UK airlines given green light to cancel or consolidate flights to conserve jet fuel

UK airlines will be able to cancel or consolidate flights this summer to conserve jet fuel as the war in the Middle East continues to disrupt supplies.The measures are being taken to avoid major disruption as Britons jet off on their summer holidays. Airlines are looking carefully at their timetables to see which flights can be cancelled in advance and cause the least delays.New legislation would allow for actions such as consolidating schedules on routes where there are multiple flights to the same place on the same day, which could be put in place to stop last-minute cancellations, the government announced on Sunday.The changes will allow airlines to give back a limited proportion of their allocated takeoff and landing slots without losing the right to operate them the following season

Dynamic pay on platforms such as Uber should be banned, says TUC

The practice of using “dynamic pricing” to set pay on gig economy platforms including Uber should be banned because it leaves workers at the mercy of shadowy algorithms with no certainty over their earnings, trade union leaders have urged.In a report exposing the human cost of the gig economy practice, the Trades Union Congress said pay was becoming decoupled from time, skill or effort. Instead, work had become a speculative practice with the rewards determined by an algorithmic process with little transparency.Under dynamic pricing, computer-driven algorithms set variable prices on a gig economy platform for customers and rates of commission for workers to match real-time supply and demand in a market.However, union leaders say the practice replaces fixed rates or transparent tariffs with opaque, constantly shifting pricing mechanisms, where the data used to determine the rewards and decision-making process are largely obscured

How does live facial recognition work and how many UK police forces use it?

The Labour government thinks facial recognition technology is “the biggest breakthrough for catching criminals since DNA matching”. It wants all police forces to use it and recently announced 40 new vans rigged with live facial recognition cameras to be deployed in town centres across England and Wales.Supporters say it streamlines police work and catches criminals. Opponents fear it violates civil liberties and can be biased against minorities.The simplest systems check faces captured on CCTV, mobile phones, dashcams, social media and doorbell cameras against mugshots held on the police national database

UK ‘invention agency’ grants £50m of public money to US tech and venture capital firms

Britain’s “invention agency” has pledged £50m of UK taxpayer money to US tech companies and venture capital projects.Dreamed up by Dominic Cummings to fund “crazy” ideas, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) is meant to “restore Britain’s place as a scientific superpower”.But a joint investigation by the Guardian and Democracy for Sale, an investigative website, has established that more than an eighth of the agency’s £400m in research and development funding over the past two years has gone to 14 US tech companies and venture capital groups, in some cases, with no clear return for the UK or Aria.One of these companies, Rain Neuromorphics, is also backed by the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, and was reported to be near collapse last year, shortly after winning Aria money. It did not respond to a request for comment; two of its founders appear to have left the company

Formula One: Kimi Antonelli wins F1 Miami GP ahead of Lando Norris – as it happened

Our full report from today’s race is up and running:The rain we were promised still hasn’t fallen – although the decision to move the race forward was a sound one – as the top three make their way on to the balcony for the podium celebrations. Huge cheers for Kimi as he thumps his chest, salutes the crowd and takes in the Italian national anthem. He’s won three of this season’s four races so far, and on this form it’ll be tough to catch him.1) Kimi Antonelli, 100pts2) George Russell, 803) Charles Leclerc, 634) Lando Norris, 515) Lewis Hamilton, 496) Oscar Piastri, 437) Max Verstappen, 26Norris is asked about whether today was more fun, after drivers’ complaints about conditions this season. “Some things have improved, some things are still the same,” he says

Kimi Antonelli produces gutsy drive to hold off Norris and win F1 Miami GP

Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix with a superb, gutsy drive under pressure for Mercedes. The Italian triumphed for the third time in a row this season by beating the McLaren of Lando Norris into second at the Miami International Autodrome. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, was third with George Russell in fourth for Mercedes.Max Verstappen delivered a strong comeback to take fifth place after a spin on the opening lap. Charles Leclerc was sixth for Ferrari, with a late spin costing him places on what proved a dramatic final lap as he was passed by Russell and Verstappen