Google has agreed to pay $68m (£51m) to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly listened to people's private conversations through their phones. Users accused Google Assistant - a virtual assistant present on many Android devices - of recording private conversations after it was inadvertently triggered on their devices. They claimed the recordings were then shared with advertisers in order to send them targeted advertising. The BBC has contacted Google for comment. But in a filing seeking to settle the case, it denied wrongdoing and said it was seeking to avoid litigation.

The home secretary has announced a blueprint for reforming what she called the broken policing model in England and Wales. Shabana Mahmood confirmed the shake-up will create a new National Police Service (NPS) to fight the most complex cross-border crime and could also see the number of local forces in England and Wales cut by around two-thirds. She told the House of Commons she also intends to make better use of technology - including the largest-ever rollout of facial recognition. This government's reforms will ensure we have the right policing in the right place, Mahmood said. I set out reforms that are long overdue and define a new model for policing in this country, with local policing that protects our communities and national policing that protects us all.

Three pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been charged with stirring up racial hatred over alleged chants calling for an intifada at a protest in central London last month. The man and two women charged are Abdallah Alanzi, 24, Haya Adam, 21, and Azza Zaki, 60. They were charged on Monday with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred or where it was likely to be stirred up. The trio were arrested on 17 December 2025 at a protest outside the Ministry of Justice. They will appear at Westminster Magistrate's Court on 23 February.

EU investigates Elon Musk's X over Grok AI sexual deepfakes The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its AI tool Grok was used to create sexualised images of real people. It follows a similar announcement in January from the UK watchdog Ofcom. Regina Doherty, a member of the European parliament representing Ireland, said the Commission would assess whether manipulated sexually explicit images have been shown to users in the EU. A previous statement from X's Safety account said the social media platform had stopped Grok from digitally altering pictures of people to remove their clothing in jurisdictions where such content is illegal. But campaigners and victims said the ability to generate sexually explicit pictures using the tool should have never happened in the first place, and Ofcom said its investigation would remain ongoing.

The AI chatbot feature on X, Grok, was found by one study to have generated about 3m sexualised images in 11 days. The AI chatbot feature on X, Grok, was found by one study to have generated about 3m sexualised images in 11 days. Investigation comes after Elon Musk's firm sparked outrage by allowing users to'strip' photos of women and children The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over the production of sexually explicit images and the spreading of possible child sexual abuse material by the platform's AI chatbot feature, Grok. The formal inquiry, launched on Monday, also extends an investigation into X's recommender systems, algorithms that help users discover new content. Grok has sparked international outrage by allowing users to digitally strip women and children and put them into provocative poses.

'I knew the readers were there' Zoe Hannah and Maddy Myers (right), co-founders of feminist video games website Mothership. 'I knew the readers were there' Zoe Hannah and Maddy Myers (right), co-founders of feminist video games website Mothership. I've been a games journalist since 2007, but still there isn't much video games coverage that feels like it's specifically for people like me. W hether you're reading about the impending AI bubble bursting or about the video game industry's mass layoffs and cancelled projects, 2026 does not feel like a hopeful time for gaming. What's more, games journalists - as well as all other kinds of journalists - have been losing their jobs at alarming rates, making it difficult to adequately cover these crises.

A British AI startup that makes realistic video avatars has almost doubled its valuation to $4bn (£3bn), in a boost for the UK technology sector. Synthesia was valued at $2.1bn last year and moved into new offices in central London, marking the moment with a ceremony attended by the Sadiq Khan, the city's mayor, and Peter Kyle, then technology secretary. On Monday, it announced its latest funding round, led by an existing investor, Google Ventures, had raised $200m and valued the British company at $4bn. Google Ventures is the search firm's venture capital arm. Synthesia uses human actors to generate digital avatars of people and also offers employers the ability to create replicas of their staff.

British businesses reported an average 11.5% increase in productivity thanks to AI, the study found. British businesses reported an average 11.5% increase in productivity thanks to AI, the study found. The UK is losing more jobs than it is creating because of artificial intelligence and is being hit harder than rival large economies, new research suggests. British companies reported that AI had resulted in net job losses over the past 12 months, down 8% - the highest rate among other leading economies including the US, Japan, Germany and Australia, according to a study by the investment bank Morgan Stanley. The research, which was shared with Bloomberg, surveyed companies using AI for at least a year across five industries: consumer staples and retail, real estate, transport, healthcare equipment and cars.

At least three people have been killed and two others are still missing after a fire broke out at a food factory near the central Greek city of Trikala, officials say. The blaze began in the early hours of Monday at a Violanta biscuit factory, where 13 workers were on site, according to local media. Eight people managed to escape, while firefighters later recovered three bodies from the building. Drone footage showed thick smoke billowing from the fire. A powerful explosion was reportedly heard before it broke out but an investigation into the cause of the blaze is ongoing.

As many as 75,000 mating pairs are waiting for eggs. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. While winter is raging in an unusually large swath of the United States, the weather is balmy for the birds nesting on the Pacific Ocean's Midway Atoll. As many as 75,000 pairs of Laysan albatrosses (or mōlī in Hawaiian) are nesting in the wildlife refuge on the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Now you can watch these brilliant snow-white birds while avoiding the actual snow with a 24/7 live cam.