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Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws show an average of 47 devices going missing every week across Government departments.

A "massive influx" of jellyfish forced Electricite de France SA to shut three units at its Gravelines nuclear power plant this week and reduce output at a fourth, reports Bloomberg. Just as summer temperatures surged, 3.2 gigawatts went offline — and the power utility was already facing cuts other nuclear sites as high temperatures reduced the river water available for cooling. More details from ScienceAlert: As Politico reports, the Gravelines nuclear power plant spent hundreds of thousands of euros in 2025 to stop this happening again, only to see a repeat 12 months later... Increasing temperatures in the water can produce more of the plankton and animals that jellyfish feed on, as well as accelerating life cycles and extending breeding seasons.... It's not just jellyfish that have a habit of disrupting human energy infrastructure. Last year in Connecticut, a single raccoon caused more than a thousand power outages, as reported by CT Insider. It's not clear exactly what the raccoon did, but we do know it somehow got into a substation and caused damage to the equipment in there. The unwitting act of sabotage left more than 2,500 customers in the area without power at one stage — though repairs were swiftly carried out. Reuters reported Tuesday on how the French utility responded to their jellyfish swarm: EDF has installed fixed cameras at the intake canals and on the filter drum screens to detect any incoming blockages as soon as possible, an engineer told Reuters... The company has also partnered with a French fishing organisation and a sea rescue organisation, which monitor for swarms and can raise an alert to launch targeted trawling operations by fishermen to reduce the swarm's density before it reaches the plant, the engineer said. The fishing boats were deployed [last] Saturday after an initial alarm was raised, limiting the impact from the swarm. The jellyfish that are already on site are being removed with vacuum trucks, he said. No new jellyfish are arriving, so cleanup is finishing, which should lead to a quick restart of the units, they added... Scientists warn such events could become more common due to factors including global warming, the arrival of invasive species, habitat loss of predators and over-fishing. Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the news.

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Nail technicians in the UK will face strict restrictions on the use of gel polishes containing toxic TPO from today, following a ban on chemicals in the EU.

A manufacturing technician who worked on production lines for Lemsip and for constipation treatment, Fybogel - says dust and fumes from the products' ingredients triggered health issues.

A whole host of dogs went head-to-head to try and claim the title at the annual Sonoma-Marin Fair in Santa Rosa on Friday.

Strictly Come Dancing host Emma Willis has revealed that Ellie Taylor has been named as the new presenter for the spin-off show.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Dina Asher-Smith handed a baton to Amy Hunt at 9.52pm and around 31 seconds later, Britain's newest sprint hero had a third gold medal.

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), whose president is Queen Camilla, has written to the statistics watchdog to complain that Labour is using bogus figures.

Less than a year ago he was the #1 richest man in the world. 10 weeks ago he was #2. But yesterday Larry Ellison dropped to #8, Forbes reports, falling behind Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Ellison's net worth is now estimated at just $192.6 billion — after a $104 billion decline: Shares of Oracle plunged roughly 54% between hitting a high of just over $250 on June 1 to a low of $114.50 on July 28, though the stock rebounded slightly to $150.52 as of Friday. A decline followed Oracle telling investors it expected to raise $40 billion through debt and equity financing, with capital expenditures surging 162% to $55.7 billion and spending expected to top $95 billion by fiscal 2027. Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, told Reuters there are broader concerns about how Oracle would fund its capital spending to match its revenue projections, and Bank of America analysts separately flagged in a note cautioning that more than 50% of Oracle's remaining performance obligation comes from OpenAI. Melius Research analysts wrote last month that Oracle's spending plans may not hold if OpenAI or Anthropic demands more computing capacity. S&P Global also downgraded Oracle's credit rating in July, arguing the firm's "rapidly expanding" AI infrastructure business could pay off, but may be too expensive and could weaken Oracle's financial position in the meantime. $443 billion. That's how much Oracle's market valuation has dropped since peaking at $877.1 billion in September, hitting $433.5 billion as of Friday... Oracle, once viewed as a potential winner of the booming AI infrastructure buildout, has since raised concerns among investors who appear to view the firm as taking on too much financial risk to fund its projects. Wall Street has cautioned that mega-cap tech firms may be taking on too much spending to match growing demand for AI products, with firms like Amazon expecting to spend more than $200 billion. Oracle's backlog has exploded to $638 billion, but more than half is reportedly associated with OpenAI, and some analysts have cautioned that most of those funds may not be guaranteed.

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The NFL star, 36, had a life-changing offseason, marrying pop sensation Taylor Swift in a star-studded celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City on July 3.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI IN BIRMINGHAM: The 33-year-old, clearly unfit after recent difficulties with a calf issue, effectively jogged the 800m to bring an end to her hugely underwhelming campaign.

In 2001, defying lingering allegations of child molestation, Michael Jackson decided to make a fly-on-the-wall-style documentary.

Gomez has broken her silence two days after she and her mother were accused of fraud in a lawsuit filed by investors in her mental health company, Wondermind.

Rhian Sugden was sure to set pulses racing as she slipped into a busty red bodysuit for a sexy Instagram snap on Saturday.

Ewan McGregor has told how starring opposite his eldest daughter helped to heal their relationship following his divorce from her mother.

The singer, 41, looked incredible in a satin bustier and suspenders as she took to the stage at the 2026 Oyafestivalen at Toyenparken on Saturday night.

Police have closed the A120 at Galleys Corner, Braintree after reports of a crash.

"An engineering director at Google said four years ago that AI would deliver a four-day work week by 2025," remembers the BBC. And earlier this year OpenAI "formally urged companies to start testing out a four-day work week (with no change in pay), claiming that AI will soon be able to speed up so much human labour that the corporate world should prepare itself." However, a former OpenAI technical employee who left the company last year told the BBC the firm never actually trialled the four-day work week it suggested others should try while they were there. Instead, the person described what was often a gruelling work culture marked by frequent "crisis meetings", working on weekends, and "super cut-throat" performance reviews that would see colleagues suddenly let go... [T]he former OpenAI employee said they would put in at least 70 hours a week, much more than they did in previous tech jobs... Other companies have also pushed the idea that AI will effectively reduce the number of hours people need to work, for better or worse. [At OpenAI and Anthropic] sprints can stretch on for many weeks and top 90 hours of work in a seven-day period, tech workers that the BBC spoke to for this story said... At Meta, workers said they have been abruptly pushed onto teams this year doing AI work being treated as urgent... The hours on such teams at Meta are often long, with staff working into the night, on weekends, and feeling they are "on call" during the hours they are not working, according to descriptions of the work from the current and former employees... Some new research suggests that AI tools are making people's workloads even more burdensome. A study out of UC Berkeley followed hundreds of workers at a US tech company for eight months as they used AI. It found the employees "worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day"... The UC Berkeley research found that the workload of tech employees was expanded in part because of the need to constantly check the output of AI tools. In the article Neil Thompson, an innovation scholar at MIT, pointed out a problem with estimates that AI will ease the workload on humans. "People assume that 20% less work means four-day weeks. But new work emerges." The BBC also points out helpfully that "there are no limits in the U.S. on how many hours a person over the age of 16 can work." (While in the UK and Europe, "laws limit a working week to 48 hours, including overtime.") Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader hadleyburg for sharing the article.

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After leaving the BBC in 2025 after re-posting a video which juxtaposed a rat with the headline 'Zionism explained in less than 2 mins', Gary Lineker has breezed ahead without looking back.

Where were you when the balloon went up on Friday? I had finished an outdoor supper in Herefordshire, a dry breeze stirring the treetops, when my mobile telephone emitted an insistent.