Author: James Martin
Joe Biden and Republican lawmakers on Thursday appeared to be nearing a deal to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling, with little time to spare to avoid a potential default that could wreak havoc on the economy and global markets. The deal would specify the total amount the government could spend on discretionary programs including housing and education, according to a person familiar with the talks. The two sides, who met virtually on Thursday, are just $70bn apart on a total figure that would be well over $1tn, according to another source. Republican negotiators have backed off plans to…
Mohamed Salah has revealed he is “devastated” at missing out on Champions League football and says Liverpool have no excuse for failing to claim a top-four finish. Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Chelsea on Thursday night meant that Liverpool’s slim hopes of a Champions League place were extinguished after a disappointing season. Jürgen Klopp’s side has paid the price for failing to bring in midfield reinforcements during the summer and it was only their current 10-match unbeaten run – including a sequence of seven victories – that gave them a remote chance of qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition. But…
Two retired Metropolitan Police officers have confessed a three-year child sex abuse images plot with a serving Met chief inspector, who was found dead before he was charged. Jack Addis, 63 and Jeremy Laxton, 62, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday to a charge of conspiring with Richard Watkinson, 49, to distribute or show indecent images of children. The pictures, which were found on a computer hard drive, included 2,516 of the worst category of child sexual abuse images. Laxton also pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child and possession of cannabis and was…
Politics should be taught in primary schools, Alastair Campbell has said, with the former spin doctor advising that the lessons for young children could be called “arguing”. “We teach our kids that PE, running around the playground, is good for them. I think we should teach our kids to be interested in and engaged in politics,” Campbell told an audience at the Hay Festival. Speaking at the event in Wales on his 66th birthday, the co-host of the podcast The Rest is Politics expressed dismay that most students in the UK do not take politics classes unless they choose to…
Many people wash sheets, pillowcases and even throw blankets once a week or more but too many early wash their pillows. An unwashed pillow can be full of dead skin cells, sweat, bacteria, dust mites, and even mould and mildew. Typically when pillows get into a really bad state, stains are often formed and most often they are of a yellow shade. To help her remove yellow stains and whiten her pillows, one cleaning enthusiast took to the Mrs Hinch Cleaning Tips and Tricks Facebook page to ask for some advice. Lisa Harlin wrote: “Can you please tell me how…
Michael van Gerwen created Premier League history by winning his seventh title to move clear of the great Phil Taylor. The Dutchman, who joined Taylor on six wins 12 months ago, overtook him after a masterful performance to beat Gerwyn Price 11-5 in the final at the O2 Arena. Van Gerwen, whose participation was in doubt after withdrawing from last week’s final weekly round in Aberdeen with a shoulder injury, has dominated this competition since winning his first title 10 years ago. No one loves the 02 stage quite like him and after edging a thrilling semi-final against rival Michael…
Google’s take on AI-powered search begins rolling out today. The company announced this morning that it’s opening access to Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) and other Search Labs in the US. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to sign up for the waitlist and sit tight until you get an email announcing it’s your turn. Revealed at Google I/O 2023 earlier this month, Google SGE is the company’s infusion of conversational AI into the classic search experience. If you’ve played with Bing AI, expect a familiar — yet different — product. Cherlynn Low noted in Engadget’s SGE preview that Google’s…
Today we’re off to Somerset for our first meeting in the flesh with our fourth grandchild, who was born on Monday. He’s a boy, if you’re interested. At least, that’s what the biological evidence unmistakeably tells me — although Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, if he believes his own bonkers pronouncement this week, would presumably say that he/she/they could ‘quite clearly’ be a girl! Now, I’d always considered myself to be the least sentimental of men, ‘about as sensitive as a bog seat’, as an old university friend once described me. It’s true that I felt a mighty surge…
Key events Indigenous leaders are returning to Uluru today six years since the Uluru Statement from the heart was delivered. The statement underpins the voice to parliament, which the nation will vote on in a referendum before the end of the year. The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, is in the Red Centre but she says she is not concerned by a recent poll by the Nine newspapers which indicate the yes campaign is losing support. Burney tells ABC Radio: Individuals that know that this is their time to put their shoulder on the wheel of history…
Twitter’s API roller coaster under Elon Musk continues. The company announced a new “Pro” tier for developers today. At $5,000 per month, it falls between the $100 / month Basic and custom-priced Enterprise plans. The new Twitter API Pro plan offers monthly access to one million retrieved tweets and 300,000 posted tweets at the app level. It also includes rate-limited access to endpoints for real-time filtered streams (live access to tweets based on specified parameters) and a complete archive search of historical tweets. Finally, it adds three app IDs and Login with Twitter access. 📣 Calling all start-ups 📣…