Diwali fireworks spark severe smog as Delhi’s pollution season begins

Delhi awoke to a thick haze on Tuesday, a day after millions of people celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali with fireworks, marking the beginning of the pollution season that has become an annual blight on India’s capital. Those in the most polluted city in the world once again found themselves breathing dangerously toxic air

Myanmar raids KK Park scam compound, detains over 2,000

Myanmar’s military has raided a major online scam operation near the border with Thailand, detaining more than 2,000 people and seizing dozens of Starlink satellite internet terminals, state media has reported. According to a report in Monday’s Myanma Alinn newspaper, Myanmar’s army raided KK Park, a well-documented cybercrime centre, as part of operations starting in

Tories Demand Starmer Sack Reeves Over Licence Error and Tax Threat

Tories say Starmer should sack Reeves for breaking law and breaking ministerial code The Conservative have said Keir Starmer should sack Rachel Reeves. A Tory spokesperson said: Rachel Reeves has broken the law and broken the ministerial code, but Keir Starmer is too weak to sack her. While the chancellor is planning tax hikes for

Woman loses child benefit after booking but not taking Oslo flight

A woman who booked a flight from London to Oslo but never checked in or travelled has had her child benefit stopped by the UK government. Tax authorities told her their records showed she had emigrated. Lisa Morris-Almond is one of thousands of people who have had their child benefit frozen as part of a

Four-day week benefits clearer despite ministerial criticism

In his stern letter to South Cambridgeshire district council, the housing secretary, Steve Reed, criticised the decline in “key housing-related services including rent collection, reletting times and tenant satisfaction with repairs” during its trial of a four-day working week. The independent report he refers to is a dense 104-page document packed with tables, graphs and

Leaders urge ministers to back England’s four-day week shift

More than 100 business and charity leaders have called on ministers to “lead the country’s transition toward a shorter working week”, after the local government secretary criticised a council for shifting to a four-day work pattern. Steve Reed wrote to South Cambridgeshire district council, the first English council to trial a four-day week, raising concerns

White-knuckled wolf spider rediscovered on Isle of Wight

A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat. The Aulonia albimana , a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock

Extremists Exploit Political Violence Online, NYU Study Finds

Extremists are exploiting political violence on online platforms to recruit new people to their causes and amplify the use of violence for political goals, according to a new report that monitored social platforms after recent attacks. Researchers at New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights tracked social media feeds for several months

National Guard Presence in Washington Extended Through February

National guard troops sent to the nation’s capital will reportedly remain there through at least February. The order was set to lapse at the end of November but was extended by Pete Hegseth, who leads the US Department of Defense. As of Wednesday, there are nearly 2,400 national guard troops in Washington DC, according to

Microsoft posts strong earnings despite Azure outage

Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of tech giant to more than $4tn. After its
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