Author: Andrew Rogers

Jennifer Lawrence received the prestigious Donostia Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, becoming the youngest actor ever to do so. At 35, she was honoured for a career that includes an Oscar, Golden Globe, and global acclaim for films such as The Hunger Games, Don’t Look Up, and Silver Linings Playbook. Speaking before the ceremony, Lawrence said: “Our freedom of speech is under attack in America, including in the world of film, where we realise that we are all connected and need empathy and freedom.” She also encouraged young filmmakers to keep pursuing their dreams, stressing the importance…

A Cambridge-led clinical trial has found that a common diabetes drug combined with an antihistamine can partially repair nerve damage in multiple sclerosis (MS), raising hopes for a new class of treatments. The CCMR Two trial tested clemastine, an antihistamine, with metformin, a diabetes drug, in 70 people with relapsing MS. While patients did not notice improvements in symptoms after six months, electrical tests showed faster signal transmission in nerves, suggesting partial repair of damaged myelin sheaths. “It’s smaller than we were hoping for,” said Dr Nick Cunniffe of the University of Cambridge, who led the trial. “The drugs have…

Women who skip their first breast cancer screening appointment face a 40% higher risk of dying from the disease, a major Swedish study has found. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute analysed data from around 500,000 women who were first invited to mammography between 1991 and 2020. They tracked outcomes for up to 25 years, publishing their findings in the British Medical Journal. Almost one in three women (32%) did not attend their first appointment. Among them, breast cancer mortality was significantly higher: 9.9 deaths per 1,000 women over 25 years compared with seven per 1,000 among those who attended. The…

The world’s oceans have crossed a dangerous acidity threshold for the first time, according to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The 2025 Planetary Health Check found ocean pH has dropped by about 0.1 units since the industrial era, a 30-40% increase in acidity that threatens marine ecosystems. Cold-water corals, tropical reefs and Arctic marine life face severe risks as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels forms carbonic acid in seawater, reducing calcium carbonate vital for shells and coral growth. The report warns this endangers species such as oysters, clams and molluscs, and indirectly harms larger predators like salmon…

Amazon will close all 19 of its Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, just four years after opening its first location in London. Five shops will be converted into Whole Foods Market outlets, the organic grocery chain Amazon bought in 2017. Launched in 2021, Amazon Fresh stores allowed customers to shop without tills, using an app and in-store sensors to track purchases. However, the concept faltered as demand for contactless shopping fell after the pandemic, and the company failed to challenge major rivals like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Amazon did not confirm how many jobs will be affected but said staff…

Vodafone franchisees raised alarms about the “massive impact” commission cuts were having on their mental health four years before 62 business owners launched a £120m high court claim against the telecoms giant. In 2020, franchisees reported suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression after Vodafone reduced the fees paid to small retailers for selling certain products and services. The cuts followed months of uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic. A survey conducted that year by a committee of Vodafone franchisees found widespread dissatisfaction. Respondents gave just 1.75 out of five when asked if they trusted Vodafone’s word, and 1.67 when asked…

The European Union is considering the creation of a “drone wall” to secure its eastern border after Russian drones entered Polish airspace. The proposed system, backed by Baltic states and referenced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, would serve as a multilayered defence network against unmanned aerial threats. At the core of the project is Eirshield, an anti-drone platform jointly developed by Estonia’s DefSecIntel and Latvia’s Origin Robotics. The system combines radars, cameras, and radio-frequency detectors with artificial intelligence to identify, track, and neutralise hostile drones. Depending on the threat, drones can be jammed, intercepted with counter-drones, or…

Massive Attack have removed their catalogue from Spotify in protest against founder Daniel Ek’s €600m (£520m) investment in military AI company Helsing. The band cited the “moral and ethical burden” of having revenue from their music fund lethal technologies. Helsing develops AI software for analysing battlefield data and produces the HX-2 military drone. Ek, who is also Helsing’s chairman, led the company’s latest funding round through his venture capital firm Prima Materia. The band’s decision coincides with their participation in the No Music for Genocide initiative, where over 400 artists and labels are withholding music from streaming services in Israel.…

Donald Trump announced on Friday that Chinese president Xi Jinping had agreed to approve a deal over TikTok, though no specifics of the agreement or signing timeline were disclosed. The announcement followed a phone call between the two leaders, their first direct contact since June, amid heightened tensions over trade and technology. Trump said earlier this week that Washington and Beijing had reached a deal to place TikTok’s US operations under American control, with Oracle among the investors in talks to take a significant stake. Reports suggest the framework is still incomplete, and negotiations continue over compliance with laws passed…

A major Swedish-led trial has found that a daily low dose of aspirin can cut the risk of colorectal cancer returning by more than 50% in patients with specific genetic mutations. The Alascca trial, led by Prof Anna Martling at the Karolinska Institute, followed nearly 3,000 patients across Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Among those whose tumours carried PI3K pathway mutations, patients given 160mg aspirin daily for three years after surgery were 55% less likely to see their cancer return than those on placebo. About 40% of colorectal cancer patients have such mutations. Researchers believe aspirin protects against recurrence by…