Meta used AI to tag workers who took leave to be laid off, lawsuit claims: The workers allege that those AI tools targeted them after they asked for protected or maternity leave or disability accommodation.

June heatwave killed up to 440 people a day in England and Wales, data suggests: ‘…about 2,200 heat deaths occurred between 18 and 28 June, a period encompassing the peak 24-26 June period, the study indicated. About 38% were attributed to global heating, the result of the extra heat baked in by the climate crisis.’

For the Right, Playing Dumb is a Full-Time Job: ‘There are real criticisms you can make of any politician. Screaming “communism” at boilerplate heat-wave advice probably isn’t one of them.’

UK parents warned over posting images of children amid AI sexual abuse fears: ‘The average parent or carer does not post a picture of a child online thinking that it might be scraped to be turned into CSAM’.

Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show | International law: As well as demanding that Gaza gives them premises for free.

Meta pauses employee tracker for AI training amid privacy concerns: Funnily enough its employees were not fans of ‘a tool that tracked staff keystrokes, mouse clicks and content displayed on computer screens in order to collect data for training its AI models’.

AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption: Seems a decent use of AI if accurate - the doc was all about Stoic philosophy.

Four in five under-16s in Australia using social media despite ban, study shows

Two-Thirds Of Brits Believe Brexit Has Made Every Issue They Care About Worse, Survey Finds

France to ditch Palantir’s AI data tools in favour of domestic provider: A wise move that needs to happen elsewhere too.

Vulnerable families illegally ‘dumped’ hundreds of miles away by London councils: Probably illegal, definitely inhumane.

Farage paid £83k from events linked to US anti-abortion supporters: Whilst most of his supporters in the UK are actually rather pro abortion rights.

Reform UK have decided the civil service is not to be trusted – weakness is at the heart of this ideological choice: ‘It’s an isolationism of ideas, driven by fear of the alternative or challenge.’

No Right to Remain Silent: Negative Rights in a Positive-Rights World: ‘…the right to produce no data broadly doesn’t exist.’

‘One day I thought, that’s enough’: the people fighting back against pothole-riddled roads: ‘The dire state of roads has provoked pothole vigilantes and become a political flashpoint’

Tommy Robinson’s pointless, confused, US-funded march: ‘“This event would not be happening if I didn’t go to America,” Robinson told a crowd of people who otherwise complain about foreign influences on UK politics’

Is being prime minister now an impossible job?: ‘No longer must we tolerate amateur political leaders and outdated systems of government.’

Ban private jets and cut speed limits to avert UK fuel crisis, say campaigners

Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO: ‘The international spread of vector-borne disease, such as dengue and chikungunya, as well as the health impacts of extreme weather events, global heating, food insecurity and air pollution make a Pheic necessary…’

Ice vests or daily cold showers could help people lose weight, study finds

Rich People Didn’t Look Like This Before: ‘The luxury of viewing your face-lift less as a major, potentially ruinous surgery and more as a routine to-do list item is the ultimate status symbol’

UN warns women in public life face increasingly sophisticated online violence

Nearly twice as many men as women standing in May elections in UK

Palantir Employees Are Starting to Wonder if They’re the Bad Guys: ‘Right as they picked up the call, one of them asked, “Are you tracking Palantir’s descent into fascism?"’

‘Angry Leftie women’: the real politics behind the ‘femosphere’ moral panic: ‘The question isn’t why young women are “angry.” It’s why their autonomy is being positioned as a political problem, one that is increasingly tied to immigration, birth rates, and national identity, and used to justify a broader rollback of rights’