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By Adegboyega Adeleye Tottenham have left Richarlison out of their Premier League squad for the first half of the season as the Brazil forward edges closer to an exit from the club. According to the BBC, Tottenham are braced for a possible approach from Turkish side Trabzonspor after Richarlison’s proposed return to former club Everton fell through before Tuesday’s transfer deadline. The 29-year-old had told Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi that he wanted to leave, with the Italian confirming last week that the striker had expressed his desire to move on. Sky Sports News also reports that Trabzonspor have yet…

Buongiorno, my good reader. It’s a Venice-heavy Insider this week, as the A-lister festival got underway amid the cameras and gondolas of the canal-strewn city. Back here in the UK it’s Jesse Whittock taking you through the biggest stories of the week. Sign up for the newsletter here to experience the full Insider package. Ciao, Venice George Clooney gets in with the press at Venice 2026’s opening red carpet Aurore Marechal/Getty Images Ever heard of kakistocracy?: This year’s Venice Film Festival rolled into action on Wednesday with a star-studded opening: George Clooney was in town to receive the festival’s honorary…

By Juliet Umeh OpenAI has unveiled GPT-6 Astra, a new artificial intelligence model capable of operating computers and executing complex tasks for users, in what experts describe as another major step towards autonomous AI. The model’s unveiling comes amid intensifying competition between OpenAI and rival AI company, Anthropic, with the rivalry driving rapid advances in artificial intelligence. A demonstration of Astra showed the model performing tasks across different computer applications, including transforming a simple drawing into a detailed rocket window, creating a 3D model in Blender, developing a presentation and preparing an online listing for a second-hand table. It was…

The creator of Wallace and Gromit has revealed that the world’s most famous stop-motion animated dog was nearly a cat.As Aardman Animations marks its 50th anniversary, Nick Park, who joined the studio in 1985, told the BBC he originally modelled Gromit as a feline companion for Wallace.“I had this idea of an English guy who builds a rocket in the basement of his house,” said Park. “I was thinking he may have a pet, probably a cat.“I started modelling the cat and it was just very difficult, so I thought I’d do a dog instead.”Sean Clarke, Aardman’s managing director, told…

The State Security Services (SSS) and the Nigeria Police Force are investigating the circulation of a false message claiming that OPay would shut down its operations in Nigeria, the company said on Wednesday. The leading financial technology company disclosed this at a press conference and town hall meeting on Wednesday, in response to the viral message, which claimed that the company would cease operations in September. Earlier, a viral post circulated on social media claiming that OPay would shut down its operations on 1 September and stop processing transactions until further notice. The viral post also urged OPay customers to…

There is a torrent of unappetizing slop coming from restaurants, cafes, and brands that are increasingly turning to AI to generate images promoting their food. The resulting horror show includes donut shrimp, Reubens from the deep, wormlike noodles, and noodle-like pastries and stringy chicken. There’s also construction material masquerading as ice cream, ice cream masquerading as brains, and other masonry-adjacent cuisine. I don’t even know how to begin describing this monstrous attempt of a burger, and the less said about the trypophobic burrito from hell, grubs and all, the better. There are lumps. And holes. So many holes.“Diffusion models are…

Studies in mice suggest that psilocybin, one of the psychoactive compounds in magic mushrooms, could prevent the chemotherapy side effect called neuropathy.Credit: Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo LibraryFor many cancer survivors, the triumph of remission is undercut by a debilitating side effect: hands and feet that feel as though they are constantly burning, prickling with needles or encased in ice. Now, researchers studying this condition, called neuropathy, in mice have identified an unexpected defence against it: psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms. Just two doses of psilocybin administered before chemotherapy completely prevented mice from developing neuropathy. The condition affects…

McLaren have won their appeal against the result of the Monaco Grand Prix after a controversy over multiple incorrect pit-lane speeding penalties.The victory means Alpine’s Pierre Gasly loses the podium he was awarded after an appeal by the French team that overturned two five-second penalties.That means Gasly, who finished third on the road, is dropped back to the seventh place he received in the official results.Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar is returned to third place and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fourth for the race which took place on 7 June.However, the verdict does not fully address the multiple effects of a series…

Nicola Sorcinelli is exploring timely, complex and emotional issues in his feature directorial debut, Balcanica, for which THR can exclusively premiere a first teaser trailer ahead of its world premiere in the Venice Days, or Giornate degli Autori, competition, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, later on Friday. “A human story of choice and moral complexity, the film follows conductor Nazar and his son Jalil as their path crosses with Greta, an Italian doctor, and each is confronted with a decision that will change their life,” press notes highlight. Sorcinelli’s movie stars Matilda De Angelis (The Undoing, Fuori,…

The newly sworn-in Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Paul Ituma, has warned opposition politicians to stay away from the council area ahead of the 2027 election or submit to his party the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru. A video clip which showed Mr Ituma making the remarks surfaced on social media on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after Governor Nwifuru threatened to remove any chairman who fails to win his council area for the APC in the 2027 election. The newly sworn-in Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State,…