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Grant Shapps defends use of superinjunction to suppress Afghan data leak

about 23 hours ago
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The former defence secretary Grant Shapps has defended the use of an unprecedented superinjunction to suppress a data breach that led to the UK government relocating 15,000 Afghans.The Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) was created in haste after it emerged that personal information about 18,700 Afghans who had applied to come to the UK had been leaked in error by a British defence official in early 2022.It has also emerged that details of members of the SAS and MI6 were among more than 100 Britons named in the database.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Shapps, who was defence secretary from 31 August 2023 to 5 July 2024 and was in post while the superinjunction was imposed on the incident, said his focus after the leak was on “sorting out the mess and saving lives”.The superinjunction lapsed on Tuesday, when a high court judge concluded the threat to the 18,700 Afghans was no longer very significant.

He told the programme: “My focus was on two things … one, sorting out the mess and saving lives, and two, making sure that systems were in place which frankly should have always been in place to make sure this sort of sensitive information could never be sent on.“There were British special forces and secret services on that list.It seemed to me that if there was any doubt at all, that erring on the side of extreme caution, a superinjunction meant that that was entirely justified.”He added: “Faced with the choice of whether that list would get out and people would be pursued, murdered and executed as a result of it, or doing something to try and save those lives, I’d much rather now be in this interview explaining why a superinjunction was required, than being in this interview explaining why I failed to act and people were murdered.”Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, which monitors the UK spy agencies, said it would scrutinise what had happened after an inquiry announced by the Commons defence select committee.

The ISC asked for all intelligence assessments that had been shared with the high court in secret to be shared with the committee.Its chair, Kevan Jones, who is also known as Lord Beamish, asked why “material relating to the data loss” could not be shared with the committee early given that it routinely reviewed classified material.“I think there are serious constitutional issues here,” Beamish told BBC Radio Scotland.When asked if he supported calls from the committee for the publication of an intelligence assessment that formed the basis of the superinjunction, Shapps said: “Yes, I would.”He added that he knew the committee “won’t like” the fact that the incident had been kept secret but “it was just so sensitive that if anything had got out at all, it would put those lives at risk”.

Despite having kept the order in place during his tenure as defence secretary, which lasted just under a year, Shapps said he was “surprised” it had remained for “so long”.“I don’t think it should have carried on as long as it had.I’m surprised that it has.Those questions are for others,” he said.“But I came in, the problem was there, I dealt with it, and as a result I think that we saved lives.

”In a statement on Tuesday, after the superinjunction was lifted, the defence secretary, John Healey, offered a “sincere apology” on behalf of the government for the data breach.
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Is Pret’s mega salad actually mega expensive? | Letters

Your article says that it costs £8.14 per portion to prepare a version of a premium salad sold at Pret for £12.95 (Supersize me: recreating Pret’s £13 miso salmon super plate at home, 11 July). However, Pret’s charge includes 20% VAT. It also covers the cost of refrigeration, premises, the wages (and holidays and pension and national insurance contributions) of the staff who fill and clean the fridges, those who prepared and sold the salad, the accountants and human resources managers behind the scenes, the staff training and Pret’s work with homeless people to give them employment and a future

about 14 hours ago
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Company insolvencies fall in England and Wales, in ‘glimmer of relief’; Trump blasts Fed board – as it happened

Just in: the number of companies in England and Wales falling into insolvency dropped last month.The Insolvency Service has reported that there were 2,043 registered company insolvencies in England and Wales in June, 8% lower than in May 2025 (2,230) and 16% lower than in June 2024, when 2,430 companies failed.That could ease some concerns over the health of the UK economy, as companies tackle rising inflation and higher taxes.Despite the drop, monthly company insolvency numbers in the first six months of 2025 were slightly higher than the second half of 2024, but remain lower than the 30-year annual high seen in 2023.The Insolvency Service says:Company insolvencies in June 2025 consisted of 332 compulsory liquidations, 1,585 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 111 administrations and 15 company voluntary arrangements (CVAs)

about 15 hours ago
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OpenAI launches personal assistant capable of controlling files and web browsers

Users of ChatGPT will be able to ask an AI agent to find restaurant reservations, go shopping for them and even draw up lists of candidates for job vacancies, as the chatbot gains the powers of a personal assistant from Thursday.ChatGPT agent, launched by Open AI everywhere apart from the EU, not only “thinks” but also acts, the US company said. The agent combines the powers of AI research tools with the ability to take control of web browsers, computer files and software such as spreadsheets and slide decks.It follows the launch of similar “agents” by Google and Anthropic as interest grows in AI models that can handle computer-based tasks by judging which software is best to use and toggling between systems to autonomously complete assignments like drafting travel itineraries or carrying out work research.“The hope is that agents are able to bring some real utility to users – to actually do things for them rather than just outputting polished text and sounding impressive,” said Niamh Burns, senior media analyst at Enders Analysis

1 day ago
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UK’s £225m AI supercomputer, Isambard-AI, launches in Bristol

Britain’s new £225m national artificial intelligence supercomputer will be used to spot sick dairy cows in Somerset, improve the detection of skin cancer on brown skin and help create wearable AI assistants that could help riot police anticipate danger.Scientists hope Isambard-AI – named after the 19th-century engineer of groundbreaking bridges and railways, Isambard Kingdom Brunel – will unleash a wave of AI-powered technological, medical and social breakthroughs by allowing academics and public bodies access to the kind of vast computing power previously the preserve of private tech companies.The supercomputer was formally switched on in Bristol on Thursday by the secretary of state for science and technology, Peter Kyle, who said it gave the UK “the raw computational horsepower that will save lives, create jobs, and help us reach net zero-ambitions faster”.The machine is fitted with 5,400 Nvidia “superchips” and sits inside a black metal cage topped with razor wire north of the city. It will consume almost £1m a month of mostly nuclear-powered electricity and will run 100,000 times faster than an average laptop

1 day ago
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‘Still not sure’: Shane Lowry casts doubt over two-shot penalty decision at Open

Shane Lowry said he was conscious of his reputation after accepting a two-stroke penalty for a rules infringement during the second round of the Open. Lowry was adamant he did not see his ball roll backwards in rough at the 12th hole during a practice swing, with officials determining he was in breach of the rules of golf.Lowry was informed of a potential issue on the 15th before detailed discussion after he closed out on the 18th green. Lowry’s 70 became a 72, leaving him 10 adrift of the tournament leader, Scottie Scheffler, with his score on the 12th changed from five to seven.“I was in there with the rules official and wasn’t arguing my case but I’m disappointed that they don’t have more camera angles on it,” Lowry said

about 8 hours ago
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Scottie Scheffler takes lead at the Open while Fitzpatrick drives British hopes

Imagine he cared. Imagine he really cared. Scottie Scheffler used media duties before the 153rd Open Championship to assess the pointlessness of golf in the grand scheme of life. “If I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes,” Scheffler asserted. The world No 1 should already prepare for his 120 seconds of ecstasy

about 10 hours ago
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AI firms ‘unprepared’ for dangers of building human-level systems, report warns

2 days ago
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Zuckerberg says Meta will build data center the size of Manhattan in latest AI push

3 days ago
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Sage iPhone for children review: ‘Would it make me want to divorce my parents?’

3 days ago
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Internet-safe iPhone for children goes on sale for £99 a month

3 days ago
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WeTransfer says user content will not be used to train AI after backlash

3 days ago
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Apple inks $500m deal for rare earth magnets with US mining firm

3 days ago