Author: News Desk

London: Technology companies in Britain will be legally required from January 8 to block unsolicited sexual images under the new Online Safety Act, as governments around the world intensify efforts to tackle online abuse and the growing risks associated with artificial intelligence. The move follows the criminalisation of cyberflashing in England and Wales in January 2024, which carries penalties of up to two years in prison for offenders. The offence has now been designated a priority offence under Britain’s Online Safety Act, imposing stricter legal duties on platforms including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and X, as well as dating applications and…

London: The UK government has published a new Road Safety Strategy outlining a series of proposed reforms aimed at reducing deaths and serious injuries on the country’s roads. The measures include plans to introduce mandatory eyesight tests for drivers aged over 70, lower the legal drink-drive limit in England and Wales, and consult on a minimum learning period of up to six months for new drivers before they can take their driving test. The government says the extended learning period would give learner drivers more time to develop their skills. Official figures show that nearly one in four deaths and…

New York: NBCUniversal has sold out all advertising inventory for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy nearly a month before the Games begin in early February, the Comcast-owned broadcaster announced. More than 100 new advertisers have signed on for the Milano Cortina Games, making it the biggest broadcast and digital revenue generator in Winter Olympics history and the highest-grossing Winter Olympics of all time, according to NBCUniversal. The Winter Games will kick off an exceptionally busy February sports broadcasting schedule for NBCUniversal, which also includes coverage of the 60th Super Bowl and the National Basketball Association’s All-Star Weekend. The company…

Las Vegas: NVIDIA Chief Executive Jensen Huang unveiled Alpamayo, a new technology platform designed to help autonomous vehicles reason and make decisions in a more human-like way. Huang announced the platform during his keynote address at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. According to Huang, Alpamayo introduces advanced reasoning capabilities to self-driving cars, enabling them to navigate rare and unpredictable scenarios, operate safely in complex environments, and clearly explain the decisions they make while driving. During the presentation, Huang also revealed that NVIDIA has begun producing a driverless Mercedes-Benz CLA powered by its technology, developed in partnership…

London: Adults in England are consuming the equivalent amount of salt found in 155 bags of crisps every week, according to analysis by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The charity said that this equates to around 22 bags a day of ready-salted, lightly salted, or sea-salted crisps. Dell Stanford, a Senior Dietitian at the BHF, said that most dietary salt is hidden in everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, ready-made sauces, and ready meals, making it difficult for people to monitor how much they are consuming. Stanford warned that excessive salt intake poses serious risks to heart health, as…

London: Spending time outdoors on chilly days is often blamed for coughs, colds, and runny noses, but experts say cold weather itself is not the direct cause. While respiratory infections are more common in winter, this is largely due to how people behave during colder months rather than the temperature alone. John Tregoning, Professor of vaccine immunology at Imperial College London, says the link between cold weather and catching a cold is ‘almost certainly correlation, not causation.’ One small contributing factor is sunlight, as ultraviolet (UV) light can kill viruses. For example, sneezing outdoors in summer may expose viral droplets…

Kent, UK: The UK Home Office’s plan to immediately seize asylum seekers’ mobile phones and SIM cards without making an arrest has been strongly criticised by solicitors and anti-torture campaigners, who argue the measures are invasive, potentially unlawful, and inhumane. From January 5, people arriving in the UK by small boat and taken to the Manston processing centre in Kent will be eligible for searches of electronic devices, a minister has confirmed. The site is equipped with technology that allows officials to download data from phones. Under the new powers, officers will be authorised to require asylum seekers to remove…

Birmingham: Banks are warning customers about a growing rise in digital wallet fraud, where criminals pose as bank officials and trick victims into approving notifications that give scammers access to their payment cards stored in digital wallets. Financial institutions say digital wallet scams allow criminals to add victims’ cards to digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, before draining accounts through high-value purchases. Santander said that digital wallet fraud was the second biggest cause of card scam losses last year, while HSBC reported an increase in digital wallet-related fraud cases over the past 18 months. UK Finance, the…

Kolkata/Dhaka: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is considering relocating its Twenty20 World Cup matches from India following the release of fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman by his Indian Premier League (IPL) team, amid escalating tensions between the two countries. The Kolkata Knight Riders confirmed that they had released Rahman after being directed to do so by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Bangladesh is scheduled to play T20 World Cup matches in Kolkata next month, as part of a tournament co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Tensions between India and Bangladesh intensified last month after Dipu Chandra Das,…

London: Reddit has overtaken TikTok to become Britain’s fourth most visited social media platform, as changes to search algorithms and shifting Gen Z habits have significantly boosted its prominence. The online discussion platform has recorded dramatic growth over the past two years, with an 88 percent increase in the proportion of UK internet users it reaches. According to media regulator Ofcom, three in five people online in the UK now encounter Reddit, compared with just one-third in 2023. Its popularity has grown fastest among younger users, with Reddit now ranking as the sixth most visited organisation of any kind among…