UK officials ‘working day and night’ to resolve NHS drug pricing row’

The UK science minister has said officials are “working day and night” trying to resolve the standoff with big pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing.Speaking to industry leaders and investors at London life sciences week, Patrick Vallance, a former GSK executive, said the government was “clear eyed about the challenges”.“Recent headlines have not always been favourable, and we are acutely aware of the pressures that companies face in the current commercial environment here in the UK,” he said.“Many of us are working day and night right the way across government to make progress on these issues. And rest assured that we are laser focused on getting that resolved

GWR train fitted with F1 tech for two-month superfast wifi trial

Train wifi in the UK, long a source of frustration for passengers, is about to get radically faster – for a lucky few at least.A two-month trial has begun on one Great Western Railway (GWR) train, fitted with technology from Formula One that switches between the signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites to provide almost seamless, superfast wifi.For now, only one of GWR’s 57 intercity express trains will have a connection good enough to deliver a Netflix series to the seat. However, a successful trial and the promise of lower costs could spell a wider rollout to the rest of the mainline railway by 2030.On a test run from London Paddington to Newbury and back, the Guardian found the wifi fast and reliable enough to video call editors at the office, catch up on old Match of the Days on iPlayer and listen to songs on YouTube at the same time, with only occasional blips and pixelation

AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chief

Artificial intelligence companies must be transparent about the risks posed by their products or be in danger of repeating the mistakes of tobacco and opioid firms, according to the chief executive of the AI startup Anthropic.Dario Amodei, who runs the US company behind the Claude chatbot, said he believed AI would become smarter than “most or all humans in most or all ways” and urged his peers to “call it as you see it”.Speaking to CBS News, Amodei said a lack of transparency about the impact of powerful AI would replay the errors of cigarette and opioid firms that failed to raise a red flag over the potential health damage of their own products.“You could end up in the world of, like, the cigarette companies, or the opioid companies, where they knew there were dangers, and they didn’t talk about them, and certainly did not prevent them,” he said.Amodei warned this year that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs – office roles such as accountancy, law and banking – within five years

How Google’s DeepMind tool is ‘more quickly’ forecasting hurricane behavior

When then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had ever issued such a bold forecast for rapid strengthening.But Papin had an ace up his sleeve: artificial intelligence in the form of Google’s new DeepMind hurricane model – released for the first time in June. And, as predicted, Melissa did become a storm of astonishing strength that tore through Jamaica

Money lured Anthony Joshua to circus fight but he could really hurt Jake Paul | Donald McRae

The unsurprising confirmation of “a colossal global showdown” between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua arrived on Monday morning with a dull thud. That grand description of an eight-round scrap between a former YouTuber and a former world heavyweight champion was supplied by Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, which also announced that the contest will be screened live on Netflix on 19 December and called Judgment Day.Boxing operates in a netherworld that appears to have sunk far beyond any fear of judgment, while Paul has always had delusions of grandeur as a novice pro. But even boxing may have to consider its own culpability should Paul be badly hurt and end up in hospital after this fully sanctioned bout with regulation 10oz gloves is held in Miami.Paul is a brilliant hustler and, until now, he has chosen his opponents with deliberate care to avoid excessive danger

Bazball faces its ultimate test as England eye golden Ashes chance

Tourists have a clearly defined identity and optimism, but still need to compete in a manner that earns Australia’s respectWhen Rob Key named Brendon McCullum as England’s head coach in 2022, his quote in the official press release told supporters to “buckle up and get ready for the ride”. Now, with this hot-ticket Ashes series a few days from setting off in sun‑drenched Perth, the mix of fear and excitement among them has arguably never been greater.The difference being that rollercoasters tend to stay on the rails, whereas England tours of Australia often career off them. No one is quite certain which way this one will play out, other than a broad agreement that Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood missing the first Test (at least) presents Ben Stokes and his tourists a golden opportunity.Not that many locals are tipping England