Andy Serkis is the master of motion capture. He is Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Caesar in the Planet of Ape series, and Peter Jackson's King Kong. So, it feels kind of appropriate that our interview is happening virtually. He is speaking on a screen from New Zealand, where he is directing and starring in the next Lord of the Rings film, The Hunt for Gollum, which is scheduled to land in cinemas in time for Christmas next year. It sits absolutely between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, and books in fact, he explains handily, as it can be difficult to keep up with the ever-expanding Tolkienverse.

Police forces across England are to get a £251m funding boost to help protect Jewish communities following a rise in antisemitic attacks, the government has announced. The Metropolitan Police will receive £86m to recruit about 300 extra officers to help increase police presence in Jewish neighbourhoods, and around synagogues, schools and community centres. It comes after a series of antisemitic attacks in London, including the stabbing of two men in Golders Green in April, and the raising of the national terror threat level from substantial to severe. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the fund would deliver a step change in protection for Jewish communities. Met deputy commissioner Matt Jukes said the investment would allow the force to bolster its existing Community Protection Teams and establish further teams across three sites in London, as well as recruiting up to 300 officers and creating a Golders Green community hub.

Lindsey Graham, who has died aged 71, was a political survivor. His career as a Republican senator served as a telling barometer for the dramatically changing climate in his political party - and America - in the Donald Trump era. While there were certain issues central to Graham's political identity - including a hawkish foreign policy that focused on containing Russian global ambitions, support for Israel and regime change in Iran - his 23-year career in the Senate was marked by a willingness to adapt to the gale-force change of political winds that accompanied Trump's rise to power. Shortly after being elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate in 2002, Graham became a close ally of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who, while a staunch conservative, developed a national reputation for political independence. When Graham ran for president in 2015, the idea of cooling partisan tensions and working with political opponents was one of his central messages. If I get to be president, we're going to open up a bar in the White House, Graham said.

A British couple have been found down a ravine, badly burned and semi-conscious, after being caught up in the deadly wildfires that tore through Spain's Almeria province, according to local media. The pair are thought to have been out hiking when they were caught up in the blaze, which spread rapidly through the province on Thursday. They were evacuated and taken to hospital where they are in intensive care. Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the fires, which have claimed the lives of 12 people, including four believed to be Britons, and burned through 6,600 hectares (16,300 acres), local authorities said. The identities of those killed have not yet been officially confirmed.

A dog has been rescued from Ben Nevis after it is suspected to have fallen ill from eating discarded cannabis. Christina Bluhme, a dog trainer from Esher in Surrey, was halfway up the UK's highest mountain when her black Labrador Tokyo collapsed on the trail. Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team came to their aid and stretchered Tokyo down from the 4,413ft (1,345m) peak to a local vet. Bluhme said Tokyo had made a full recovery after the incident during a trip to Scotland last weekend. She said vets believe she ingested cannabis left on the trail.

Robots available for rent: But what can they do? In hospitals across the US, patients and staff have become accustomed to seeing a one-armed, four-foot high, friendly-looking white robot going about its business. Nurses have been known to greet Moxi, as the robot is called by its maker Diligent Robotics, with a good morning, a high five or even a hug. Moxi - which shuttles medical supplies around hospitals - might respond by displaying its heart-shaped LED eyes and a beep beep greeting of its own. We get a lot of feedback that Moxi feels like a part of the team, says Todd Brugger, chief operating officer at the Texas-based robotics company, which has around 100 of the wheeled robots in operation.

What could new rights for unmarried couples mean for your money? When Amelia's fiance died suddenly in his 20s, just months before their wedding, she never imagined the legal and financial turmoil that would follow. I lost him, she says, and then I lost everything we'd ever built together. The couple had been together more than seven years and shared a business. But they were not married and Simon did not have a will, so his mother and father inherited all of his assets - apart from the couple's house - and Amelia was unable to stop them.

Image caption, Artist's impression of the Swift observatory which was built to study the cosmos A Nasa-funded spacecraft has been sent into space to catch a falling telescope. The Swift observatory detects some of the most powerful explosions in the Universe - but is at risk of crashing back to Earth in the coming months. The small space telescope will be intercepted by the LINK craft, which will attempt to grab it with three robotic arms, and try and lift it back to a safe orbit. The rescue mission, launched on Friday, has never been attempted before, and Dr Simeon Barber, a space scientist, has said it is high risk. But Nasa obviously thinks it's worth a go.

AI is'not smart' so what's next in artificial intelligence? We don't have robots that are nearly as good at understanding the physical world as a rat, says Yann LeCun, one of the leading figures in the world of artificial intelligence. He worked at Facebook-owner, Meta, for a decade, where he was chief AI scientist, but left in 2025 and founded Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs). His goal is to move AI beyond current systems like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. They have their uses, he says, but will never be able to tackle complicated situations in the real world, like getting a robot to do household chores.

Once, video games came with lots of physical goodies, such as guides, maps and manuals. Those days are mostly gone, but gamers have, up to now, usually been able to rely on one thing they could literally get their hands on - a disc. But when pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 went live on Wednesday, developer Rockstar said customers who opted for the physical edition would get a box that just contained a code for a digital download instead. It's not the first time a physical edition has launched this way. But if the makers of one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history has decided to follow suit, does that mean the disc is dead?