The UK's tax body is reviewing its decisions to strip child benefit from about 23,500 claimants after it used travel data to conclude they had left the country permanently. Normally the benefit runs out after eight weeks living outside the UK, but many people affected complained that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had stopped their money after they went on holiday for just a short time. The move came after MPs on the Treasury Select Committee demanded answers from the tax authority. HMRC has apologised for any errors and says anyone who thinks their benefits have been stopped incorrectly should contact them. In September, the government began a crackdown on child benefit fraud which it believes could save £350m over five years.

While filming a documentary in Northern Ireland, a team of scientists discovered a new fungus that appears to manipulate spiders' behavior–and turn them into "zombies." The fungus named Gibellula attenboroughii is described in a study published January 24 in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The shaded orbweaver or orb-weaving cave spider (Metellina merianae) appears to serve as the fungus' primary host.

Hunter has since campaigned for a change in the law that would see the creation of deepfake images to be made a criminal offence in Northern Ireland. Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme, the assembly member for East Londonderry said while the Police Service of Northern Ireland was "very sympathetic", it was unable to take the matter further due to the "lack of appropriate laws here and also a lack of investment in cybercrime technology". "What's very sad is that we're now almost three years on from what happened to me and, right now, the same thing could happen again – to any woman, to any child, to any man," said Hunter. "There's a real sinister use of this technology and if someone does it to you, you want to know who has that level of anger or angst or resentment towards you that they would make something such as this."

Third of NI adults visit porn sites, Ofcom finds Getty ImagesA new Ofcom report finds over 430,000 adults in Northern Ireland visited "pornographic content services" online in May 2024 Adults in Northern Ireland are more likely to look at pornography online than those in any other part of the UK. That is according to new research published by the communications regulator Ofcom. It said that more than 430,000 adults in Northern Ireland visited "pornographic content services" online in May 2024 - more than one third of the adult population. That was higher than the proportion of adults viewing similar content in Wales, Scotland and England. The figures come from Ofcom's Online Nation report for 2024, which looks into the UK's digital habits.

Northern Ireland's rising prison population means an extra 75 Prison Service staff will have to be recruited at a cost of 3.5m, Justice Minister Naomi Long has announced. A disused cell block at Maghaberry is also being prepared for re-opening as part of contingency planning. The jail currently has 1,245 inmates – almost half of them are on remand, meaning they have not been convicted or sentenced. Mrs Long said the situation is challenging.PA MediaJustice minister Naomi Long says there has been a steep rise in prisoner numbers in recent years Northern Ireland has three prison sites: Maghaberry, Magilligan and Hydebank Wood, which houses women prisoners and young offenders. Over the last three years, inmate numbers across the sites have increased by 500 to 1,900.

These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract The relationship between energy demand and variables such as economic activity and weather is well established. However, this paper aims to explore the connection between energy demand and other social aspects, which receive little attention. Through the use of natural language processing on a large news corpus, we shed light on this important link. This study was carried out in five regions of the UK and Ireland and considers multiple horizons from 1 to 30 days. It also considers economic variables such as GDP, unemployment and inflation. We found that: 1) News about military conflicts, transportation, the global pandemic, regional economics, and the international energy market are related to electricity demand. Electricity demand modelling is a fundamental process in power system planning, operation, and energy trading [1]. In order to avoid additional carbon emissions from excess electricity generation and the high costs of electricity storage, electricity demand and supply should be matched over time [2]. Demand forecasting has become a means of enabling power dispatch, planning generation schedules, and integrating renewable energy sources [3]. Electricity demand forecasting is linked to various factors, including weather, economic activity, and major events.

The Republic of Ireland is looking to amend the law to allow the return of asylum seekers to the United Kingdom, according to broadcaster RTE, after an influx over the border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. Dublin's Minister of Justice Helen McEntee, who will visit London on Monday, told a parliamentary committee this week that she estimates 80 percent of those applying for asylum in the republic came over the land border with Northern Ireland. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News it was evidence that London's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is acting as a deterrent. "What it shows, I think, is that the deterrent is … already having an impact because people are worried about coming here," he said. In response, a spokesperson for Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris said the leader "does not comment on the migration policies of any other country but he is very clear about the importance of protecting the integrity of the migration system in Ireland", RTE reported.

Artificial intelligence could have a more significant impact on Britain than the Industrial Revolution, the deputy prime minister has said, but warned it could be used by hackers to access sensitive information from the government. Oliver Dowden said AI could speed up productivity and perform boring aspects of jobs. "This is a total revolution that is coming," Dowden told the Times. "It's going to totally transform almost all elements of life over the coming years, and indeed, even months, in some cases. "It is much faster than other revolutions that we've seen and much more extensive, whether that's the invention of the internal combustion engine or the Industrial Revolution." Dowden said AI would allow for faster future decision-making by governments. Asylum claim applications processed by the Home Office are already using AI, and it could even be used in reducing paperwork that goes into ministerial red boxes. "The thing that AI right now does really well, it takes massive amounts of information from datasets in different places and enables you to get to a point where you can make decisions," he said. "Ministers are never going to outsource to AI the making of decisions." But he warned AI could be harnessed by terrorists to expand knowledge on dangerous material or conduct widespread hacking operations in the wake of such attacks against the Electoral Commission and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The details of more than 10,000 officers and staff at the Police Service of Northern Ireland were published online for a number of hours on Tuesday, after an "industrial-scale breach of data". Dowden said: "You can shortcut hacking by AI.

United States President Joe Biden and United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have opened a White House meeting, hailing ties between the longtime allies as they prepared to discuss a wide range of topics, expected to include artificial intelligence (AI), trade, the war in Ukraine, China and NATO leadership. Sunak's office said the prime minister, on his first White House trip in the role, would present Biden on Thursday with relics of his English ancestry, including a copy of Biden's great-great-grandfather Christopher Biden's book Naval Discipline: Subordination Contrasted with Insubordination. Biden has both Irish and English heritage, and on a trip to Ireland in April described the book by the 19th-century sailor as the Royal Navy's guide to combating mutiny. "We will put our values front and centre to deliver for the British and American peoples," Sunak said at the start of his talks with Biden. Biden, meanwhile, described the "special" relationship between the two allies as "in real good shape".

Every year, millions of tourists flock to Northern Ireland to visit Giant's Causeway - an unusual formation of around 40,000 hexagonal stone columns descending gently into the sea. Theories on the stones' formation range from them being built by a mythical giant Finn McCool to more scientific explanations. Now, Dr Mike Simms, curator of natural sciences at National Museums NI, has put forward the first new theory since 1940. Dr Simms considered why the extraordinary geological features are found at sea level only. To mark Unesco's International Geodiversity Day today, he has explained why he believes they were caused by an event which took just days - and not thousands of years as previously thought.