A nature-loving 10-year-old girl who found an endangered amphibian under a bridge has left her mum in shock, surprise and disbelief. Melanie Hill said her daughter, Evie, discovered the nine-inch Mexican axolotl as they spent the day near the River Ogmore in Bridgend. She said Evie was always finding things like newts and bugs, but said the axolotl discovery was a surprise. It is the first documented discovery of an axolotl in the wild in the UK with only 50 to 1,000 individuals left globally today, according to experts. Axolotls as pets have seen a surge in popularity in recent years after they were introduced to video games such as Minecraft and Roblox.

Plus: An unauthorized group has reportedly accessed Anthropic's Mythos. What actually matters in AI right now? It's getting harder to tell amid the constant launches, hype, and warnings. To cut through the noise, reporters and editors have distilled years of analysis into a new essential guide: the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now . The list builds on our annual 10 Breakthrough Technologies, but takes a wider view of the ideas, topics, and research shaping AI, spotlighting the trends and breakthroughs shaping the world. We'll be unpacking one item from the list each day here in The Download, explaining what it means and why it matters.

McDonald's boss on abuse claims: 'I don't want to talk about the past' The boss of McDonald's UK and Ireland has said she doesn't want to talk about the past when asked about allegations of abuse at the fast-food chain. Lauren Schultz told the BBC what had happened in recent years was unacceptable but said we have drawn a line under it. A BBC investigation in 2023 heard from more than 100 McDonald's workers in the UK claiming they faced a toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism, and bullying. Last year, staff said they still faced sexual abuse and harassment. The UK equality watchdog agreed tougher measures with the company to protect staff in November, including new sexual harassment training.

Anthropic is investigating a claim that a small group of people gained access to its Claude Mythos model - the cyber-security tool which the AI firm says is too powerful to release to the public. We're investigating a report claiming unauthorized access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments, the company said in a statement. It was in response to a Bloomberg report that users in a private forum managed to access the model without the normal permissions. There is deep unease about Mythos' capabilities - though the UK's top cyber official has said advanced AI tools could be a net positive if the technology was secured from misuse. There is currently no suggestion that malicious actors have managed to get hold of the model, and Anthropic says it does not have evidence its systems are affected.

One town's scheme to get rid of its geese Public officials in one California burgh spent nearly $400,000 on tech to flush out waterfowl. Some geese, like the one on the left, wear GPS trackers as part of the Foster City goose management plan. Our target is in sight: a gaggle of Canada geese, pecking at grass near the dog park. As I approach, tiptoeing over their grayish-white poop, I notice that one bird wears a white cuff around its slender black neck. It's a GPS tracker--part of a new tech-centered campaign to drive the geese out of my hometown of Foster City, California. About 300 geese live in this sleepy Bay Area suburb, equal to nearly 1% of our human population--and some say this town isn't big enough for the both of us.

The Pope's Warnings About AI Were AI-Generated, a Detection Tool Claims Pangram Labs' updated Chrome extension puts warning labels on AI slop as you scroll your social feeds. On Monday, a brand-new Reddit account popped up on the widely read forum r/AmItheAsshole, where users have their personal disputes arbitrated by strangers. This particular user asked if they had crossed a line by "refusing to babysit my stepmother's kids because I have my own job and responsibilities." The post itself was succinct, straightforward, and grammatically clean, explaining a situation in which the person's stepmother and father often expected them to provide childcare on little notice, eventually leading to an argument. "Now there's tension at home, and I'm starting to wonder if I handled it the wrong way," the redditor concluded.

What Gilgo Beach killer's wife REALLY knew: Prosecutor reveals chilling truth about life with monster husband... and the'interests' she couldn't ignore Texas bride airlifted back to US on emergency flight after suffering'life-threatening' illness on honeymoon in Japan I thought I'd quit my addiction to'tweakments' and Botox forever. Then, feeling particularly confident at a Dubai lunch, I asked a stranger to guess my age... The lie my husband told to stop me divorcing him is beyond unforgivable. Every woman must beware... otherwise you might never realize: DEAR JANE Elizabeth Smart stuns fans with new incredible bodybuilding photos: 'I refuse to be ashamed' Dark secrets Days of Our Lives star Patrick Muldoon took to his grave: He'tried to hide' truth for decades... now friends are all whispering the same thing after his shock death New'Hollywood dose' pill: A-listers hooked on'youth elixir' that dermatologists say is anti-aging, shrinks pores, smooths wrinkles... and even banishes rosacea Katie Holmes likes telling comment about ex Joshua Jackson who shot to fame with her on Dawson's Creek Trump threatens to'blow up the rest of' Iran and'its leaders' with new Strait of Hormuz ultimatum'Paranoid' Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump make major shakeup in the wake of golf legend's DUI scandal Death row inmate Chadwick Willacy who burned Florida mom alive during burglary is executed in front of victim's son What has Adam Levine done to his face? Meta's Big Brother move: Mark Zuckerberg's firm starts tracking employees' mouse clicks and taking screenshots of their screens - as one worker calls it'very dystopian' Meta has revealed plans to start tracking its employees' keystrokes and mouse clicks.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' Russia strikes Ukraine's Odesa port, kills railway worker in Zaporizhia Russian drones have attacked Ukraine's main Black Sea port in the southern city of Odesa and a railway in the region of Zaporizhia, killing a train driver, according to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba. The overnight attacks damaged the infrastructure of the Odesa port, including berths, warehouses, railway infrastructure and port operators' facilities, Kuleba said in a statement on X on Wednesday. Kuleba said this is "another proof of terrorism, Russia is at war against peaceful people, against those who were simply doing their job and keeping the country moving". Russia also launched several drones and missiles on a flight path near the disused Chornobyl nuclear plant, elevating the risk of a significant accident, according to Ukraine's top state prosecutor. This comes as Ukraine prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster on Sunday.

In the past, voice assistants like Siri or the one in your satnav used so-called'synthetic voices'. These require voice actors to spend hours in the recording studio, meticulously sampling all the different words and phrases that the assistant might need. Voice clones, on the other hand, have revolutionised how synthetic voices are created, by using AI to digitally recreate someone's speech patterns. These clones can be created with as little as a few seconds of recorded audio, even using clips from social media or snippets of conversation as the raw material. This has sparked concerns that criminals using AI could easily impersonate friends, family, or co-workers to manipulate their targets . According to the National Trading Standards, criminals are already using AI to clone people's voices and set up unauthorised direct debits over the phone. In the study, the researchers created voice clones of human participants using just 120 pre-recorded sentences. Participants listened to 80 unique sentences - 40 spoken by a real person and 40 spoken by an AI voice clone. The researchers compared human (top) AI-generated (bottom) voice recordings to see why this might be the case, but couldn't find any clear explanation Can you tell which voices are AI?

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has cancelled a presidential trip to the African nation of Eswatini, accusing Beijing of putting pressure on its neighbours to bar his aircraft from flying over their territories. Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoked Lai's overflight permits after intense pressure and economic coercion from China, said a Taiwan official. China denied coercion, while praising the three African countries saying it had high appreciation for them. This is the first publicly known instance where a Taiwanese leader has had to cancel a foreign trip due to revoked flight permits. Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Africa.