Allegations of rape at rowing club ‘deeply concerning’ say Sport England and UK Sport
Allegations of rape and harassment at one of Britain’s most prestigious rowing clubs have been described as “deeply concerning” by Sport England and UK Sport,Both funding bodies have raised their concerns with British Rowing after the Telegraph reported there had been three separate alleged rape incidents involving male rowers within the past five years at the Leander Club, which supplied more than half of Team GB’s rowers at the Paris Olympics,According to the Telegraph, the women rowers at the club had taken to wearing white ribbons and pink vests in 2024 to protest against what was described as “the worst-kept secret in British rowing”, and that several male members also joined them in protest,In a statement, Sport England, the funding body of grassroots sport in England, said it had raised the matter with British Rowing and urged the victims to go to the police,“These are deeply concerning allegations regarding both behaviours and cultures, and our thoughts are with those who have been impacted,” it said.
“It is vital that sports clubs are safe and welcoming, and that all issues are investigated swiftly and properly.“We encourage any individual who has experienced such behaviour to report directly to the police.Sport England has raised this matter with British Rowing, and we will continue to monitor the situation.”A similar message was conveyed by UK Sport, which funds elite sport across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.“Our thoughts are with those affected by the allegations which have recently been reported, and we take matters of integrity and safeguarding extremely seriously,” it said.
“We encourage any member of staff or athlete on Olympic and Paralympic performance programmes to report allegations of unacceptable behaviour to Sport Integrity, the confidential reporting line.In light of these deeply concerning allegations, we are in contact with British Rowing.”In a statement, the Leander Club said it took seriously all issues relating to the safeguarding of its athletes.“We have strict procedures in place to carefully examine any formal complaints and regularly review our club disciplinary processes to ensure they are fit for purpose, treating our athletes fairly and with respect,” it added.A British Rowing spokesperson said it was not able to comment on individual safeguarding concerns and processes conducted at clubs owing to their confidential nature.
“As such there is a very limited amount that we can say when we are approached in connection with issues that fall into this category,” it added,“What we are able to say categorically is that the safety of people taking part in our sport is the very first item of importance on our agenda,We investigate anything reported to us fully and comprehensively, as you would expect and as it is our remit to do,This would have been the case if sufficient information had been raised with us to conduct an investigation in respect of the raised allegations,”
Amazon promises fake reviews crackdown after investigation by UK watchdog
Amazon has promised to do a better job policing fake reviews and to crack down on sellers using them to boost product ratings after an investigation by the UK competition watchdog.Ending the scourge of fake reviews is a priority for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) due to the influence they have over consumers.About 90% of UK shoppers rely on reviews, with an estimated £23bn a year of spending influenced by crowd-sourced information. Since April, fake reviews have been explicitly banned.Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said the undertakings secured from Amazon meant shoppers could now “make decisions with greater confidence”
23andMe back on the auction block after former CEO makes 11th-hour bid
The DNA testing company 23andMe is back up for sale, throwing a purchase agreement reached last month into chaos, court filings show.The board of directors of 23andMe, which filed for bankruptcy in March, had agreed to sell the company and its assets to the pharmaceutical firm Regeneron for $256m after conducting an auction in April. However, the founder and former CEO of the genetics company, Anne Wojcicki, put in a $305m bid through a newly formed non-profit, TTAM Research Institute, after the auction ended and pushed the bankruptcy court to reopen the sale process. She tried to buy the company multiple times during its long decline and bankruptcy but was rejected by the board.TTAM’s offer of $305m will serve as a starting price for the secondary sale process, and Regeneron will be permitted to submit a competing bid that is at least $10m more
UK sales of new Tesla cars slump by more than a third amid Musk backlash
Sales of new Tesla cars slumped by more than a third in the UK last month as the electric carmaker lost ground to China’s BYD and other rivals, amid a political backlash against its billionaire boss, Elon Musk.Tesla sold 2,016 vehicles in the UK in May, down from 3,152 in May 2024 – a 36% drop, according to the monthly snapshot from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).The Chinese carmaker BYD’s sales in the UK jumped by 407%, from 596 in May last year to 3,025 last month. It sells hybrids as well as pure electric cars. BYD first overtook Tesla in January
Amazon ‘testing humanoid robots to deliver packages’
Amazon is reportedly developing software for humanoid robots that could perform the role of delivery workers and “spring out” of its vans.The $2tn (£1.47tn) technology company is building a “humanoid park” in the US to test the robots, said the tech news site the Information, citing a person who had been involved in the project.The Information reported that the robots could eventually take the jobs of delivery workers. It is developing the artificial intelligence software that would power the robots but will use hardware developed by other companies
English-speaking countries more nervous about rise of AI, polls suggest
People in English-speaking countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada are more nervous about the rise of artificial intelligence than those in the largest EU economies, where excitement over its spread is higher, new research suggests.A global split over what has been dubbed “the wonder and worry” of AI appears to correlate with widely divergent levels of trust in governments to regulate the fast-developing technology.The polling of 23,000 adults in 30 countries, shared exclusively with the Guardian by Ipsos Mori, also showed a quarter of people globally still do not have a good understanding of what AI is, despite it being widely described as the most transformative technology in decades.On Wednesday, Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus revealed he was writing a musical with the assistance of AI, describing it as “like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame”.Britons appear to be among the world’s most worried people about the rise of AI, with two-thirds of people in Great Britain saying they are nervous about the technology being deployed in products and services, and less than half trusting the UK government to regulate AI responsibly
Trump family disown debut of crypto wallet: ‘I know nothing about this project!’
A splashy website featuring an illustration of Donald Trump, looking buff and pumping his fist in the air, appeared online on Tuesday. The image is the logo of one of Trump’s digital currencies, and the website claims to be the “Official $Trump Wallet”, hawking a product that would allow customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, primarily the president’s own.The website prominently features the name of Trump’s coin, $Trump, and invites people to join the waitlist to use the digital wallet. It was first noticed by the crypto newsletter Citation Needed. Magic Eden, an established cryptocurrency marketplace, said on the website that it had partnered with Trump’s official digital coin team to create the wallet
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