Child sex abuse is becoming increasingly complex to police and officers are arresting an average of 1,000 potential offenders each month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) says. It says an increasing reliance on online platforms and advances in technology, such as AI image creation, are exacerbating the problem, with algorithms and digital communities connecting offenders to share and promote child sex abuse material. According to the NCA, the number of arrests has roughly doubled in the past three years. Statistically, potential offenders are in every community and victims in every school, the NCA said. It added that police cannot address the issue alone and called on technology companies to do more.

Trump's new world order has become real and Europe is having to adjust fast Downtown Munich is best-known for chic shops and flashy fast cars but right now its streets are bedecked with posters advertising next generation drones. Europe's security under construction boasts the slogan on an eye-catching set of sleek black-and-white photographs, festooned across a scaffolding-clad church on one of this town's best known pedestrian boulevards. Such an unapologetic public display of military muscle would have been unimaginable here just a few years ago, but the world outside Germany is changing fast, and taking this country with it. The southern region of Bavaria has become Germany's leading defence technology hub, focusing on AI, drones and aerospace. People here, like most other Europeans, say they feel increasingly exposed - squeezed between an expansionist Russia and an economically aggressive China to the east, and an increasingly unpredictable, former best pal, the United States, to the west.

Court system on'brink of collapse', former senior judge warns The court system is on the brink of collapse as the backlogs for trials reach unprecedented levels, the head of a major review has said. Sir Brian Leveson, a senior retired judge, warned ministers, the police and others that there could not be a pick and mix response to solving the crisis. Last year, in the first stage of the review, Sir Brian called for the right to a jury trial to be scaled back and many intermediate crimes to be dealt with by a judge alone. His second and final report has recommended 130 efficiency changes, from technical measures to allowing prison vans to use bus lanes to hit court appearance deadlines. Sir Brian's two reports were commissioned by ministers as part of an attempt to reverse the backlogs that had reached record levels before Labour came into power, but have continued to worsen since then.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting kicked off in the Swiss resort city of Davos on Monday, with global figures from politics, business, academia and civil society attending the five-day event. The annual forum that attempts to shape global agendas comes at a time of massive global upheaval. United States President Donald Trump will attend the annual event along with other global leaders. His attendance comes amid strained US ties with its European allies over his threat to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Here is more about the WEF and what to expect at the meeting.

Zelensky declares state of emergency in Ukraine's energy sector Ukraine has declared a state of emergency in the country's energy sector, with particular focus on Kyiv, as ongoing Russian strikes continue to leave thousands of residents without power. The nation is in the midst of a particularly cold winter, with overnight temperatures in Kyiv dropping to around -20C. After a special cabinet meeting, President Volodymyr Zelensky said a round-the-clock task force would be set up to deal with the damaging consequences of Russian airstrikes and worsening weather conditions. He accused Moscow of deliberately exploiting the harsh, sub-zero temperatures to target critical infrastructure, including energy distribution facilities. In recent weeks, Kyiv has been particularly affected by Russian attacks, leaving thousands of homes without regular power, heating or running water.

Elon Musk's firm X has blocked non-paying users from Grok's image-generation tool on Friday. Elon Musk's firm X has blocked non-paying users from Grok's image-generation tool on Friday. Monday briefing: How Elon Musk's Grok is being used as a tool for digital sexual abuse In today's newsletter: The chatbot is being used to digitally undress photos of women and children. What can politicians actually do to stop it, and what does it say about our control of the internet? Last week, the UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said: "We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls."

Malaysia and Indonesia block Musk's Grok over sexually explicit deepfakes Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok over its ability to produce sexually explicit deepfakes. Grok, a tool on Musk's X platform, allows users to generate images. In recent weeks however, it has been used to edit images of real people to show them in revealing outfits. The South East Asian countries said Grok could be used to produce pornographic and non-consensual images involving women and children. They are the first in the world to ban the AI tool.

Elon Musk claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday. Elon Musk claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday. Elon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent. The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed. Responding to threats of a ban from the government, Musk wrote: "They just want to suppress free speech".

Media watchdog Ofcom said it was seeking urgent answers from X, to announce action within'days not weeks'. Media watchdog Ofcom said it was seeking urgent answers from X, to announce action within'days not weeks'. Elon Musk's X threatened with UK ban over wave of indecent AI images Fri 9 Jan 2026 17.49 ESTFirst published on Fri 9 Jan 2026 15.00 EST Elon Musk's X has been ordered by the UK government to tackle a wave of indecent AI images or face a de facto ban, as an expert said the platform was no longer a "safe space" for women. The media watchdog, Ofcom, confirmed it would accelerate an investigation into X as a backlash grew against the site, which has hosted a deluge of images depicting partially stripped women and children. X announced a restriction on creating images via the Grok AI tool on Friday morning in response to the global outcry.

New Scientist changed the UK's freedom of information laws in 2025 By requesting copies of the then-UK technology secretary's ChatGPT logs, New Scientist set a precedent for how freedom of information laws apply to chatbot interactions, helping to hold governments to account Our successful request for Peter Kyle's ChatGPT logs stunned observers When I fired off an email at the start of 2025, I hadn't intended to set a legal precedent for how the UK government handles its interactions with AI chatbots, but that is exactly what happened. It all began in January when I read an interview with the then-UK tech secretary Peter Kyle in . Trying to suggest he used first-hand the technology his department was set up to regulate, Kyle said that he would often have conversations with ChatGPT. AI may blunt our thinking skills - here's what you can do about it That got me wondering: could I obtain his chat history? Freedom of information (FOI) laws are often deployed to obtain emails and other documents produced by public bodies, but past precedent has suggested that some private data - such as search queries - aren't eligible for release in this way. I was interested to see which way the chatbot conversations would be categorised.