Chernobyl radiation shield'lost safety function' after drone strike, UN watchdog says A protective shield covering the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine can no longer provide its main containment function following a drone strike earlier this year, according to a UN watchdog. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors found that the massive structure, built over the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, had lost its primary safety functions including the confinement capability. In February, Ukraine accused Russia of targeting the power plant - a claim the Kremlin denied. The IAEA said repairs were essential to prevent further degradation of the nuclear shelter. However environmental expert Jim Smith told the BBC: It is not something to panic about.

Adverts for Nike, Superdry and Lacoste have been banned for making misleading claims about their green credentials. The UK's advertising watchdog challenged the brands over the use of the word sustainable in paid-for Google ads which were not backed up by evidence of their sustainability. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) identified three adverts from the retailers promising customers sustainable materials, sustainable style and sustainable clothing. The UK's advertising code states that the basis of claims about environmental sustainability must be clear and supported by a high level of substantiation. In each case, it asked the companies for evidence to back up the claims about the sustainability of the products.

How to make sure you're getting a good deal on Black Friday Whether you're excited for the seasonal sales or avoiding the shops altogether, it's hard to escape the countless emails and social media adverts on Black Friday deals. The US holiday - which falls this Friday - has been firmly adopted by UK retailers, and what was once a single day of sales now spans the weeks before and after. However eight in 10 deals promoted during this buying bonanza were cheaper or the same price outside of the four-week Black Friday period, according to research from consumer group Which? This suggests shoppers could get the same or a better deal at other times of the year. But if you're planning to buy now, here's how to make sure you bag a bargain.

Adverts by four of Britain's biggest hotel and travel firms have been banned for stating misleading minimum prices for rooms. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints against the Hilton hotel group, Travelodge, Booking.com and Accor over their use of eye-catching so-called from prices. The watchdog found only a small number of rooms actually available to book at the promoted price and concluded the adverts overstated the deals. It said this was unfair on those looking for good deals or seeking to make informed choices about where to book. ASA operations manager Emily Henwood said: Advertised prices must match what's really available.

The Netherlands's data protection watchdog has cautioned citizens against consulting with artificial intelligence on how to vote, warning that popular chatbots provide a "highly distorted and polarised view" of politics. The Dutch Data Protection Authority said on Tuesday that an increasing number of voters were using AI to help decide who to vote for, despite the models offering "unreliable and clearly biased" advice. The research found that the chatbots more often recommended parties on the fringes of the political spectrum when asked to identify the three choices that best matched the policy preferences of 1,500 fictitious voter profiles. In more than half of cases, the AI models identified the hard-right Party for Freedom (PVV) or left-wing Green Left-Labour Party as the top choice, the watchdog said. Parties closer to the political middle ground - such as the right-leaning People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the centre-left Democrats 66 - were recommended much less often, according to the watchdog.

The CMA has proposed ensuring fair ranking of search results on Google and providing more control for publishers over how their content is used. The CMA has proposed ensuring fair ranking of search results on Google and providing more control for publishers over how their content is used. CMA puts Google under tighter regulation with'strategic market status' designation and can enforce changes Fri 10 Oct 2025 06.53 EDTLast modified on Fri 10 Oct 2025 07.47 EDT Google faces enforced changes to its UK search business after the competition watchdog conferred a special status on the company that puts it under tighter regulation. The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) confirmed that Google has "strategic market status" (SMS) in search and search advertising, a term that means the company has such market power that it requires a special regulatory regime. The watchdog now has the power under new digital laws to order changes to how Google operates in those areas.

Rishi Sunak has taken up senior part-time advisor roles at tech giant Microsoft and artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic. The former prime minister has been told he must not lobby ministers on behalf of the companies by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), an independent watchdog which oversees the activities of former government figures. Sunak - who remains the MP for Richmond and Northallerton - will donate payments for the jobs to a charity he recently founded, the watchdog said. During his premiership, Sunak made tech regulation a significant priority, setting up an AI safety summit in 2023. In letters of advice sent to Sunak by Acoba and published on Thursday, his role at Microsoft was described as providing high-level strategic perspectives on geopolitical trends.

According to Meta's rules, advertisers who seek to run political ads in the United States have to undergo a special authorization process. Washington - Scammers are among the top political ad spenders on Meta's platforms, using deepfake videos of American politicians -- including President Donald Trump -- to promote fake government benefits, a watchdog group said Wednesday. The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project said it identified 63 scam advertisers that collectively spent $49 million on Facebook and Instagram, often targeting seniors with ads promoting fake stimulus checks, government spending cards and healthcare payments. The ads have reached tens of thousands of the platforms' users. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Staff at the UK's leading artificial intelligence institute have raised concerns about the organisation's governance and internal culture in a whistleblowing complaint to the charity watchdog. The Alan Turing Institute (ATI), a registered charity with substantial state funding, is under government pressure to overhaul its strategic focus and leadership after an intervention last month from the technology secretary, Peter Kyle. In a complaint to the Charity Commission, a group of current ATI staff raise eight points of concern and say the institute is in danger of collapse due to government threats over its funding. The complaint alleges that the board of trustees, chaired by the former Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr, has failed to fulfil core legal duties such as providing strategic direction and ensuring accountability, with staff alleging a letter of no confidence was delivered last year and not acted upon. A spokesperson for ATI said the Charity Commission had not been in touch with the institute about any complaints that may have been sent to the organisation.

The number of videos online of child sexual abuse generated by artificial intelligence has surged as paedophiles have pounced on developments in the technology. The Internet Watch Foundation said AI videos of abuse had "crossed the threshold" of being near-indistinguishable from "real imagery" and had sharply increased in prevalence online this year. In the first six months of 2025, the UK-based internet safety watchdog verified 1,286 AI-made videos with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that broke the law, compared with two in the same period last year. The IWF said just over 1,000 of the videos featured category A abuse, the classification for the most severe type of material. The organisation said the multibillion-dollar investment spree in AI was producing widely available video-generation models that were being manipulated by paedophiles.