Why are data centres such a big deal in Scotland? Every time you ask ChatGPT a question, read a Google summary or make an online bank payment, a data centre is working behind the scenes. Now Scotland is part of a global race to build many more of them - on a massive scale. The explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past few years has seen tech firms scrambling to build new hyperscale data centres, including some which would rank among the biggest in the world. Plans are in place to build at least 23 giant AI-powered data centres.

China has cracked down on AI relationships. Is it ahead of the game? In early 2024, a young man in the city of Huangshi, south-eastern China, reportedly posted a message on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. Within minutes, the suicide prevention team at Douyin kicked into gear. The team, which is staffed 24 hours a day, shared the man's posts with five police stations in Huangshi. After geolocating one of his videos to a local park, police found him in emotional distress and intervened before he was able to take his own life.

US President Donald Trump has been blunt about his AI ambitions, as well as about who he considers the US's main rival to be: China. His Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, has not said anything so forthright - but it seems he holds a similar view. China very much sees it as a race, they very much think China should be the leading force in AI - they see AI as a power maximiser, says Rebecca Arcesati, from the Mercator Institute for China Studies. You can look beyond the rhetoric for evidence of this: AI has been a cornerstone of China's technological ambitions for more than a decade, whether Xi emphasises it publicly or not. For Trump, beating China to AI supremacy outweighs any risks of the technology to humans - something he has described as a hoax .

There is an eerie low hum that emanates from data centres, where tens of thousands of chips make trillions of computations a second to help drive the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. These chips power the text, images and video generated by the queries made by the world of the advanced AI models. Their computations, which are in effect the switching on and off of microscopic silicon transistors that make up a chip, are actually silent. But, as with all computers, almost every watt of the significant electricity powering this process leaves as heat, and the sound you can hear is the slow whir of thousands of fans required to prevent the heat from frying the racks of servers. Depending on the size of the site, you may also hear the thrum of transformers in substations channelling electricity.

Why are there concerns AI could threaten humanity, and how real are they? Image caption, Calls for AI regulation are growing as concerned researchers and bosses issue disconcerting warnings about the tech's potential In recent weeks, warnings about potential dangers of AI have spurred calls for coordinated action to slow the technology's development. Claims by current and former researchers that the tech will endanger humanity - with one suggesting there is a greater than 10% chance of it killing all humans - have raised alarm bells. Major developers OpenAI and Anthropic have urged lawmakers to regulate it, though some perhaps cynically suggest this move aims to cement their dominance over rivals. Regardless, the high profile claims have caused concern.

Image caption, This year's November full moon will appear as a supermoon. This is 2025's November Beaver Moon captured above forests in Hungary Autumn brings longer nights to the northern hemisphere, offering more opportunities to get outside and look up at the night sky. There is plenty to look out for over the coming months, from impressive meteor showers to dazzling star clusters. The series of spectacles begins with the Pleiades as the autumn nights draw in. It will be followed by the impressive Orionid meteor shower in late October, and a planetary parade, the Leonid meteor shower and a supermoon in November.

Russians seek answers over hundreds missing after Ukraine's 2024 incursion I used to have complete faith in our country, says Lyubov. The last time she spoke to her mother was a day after Ukrainian forces broke into Russia's Kursk region more than two years ago. Now she feels resentful towards the [Russian] state, in a country where most people avoid criticising the full-scale invasion unleashed on Ukraine in February 2022. The local governor says more than 300 Russians are still missing in Kursk region, but no-one really knows the true figure. Lyubov says she tried to persuade her mother to leave her village in the Sudzha area, but blames Russian state TV propaganda for her refusal to listen.

BBC director-general says he was not aware of'severity' of cuts needed Image caption, BBC director-general Matt Brittin says he wasn't aware of the severity of cuts needed at the corporation BBC director-general Matt Brittin has said he was not aware of the severity of the cuts the corporation needed to make when he took on his role. Savings targets were announced in June, with planned cuts across news, nations and content divisions to deliver £160m of £500m in savings by the 2028-29 financial year. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, Brittin said: On the financial side, I knew that cuts had been announced and that savings had been announced, but I hadn't really understood the severity. There are expected to be around 2,000 jobs cut as part of the process. During the conversation with Kirsty Wark, his first major industry appearance, Brittin also said he had been impressed by the creativity and talent at the BBC, but added every media organisation is struggling with rapidly changing consumer behaviour and the power of the AI revolution.

Three theme parks will be built near Paris as part of a €6bn (£5.13bn) deal agreed between France and Saudi Arabia. The new development is expected to include a manga-themed park, inspired by the popular Japanese franchise Dragon Ball Z. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the move as on a scale not seen since Disneyland Paris, and added you know my interest for manga. An opening date for the parks - which will be built near Cergy-Pontoise - has not set by the Élysée Palace, but they will open in stages and construction is expected to take years. The project was given the green light during a two-day state visit to France by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It stemmed from a previous discussion between Macron and bin Salman about their shared passion for Japanese comics, in particular Dragon Ball Z, advisers to the president told reporters on Monday.

When Chen Zhu heads to Hong Kong from mainland China every month, there's one place she always goes: Hunter Bookstore. Founded four years ago by a former councillor, the independent bookshop has earned a reputation for stocking what authorities would consider sensitive books - accounts of Hong Kong's pro-democracy campaigners to famous allegories on authoritarianism, such as George Orwell's Animal Farm or Hajime Isayama's Manga series Attack on Titan. It's a short journey from Zhu's home in Guangzhou on China's southern coast to the crowded street in Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district, where Hunter is sandwiched between fabric sellers, garages and trendy cafes. But, for the 23-year-old, it is also a passage into a different, freer world - where she can find answers to forbidden questions. When she learned the bookshop had been raided by police in late June, Zhu broke into tears: I was devastated.