Writing the summary…
Chinese AI models surge in global popularity — and Washington is worried
Source: CNBC
Original reporting
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The Guardian2 outlets
Green shoots? Burnham cultivates rural links in attempt to ‘build back trust’ with farmers
Ministers have been speaking to farming activists to try to build bridges after relations were soured by the tax changes introduced under Keir Stamer As an arable farmer, Olly Harrison’s WhatsApp messages are normally concerned with the more mundane matters of working the land: logistics, supplies and the occasional chat about the weather. So when a recent message came through from Andy Burnham, it was more than a little unexpected. Continue reading...
The Guardian
UN adds 61 firms to settlements blacklist over alleged human rights violations against Palestinians
Israel ‘categorically rejects’ publication and says businesses on database have committed no wrongdoing The UN human rights office has added 61 more companies to a blacklist of firms that it says are involved in violating Palestinian human rights through business ties to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The vast majority of the total 214 companies, which are based in 11 countries, are Israeli. Five of the 158 companies listed last year were removed in the latest update. Continue reading...
The Guardian2 outlets
Work intensifying on UK laws to stamp out concert ticket touts, say sources
Artists including Tinie Tempah and the Smiths’ drummer Mike Joyce ramp up pressure on government to keep its pledge to outlaw for-profit resales The government has stepped up work on new laws to stop ticket touts fleecing fans , as the prime minister came under pressure from artists including the drummer from the Smiths, one of his favourite bands. Keir Starmer said last year that the government would “stop fans from being ripped off” by outlawing the for-profit resale of tickets on sites such as Viagogo and StubHub, a pledge Labour first made in its 2024 election manifesto. Continue reading...
The Guardian
London transfer: is it time to kill off the Heathrow Express?
With fares high and passenger numbers low, plans for a third runway could bring the train’s future into question If Heathrow finally builds its third runway, Londoners can expect hundreds more planes flying overhead each day. But greater congestion on the ground will be a problem too. Under Heathrow’s £33bn expansion plan , 100,000-200,000 more passengers would eventually be travelling to or from the airport each day. The most eye-catching problem has been moving part of the UK’s busiest motorway, the M25, to make space for a new 2.2-mile (3.5km) runway. A thornier one may be getting motorists out of their cars, and finding more sustainable ways for the extra passengers – and thousands of staff – to travel to and from Heathrow. Continue reading...
BBC Business
Could an iced coffee freeze you out of the job market?
Employees and recruiters weigh into the online debate around interview etiquette.
The Guardian
The truth behind Donald Trump’s ‘biggest oil deal in world history’
The US’s oil deal with Venezuela faces multiple legal and logistical problems, including questions about whether it can be implemented Donald Trump has long coveted the oilfields of other nations and declared an agreement with Venezuela to be “the biggest oil deal in world history”. But the deal, reached after the US seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, is almost certainly doomed to collapse amid a wide array of legal and logistical issues, a Guardian investigation has found. The US president first mused about taking oil from Iran in 1987, when he told ABC’s Barbara Walters that Iranian attacks on American shipping during the Iran-Iraq war required an extreme response. “Why couldn’t we go in and take over some of their oil, which is along the sea?” he asked. Over the ensuing years, he has returned frequently to the idea that America should seize oil from other countries after mili