Tories plan to expand free childcare to high earners to end ‘cliff edge’

Kemi Badenoch says those earning more than £100,000 should not be discouraged from working more

The Conservatives have unveiled a proposed £700m childcare giveaway for high earners ahead of their annual conference, saying they would end the “cliff edge” where free entitlement ends at salaries above £100,000.

The plan, set out the day before the event begins in Birmingham, follows the earlier proposal by Kemi Badenoch’s party to abolish most stamp duty, another change to taxation that would disproportionately benefit wealthier people.

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Trump urges calls to Arkansas senator in push for permanent daylight saving time

President appeared to share phone number of Tom Cotton for people to call to push him to support measure

Donald Trump on Saturday put pressure on the US senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, urging Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of his fellow Republican and the chair of the Senate intelligence committee.

The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate, where some Republicans are strongly opposed to it. Proponents, including the president and his administration, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

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UCLA law school accused by justice department of illegally using race in admissions

University denies allegations, saying it is committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all laws

The Department of Justice said on Thursday that the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles illegally considered race in admissions.

The announcement follows a similar accusation against the university’s medical school and comes as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students.

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Boston mass transit authorities flap around for solution to pigeon menace

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are now considering setting trained falcons on the urban birds

The mass transit authorities in the greater Boston region are clawing around for ways to mitigate the excessive local pigeon population – or more graphically, pigeon poo all over stations – and have swooped on the possibility of setting trained falcons on them.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the public system commonly known as “the T”, issued a “request for information” (RFI) last month from falconry experts on the potential use of birds of prey, such as falcons, to control the crowds of urban birds widely considered a public nuisance.

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Hegseth puts the future of warfare in the hands of major Maga donors

Installing tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to Pentagon defense board raises conflict of interest concerns

By installing the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to advisory roles in a Pentagon project about the future of warfare, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, bestowed extraordinary influence on two of Maga’s most significant campaign donors – and both men own companies that benefit from federal defense contracting.

The new project, which Hegseth dubbed “Project Meridian” in an event in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday, will be led by Pentagon official Emil Michael, a former Uber executive. As the Guardian has reported, Michael made millions in profits off non-public Musk company AI stock while in federal office – and while guiding the Department of Defense’s artificial intelligence efforts.

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US trade regulator opens investigation into AI giants including Anthropic and OpenAI

FTC move is first official US enforcement ⁠action on rogue AI agents, following surge in incidents first reported in July

The US’s main trade regulator is conducting an industry-wide investigation ⁠into Anthropic, OpenAI and other ⁠AI labs ​to uncover the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers.

The investigation by the Federal Trade Commission is the first official US enforcement ⁠action that delves into rogue AI agents, following a surge in incidents first reported in July that have stoked fears among the public that uncontrolled AI could one day ⁠harm humans.

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Smart ring maker Oura puts off initial public offering due to market ‘uncertainty’

Researchers say the IPO market was off to a solid start but tailed off in the third quarter

Smart ring maker Oura Inc says it is postponing a planned initial public offering due to market “uncertainty”.

In a Tuesday press release, Oura said it is delaying the stock market float “despite strong demand”.

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Lindsay Clancy appears in court as her lawyer pushes for murder case to be dismissed

Clancy's defence lawyer wants her to be cleared of murdering her three children in 2023 but prosecutors say the state proved guilt.

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Dengue fever outbreak prompts Florida counties to declare state of emergency

CDC says 392 cases of Dengue were reported for the year so far in the state, along with different county-level data

Several Florida counties recently declared a state of local emergency in response to a spate of dengue fever infections.

Hillsborough county, Florida, officials made the declaration on 24 September as health authorities recorded 134 confirmed cases of dengue fever, which is a mosquito-borne sickness typically found in countries outside the US. Officials said that the spread of the illness poses “an immediate and widespread threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents and visitors of Hillsborough county”.

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Trump-Xi summit: What wasn't said might matter the most

The most revealing thing about the summit in Washington may be what the two leaders did not say - and what we still don't know.

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