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Staff Sergeant Andrew Oakes was in charge of a pre-signed military cheque book, which he used on 125 occasions to funnel cash into his own account.

Conservative MP Gareth Davies, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, called for the watchdog to assess Chancellor Rachel Reeves' proposals.

At WWDC 2024, Apple showed off a dramatically improved Siri that could handle complex contextual queries like "when is my mom's flight landing?" The demo was heavily edited due to latency issues and couldn't be shown in a single take. Multiple Apple engineers reportedly learned about the feature by watching the keynote alongside everyone else. Those features never shipped. Now, nearly a year later, Apple executives Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak are conducting press interviews claiming the 2024 demonstration wasn't "vaporware" because working code existed internally at the time. The company says the features will arrive "in the coming year" -- which Apple confirmed means sometime in 2026. Apple is essentially arguing that internal development milestones matter more than actual product delivery. The executives have also been setting up strawman arguments, claiming critics expected Apple to build a ChatGPT competitor rather than addressing the core issue: announcing features to sell phones that then don't materialize. The company's timeline communication has been equally problematic, using euphemistic language like "in the coming year" instead of simply saying "2026" for features that won't arrive for nearly two years after announcement. Developer Russell Ivanovic, in a Mastodon post: My guy. You announced something that never shipped. You made ads for it. You tried to sell iPhones based on it. What's the difference if you had it running internally or not. Still vaporware. Zero difference. MG Siegler: The underlying message that they're trying to convey in all these interviews is clear: calm down, this isn't a big deal, you guys are being a little crazy. And that, in turn, aims to undercut all the reporting about the turmoil within Apple -- for years at this point -- that has led to the situation with Siri. Sorry, the situation which they're implying is not a situation. Though, I don't know, normally when a company shakes up an entire team, that tends to suggest some sort of situation. That, of course, is never mentioned. Nor would you expect Apple -- of all companies -- to talk openly and candidly about internal challenges. But that just adds to this general wafting smell in the air. The smell of bullshit. Further reading: Apple's Spin on the Personalized Siri Apple Intelligence Reset.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After two years of GP and physiotherapy appointments, Eddie's worried family finally received clarity and in April 2024 were told their son had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

The former EastEnders star, 49, took to Instagram on Thursday and gave a candid insight into her life and career.

Leicestershire Police said on a routine weekend the force handles around 600 emergency calls - but during Download Festival weekend there was 700 more than usual.

Hasaan Arshad, 25, was on secondment to the communications agency when he took his work mobile phone into a top secret area and connected the device to a workstation.

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, allegedly skinned and deboned his pet cat before launching a 20-minute spree of violence in Hainault, east London, while high on cannabis, the Old Bailey heard.

The singer, 56, kicked off her highly anticipated tour in Perth , Australia, in February, making it her first tour since her 2019 Golden Tour and her biggest since 2011.

Film-lovers have been left patiently waiting to find out when the new 007 movie will be released since Daniel Craig finished his five film stint as the British spy with No Time To Die .

Rylan Clark and his mum Linda have been part of the celebrity version of Gogglebox since 2019, and have become fan favourites thanks to their close bond and hilarious conversations

Walmart and Amazon are exploring the possibility of issuing their own stablecoins in the United States, WSJ reported Friday, potentially shifting billions of dollars in transaction volume away from traditional banks and card networks. The retail giants, along with Expedia Group and several airlines, have recently discussed launching corporate stablecoins that would allow them to circumvent the existing payments infrastructure dominated by Visa and Mastercard. The companies' final decisions hinge on passage of the Genius Act, legislation currently moving through Congress that would establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins. These digital currencies maintain a one-to-one exchange ratio with dollars and are backed by cash or Treasury reserves, offering merchants the potential for faster payment settlement and significantly reduced processing fees compared to traditional card transactions that can take days to clear.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mattel-OpenAI deal paves the way for an AI beach-off

Toy giant Mattel has signed a deal with OpenAI to bring the tech industry's buzziest technology to the very youngest generation.…

As they pounded the Iranian nuclear ­facilities yesterday, the Israelis were finally doing what so many Western leaders had expected they would do for years, if not decades.

Some trace back to an outfit under US export controls for alleged PLA links

Both Apple's and Google's online stores offer free virtual private network (VPN) apps owned by Chinese companies, according to researchers at the Tech Transparency Project, and they don't make this fact readily known to people downloading the apps.…

Google is rolling out a test that puts its AI-powered Audio Overviews on the first page of search results on mobile. From a report: The experiment, which you can enable in Labs, will let you generate an AI podcast-style discussion for certain queries. If you search for something like, "How do noise cancellation headphones work?", Google will display a button beneath the "People also ask" module that says, "Generate Audio Overview." Once you click the button, it will take up to 40 seconds to generate an Audio Overview, according to Google. The completed Audio Overview will appear in a small player embedded within your search results, where you can play, pause, mute, and adjust the playback speed of the clip.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

One single fact appears to have provided the spark to ignite Ballymena in flames.

The musician, 48, revealed his romance with the former Made in Chelsea star, 39, is hotting up - two months after going public.

The happy couple - who whisked off shortly after Danny's birthday - were joined by their daughter Rani Rose, 6, and Bingham, 13, while Kate also has son Ryder, 21, from ex Chris Robinson.

Sayedmiya Inayatali, 48, had been visiting his 90-year-old mother in India with his wife, Nafisabanu, 46, and their children, Waqueeali, 25, and Taskin, 22.