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• Meta Platforms (META) is experiencing significant top-line growth driven by the company's accelerating expansion into artificial intelligence. • Key technological drivers include the release of the Muse family of models and the deployment of an upgraded Meta AI assistant. • This strategic AI push is positioning the company for further financial upside by enhancing its product offerings and competitive edge.

• The Trump administration is pressuring Meta to submit its frontier AI models for federal review to ensure national security. • Meta is currently the only major US AI developer that has not yet agreed to this government oversight process. • This move signals a shift toward treating advanced AI as a critical security matter rather than just a commercial technology.

• The US government has urged Meta to voluntarily submit its AI models for federal review to identify and assess potential security vulnerabilities. • Meta is currently the only major US AI developer that has not reached an agreement to share its models with the government, following the April launch of its Muse Spark AI model. • This request is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to intensify oversight and security monitoring within the rapidly evolving AI industry.

• The European Union has scaled back its accession timetable for Ukraine and Moldova due to renewed resistance from Hungary. • The EU now aims to unblock only two accession clusters before the summer break, a significant reduction from the original goal of five. • This shift highlights the ongoing diplomatic friction and the power of individual member states to stall the integration process for candidate countries.

Former employee files complaint accusing company of ‘coercive surveillance’ and first amendment violationThe Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams is suing the tech company over its efforts to “silence” her.A 57-page complaint filed to a US district court in California on Thursday argues that an interim arbitration ruling sought by Meta preventing Wynn-Williams from publicising her memoir, Careless People, was “improper and unlawful” and a “blatant violation of the first amendment”. It also accuses the company of “coercive surveillance”. Continue reading...

Pair of sick snakes discovered at club in County Durham presumed to have been dumped there by ownerFor most golfers, the biggest hindrance they are likely to come across during a round is a strong gust of wind or getting their ball caught in a bunker. For golfers in County Durham, however, the obstacles that players have encountered are 3 metres long and covered in scales.Two boa constrictors have been found on Blackwell Grange Golf Club in Darlington one week apart, with the first being found on 13 June during a children’s golf lesson when a 12-year-old girl’s shot landed directly on the snake. Continue reading...

Duty on imports outside new quota will double in move echoed by similar changes in EU limitsBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK government will halve the amount of tariff-free steel imports allowed in an attempt to counter a global oversupply of cheap Chinese metal and boost its beleaguered local industry.New “safeguards” will be introduced on 1 July and will coincide with similar new limits being introduced by the EU for the same purposes. Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan said procurement rules had been broken but allows police another 12 months to operate pilot in LondonThe Metropolitan police has been granted a 12-month extension to a pilot project with the spy tech firm Palantir while the force carries out a procurement process.The development comes weeks after the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, blocked a £50m deal between the Met and the US company to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations. Continue reading...

• President Trump met with GOP senators following the cancellation of a scheduled housing bill signing, though reports indicate he eventually signed a housing affordability bill. • In New York’s 10th Congressional District, candidate Lander secured an election victory as part of a broader progressive surge. • The win is linked to a wave of challenges supported by Mamdani allies, who are attempting to reshape New York City's political landscape.

Workers signed petition against tool that tracked staff keystrokes, mouse clicks and computer screen contentMark Zuckerberg’s Meta has paused a program that tracked employees’ computer activity amid data privacy concerns and a staff backlash.The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had introduced a tool that tracked staff keystrokes, mouse clicks and content displayed on computer screens in order to collect data for training its AI models. Continue reading...

• Global tech stocks have plummeted as investor sentiment shifts from speculative AI optimism to a focus on tangible financial returns. • Bank of America's bubble indicator shows the Nasdaq 100 is approaching a 0.8 threshold, signaling elevated short-term tail risk for the market. • Despite the current volatility, analysts suggest the AI bubble may take several years to fully develop before reaching a peak.

• New research suggests that plasma from distant stars may interfere with and transform radio signals sent by alien civilizations. • This phenomenon could cause signals to be distorted or altered, leading scientists on Earth to overlook prime evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. • The study highlights a critical gap in current SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) methods, which may be searching for the wrong signal patterns.

Curtin University researchers use innovative techniques to date three-billion-year-old impact crater in Pilbara regionA meteorite that struck Earth three billion years ago left behind a “smoking gun” – evidence of the world’s oldest impact crater in a remote part of Australia.Ancient rocks in Western Australia’s Pilbara region record the event, which occurred during the Archean eon, a period 4 to 2.5 billion years ago, when tectonic plates were beginning to form and early life emerging. Continue reading...

UK watchdog gives King & King severe reprimand for failing ‘to identify clear self-interest’ when conducting auditsBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s accounting watchdog has fined and temporarily banned a tiny audit firm for “egregious” failures and “widespread deficiencies” linked to its work in signing off accounts of several companies in Sanjeev Gupta’s metals empire.King & King and its managing partner Milankumar Patel have been fined a total of £378,184, received a “severe reprimand”, and hit with serious restrictions on audit work after a four-year investigation by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Continue reading...

Technology to be used in six more areas next year as critics say tens of thousands of people will be forced into ‘digital police lineup’The Metropolitan police is to expand its use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology, first into London’s West End by Christmas and then into a further six areas next year.The new cameras will be fixed, and could be attached to street furniture such as lamp-posts. Critics said the new plans mean tens of thousands of people will be forced into a “digital police lineup”. Continue reading...

People in southern Wales and area of England from Kent and Sussex to Somerset and Birmingham urged to protect themselves from extreme heatThe UK’s Met Office forecasters have issued a rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday in the face of extreme heat and humidity.It covers southern Wales as far west as Swansea, and an area of England that includes London and runs from the inland areas of Kent and Sussex, all the way across to Somerset, as far north-west as Birmingham, and as far north-east as southern Cambridgeshire. Continue reading...

It’s still unclear whether there will be a leadership contest or an uncontested handover of powerStarmer expected to announce exit plan to clear way for Burnham to become PM‘A shift has taken place’: Starmer faces the music after weekend of reflectionGood morning. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the referendum to leave the EU, which means that Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of the day David Cameron announced he was resigning as PM. After Cameron was forced out by the result of his own referendum, another three Tory PMs were forced out by their own MPs (Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss) and another was forced out by the electorate (Rishi Sunak). Keir Starmer has been PM for less than two years, but he is about to become the sixth PM forced out within a decade, being replaced almost certainly by Andy Burnham.In the past the British used to joke about Italy being a country where prime ministers kept changing all the time. These days Italy looks like a beacon of stability, and Britain has become the place never that far from another bout of political turmoil. Continue reading...

• A gamma-ray stream has been detected coming from the center of the Milky Way, known as the Galactic Center Excess. • Researchers have been unable to rule out the possibility that self-annihilating dark matter is the source of this emission. • The origin of the Galactic Center Excess is a long-standing debate in astrophysics, with no consensus on its cause.

New leader could be chosen unchallenged or after a quick contest while outgoing PM has time to finalise his legacyUK politics live – latest updatesIf the predictions are proved correct and Keir Starmer does announce a timetable for an autumn departure from Downing Street, the machinery of government will again kick into gear for a handover of power – but one that will be, by UK standards, relatively leisurely.While many democracies build in lengthy transition periods – a defeated or retiring US president serves for nearly three months after their successor has been picked – the UK tends to do things at speed. A losing prime minister will typically get out of 10 Downing Street the morning after an election while the removal vans of their replacements lurk idling around the corner. Continue reading...

Health alerts are in place as very high humidity adds to danger of heat stress for the most vulnerableThe Met Office has expanded its extreme heat warning for the UK, predicting record-breaking highs of 38C (100.4F) this week.The Met Office forecasts that extremely high temperatures could last from Monday until Thursday, leading to health concerns for elderly and vulnerable people. The forecaster said there was “growing confidence” that this week may break the record for the hottest June temperature of 35.6C, which was set in 1976 in Southampton and Camden Square, London, in June 1957. Continue reading...

• Premium VOD users in Southeast Asia spend only 8% of their digital time watching premium content, with the majority dedicated to social media, messaging, gaming, and short-form video. • Media expert Dhivya highlights a shift in viewing habits, stating that "there's no primetime anymore" as second-screen usage rewires regional attention spans. • Local stories are currently outperforming Korean dramas in markets with high content investment, specifically Indonesia and Thailand.

Temperatures expected to climb to 30C over the weekend in southern England and south-east WalesThe Met Office has issued an amber extreme heat warning for much of southern England and south-east Wales over the coming days – the most extreme heat warning the weather forecaster has issued for nearly four years.Temperatures are expected to climb to about 30C (86F) over the weekend and peak on Monday and Tuesday at 34C, “though there remains a chance of this being exceeded in some spots”, the Met Office said. Continue reading...

• BTS is expected to perform at the halftime show for the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, held at MetLife Stadium. • Fans are generating significant social media hype, predicting the performance will be a career-defining moment for the group. • The event is viewed as a strategic opportunity for BTS to expand their global reach and introduce their music to an even wider international audience.

Daryl McLune was 16 when he was held for 23 hours on suspicion of attempting to murder his mother after she tried to take her own lifeA teenager who was wrongly arrested for the attempted murder of his mother minutes after she had tried to kill herself has won a race discrimination claim against the Metropolitan police.A jury found that the Met discriminated against Daryl McLune, who was 16 at the time, because he was black. Continue reading...

• Four new prime ministers are joining the European Council, including a new Hungarian leader who arrives at the Europa building this Thursday. • The new prime minister intends to maintain the 2015 border fence and opposes EU migrant relocation quotas, aligning his stance with leaders from Denmark and Poland. • He aims to revive and expand the Visegrád 4 group of Central European countries to strengthen regional cooperation.

Jane and Alan Kelvey know what happened when their small holiday yacht met a warship in the Channel – but Moscow tells a different story“We actually had right of way,” said Jane Kelvey, a little crossly, though keeping it civil. “But we weren’t going to argue with a warship.”The dramatic stand-off in the Channel on Tuesday morning between Admiral Grigorovich, a 125-metre (409ft) battle-hardened Russian frigate, and Bright Future, a 12-metre (40ft) pleasure yacht owned and helmed by Jane, 69 and her husband Alan, 71, has rather caught the nation’s imagination. Continue reading...

• India's statistics ministry has established a high-powered experts committee to examine and strengthen labour market data metrics. • The panel is tasked with reviewing current measurement issues to better reflect the evolving nature of the national workforce. • This initiative matters as accurate data is critical for shaping economic policies and addressing employment challenges in India.

• Meta has begun unwinding its $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus following a divestiture order from the Chinese government citing national security concerns. • The co-founders of Manus are currently in early negotiations to raise approximately $1 billion from external investors to fund the buyback of the company from Meta. • This separation is critical as it allows Manus to potentially transition into a Chinese joint venture structure to comply with Beijing's regulatory requirements.