Fixing Britain’s worklessness crisis will cost employers £6bn a year, report says

Employers have been told in a landmark government review that fixing Britain’s health-related worklessness crisis will require them to spend £6bn a year on support for their staff.In a major report before this month’s budget, Charlie Mayfield warned that businesses needed to play a more central role in tackling a rising tide of ill-health that is pushing millions of people out of work.The former chair of John Lewis, who was appointed by ministers to lead the government’s Keep Britain Working review last year, said that a drastic expansion in occupational health was needed to help prevent hundreds of thousands of people from falling out of the workforce each year.“We need to fix this,” Mayfield told the Guardian. “What we are proposing is a fundamental reset in terms of how health is handled in the workplace

Telecoms companies to improve security to stop UK phone number ‘spoofing’

Six of the biggest phone companies have said they will work together and upgrade their systems to stop fraudsters being able to “spoof” UK phone numbers and commit fraud.New technology is expected to be rolled out over the next year that will stop criminals impersonating legitimate bodies and subsequently duping people into believing they are talking to real companies, banks and government departments.Under the new plans, which aim to tackle number spoofing by foreign call centres, it will become clear when calls are coming from abroad.The agreement – called the second telecommunications fraud charter – is expected to be signed on Wednesday by representatives of BT/EE, Virgin Media O2, VodafoneThree, Tesco Mobile, Talk Talk and Sky as well as Comms Council UK (CCUK), an industry body, and the government.In January, the telecoms regulator Ofcom said phone providers must block all calls from abroad that falsely displayed a UK landline number

Google plans to put datacentres in space to meet demand for AI

Google is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027.Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth’s surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI.Prices of space launches are falling so quickly that by the middle of the 2030s the running costs of a space-based datacentre could be comparable to one on Earth, according to Google research released on Tuesday.Using satellites could also minimise the impact on the land and water resources needed to cool existing datacentres.Once in orbit, the datacentres would be powered by solar panels that can be up to eight times more productive than those on Earth

Elon Musk’s $1tn Tesla pay deal to be rejected by huge Norway wealth fund

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has said it will vote against a $1tn (£765bn) pay package for the Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk.The fund, which is the biggest national wealth fund in the world, said that while it appreciated the “the significant value created under Mr Musk’s visionary role” it would vote against his performance award.“We are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution and lack of mitigation of key person risk – consistent with our views on executive compensation,” it said. “We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.”The warning from Norges Bank, which is the seventh biggest single shareholder in Tesla with a stake worth $17bn, comes two days before the carmaker hosts its annual shareholder meeting

Jake Weatherald in contention for Test debut after being named in Australia’s Ashes squad

Opener Jake Weatherald has won a place in Australia’s Ashes squad and is the leading contender to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order for the first Test in Perth.But the Tasmania batter has not yet secured a spot in the XI for the series opener, with chief selector George Bailey saying he would wait until the end of the coming round of Sheffield Shield matches before making a decision on the final line-up.“I think if you look at [Weatherald’s] performance over 18, 24 months, it’s been really solid,” Bailey said. “There’s a method there that I think we like and is complimentary to those other players around him in the squad. He scores at a good rate, the way he goes about building his innings has been impressive

NFL great Tom Brady says his dog is a clone of family’s deceased pit bull mix

Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady said Tuesday that his dog, Junie, is a clone of his family’s late pet Lua, created by Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology company that Brady has invested in.The Birmingham City co-owner revealed the news in a statement released through Colossal, which also announced its acquisition of another cloning company, Viagen Pets and Equine. The two firms plan to combine their technologies to expand cloning services for pet owners and conservation projects.“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,” Brady said