South East Water boss in line for £400,000 bonus despite outages

The boss of the company that has left thousands of households in south-east England without water for days is in line for a £400,000 long-term bonus regardless of his performance, if he resists calls for him to resign over the outages.David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, is to receive the payout if he stays on until July 2030.Hinton is facing calls to give up his right to the previously unreported “service award”. The payment, which was disclosed in the company’s annual report, is not performance-related, meaning that as long as he remains, Hinton will receive it whatever the company’s record on water supplies or pollution.South East Water has faced immense pressure after 30,000 households in Kent and East and West Sussex endured days of water supply failures in November and again in January

New York bakery staff push for union, claiming they were forced to bake for Israeli fundraisers

Workers at popular New York City bakery chain Breads Bakery announced a move to unionize, claiming it has “underpaid, undervalued, disrespected, discriminated against, intimidated and hurt” staff, as well as supported “the genocide happening in Palestine”.The company, which has ties to Israel, expressed concern that “divisive political issues” had been introduced into its stores. “We make babka; we don’t engage in politics,” a spokesperson said.But staff involved in the unionization drive claimed that employees were forced by the chain to create products for fundraisers for Israeli organizations, and unable to decline.The union, Breaking Breads, claims that more than 30% of the chain’s 275 workers across New York City had signed union authorization cards, seeking to unionize with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and pushing for better pay, improvements to working conditions such as the replacement of broken equipment, and respect on the job

Grok AI: what do limits on tool mean for X, its users and UK media watchdog?

Elon Musk’s X has announced it will stop the Grok AI tool from allowing users to manipulate images of people to show them in revealing clothing such as bikinis.The furore over Grok, which is integrated with the X platform, has sparked a public and political backlash as well as a formal investigation by Ofcom, the UK’s communications watchdog.Here is a guide to what X’s announcement means for the social media platform, its users and Ofcom.The social media platform said on Wednesday it had implemented “technical measures” to stop the @Grok account on X from allowing the editing of images of real people so that they appear to be in revealing clothing such as bikinis. Before this, users had been able to ask @Grok to manipulate images, with the results being published on the platform

‘Not regulated’: launch of ChatGPT Health in Australia causes concern among experts

A 60-year-old man with no history of mental illness presented at a hospital emergency department insisting that his neighbour was poisoning him. Over the next 24 hours he had worsening hallucinations, and tried to escape the hospital.Doctors eventually discovered the man was on a daily diet of sodium bromide, an inorganic salt mainly used for industrial and laboratory purposes including cleaning and water treatment.He bought it over the internet after ChatGPT told him he could use it in place of table salt because he was worried about the health impacts of salt in his diet. Sodium bromide can accumulate in the body causing a condition called bromism, with symptoms including hallucinations, stupor and impaired coordination

Tour de France reveals the six UK stage plans for historic 2027 Grands Départs

The men’s Tour de France will start in Scotland for the first time in 2027 and make its first visit to Wales when Britain stages the Grand Départ of the men’s and women’s races in the biggest festival of elite cycling on the isles since London 2012.Across six days of racing on British roads, the men’s Tour will visit Edinburgh, Carlisle, Keswick, Liverpool, Welshpool and Cardiff, while the Tour de France Femmes races from Leeds to Manchester, then to Sheffield and also includes a central London stage. On Thursday night all host cities were illuminated by yellow beams in recognition of them staging the Tour.Simon Morton, UK Sport’s director of events, said that the ambition was “to host a massive sporting event that would genuinely thread together the countries, cities, and communities of Great Britain.“The route details do just that, enabling us to reach, unite, and inspire people right across the country – providing moments of joy for millions, bringing communities together, and delivering lasting benefits beyond race day

Razor’s All Blacks lacked sharp edge but sacking Robertson does not guarantee revival | Robert Kitson

As a keen surfer Scott Robertson is well aware how abruptly situations can change. One minute you are riding the perfect wave, the next you’re being dumped from a great height and having your world tipped upside down. Which is essentially how “Razor” will now be feeling after being ousted as All Blacks head coach barely two years into his tenure.On the surface he was everything New Zealand rugby could have wished for. The serial domestic winner who had guided the Crusaders to seven successive Super Rugby titles, the empathetic everyman with the break-dancing skills to match