Africa
Google employee made redundant after reporting sexual harassment, court hears
A senior Google employee has claimed she was made redundant after reporting a manager who told clients stories about his swinger lifestyle and showed a nude of his wife. Victoria Woodall told an employment tribunal she was subjected to a campaign of retaliation by the company after whistleblowing on the man who was later sacked. Google UK's internal investigation found the manager had touched two female colleagues without their consent, and his behaviour amounted to sexual harassment, documents seen by the BBC in court show. The tech giant denies retaliating against Woodall and argues she became paranoid after whistleblowing and began to view normal business activities as sinister. In her claim, Woodall says her own boss subjected her to a relentless campaign of retaliation after her complaint also implicated his close friends who were later disciplined for witnessing the manager's behaviour and failing to challenge it.
Indonesia blocks access to Musk's AI chatbot Grok over deepfake images
Indonesia has become the first country in the world to block Elon Musk's Grok chatbot over the risk of fake, AI-generated pornographic content. The country's communication and digital affairs minister said on Saturday that "the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes" is a "serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space". The move comes a day after Grok limited image generation and editing features on Musk's social media platform X to paying subscribers as it sought to tamp down mounting criticism over the deepfakes. Musk has been threatened with fines as several countries are pushing back publicly against Grok, which allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects' clothes. The billionaire has said anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as uploading such material directly. But European officials and tech campaigners slammed this week's move to limit the AI tool's features to paying subscribers on X, saying it failed to address their concerns.
Indonesia blocks Musk's Grok chatbot due to risk of pornographic content
A phone screen displaying the Grok app and logo is seen on 7 January 2026. A phone screen displaying the Grok app and logo is seen on 7 January 2026. Indonesia blocks Musk's Grok chatbot due to risk of pornographic content Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk's Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Grok AI: is it legal to produce or post undressed images of people without their consent?
Musk says X outcry is 'excuse for censorship'
Musk says X outcry is'excuse for censorship' Elon Musk has said that critics of his social media site X are looking for any excuse for censorship, amid reports that X's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok was creating non-consensual sexualised images of people, including children. Ofcom says it is conducting an urgent assessment of X in response, which has been backed by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. She described the sexual manipulation of images of women and children as despicable and abhorrent, adding that she would expect to see an update from Ofcom in days. X has now limited the use of AI image function to those who pay a monthly fee, a change dubbed by Downing Street as insulting to victims of sexual violence. The BBC has seen several examples of the free AI tool undressing women and putting them in sexual situations without their consent.
Romance and parenthood feel remote in Ukraine: 'I haven't had a date since before the war'
Romance and parenthood feel remote in Ukraine: 'I haven't had a date since before the war' Sitting in a wine bar in Kyiv on a Saturday night, Daria, 34, opens a dating app, scrolls, then puts her phone away. After spending more than a decade in committed relationships she's been single for a long time. I haven't had a proper date since before the war, she says. Four years of war have forced Ukrainians to rethink nearly every aspect of daily life. Increasingly that includes decisions about relationships and parenthood - and these choices are, in turn, shaping the future of a country in which both marriage and birth rates are falling.
Mass death paved the way for the Age of Fishes
With great biological havoc comes great opportunity. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. About 445 million years ago, our planet completely changed. Massive glaciers formed over the supercontinent Gondwana, sucking up sea water like an icy sponge. Now called the Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME), Earth's first major mass extinction wiped out about 85 percent of all marine species as the ocean chemistry radically changed and Earth's climate turned bitter cold. However, with great biological havoc also comes opportunity.
Inside NASA's high-stakes plan to evacuate astronauts from the ISS after medical emergency
Travel chaos warning as hazardous'radiation fog' alert is issued in three states Real reason Bill Hader and Ali Wong's two-year relationship ended: Insiders reveal open secret about him in Hollywood... his cruel nickname... and his month from hell after Reiner murders horror It's madness NOT to annex Greenland: SCOTT JENNINGS spells out, as only he can, why America must act... before its enemies strike Kendall Jenner finally breaks silence on the rumors she's secretly a lesbian Real reason ICE refused to let medics rush to aid of Renee Nicole Good after she was shot dead in her car... as shocking video spread like wildfire The foods that actually block the body from gaining weight... even in people who eat high-fat diets Shocking study linking covid jabs and cancer'censored' by mysterious cyberattack Peppers will help protect you from the'super flu'... but which color you eat matters I gave up a middle-class family life at 40 to become an escort. Years later I discovered a common condition that affects so many women was to blame. Painful cause of death revealed for adorable child, 4, found dead in the woods two miles from dad's home Insiders reveal how the Reiner family decided to ax'despicable' Nick's legal fund: 'He's on his own' No nonsense uncle humiliates rude women for singing and talking during Broadway performance of Mamma Mia! - then has them thrown out of theater The REAL Princess Catherine: On her birthday, an intimate portrait of her marriage, how she finally solved the Meghan problem, her brave cancer fight... and a thrilling new rumor about her in America'Best medical drama ever' rockets up the Netflix charts as'broken' fans left sobbing by'perfect' ending after binge-watching every episode Inside NASA's high-stakes plan to evacuate astronauts from the ISS after medical emergency NASA is preparing to conduct its first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS), activating a contingency plan to return a crew to Earth months ahead of schedule. The plan, developed decades ago for medical emergencies in space, has never before been implemented during an ISS mission, agency officials said Thursday. Under the program, the returning astronauts will seal themselves inside the capsule, undock from the ISS, perform a controlled departure and reenter Earth's atmosphere for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
Zombie fungus, 'living stones' among favorite botany discoveries of 2025
The tiny blooms of Dendrobium eruciforme, known as the caterpillar orchid due to its creeping habit and small size. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. It's easy to forget how much we still don't know about our planet's ecosystems . Every year, researchers identify thousands of plant and fungi species that were previously unknown to science. While it can be tough to highlight the most striking examples, an international team of scientists led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) in London, have offered their personal picks for 2025.
Day of mourning for bar fire victims in Switzerland
A day of national mourning is being held in Switzerland on Friday, following a fire which killed 40 young people, mostly teenagers, in a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort on New Year's Eve. Church bells rang across the country for five minutes, and people stood for a minute's silence in their memory. Firefighters in the resort were applauded as they joined an audience watching the tribute ceremony, which was live-streamed to Crans-Montana from the Swiss city of Martigny. The ceremony saw the leaders of neighbouring countries, including France's Emmanuel Macron, join an audience while speakers, including the Valais canton's president, paid tribute to those who died. The annual food fight festival ''Els Enfarinats'' has left the Spanish town of Ibi covered in flour and egg shells.
Elon Musk's AI bot Grok limits image generation amid deepfakes backlash
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok has limited image generation on the social media platform X amid growing backlash over its use to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children. Grok told X users on Friday that image generation and editing features were now available only to paying subscribers. The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines and several countries pushed back publicly against the tool that allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects' clothes. The European Commission said on Monday that such images circulating on X were unlawful and appalling. The United Kingdom's data regulator also said it had asked the platform to explain how it was complying with data protection laws following concerns that Grok was generating sexually abusive images of women.