Animal trials helped to restore order when the unspeakable happened. In 1457, a sow and her piglets were put on trial for the murder of a child in the village of Savigny in Burgundy, France. The sow was ultimately found guilty and her piglets were acquitted. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. It's a common scene in many films set in medieval Europe: a wooden cart wheeling its way through a jeering crowd of townsfolk, taking a condemned prisoner to the gallows.

The government is set to announce its intention to build a new rail link between Birmingham and Manchester, the BBC understands. Previous plans for the HS2 high-speed rail line had included a line between the two cities, but that part of the project was scrapped by Rishi Sunak's government. On Wednesday, the government is expected to confirm proposals for new and improved rail links across the North of England in a scheme known as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR). Little detail about a new Birmingham to Manchester route is anticipated, other than the intention to build it after NPR is completed, meaning it may not happen for decades. HS2 is currently tens of billions of pounds over budget and around a decade behind schedule.

Ukraine missile attacks by Russia prompt emergency Security Council session as U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations Tammy Bruce condemns strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Improvements to a number of Apple services - including a more personalised version of its virtual assistant, Siri - are to be powered with AI provided by Google. The tech giants have announced a multi-year collaboration which will see the iPhone-maker base some of its key tech on Google's Gemini AI models. In a joint statement, the two firms said the partnership would unlock innovative new experiences for Apple users. However, experts say it demonstrates how Apple's cautious approach to building and rolling out its own AI tools has left it reliant on other companies. By outsourcing the foundational layer of its AI to Google, Apple is effectively admitting that its internal efforts couldn't compete with Google's Gemini in terms of capability and scale in the short term, IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.

Plus: This company is developing gene therapies for muscle growth, erectile dysfunction, and "radical longevity" For decades, lithium-ion batteries have powered our phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But lithium's limited supply and volatile price have led the industry to seek more resilient alternatives. They work much like lithium-ion ones: they store and release energy by shuttling ions between two electrodes. But unlike lithium, a somewhat rare element that is currently mined in only a handful of countries, sodium is cheap and found everywhere. Read why it's poised to become more important to our energy future. Sodium-ion batteries are one of 10 Breakthrough Technologies this year.

Apple and Google have confirmed that Gemini's models power the new version of Siri and other generative AI features. Here's part of it: "Apple determined that Google's Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple's industry-leading privacy standards." In June, it was reported that Apple was considering partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic for Siri (the voice assistant can currently tap ChatGPT for certain queries as part of Apple Intelligence). Two months later, Google emerged as a contender. Another report suggested Apple might build the new Siri using a custom version of Gemini -- and that it would pay Google around $1 billion a year for the privilege.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

I loved Board's unique blend of tabletop gaming, but my family gave it mixed reviews. Encourages everyone to play together at the table. Diverse launch titles show potential. Must be plugged in and includes a fairly short cable. This innovative mashup of digital and physical gaming worlds is a tabletop tablet designed to get family and friends playing together in the same room.

Reid Hoffman Wants Silicon Valley to'Stand Up' Against the Trump Administration The LinkedIn cofounder and frequent Trump target has a simple message for his peers: "Just speak up about the things that you think are true." Reid Hoffman doesn't do much in half measures. He cofounded LinkedIn, of course, and helped bankroll companies including Meta and Airbnb in their startup days. He has also fashioned himself, via books, podcasts, and other public appearances, as something of a public intellectual--a pro-capitalist philosopher who still insists that tech can be a force for good. Most recently, Hoffman has emerged as one of Silicon Valley's most prominent defenders of artificial intelligence . His newest book, 2025's, makes the case that AI won't diminish human capacity but will instead amplify it. Hoffman even relied on AI to make one of the most unconventional--and perhaps uncomfortable, depending on your view of AI-generated creativity--Christmas gifts I've heard of lately. Whatever you think of Hoffman's utopian views on AI, credit where due: He's also a very outspoken critic of President Trump--a rare trait in a tech world that's grown increasingly quiet, or cozy, when it comes to the cruelties of the US administration. Hoffman's overt political views haven't been without consequence: Trump has twice threatened to launch investigations into him, most recently calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to dig into Hoffman's ties to Jeffrey Epstein . He has subsequently called for the government to release the Epstein files in full.) Despite those threats, Hoffman isn't pulling punches: When we sat down to tape this episode in mid-December, he readily called out the administration for degrading American government, criticized his peers for keeping their heads down, and urged Silicon Valley to stop pretending that neutrality is a virtue. If only more billionaires were saying it. So glad to have you here. I'm glad to be here. We like to start these conversations with some very fast questions. What's the hardest lesson you've ever had to learn? Probably when to give up.

If you want to put people back on the moon, don't gut the agency in charge of getting them there. The senator wanted a promise. For the last six years--or maybe the last decade or quarter century, depending on how you count it--the United States and China had been locked in a space race, a contest to see which nation could put its people on the moon . Senator Ted Cruz wanted President Donald Trump's nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, to pledge that the US would not lose. Cruz brought a little surprise to Isaacman's confirmation hearing last April. It was a poster of the moon. On one side stood three astronauts and a giant Chinese flag. On the other were two more figures in space suits, with the tiniest Stars and Stripes planted in the lunar soil . Cruz apologized for the imbalance. "My team used ChatGPT," explained the senator, who chairs the committee that oversees NASA. Then Cruz, with a bit more seriousness, asked Isaacman, "Do we have your commitment that you will not allow the scenario on the right of this poster to happen? That China will not beat us to the moon?" Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who had paid for his own missions to space, replied, "Senator, I only see the left-hand portion of that poster."