Technology

Newborn babies and toddlers are among the victims of the most severe online sexual abuse, with the amount of the most extreme material doubling in the last two years, a new report has found. In 2022, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) took action to remove or block 51,369 web pages containing Category A child sexual

Twitter’s infamous blue ticks have reappeared on high-profile and celebrity accounts after vanishing for a few days. Former footballer Gary Neville, tennis player Sir Andy Murray, actor Sir Ian McKellen and comedian Ricky Gervais are among those to have had their ticks reinstated, despite denying they had paid for them. It comes after Twitter purged

The Lyrid meteor shower is expected to light up the dawn skies in parts of the country this weekend, with up to 18 shooting stars an hour expected. There will be bright fast meteors – some with trains, or trails of vapourised rock, according to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Here’s all you need to know

After months of seemingly empty threats to rid Twitter of its verified accounts, Elon Musk has finally purged the platform of its “legacy” blue ticks. The multi-billionaire announced plans to move the checkmarks behind a paywall shortly after his $44bn (£38bn) takeover last October, though an embarrassing episode that left the platform awash with accounts

Twitter has finally started removing “legacy” blue ticks from verified accounts, with some of the world’s best-known figures losing the verification sign. The Pope, author JK Rowling, football star Cristiano Ronaldo, US rapper Jay-Z, and TV stars Ant and Dec have lost their blue ticks on the social networking site, along with the Conservative and

Marking coursework will become “a virtually impossible task” in the age of ChatGPT and make exams more vital than ever, education experts have said. OpenAI’s chatbot has taken the internet by storm since launching late last year, amassing more than 100 million monthly active users and attracting a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft. It is a

Michael Schumacher’s family are planning to take legal action against a German magazine which published an “interview” with the seven-time F1 champion generated by artificial intelligence. The 54-year-old has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident on a family holiday in the French Alps almost a

Elizabeth Holmes has launched an appeal against what her lawyers say is an “unjust” conviction over the Theranos scandal. The 39-year-old was convicted of four counts of fraud in January 2022 and sentenced to an 11-year jail term last November. Earlier this month she lost a bid to stay out of prison while she appealed against

The number of “hackers for hire” is set to grow over the next five years, leading to more cyber attacks and increasingly unpredictable threats, the UK’s cyber security agency has warned. A rise in spyware is also anticipated and other hacking tools, according to a new report by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will make a second attempt at launching the world’s most powerful rocket system on Thursday. Starship’s first-ever orbital test flight was due to take place on Monday but was scrapped after it suffered a glitch moments before take-off. ‘Learned a lot’ – failed Starship launch as it happened Musk had set low

An old NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth this week, but experts say chances that it will pose any danger are low. The defunct spacecraft, known as Rhessi, will plummet through the atmosphere on Wednesday night, according to NASA and the US defence department. NASA said on Tuesday that the re-entry location is

WhatsApp, Signal, and a number of other encrypted messaging services have signed an open letter opposing the Online Safety Bill. The platforms say the government’s flagship internet safety legislation could undermine end-to-end encryption, which ensures nobody other than the sender and intended recipient of a message can read it. Signal and WhatsApp, which is owned

SpaceX’s launch of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket system has been postponed after it experienced a glitch minutes before take-off. The launch, from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border, had been due to take place at any point in a two-hour launch window after 8am local time. But, the countdown

SpaceX has been given the all-clear to launch its Starship rocket system for the first time as soon as this week. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued Elon Musk‘s company with a licence to put its most powerful rocket system through its paces, saying it met all safety and environmental requirements. It means Starship

The government has released further details about next week’s UK-wide test of an emergency alert system. A message will appear alongside a loud alarm on millions of mobile phones at 3pm on 23 April. The text that will appear has now been revealed – and it will say: “This is a test of Emergency Alerts,

A man in Chile is infected with bird flu that has “concerning” mutations, US health officials have said. The mutations may have occurred after the 53-year-old, who is in hospital, became sick. But there is no evidence the mutated virus has spread to other people, mixed with other flu viruses, or developed resistance to current