Vodafone outage: thousands of broadband and mobile users report problems

Tens of thousands of Vodafone customers were reporting that they could not access services including the internet and making mobile phone calls on Monday.Consumers started reporting problems on the website of the outage monitor Downdetector from about 3pm on Monday.By 3.20pm the number of reports of service disruption had surged to more than 135,000.According to a breakdown of the reported incidents, more than two-thirds related to customers who have Vodafone’s internet broadband services to their homes

Carmakers chose to cheat to sell cars rather than comply with emissions law, ‘dieselgate’ trial told

Car manufacturers decided they would rather cheat to prioritise “customer convenience” and sell cars than comply with the law on deadly pollutants, the first trial day of the largest group action in English legal history has been told.More than a decade after the original “dieselgate” scandal broke, lawyers representing 1.6 million diesel car owners in the UK argue that manufacturers deliberately installed software to rig emissions tests.They allege the “prohibited defeat devices” could detect when the cars were under test conditions and ensure that harmful NOx emissions were kept within legal limits, duping regulators and drivers.Should the claim be upheld, estimated damages could exceed £6bn

Equity threatens mass direct action over use of actors’ images in AI content

The performing arts union Equity has threatened mass direct action over tech and entertainment companies’ use of its members’ likenesses, images and voices in AI content without permission.The warning came as the union said growing numbers of its members had made complaints about infringements of their copyright and misuse of their personal data in AI material.Its general secretary, Paul W Fleming, said it planned to coordinate data requests en masse to companies to force them to disclose whether they used members’ data in AI-generated material without consent.Last week the union confirmed its was supporting a Scottish actor who believes her image was used in the creation of the “AI actor” Tilly Norwood, which has been widely condemned by the film industry.Briony Monroe, 28, from East Renfrewshire, said she believed that an image of her face had been used to make the digital character, created by the AI “talent studio” Xicoia, which has denied her claims

AI could make it harder to establish blame for medical failings, experts say

The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare could create a legally complex blame game when it comes to establishing liability for medical failings, experts have warned.The development of AI for clinical use has boomed, with researchers creating a host of tools, from algorithms to help interpret scans to systems that can aid with diagnoses. AI is also being developed to help manage hospitals, from optimising bed capacity to tackling supply chains.But while experts say the technology could bring myriad benefits for healthcare, they say there is also cause for concern, from a lack of testing of the effectiveness of AI tools to questions over who is responsible should a patient have a negative outcome.Prof Derek Angus, of the University of Pittsburgh, said: “There’s definitely going to be instances where there’s the perception that something went wrong and people will look around to blame someone

Luther Burrell claims speaking out about racist abuse ended rugby career

The former England rugby union player Luther Burrell has alleged that he was effectively forced to retire from the game after he spoke out about racist abuse he suffered from teammates.Burrell, 37, first alleged that he had been the victim of racism while playing for the then Newcastle Falcons, now Newcastle Red Bulls, in 2022. Among the allegations he made at the time, Burrell claimed that a teammate at Newcastle had referred to him as a “slave” and told him to apply sunscreen to his wrists and ankles as that’s “where your shackles were”.Speaking on Monday to the BBC, Burrell said that the investigation that began after he made the claims caused his opportunities to dry up and that despite wanting to keep playing he has been unable to find a contract at a professional club for the past three years.“I have absolutely had to retire because of what’s gone on,” Burrell said

Australia targets offshore wagering threat with major sporting events on horizon

The threat of organised crime and the emergence of new offshore wagering havens in tiny jurisdictions such as Vanuatu will be a focus of Australia’s largest gathering of sports integrity professionals this week, as the nation prepares to host at least one major international sporting event each year in the run up to the 2032 Brisbane Games.Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) will bring together the codes, law enforcement agencies and wagering companies with the goal of establishing a major events taskforce on Wednesday, following a separate Victoria Police summit on Tuesday featuring 200-plus integrity experts.Although there has been cooperation for previous events such as the 2015 men’s Asian Cup and 2023 Women’s World Cup, the new arrangements reflect SIA’s new co-ordination role under sports integrity treaty the Macolin Convention, amid heightened awareness of the cross-border character of illegal wagering.James Moller, head of strategy and international policy at SIA, said it is “well understood” what to do when an alert arrives from local wagering partners around suspicious betting within domestic sport, but interstate and international collaboration can be less straightforward.“You could have athletes arriving in Western Australia, in New South Wales, in Queensland, you could have gambling happening in a different state or territory, and the sports betting environment is truly global,” Moller said