preventing a “hard border” from being installed on the island of Ireland. Far from ensuring stability on the island of Irelannd, critics say splitting off part of the United Kingdom and giving the European Union power over the home nation is actually increasing unrest. According to a report by The Guardian , the UK now believes that the agreement is undermining the “east-west relationship” between Britain and the region which is … [Read more...] about UK Announces Legislation to Scrap Parts of Brexit Agreement with the EU

Now is the best time to stargaze in the UK since 2011, according to the results of a new citizen science survey led by the countryside charity CPRE. Light pollution in the UK has dropped to its lowest levels since CPRE began its annual study more than a decade ago. Light pollution peaked in 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing) and then dipped last year as workplaces shuttered during the pandemic. Since then, CPRE says light pollution has continued to drop as more people continue to work from home and soaring energy prices in Europe push households to cut down on lighting costs. Each year, CPRE enlists the help of citizen scientists for a “Star Count.” This year, more than 2,500 participants counted the number of stars they saw in the night sky in their area between February 26th and March 6th. They were asked to look for stars within the Orion constellation, recognizable for the three bright stars that make up Orion’s belt. “Severe” light pollution, as CPRE … [Read more...] about Stargazing in the UK is the best it’s been in over a decade

A growing outbreak of monkeypox cases has spread across several countries, including the US, suggesting that the animal-transmitted disease that occurs in forested areas of Central and West Africa has been quietly spreading undetected. So far, the US has reported one case in a Massachusetts man who had recently traveled to Canada, which, as of Thursday, reported 17 suspected cases in Montreal. The United Kingdom has identified nine cases, one of which is connected to recent travel to Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic. But the other cases appear to have been infected within the UK and are all not linked to the travel-related case by contact or timing. Portugal is investigating more than 20 cases, Spain is reportedly investigating 23 cases, and Italy and Sweden have each reported at least one case. Disease origins Monkeypox is a relative of smallpox and produces similar symptoms, but it causes a milder disease than that of the eradicated virus. There are two clades … [Read more...] about Monkeypox outbreak erupts; US, UK, Spain, Portugal, and more report cases

Tesla is expanding its open Supercharger pilot program in Europe that lets owners of non-Tesla EVs take advantage of the company’s extensive charging network. Previously, the pilot consisted of select stations in the Netherlands , Norway, and France, but now it’s also available in the UK, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and Austria. Non-Tesla owners in both Belgium and Germany originally could only take advantage of Tesla’s network if traveling to a country that has the open Superchargers. With Belgium now added to the program, German residents remain the only oddity that can use them outside of its borders but not domestically. Non-Tesla vehicles can now charge at select Superchargers in Austria, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the UK via the Tesla app. Learn more at https://t.co/HZePe24Kbl — Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) May 18, 2022 Elon Musk has been talking about extending the program to the US since last year but didn’t provide any specifics on how it will be implemented … [Read more...] about Now non-Tesla EVs can use its Superchargers in the UK, Spain, Sweden, and Austria

Audio player loading… Ofcom has opened a consultation to see how millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum could be used to enhance 5G services in the UK. 5G will use a much greater variety of spectrum than previous generations of mobile technology, with regulators freeing up a mixture of low, mid, and high-band airwaves, offering a combination of range and capacity. Commercial next-generations in the UK use a combination of low and mid-band frequencies, but some of the most revolutionary 5G applications will require even greater performance and reliability. Verizon 5G mmWave delivers massive capacity over a short range, making it ideal for high bandwidth applications that require a guaranteed level of throughput. The spectrum is already used in the US to support Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband, which offers an alternative to fibre broadband, and to boost 5G speeds. Read more > TIM and Ericsson set new long-distance record for mmWave 5G … [Read more...] about Ofcom turns to mmWave spectrum to boost UK 5G