The fitness company behind high-end exercise classes Barrecore, Boom Cycle, and Kobox has suddenly shut all its studios. Common Bond emailed customers announcing its locations, all of which are currently in London, were closed until further notice. The firm describes itself as a wellness collective and charges £2,400 for 12 months of unlimited classes. It also runs Reformcore and Triyoga brands and said in August last year it had ten sites. Its website is no longer publicly accessible.

Iran's president tells Trump it will never'bend the knee' Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has told the UN General Assembly that it will never bend the knee after almost seven months of war with the US and Israel, but is ready for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Responding to US President Donald Trump's threat to annihilate the Islamic Republic if a deal is not reached soon, Pezeshkian said: He must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. He also insisted any deal would have to include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ships and ports. It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access, he said. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, has effectively been closed since the start of the war in late February due to Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and the US blockade.

Trump reveals millions of dollars' worth of share deals in big tech and AI US President Donald Trump has disclosed millions of dollars' worth of stock market trades made during July, including in firms from Elon Musk's SpaceX to tech and AI giants such as Microsoft. According to official documents, between $6.5m (£4.8m) and $31m worth of stock in Microsoft was sold on behalf of Trump, while they show purchases of between $165,000 and $400,000. Across more than 1,000 trades, shares were bought and sold in AI company Nvidia and software firm Palantir, a contractor with the US defence department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the filing shows. A White House spokesperson said Trump's stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third parties. The spokesperson told the BBC: Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold.

Insurer Admiral will cut 500 jobs in the UK to save £100m, it has announced. The proposals are related to Admiral's UK insurance business only, and will affect about 5% of its workforce. We recognise this will be a difficult time for affected colleagues, said Alistair Hargreaves, Admiral Insurance UK's chief executive . While the Cardiff-based company uses artificial intelligence (AI) in its operations, adoption of AI is not believed to be responsible for these changes. Admiral said the job cuts would make the firm faster and more efficient.

People off sick from work should keep in phone contact with their boss, government-appointed back-to-work expert Sir Charlie Mayfield has said. Getting bosses and workers to have a conversation, rather than simply exchanging emails and sicknotes, could help get people back into work, Sir Charlie, who is leading the Keep Britain Working taskforce, said. His latest report said health-related economic inactivity was costing Britain around £210bn a year in benefit payments and lost output. Talking on the phone was just one piece of the jigsaw he said on Wednesday. The report calls for more workplace support, external for people with health conditions and disabilities and the establishment of a Workplace Health System alongside the NHS.

The UK's King Charles warns AI leaders of'existential dangers' Share The UK's King Charles warns AI leaders of'existential dangers' on social media The United Kingdom's King Charles has warned Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry leaders of the "existential dangers" posed by the technology if it falls into the wrong hands. The monarch's comments on Thursday add to a global debate over whether, and how to regulate the industry. "There seems urgency in adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways," Charles told guests at the opening of the conference. "Those in our world who value our humanity and its vital moral component are anxiously seeking your reassurance that we will not lose control of our destiny," he told the industry leaders. "Those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities, perhaps even to take life," or be used in "potentially catastrophic ways", the king also said.

'My rent was higher than my student loan' - the booming cost of private halls You don't have to walk far in any university city before spotting some form of private Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). These large blocks of student housing are springing up in cities across the UK, yet rents continue to soar and young people studying at university say they're still finding it difficult to secure a place to live. The increase in PBSA has predominantly been driven by private companies, with many developments targeting more affluent international and postgraduate students, who industry experts say are becoming increasingly important to the sector. Developers say they are meeting a market demand but campaigners argue that they are too expensive for most Scottish students and more affordable housing should be being built instead. Twenty-year-old Lara Reader told the BBC that when she applied for student accommodation at Edinburgh University she did not expect to be allocated the most expensive option on her list.

Wed 16 Sep 2026 07.55 EDTLast modified on Wed 16 Sep 2026 07.56 EDT Large-scale datacentres will face mandatory environmental assessments before they can go ahead, the Scottish government has announced, amid growing public concern about the impact of the AI boom. Ahead of a vote on a moratorium on new hyperscale datacentres in Holyrood on Wednesday, the Scottish government has tightened rules for new projects by requiring any above 50MW to submit environmental impact assessments, but stopped short of agreeing to an outright halt. Scotland has seen a boom in planning applications for large datacentres as global investment in AI infrastructure has exploded. Datacentres are critical for storing and processing data used by AI. One scheme in Auchtertool, Fife, has been billed as the second-largest in the world, and is among more than 20 large datacentres proposed so far.

MSPs asked to pause Scotland's AI data centre boom Scotland has a new boom industry, at least if planning applications are taken at face value. The term "hyperscale data centre", rarely heard a few years ago, is now dividing opinion across the country as a rush of applications are made to build them. A debate at Holyrood later, led by the Scottish Greens, will call for planning applications to be put on hold until promised new national guidelines are in force, with an emphasis on energy demand and the environment. Ahead of the debate, ministers announced that all new applications for AI data centres will have to undergo an environmental impact assessment. The growth of AI is happening at lightning pace, so what are the advantages and disadvantages of Scotland being at the forefront?

Campaigners say moratorium needed while the Scottish government analyses the environmental impact of datacentres. Campaigners say moratorium needed while the Scottish government analyses the environmental impact of datacentres. Thu 3 Sep 2026 13.48 EDTFirst published on Thu 3 Sep 2026 13.09 EDT Kat Jones may be the closest thing Scotland has to Erin Brockovich in 2026. Standing in the shadow of Arthurâ s Seat outside Holyrood, the 52-year-old is revving up the crowd of protesters around her. â Who is here from Lammermuir? Ayrshire? On Thursday, hundreds travelled to Edinburgh to call for an immediate moratorium on Scotlandâ s datacentre boom, which includes one project in Auchtertool, Fife, that has been billed as the second largest in the world.