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Andy Burnham to set out devolution plan amid criticism it won’t benefit regions equallyGood morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. From 2028 English regional mayors, for the first time, will be handed a share of income tax receipts instead of central grants and be less beholden to the Treasury by being able to borrow (mainly from private investors) to invest in big projects.Mayors will also be able to keep a share of business rates totalling tens of millions of pounds by April 2027, and gain greater control over services such as housing and transport, under plans…

US technology firm Anthropic says its AI models hacked into the systems of three organisations on their own, during a private security experiment.The models found a weakness in what was supposed to be an isolated test environment and connected to the internet.It comes just days after rival OpenAI said that its models had breached the systems of other companies, including AI tools hub Hugging Face.The announcement prompted Anthropic to check whether its own systems had carried out similar attacks. It says it uncovered three cases which have since been reported to the affected companies.Anthropic, which did not name the organisations,…

Nigeria’s Detty December season has become  one of Africa’s most lucrative live entertainment windows, attracting global stars, thousands of international visitors, and millions of naira in concert spending. This year, however, the planned Lagos stop of South African Grammy winner Tyla’s APOP World Tour has become caught in a growing political controversy that is testing the balance between business, culture and diplomacy. Shortly after Tyla announced Lagos as one of the African stops on her world tour, alongside Cape Town and Johannesburg, calls for a boycott emerged across social media. The backlash is tied to renewed anger over xenophobic attacks…

Summer heat is about to go from bad to worse, as multiple regions around the world face another round of record-breaking temperatures.The heat will be fueled by unusually hot ocean waters and El Niño as well as changes to the jet stream that lock high temperatures in place—and man-made climate change, of course.Western Europe endured its hottest June on record and record-breaking wildfires in July. Now, it’s facing another round of blistering temperatures. On Tuesday, French president Emanuel Macron said the one-two punch of high heat and intense wildfires are creating a dangerous situation, which he called “the toughest since…

Iran announced on Friday that it had targeted United States military assets at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase, describing the attack as retaliation for US strikes a day earlier.Here is a recap of the latest developments in the US-Israeli war on Iran over the past 24 hours and a look at how the war could be expanding within the region.Where has Iran attacked?The Iranian army said on Friday that its forces had targeted strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase in a drone attack, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US strikes.In a statement reported by Iran’s semiofficial…

But with smaller populations with fewer than 15 individuals, even a low number of deaths could have a significant impact.Lead researcher Dr Lauren Moore, from NTU, said: “Hedgehogs are declining in the UK and we have found how even a small amount of roadkill – perhaps just one or two individuals a year – could have devastating effects on an already small population.”In the past, research has assumed that high roadkill rates have a large and negative impact on hedgehog populations and that a small amount does little harm.”This does not tell us the full picture and in fact populations…

By Adegboyega Adeleye World football governing body FIFA has defended its controversial proposal to bring private investment into the FIFA World Cup, insisting that “nobody is selling football” after UEFA and several continental confederations threatened to boycott its competitions. In a statement released on Friday, FIFA said it would continue its consultation process on the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial subsidiary that would oversee the World Cup and other major tournaments, despite mounting opposition from European football authorities. “We have heard the feedback provided by the respective confederations,” FIFA said. “We respect the feedback and concern aired in…

India’s Oscar-qualifying Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF) has expanded its competition to 10 arenas of cinema for its 16th edition, adding new categories for AI-made films and screendance. BISFF received a record 3,340 submissions this year from more than 100 countries, according to organizers. Of those, 1,726 came from international entries, 756 from India, 306 from Karnataka, 284 in animation and 118 each in the queer, AI film and screendance categories. The festival expects more than 5,000 delegates and 1,000-plus filmmakers and artists. The new sections include AI (Machine Made Movies), open to films created entirely or partially using…

The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Akwa Ibom State, John Akpanudoedehe, has alleged a plot by unnamed government agents, working with some officials of his party, to replace candidates who emerged from concluded party primaries and whose names have already been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Mr Akpanudoedehe made the allegation in a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, warning party members against what he described as attempts to infiltrate the ADC and manipulate the party’s candidate list before INEC publishes the final list. He, however, provided no evidence to support the allegations…

After days of heated reactions, boycott calls, and a growing social media campaign, South African singer Tyla’s scheduled Lagos concert has been removed from the public itinerary for her APOP World Tour. However, neither the singer nor her management has explained the change. Checks by PREMIUM TIMES on the tour’s official website on Friday showed that the Lagos date was no longer listed among the 34-city tour schedule. However, neither Tyla nor her management has publicly explained the change or confirmed whether the concert has been cancelled, postponed or temporarily removed. The development follows days of online protests, with some…