Technology

The government has launched a consultation on banning social media for under 16s in the UK as a part of a series of measures which it says are intended to “protect young people’s wellbeing.” The package will also see England’s education inspectorate, Ofsted, given the power to check policies on phone use when it goes into schools, with ministers saying ...

The government will consult on whether social media should be banned for under-16s in the UK. It said “immediate action” would give Ofsted the power to check policies on phone use when it inspects schools, and it expected schools to be “phone-free by default” as a result of the announcement. A similar ban took effect in Australia in December 2025, ...

OpenAI announced Friday that it will begin showing advertisements to users of the free version of ChatGPT in the coming weeks, part of the company’s effort to generate revenue from its over 800 million users. The ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT’s responses when relevant to the ongoing conversation and will be clearly labeled and separated from the ...

In a rare move, NASA is cutting a mission aboard the International Space Station short after an astronaut had a medical issue. The space agency said Thursday the US-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned. NASA cancelled its first spacewalk of the year because of the health issue. The space agency did ...

An Indian rocket carrying 16 loads of equipment and experiments including an earth surveillance satellite went off track after liftoff on Monday in a fresh setback to the workhorse launch vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organisation. It was a second disappointment for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in about eight months, denting its reputation for reliability, with a more ...

Cambodia’s arrest and extradition of a powerful tycoon accused of running a vast online scam network marks a rare strike against an industry that has stolen tens of billions of dollars worldwide. U.S. and U.K. authorities say Chen Zhi led a transnational criminal enterprise that exploited trafficked workers and defrauded victims worldwide. For victims, the scams often start small: a ...

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has called on Elon Musk’s X to urgently deal with its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok being used to create non-consensual sexualised images of women and girls. The BBC has seen multiple examples on X of people asking the bot to digitally undress people to make them appear in bikinis without their consent, as well as putting ...

Several clashes between police and mobile traders turned Karwan Bazar into a battle field. The situation gradually became violent centering the program that began in the morning in that area with several demands, including protesting the implementation of the NEIR. When police tried to disperse the protesting mobile traders using baton, they started throwing brick bats, forcing the police personnel ...

As self-driving cars get closer to reality, Tesla is striving to remain a big player. But is it sacrificing safety to stay in the game? For the past few weeks, Geoff Perlman, a 61-year-old technology executive from Texas, has been testing a free trial of Tesla’s latest self-driving software as he travels around Austin. He’s impressed: it can handle confusing ...

The government has launched a new taskforce it says will help women “enter, stay and lead” in the UK tech sector. Led by technology secretary Liz Kendall, it will see female leaders from tech companies and organisations advise the government on how to boost diversity and economic growth in the industry. BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, recently suggested women ...