Author: Trendici
The government is set to announce its intention to build a new rail link between Birmingham and Manchester, the BBC understands.Previous plans for the HS2 high-speed rail line had included a line between the two cities, but that part of the project was scrapped by Rishi Sunak’s government.On Wednesday, the government is expected to confirm proposals for new and improved rail links across the North of England in a scheme known as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).Little detail about a new Birmingham to Manchester route is anticipated, other than the intention to build it after NPR is completed, meaning it may…
According to reports, Arsenal have a ‘long-term plan’ regarding Marc Guehi as they are ‘ready to battle’ rivals to sign the Crystal Palace star. You would think by now that the Gunners would be happy with their current crop of defenders, as they are spoiled for choice across the backline, but that does not appear to be the case. This is because it has emerged that the north London club are keen to sign Guehi from rivals Crystal Palace this year as they are ‘ready’ to fight Man City and Liverpool for the signing. Guehi is certainly good enough to…
It’s official: we’ve finally reached peak Skoda. Or rather Peaq Skoda. Because, as you can read here, the Czech firm’s new flagship seven-seater will be called the Peaq. And it has, er, peaqed my interest, because I love a silly car name. As car names go, this is brilliantly clever yet gloriously daft. It’s a ridiculously literal name for what’s intended as the peak of a brand’s line-up, but with a little letter-based fudging to make it unique and distinctive. Skoda has previously given all its SUVs names ending with ‘q’, with the petrol ones starting with a ‘K’ (Kodiaq, Karoq, Kamiq) and…
AI in cyber is everywhere this year, and if you’re a CISO you’re feeling the push from all sides. Boards want a plan, and vendors are promising AI‑powered outcomes. Your own teams can list a dozen places to apply it from speeding SOC triage, tightening identity hygiene, helping business users complete assessments, strengthening audit evidence, to improving OT readiness. The opportunity is real, but the noise is exhausting. The easiest way to cut through it is to decide, up front, what you’re buying and what you’re building. That means thinking in terms of SaaS AI accelerators and enterprise AI…
Apple and Google have confirmed that Gemini’s models power the new version of Siri and other generative AI features. CNBC broke the news, but Apple and Google soon followed up with a lengthy joint statement. Here’s part of it: “Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models… Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”In June, it was reported that Apple was considering partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic for Siri (the voice assistant can currently tap ChatGPT for certain queries as part…
Organised crime prosecutors on the French island of Corsica are investigating the killing of former separatist leader Alain Orsoni, who was shot dead while attending his mother’s funeral.Orsoni, 71, who had been living in exile for years in Nicaragua, was a well-known figure in Corsica. It is thought he was hit in the chest by a single bullet fired by a gunman lying in wait as the funeral ceremony in the village of Vero ended on Monday afternoon.”It would appear he was hit by a long-range shot. He died pretty quickly from his injuries,” said Corsican prosecutor Nicolas Septe.”We’d just…
The Liberal Democrats have set out a £1.5bn plan to give patients in England a legal right to be seen in A&E within 12 hours, to end what they have called a “deadly corridor crisis”.In a speech, party leader Sir Ed Davey called for a new legal duty to limit the time patients wait to be admitted, transferred or discharged after arriving in A&E.The Lib Dems say their plan would be funded by scrapping a UK-US pharmaceuticals deal, which could see the NHS pay billions more for drugs.The Department of Health and Social Care said the government had invested an…
When a half-season hit of ‘DNA’ or a heady dose of nostalgia fails to arouse Manchester United fans, that’s when you know you’ve really f***ed up. The appointment of Michael Carrick as interim manager at Old Trafford has been greeted with the same indifference that provided the backdrop to the week-long race to the hot seat. Carrick emerged the winner, beating Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in what was largely a toss-up with a double-sided coin. However United came to the decision, it is perhaps the best of the two outcomes. It could be viewed as a triumph for tactics over vibes.…
Leapmotor is preparing a second generation of its tiny T03 city car to take on upcoming European rivals including the Renault Twingo and Volkswagen ID 1. The value-focused EV went on sale in Europe 2024 as one of the Chinese manufacturer’s first two cars in the region, alongside the C10 SUV. Measuring just 3.6m long and priced from less than £16,000, it’s one of the smallest and cheapest cars in Europe, undercut only by the similarly conceived Dacia Spring, which is also its only direct rival. The T03 has played an important role in building Leapmotor’s visibility in Europe but has…
Open banking in the UK is eight years old and has become an established part of the financial services sector, but its next phase will see it help create services beyond retail banking. Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s Retail Banking Market Investigation Order in 2017, UK banks were required to implement open banking regulations, which led to the development of application programming interfaces (APIs) to give consumers more control over their bank accounts. It enables them to share their banking details with third-party apps and websites, through the APIs, if they choose to. This makes using services easier for consumers and…