Author: LoveWorld UK

Mortgage market misery has stepped up for homebuyers as lenders continue to increase borrowing rates and pull deals, prompting record numbers to take out loans of more than 35 years in an attempt to make monthly payments more affordable. A record 19% of all loans taken out by first-time buyers in March were for terms of 35 years or longer, with more than half taking a loan of more than 30 years, as house-hunters seek to make the soaring cost of loans more affordable. This is the highest proportion since records began in 2005, the trade body UK Finance is expected…

High-risk artificial intelligence technology (AI) may soon be banned in Australia after the federal government announced it will move to establish guardrails around its growth. Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic said that despite AI now being a prevalent part of people’s lives, he said there was a demand for some sort of regulation from the community. “The Albanese government wants to basically set up the next reforms that can give people confidence that we’re curbing the risks, maximising the benefits, and giving people that, as I said, that assurance that the technology is working for us and not the other…

The government is likely to lose its legal case against the Covid inquiry, a government minister has said. The Cabinet Office has said it will seek a judicial review of the inquiry’s demand that it submit Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages unredacted. Science minister George Freeman told the BBC’s Question Time he had “very little doubt” a court would find the documents should be handed over. But, he added, it was “worth testing” if officials had a right to privacy. On Thursday, the government missed a 16:00 BST deadline to submit messages sent between Mr Johnson and 40 other ministers and…

An AI-enabled drone turned on and “killed” its human operator during a simulated U.S. Air Force (USAF) test so that it could complete its mission, a U.S. Air Force colonel reportedly recently told a conference in London. The simulated incident was recounted by Col. Tucker Hamilton, USAF’s chief of AI Test and Operations, during his presentation at the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit in London. The conference was organized by the Royal Aeronautical Society, which shared the insights from Hamilton’s talk in a blog post. No actual people were harmed in the simulated test, which involved the AI-controlled drone destroying simulated…

Sam Allardyce and Leeds have decided to go their separate ways after the Elland Road club’s relegation to the Championship. Although Allardyce presided over the collection of only one point during his four-match interim tenure at the end of the season, the staff and players at Leeds were highly impressed by his management style and the possibility of keeping the former England manager in the post next season was seriously considered. Yet after a day of discussions with the West Yorkshire club’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear, on Thursday, it emerged that no agreement was reached, dictating that Allardyce is set…

More than 20,000 rail workers in England have begun a 24-hour strike that will cancel half of the services on affected lines as part of a long-running dispute with train operators over jobs, pay and conditions. The stoppage by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) – the second of three by rail unions to hit the network this week – will affect most operators in England and some cross-border services into Scotland and Wales. Then on Saturday more than 12,000 members of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, who went on strike on Wednesday, will carry out another day of…

A cabinet minister has piled pressure on the government to hand over Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry, saying it should be allowed to “get on with its job”. Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, said there was “nothing to be shy or embarrassed about” for ministers who were trying their best to grapple with the first pandemic in a century. As the 4pm deadline for the Cabinet Office to hand over the files loomed, he called for the inquiry to be given “whatever they want”. “There are things which we did that were very good,” Shapps told…

Novak Djokovic has insisted that he would not hesitate to opine on Kosovo and the clashes between Kosovo authorities and ethnic Serbs again, even as the backlash to his comments continues to grow. “I don’t mind saying that. I mean, I would say it again,” Djokovic said. “But I don’t need to because you have my quotes if you want to reflect on that. Of course I’m aware that a lot of people would disagree, but it is what it is. It’s something that I stand for.” On Wednesday night Djokovic defeated Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-3 to reach…

José Mourinho claimed that he and his team left with their dignity intact despite accusing Anthony Taylor of refereeing “like a Spaniard”, describing some of his decisions as a “scandal” and expressing his desire not to come up against him next season following Roma’s Europa League final loss to Sevilla. Roma were defeated by Sevilla on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Budapest, inflicting a first European final defeat on the Portuguese coach who had won his previous five, and the coach said afterwards that he was “tired of having to be the one that says we have been robbed”. Mourinho also…

FBI Director Christopher Wray has refused to comply with a May 30 deadline to hand over a document alleging that then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national were involved in a criminal scheme, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced. “Today, the FBI informed the committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the committee,” Comer said in a statement. “The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable.” Comer is scheduled to have a phone call with Wray on May 31. Nonetheless, he said, the…