Internet Watch Foundation report shows 380% increase in illegal AI-generated imagery in 2024, most of it ‘category A’
Images of child sexual abuse created by artificial intelligence are becoming “significantly more realistic”, according to an online safety watchdog.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said advances in AI are being reflected in illegal content created and consumed by paedophiles, saying: “In 2024, the quality of AI-generated videos improved exponentially, and all types of AI imagery assessed appeared significantly more realistic as the technology developed.”
US president says tariffs on imported goods will come down from 145% rate but insists ‘we’re doing fine with China’
Donald Trump said during a White House news conference that high tariffs on goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”.
Trump’s remarks were in response to earlier comments on Tuesday by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who said that the high tariffs were unsustainable and that he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Russell George, the Conservative member for Montgomeryshire, said he was withdrawing his candidacy to stand in next year’s election to focus on clearing his name.
The Senedd member was one of a number of people linked to the Conservative party reported to have made bets on the election date, which was called by then-prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Senedd Conservative leader Darren Millar withdrew the whip from George last week after the Gambling Commission announced the charges, meaning he now sits as an independent within the Welsh parliament.
George, 50, said in a statement on Tuesday: “I was shocked and surprised to have been informed by the Gambling Commission that I am facing charges for cheating.
“To be clear, I have never cheated. However, given the Gambling Commission’s decision, and my understanding of what will follow, this is likely to be a lengthy process that may not be resolved by May 2026.
“In the circumstances, I feel I have no alternative but to withdraw my candidacy for next year’s Senedd elections so that I can focus on fighting to clear my name.
“I will of course continue to serve the people of Montgomeryshire to the very best of my ability.
“I am grateful for the many messages of support that I have received in recent days, particularly from constituents.”
Among others facing charges are: Craig Williams, the former MP for Montgomeryshire; Nick Mason, a former chief data officer for the party; Laura Saunders, the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West last July; and Tony Lee, the Conservatives’ campaigns director, who is married to Saunders.
‘When players are fit and available, they have to play’
Liverpool to be league winners if Arsenal lose to Palace
Mikel Arteta will not shy away from selecting key Arsenal personnel to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday in their final game before next week’s Champions League semi-final first leg even though his team are playing for little beyond pride.
The meagre prize on offer is delaying Liverpool’s title celebrations but the manager denied he could wrap members of his squad in cotton wool. “We cannot think in those terms,” Arteta said. “I think when the players are fit and they are available and they want to play, they have to play. They are at their best when they are playing and they have consistency in their performances.”
On the touchline a picture of two managers with high, contrasting emotion coursing through them after Matheus Nunes’s 94th-minute winner. For Manchester City, Pep Guardiola showed sheer delight at a late, late victory that lifts them to third on 61 points, four ahead of Chelsea in sixth. Across from him, Unai Emery felt despair as Aston Villa were down in seventh, the Spaniard’s next job to lift his men for their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Nunes’s far-post strike from Jérémy Doku’s cross from the left also disappointed Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and Chelsea in the race for the top-five berth that secures a Champions League place.
Serie A leaders Inter will now host Roma on Sunday
Italy v Wales in Women’s Six Nations to be rescheduled
Serie A has postponed its three fixtures on Saturday because of Pope Francis’s funeral being held that day in Rome. Meanwhile, Italy’s Women’s Six Nations match against Wales is also expected to be rescheduled as the country prepares to pay its respects.
Earlier media reports in Italy had suggested that Serie A might make an exception for Inter’s clash with the visitors Roma to allow Simone Inzaghi’s side additional rest time before their midweek Champions League semi-final at Barcelona. However, the league has confirmed that the game at San Siro will now kick off at 2pm (all times BST) on Sunday.
The comic’s love for his home town leads him on this charming and wacky odyssey to find ‘his people’ across the pond. Brummies of the world unite!
Joe Lycett is on a mission to visit every one of the 17 Birminghams in the US and the one in Canada too. Why? Because he is a native of the UK’s own Birmingham, and he wants to see if there is any shared identifiable vibe and to foster a sense of togetherness among the scattered Brummies. Also, as he says, he has a pressing need to make a travelogue for Sky “and if anyone can do it, it’s Frank Sk– … it’s me”. There is also a Birmingham on the moon (a remnant of an impact crater – save your jokes, please, that’s Joe’s department) and one in Belgium. But “we don’t have a lunar budget and I’m not going to Belgium,” says Lycett, so off he sets round the US in a tour bus suitably decked out in Cat Deeley and Alison Hammond scatter cushions. They both hail from Birmingham in the UK. This is not difficult, people. Do try to keep up.
Joe has a sheaf of “friendship agreements” for the Birmingham mayors to sign – including a promise to stand together in Nato’s stead should it fall – a pen once used by the Queen Mother with which to do so, a collection of commemorative plaques and some Birmingham-centred presents to give to the people he meets along the way. There is Cadbury’s chocolate, of course, originally manufactured by one of the Quaker families whose histories are centred round the city; Bird’s custard (“sugar and asbestos”) invented by Brummie chemist Alfred Bird in 1837; HP Sauce (born of Nottingham but made famous under the aegis of the Midland Vinegar Company); and some of the 723 novels by “the David Walliams of her day”, Dame Barbara Cartland, originally of Edgbaston. Not all of these facts are in the programme, by the way. Joe’s enthusiastic spirit and evident love for his home town inspired me to go digging. He has that effect on you. And indeed on his driver, the North Carolinian Randy who, once he has figured out what little there is to figure out – and, indeed, that there is that little to figure out – relaxes and gets into the swing of things and functions as the perfect foil for his passenger.
Change to requirements to serve in combat roles expected to drastically cut number of women
The US army unveiled plans on Monday to require a fitness test with identical physical standards for men and women in combat positions after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered the elimination of gender-based fitness requirements in frontline roles.
The revamped army fitness test, which replaces the combat fitness test, will be “sex-neutral” and force female soldiers in 21 combat specialties to meet the same benchmarks as men – a change expected to drastically cut the number of women qualifying for these positions.
CEO to pare back White House work to one to two days weekly as analysts say role has caused branding crisis
The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, said he will start pulling back from his role at the so-called “department of government efficiency” starting in May. Musk’s remarks came as the company reported a massive dip in both profits and revenues in the first quarter of 2025 amid backlash against his role in the White House.
On an investor call, Musk said the work necessary to get the government’s “financial house in order is mostly done”.
Jury finds newspaper not liable for allegedly defaming former Alaska governor in 2017 editorial about gun control
Sarah Palin on Tuesday lost in the retrial of her defamation case against the New York Times – a second defeat in the efforts by the former Republican vice-presidential candidate.
A federal jury in New York deliberated for two hours then found the newspaper not liable for allegedly defaming Palin in a 2017 editorial about gun control. Palin appeared dejected as she left the courthouse in Manhattan.
Panel unanimously accepts charges against six more key allies of ex-president over alleged plan to keep him in office
A panel of Brazil’s supreme court justices has unanimously accepted criminal charges against six more key allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.
Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former rightwing leader to stand trial.
Process yielded seven-woman, five-man jury, more females than the group that convicted media mogul five years ago
Opening statements are set for Wednesday in the former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial, this time with a majority-female jury deciding the landmark #MeToo case.
After a days-long selection process yielded a seven-woman, five-man jury and five alternate jurors by Monday, prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers finished choosing a sixth and final alternate on Tuesday. Alternates step in if a member of the main panel can’t see the trial through.
Ex-congressman writes letter in bid for leniency and says seven-year sentence sought by prosecutors is too harsh
The disgraced former congressman George Santos is defending his recent social media remarks to a federal judge who will sentence him this week on several fraud charges.
In a letter before his Friday court appearance in New York, Santos, 36, said he was “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but believed a seven-year prison sentence was too harsh, AP reported.
David Lammy to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks in London amid encouraging speculation
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.
The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.
17 secs: Ollie Watkins scored after 34 seconds against Newcastle on Saturday. Marcus Rashford nearly does so after half that tonight! He twists and turns down the inside-left channel before threading a shot across Ortega and off the base of the right-hand post!
British boxer discusses the horrors of making weight and strained relations with his dad before Saturday’s grudge match with Conor Benn
Chris Eubank Jr sits in his hotel room, locked in the extremes of a savage weight cut. Boiling down in weight gets even harder at the age of 35 but the words still flow freely. Eubank Jr can produce intelligent insights as easily as he churns out typical bombast and so he has no difficulty in explaining why his fight on Saturday night with Conor Benn will darken the British sporting landscape this week.
They were first meant to fight in October 2022, when a manufactured scrap was built on the enmity between their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, in the 1990s. Separated by two weight divisions, the sons were brought together in a dubious catchweight contest while banging on about family feuds and legacies.
Bill Owens says in staff memo ‘it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it’
Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, says he is leaving the flagship news program because he lost his journalistic independence.
In a staff memo obtained by the New York Times, Owens said that “over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience”.
Group of gunmen open fire on holidaymakers in Indian-controlled region in midst of US vice-president’s visit to country
At least 26 tourists have been killed and ten injured after suspected militants opened fire at a popular local tourist destination in Kashmir during a scheduled four-day visit to the country by the US president JD Vance.
Most of the victims were Indian, although two foreign nationals were also reportedly among the dead.
The US vice-president contrasts India’s potential with west’s ‘self-loathing’ in speech in Jaipur
JD Vance has described the US-India partnership as the cornerstone of global progress, warning that the 21st century could be “a very dark time for all of humanity” if the two countries fail to cooperate.
In the keynote policy speech of his four-day visit to India, the US vice-president contrasted the country’s “incredible” potential with a “self-loathing” west.
Imagine spending some of your remaining hours on Earth with the US vice-president – or, as Queen Elizabeth did – with Liz Truss
What do Liz Truss and JD Vance have against elderly people? Specifically, those who are kind, decent and compassionate.
Take Radon Liz. In September 2022 she made a fleeting visit to Balmoral to be sworn in as prime minister by the queen. The last picture that was taken of Queen Elizabeth was of her standing in front of a fireplace next to Truss. You can’t escape the desperation in her eyes. Please, please, she seems to be pleading, get me away from her.
Biles would be 31 at the start of next Summer Games
Simone Biles says she is unsure whether she will compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
The 28-year-old says she has other priorities, and is mindful of the demands her sport puts on her body at an age when most elite gymnasts have long since retired. Biles will be 31 when the LA Olympics start: the oldest all-around female gymnastics champion is Maria Gorokhovskaya, who won gold at the age of 30 at the 1952 Games.
Ronnie O’Sullivan had to settle for a single-frame overnight advantage as the opening session of his world championship first-round encounter with his old foe Ali Carter failed to live up to its pre-match hype.
The seven-time champion, returning to the tour for the first time since dumping his cue after losing a Championship League match in January, appeared to have scraped out a 6-3 lead to take into Wednesday afternoon’s scheduled conclusion. However, Carter dug deep after O’Sullivan missed a long red to the top corner in the final frame of the day, gradually reeling in a 51-point deficit and nervelessly clearing the colours to cut his deficit to 5-4.
The US president’s economic agenda collides with fragile financial systems, triggering market fears, investor flight and developing nation chaos
Wake up! When the most sober of global institutions, the International Monetary Fund, abandons its usual technocratic calm to sound the alarm on the political roots of global financial instability, it’s time to pay attention. The IMF is warning of a non-negligible risk of a $1tn hit to global output, as Donald Trump’s erratic “America first” agenda – part oligarchic enrichment scheme, part mobster shakedown – collides with a perfect storm of global financial vulnerabilities.
Such a shock would be equivalent to a third of that experienced in the 2008 crisis. But it would be felt in a much more fragile and politically charged environment. This time, the crisis stems not just from markets but from the politics at the heart of the dollar system. The IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report sees the danger in Mr Trump’s trade policies, especially his “liberation day” announcements, which have pushed up America’s effective tariff rate to the highest in over 100 years.
The sentencing of opponents and other public figures to as much as 66 years in prison highlights the president’s dismantling of political achievements
Tunisia wasn’t just the birthplace of the Arab spring. In 2021, a decade after the movement swept across the region, it remained a flickering yet precious beacon of democracy when other nations had swiftly fallen into chaos or authoritarianism. Then President Kais Saied staged a self-coup and reversed most of his country’s progress, dismantling institutions and snatching away his compatriots’ hard-won civil liberties.
Following his re-election last year – in a contest from which all significant opposition had been removed, and on a historically low turnout – he has redoubled his efforts. Civil society, business, the judiciary and the media as well as political opponents have all felt the pain, but it hasn’t stopped with them. Last year, officials from the Tunisian Swimming Federation were arrested for plotting against state security over their failure to display the national flag at a competition.
Kevin Farrell rose through the ecclesiastical ranks to be made camerlengo by Pope Francis, whose death has thrust him into the global spotlight
The cardinal who announced the death of Pope Francis bore the ancient Vatican title of camerlengo and spoke in Italian, but there was no mistaking the Dublin accent.
Long before he rose through the ecclesiastical ranks and was entrusted with temporarily running the Holy See, Kevin Farrell was an altar boy from an Irish republican family in the working-class suburb of Drimnagh.
Gold has climbed above $3,500 an ounce for the first time while stocks on Wall Street and the dollar rose following Monday’s sell-off that was prompted by Donald Trump’s blistering attack on the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, caused alarm among investors.
Spot gold reached the record price of $3,500.01 on Tuesday, extending a rally that has pushed bullion up from $2,623 an ounce at the start of this year. Analysts now predict the metal could even reach $4,000 only a matter of weeks after the price moved through $3,000 for the first time.
Parents argue constitutional religious rights should allow them to opt children out when LGBTQ+ books are read
The US supreme court is considering on Tuesday an attempt by Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland to keep their elementary schoolchildren out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters are read in the latest case involving the intersection of religion and LGBTQ+ rights.
The justices are hearing arguments in an appeal by parents with children in public schools in Montgomery county, located just outside Washington, after lower courts declined to order the local school district to let children opt out when these books are read.
Late-night hosts talk Pope Francis’s death after meeting with vice-president, JD Vance, and Trump’s dark Easter post
With several hosts on post-Easter holiday, Jimmy Kimmel recaps Donald Trump’s hypocritical messages on religion and the death of Pope Francis at the age of 88.
Keir Starmer has welcomed what he termed the “real clarity” of last week’s supreme court ruling on gender recognition, saying it was important now to draft guidance to help organisations deal with the repercussions.
In his first comments since the court’s definitive ruling that “woman” in the Equality Act refers only to a biological woman, the prime minister called it “a welcome step forward”.
US trade officials are preparing to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four south-east Asian countries, while the International Energy Agency has said lessons from the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had not been fully learned.
The US commerce department has announced the new tariffs, targeting companies in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, after an investigation begun a year ago when American manufacturers of solar panels accused Chinese companies of flooding the market with subsidised, cheap goods.
Spending nearly a decade on the move gave me a deeper understanding of the importance of conversation, people’s boundless generosity – and my limitations
I have often felt as if I was born 100 years too late. There was a time when satellites weren’t whizzing above us and everything had yet to be discovered or filmed. Growing up, it seemed as if all the great adventures had happened before I was born. But in 2013 I discovered that – although it had been attempted – no one had made an unbroken journey through every country without flying. I had a shot at becoming the first to do it.
I was fascinated that such an adventure was still out there, untouched. However, I was in my 30s, I had just met a wonderful woman, my peers were having their first children (and in some cases their second) and I had a 12-year career in shipping and logistics. But I couldn’t let the idea go. So, at 34, I set off – and didn’t return home until almost a decade later. These are the lessons I learned along the way.
After two actors died in Owerri, Imo State, AGN head Emeka Rollas drew comparisons to events last year, when popular Nollywood actor Junior Pope drowned
The president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria has called for mass prayers and increased unionisation after the death of two actors in Owerri, the capital city of Imo State.
Posting on Instagram, Emeka Rollas advocated spiritual intervention and better workplace regulation to try to prevent future tragedies after the two men, who have not yet been named, died on Friday.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is collecting the private medical records of many Americans from several different federal and commercial databases to give to researchers for US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new autism study.
With this information being included in the database, the NIH is also reportedly crafting a new registry to track those with autism, per CBS News.
Jerome Powell is a soft target for the president amid economic instability. But getting rid of him would only invite more chaos
US stock markets, Treasury bonds and the dollar itself are sliding amid the tariff turmoil and Donald Trump needs a soft target. It was probably only a matter of time before he intensified his attacks on Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve. It is an easy narrative to blame the dull central banker with orthodox worries about anchoring inflation expectations. Nor is Powell able to engage in tit-for-tat soundbites. Unlike Trump, he must measure the impact on markets of his every word.
The open question is how far Trump intends to push things. Monday’s reaction in financial markets was strong because it seemed for the first time that the president could be serious about removal. “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” declared Trump, which was several notches beyond his usual whine about urging the Fed to hurry up with cuts in interest rates.
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has proposed a sweeping reorganisation of the US state department as part of what he called an effort to reform it amid criticism from the Trump White House over the execution of US diplomacy.
If approved, the reorganisation would cut more than 700 positions and eliminate 132 of 734 offices, according to state department officials. But those officials also stressed that the plan, which was suddenly announced on Tuesday, remained a proposal and would not lead to immediate layoffs or cuts.
GSU will establish the Gullah Geechee Sacred Land Project to research and protect the community and its culture
A new $500,000 Mellon grant will allow Georgia State University to develop archival, historical and cultural research to protect Gullah Geechee heritage and communities in Georgia and South Carolina.
Using the grant, GSU will establish the Gullah Geechee Sacred Land Project (GGSLP), which will be “dedicated to maintaining African American burial grounds by recovering communities’ spiritual, genealogical and spatial lineages and safeguarding the places where those communities interred their ancestors”, according to a statement by the college.
The Kremlin says it is open to direct talks with Ukraine but has declined to back Kyiv’s proposal to extend the Easter ceasefire.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday that there were no concrete plans for negotiations on halting strikes against civilian targets, but that the Russian president was willing to discuss this directly with Ukraine if Kyiv removed “certain obstacles”.
Billionaires, starring Steve Carell and Ramy Youssef, meet amid an international crisis in HBO’s of-the-moment satire
A summit of influential male billionaires is under way in the first teaser trailer for Mountainhead.
HBO unveiled the extended look at the first feature from the Succession creator Jesse Armstrong on Tuesday, which stars Steve Carell, Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef and Jason Schwartzman as a group of billionaire friends who meet at an alpine retreat during an international crisis.
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