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Migrants

Mail
Inspectors have declared a new migrant detention centre is ‘inhumane’ – because the wi-fi is slow and mobile signal unreliable.
Prison watchdog the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) also complained Derwentside removal centre, set in picturesque countryside in County Durham, does not have its own hair salon and a private GP visits only twice a week.
And it said the women-only facility is a long drive from the South East, a journey that may leave illegal migrants ‘tired, disorientated or stressed’.
Inspectors have advised the Home Office to ‘reconsider its suitability’ despite admitting the accommodation is good. Staff at the centre outnumber migrants almost six to one. Last year, there were 97 workers looking after 17 migrants.
In its report, the IMB said: ‘We consider that the location of Derwentside, plus the inadequate communications infrastructure, is unsuitable and leads to treatment of detained women that is in some respects inhumane.
‘Added to the difficulty with the physical location is the unreliable mobile phone reception.’
It advised detainees should be supplied with iPads to help them overcome translation issues and make friends. But it complained: ‘A practical obstacle to this is that the wi-fi signal in the residential units is not adequate to support the functioning of these tablets.’

EU

Telegraph
Jeremy Hunt will vow to axe nearly 100 pieces of “unnecessary, outdated and protectionist” EU legislation this week in a bid to turbocharge Britain’s financial services industry after Brexit.
The Chancellor will also unveil plans to boost pension investment in British business to “increase returns” for savers and “unlock capital for our growth businesses”.
A raft of deregulatory proposals as part of implementing the Government’s so-called Edinburgh Reforms will be announced in his Mansion House speech on Monday.
The Telegraph understands that Mr Hunt will unveil new legislation to support stock market listings; scrap laws inherited from Brussels which require companies to produce “excessive” transparency documents; and disclose pension reforms aimed at encouraging UK retirement funds to invest tens of billions of pounds more in the domestic economy.

Protests

Express
The British Grand Prix is on high alert in case the event is targeted by eco-activists.
It comes after a number of high profile sporting events have been targeted by protesters in recent weeks and months.
Wimbledon, the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship have already been targeted by Just Stop Oil protesters.
Security at Silverstone has been increased ahead of Sunday’s race with Northamptonshire Police using Live Facial Recognition amid a raft of measures in a bid to stop protesters, who sat down on the Wellington Straight during the opening lap of last year’s race.
On Saturday, former chancellor George Osborne and his new wife Thea Rogers had orange confetti thrown at them as they left the 14th century St Mary’s Church in the Somerset village of Bruton.

AI

Express
A robot has urged humans to be “cautious” in the development of AI in a chilling Q&A with the audience at an AI discussion in Switzerland.
A total of nine humanoid robots were present at the UN’s AI for Good conference in Switzerland, an event that some have described as the first-ever human-robot summit.
The purpose of the event, according to its organisers, is to explore the ways in which AI can advance health, climate, gender, inclusive prosperity, sustainable infrastructure, and other global development priorities.
Speaking to an audience of humans, Ai-Da, a robot with the ability to paint portraits, warned the crowd that “many prominent voices in the world of AI are suggesting some forms of AI should be regulated and I agree”.

Guardian
Stephen Cave has considerable experience of well-intentioned actions that have unhappy consequences. A former senior diplomat in the foreign office during the New Labour era, he was involved in treaty negotiations which later – and unexpectedly – unravelled to trigger several international events that included Brexit. “I know the impact of well-meant global events that have gone wrong,” he admits.
His experience could prove valuable, however. The former diplomat, now a senior academic, is about to head a new Cambridge University institute which will investigate all aspects of artificial intelligence in a bid to pinpoint the intellectual perils we face from the growing prowess of computers and to highlight its positive uses. An appreciation of the dangers of unintended consequences should come in handy. “There has been a lot of emphasis in the media on AI leading to human extinction or the collapse of civilisation,” says Cave. “These fears are exaggerated but that does not mean AI will not cause harm to society if we are not careful.”

Ukraine

Telegraph
Germany is set to insist on delaying Ukraine’s accession to Nato over fears the move could take the alliance to war with Russia.
An alliance source said Berlin would use the annual Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week to urge others to focus on security assurances, rather than membership proposals, to help Ukraine defend itself in the absence of accession.
“Berlin is stand-offish at the prospect of offering immediate membership,” the source told The Telegraph. “It wants a process and time to develop guarantees to essentially block membership.”
“Berlin doesn’t want to see Vladimir Putin potentially test Article 5.”
Under Nato’s alliance’s Article 5 clause, any member state attacked by an outside aggressor has the right to request military intervention from the rest of the allies.

ITV News
Prime minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden will meet on British soil as the allies find themselves at odds over the supply of weapons to the Ukraine.
The US is facing criticism from its allies
Mr Sunak stopped short of criticising his counterpart on Saturday, but emphasised that the UK “discourages” use of cluster munitions, which are outlawed by many countries worldwide.
The UK is one of 123 signatories to a convention banning the controversial munitions’ use in warfare, due to their devastating impact on civilians.
The US and Ukraine have not signed up to the ban, and Russia has been using cluster munitions in the conflict.
Mr Sunak will first host the US president in London on Monday, before using a Nato summit in Lithuania on Tuesday to urge allies to increase their defence spending as he warns they face “unprecedented” security challenges.
The White House said Mr Biden will “compare notes” with Mr Sunak on the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia.

BBC News
Rishi Sunak has reiterated that the UK “discourages” the use of cluster bombs after the US agreed to supply them to Ukraine.
The UK is one the countries to have banned the weapons, which have a record of killing civilians, under an existing convention.
The PM emphasised the government’s continued support for Ukraine.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he had made a “very difficult decision” to supply them to Kyiv.
Spain and Canada, two of 123 nations to ban cluster bombs, have criticised the decision to send them, which has also been condemned by human rights groups.
Cluster munitions are a method of dispersing large numbers of tiny bomblets from a rocket, missile or artillery shell that scatters them in mid-flight over a wide area.
They are meant to detonate on impact, but a significant proportion of them fail to explode initially – often when they land on wet or soft ground. This means they can explode at a later date, killing or injuring people.

Guardian
Rishi Sunak has ruled out supplying Ukraine with cluster bombs, saying the UK will not follow the Biden administration’s controversial move and will instead press countries to boost their aid to Kyiv “in other ways”.
On Friday, Joe Biden defended what he said was a “difficult decision” to send widely banned cluster munitions to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government. Human rights groups criticised the White House and there was unease among some Democrats, with one calling it “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”.
On Saturday, the prime minister pointed out the UK was a signatory to an international convention that discourages the use and production of cluster munitions – unlike the US, Russia and Ukraine.
Sunak said: “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion. But we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and, most recently, long-range weapons.
“Russia’s act of barbarism is causing untold suffering to millions of people.”
Sunak said he was travelling this week to the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and would discuss with allies how to “strengthen our support for Ukraine”. It is unclear if Zelenskiy will attend in person. He has been pressing for immediate Nato membership for Ukraine, something Biden has so far ruled out.

BBC

Mail
BBC bosses panicking over claims that one of its biggest stars paid a vulnerable teenager £35,000 for sexual images held crisis talks last night as questions over their ‘derisory’ investigations grew.
The presenter, who has not been named but is described as being well-known, allegedly began paying the teenager when they were 17, and sent them the money which they used to fund an addiction to crack cocaine.
The lurid speculation was sparked by a newspaper report that the youngster’s family had complained about the behaviour of the ‘household name’ seven weeks ago, but had been unhappy with the BBC response.
Last night, former Home Secretary Priti Patel called the broadcaster’s treatment of the complaint ‘derisory’.
The sleaze scandal will heap pressure on BBC Director-General Tim Davie, who is set to face the press at the corporation’s annual report on Tuesday.

Mirror
A BBC host partied with bosses at an awards do AFTER sex allegations were made against him.
The bash came weeks after a mum claimed the man had paid her teen for explicit pics, as a string of big names deny it’s them.
Meanwhile, the star in the sex pictures scandal should be named, says the ex-cop who revealed Jimmy Savile was a pervert.
The call came as we can reveal the presenter was allowed to attend a swanky do after allegations against him had been made.
He has been accused of paying £35,000 to a young person in return for sexual images.
The teen’s mum says her child blew the money on drugs and had gone from a “happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict”.

Sun
A BBC star has been pulled off air after he allegedly paid a teen for sexual pictures.
The well-known presenter is accused of giving the teen more than £35,000 since they were 17 in return for sordid images.
The alleged recipient’s mother said they had used the cash to fund a crack habit.
Here’s everything you need to know about the star – who is now the focus of a BBC investigation.
Who is the BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexual pictures?
The BBC star has not been named, but he is a familiar face who is known to millions.
Last night the presenter was off air while the BBC investigate the mother’s bombshell claims.
She said: “When I see him on telly, I feel sick. I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life.
“Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child.”
The family complained to the BBC about his behaviour on May 19 and begged them to make the man “stop sending the cash”.

Independent
The BBC has come under pressure after a top presenter was accused of paying a teenager  thousands for explicit pictures.
The unnamed BBC star allegedly appeared in his underwear in a video call and paid more than £35,000 in exchange for sexual images.
The mother of the victim, who was 17-years-old whenthe payments began, told The Sun she saw a picture of the presenter on her child’s phone in which he was “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear” and she said she was told it was “a picture from some kind of video call”.
The mother alleges her child used the money to fund a cocaine addiction which “destroyed” their life, and turned them from a “happy-go-lucky youngster” to a “ghost-like crack addict” in three years.
The Sun said the teenager’s family complained to the BBC on 19 May.
Neither the individual nor the teenager have been identified. The Sun reports that while the presenter is off air, he has not been suspended.

Telegraph
The BBC has been accused of mishandling an investigation into a high-profile presenter accused of paying a vulnerable teenager thousands of pounds for explicit pictures and videos.
The unidentified presenter is alleged to have sent more than £35,000 to the then teenager, beginning three years ago when they were 17, which they are said to have used to fund a crack cocaine addiction.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the the culture, media and sport committee, said she was concerned that the corporation had taken “a very long time” to investigate the allegations, during which time the star had allegedly sent additional payments to the teenager and continued to broadcast on the BBC.
The recipient’s mother said she blamed the BBC presenter for “destroying my child’s life” and “felt sick” when she saw he was still on television after first making a complaint.

NHS

Guardian
Pharmaceutical giants are pouring tens of millions of pounds into struggling NHS services – including paying the salaries of medical staff and funding the redesign of patient treatment – as they seek to boost drug sales in the UK, the Observer can reveal.
Drug firms are simultaneously funding groups that lobby for greater investment in their disease areas, and in some cases are paying generous consultancy fees to influential ­healthcare professionals, including GPs who have worked as clinical leads for NHS England and have received as much as £480,000 each from industry since 2019.
The spending is revealed in an investigation that lays bare the growing role of Big Pharma in the UK’s health sector, with analysis of more than 300,000 drug company transactions since 2015 showing a surge in spending on activities other than research and development (R&D).
Payments to UK health professionals and organisations, including donations, sponsorship, consultancy fees and expenses, reached a record £200m in 2022, excluding R&D with companies seeking to promote lucrative drugs for obesity, diabetes and heart conditions among the biggest spenders. The total spending was almost double the £108m paid by the drugs industry in 2015, while payments to healthcare organisations in the same period nearly tripled to £156.5m.

i
People should take care when using online primary care services due to “significant concerns” over patient safety, the health regulator has warned.
Care Quality Commission inspectors found some companies were too quick to sell medicines without doing enough to check whether they were appropriate, meaning that patients could be at risk of harm.
Although the CQC does say that well-run services can offer a convenient and effective form of treatment, it is calling on people to act with caution when using internet services.
In a joint statement, four regulatory bodies – CQC, the General Medical Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – have reminded providers and healthcare professionals working for these services that they must provide safe and effective care, including following professional guidelines.

Telegraph
Dozens of NHS hospitals will be able to give pioneering cancer vaccines to patients as part of cutting-edge clinical trials in the next three months, it is understood.
Health chiefs this week formally signed a deal with BioNTech for cancer vaccine trials to run for the next decade in the UK.
Mainz-based BioNTech invented and created the first mRNA Covid jab in partnership with Pfizer in the pandemic.
Trials have already begun in the UK to give a vaccine to some cancer patients to try and treat them. Cancer vaccines are not preventative jabs but injections that reprogram a patient’s own immune system to attack the tumour itself.

Guardian
Twice as many people with mental health conditions are being given virtual therapy on the NHS compared with before the pandemic began.
An Observer analysis of data from private providers, cross-checked against NHS figures, reveals around one in three mental health treatments in England are delivered online, up from one in five in 2019, and one in 10 in 2017. Patients with mild to moderate depression or anxiety can be referred to app- or web-based, self-guided cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) courses, instead of traditional face-to-face talking therapies.
While some patients undergoing online therapy receive weekly phone or video calls with a therapist to discuss their progress, many are expected to work through the exercises themselves.

Flying ants

ITV News
A swarm of flying ants a mile long was caught on a weather radar on the south coast – and more could be seen in the coming days.
The Met Office picked up the ants on a rain radar on Friday as people took to social media reporting sightings saying it was “flying ant day”.
The forecaster said the winged insects are usually picked up on their radars at this time of the year over the space of about a week.
The swarms appear on the radars and look similar to rainfall, but the Met Office can check its weather gauges to confirm if it is rain or flying ants.
The creatures are less likely to fly in the rain and it’s harder for the Met Office to tell if it is ants or the rainfall during wet weather, Simon Partridge, a forecaster for the Met Office, said.
He added: “Every year around this time we do pick them up on the rain radar. At the moment it’s harder to tell because we’ve got so many showers and the ants look like showers.
“When we do get the rain, they don’t fly as much.

Metro
The south coast of England has been invaded by a swarm of flying ants measuring a mile long.
The Met Office detected the ants on a weather radar on Friday as people took to social media and said it was ‘flying ant day’.
It said it is not uncommon for the flying ants to be picked up on weather radars this time of year.
Swarms often look like rain on the radar but the Met Office can check their weather gauges to confirm if it is rain or flying ants.
But Simon Partridge, a forecaster for the Met Office, said it is harder to tell whether it is flying ants or rain during wet weather.

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