ByteDance, the Chinese technology company behind TikTok, has said it will restrain its AI video-making tool, after threats of legal action from Disney and a backlash from other media businesses, according to reports. The AI video generator Seedance 2.0, released last week, has spooked Hollywood as users create realistic clips of movie stars and superheroes with just a short text prompt. Several big Hollywood studios have accused the tool of copyright infringement. On Friday, Walt Disney reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance which accused it of supplying Seedance with…
Tag: UK news
Andrew aide advised Epstein to omit conviction on China visa form, files suggest
An aide to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor advised Jeffrey Epstein to illegally hide his child sexual abuse conviction to obtain a visa to China, according to the latest Epstein files release. David Stern, who was a close associate of both Epstein and the then prince, was asked for his help after the disgraced financier’s initial application for a visa was rejected. Stern advised Epstein’s assistant to make the application at the Chinese embassy in Paris and “in addition it will be better not to tick the boxes re being denied previously or…
Jimmy Lai’s sentencing tells me this: democracy is dead in Hong Kong, and I escaped just in time | Nathan Law
Waking up on Monday morning to the news of the pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai’s 20-year prison sentence for national security offences felt surreal. I could have easily been in his position if I hadn’t fled Hong Kong right before the implementation of the notorious national security law (NSL), under which Lai has faced the harshest penalty ever given. In fact, Lai chose to stay and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in the face of an uncertain and repressive future. Now his family fears that he…
UK, UN and EU deplore ‘monumental injustice’ of Jimmy Lai’s 20-year jail sentence
The UK, the UN, EU and rights groups have condemned the sentencing of the pro-democracy activist and publisher Jimmy Lai, a British citizen who has been jailed for 20 years in Hong Kong for national security convictions that critics say are politically motivated. Yvette Cooper, the UK foreign secretary, said: “For 78-year-old Jimmy Lai, 20 years is an effective life sentence, following a politically motivated prosecution under a law that was imposed to silence China’s critics. The Hong Kong authorities must end Jimmy Lai’s appalling ordeal and release him to…
Menstrual blood test could offer alternative to cervical screening for cancer
A pioneering test of period blood for signs of cervical cancer could be a convenient, non-invasive and accurate way of screening for the disease, researchers have said. A regular sanitary pad topped with a blood sample strip can pick up human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cervical cancer, and could be used by women at home, the results of a study indicate. Currently, most women undergo cervical screening under the care of a clinician, who collects a sample via a brush inserted into the vagina. But millions of…
How can Britain regain its manufacturing power? Start thinking like a developing country | Larry Elliott
Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping were both on a mission when they came to power within months of each other at the tail end of the 1970s. Thatcher wanted to reinvigorate capitalism in Britain, while Deng launched a programme of reform and liberalisation that he called socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since then, the economies of Britain and China have been transformed, but in different ways. China was essentially a peasant economy when Deng took control, but it has since become an industrial powerhouse, while Britain has ceased to be a…
Chinese carmaker Chery to launch fourth brand in UK
The Chinese carmaker Chery is launching a fourth brand in the UK, continuing a push into the British market where it has rapidly become a major player. The state-owned company said on Wednesday it would sell cars under the Lepas brand, which is developing battery and hybrid SUVs aimed at younger families, mainly in the European market. The decision to add a fourth brand in the UK underlines Chery’s efforts to win market share. The Lepas cars will be built initially in China and imported to the UK, which does…
Jimmy Lai’s son says UK government did not do enough to help him on China visit
The British son of the jailed Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised the UK government for failing to place conditions on his father’s release during the prime minister’s visit to China last week. Speaking at a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Sebastien Lai said his father’s incarceration was not only a humanitarian and national security issue, but an issue “where our values are being locked up” along with him. Sebastien Lai says time is running out for his father, who is in poor health. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian The…
Mandelson’s conduct with Epstein ‘far below standard expected’, says minister as Brown calls for inquiry into ‘shocking’ leak – UK politics live
From 2h ago Mandelson’s conduct with Epstein ‘unequivocally wrong’ and ‘far below standard expected of any minister’, Jones says Jones says Jeffrey Epstein was “a despicable criminal who committed disgusting crimes and destroyed the lives of countless women and girls”. He goes on: On Friday, the Department of Justice in the United States released around 3 million pages from the case files relating to Jeffrey Epstein. It is increasingly clear that his awful crimes involved and were facilitated by many, often powerful people, both by actively participating in the crimes…
China is leading the charge to nuclear Armageddon – and Starmer barely noticed | Simon Tisdall
Keir Starmer’s tentative pivot to the Dragon Throne has played well in Beijing, though not in Trumpland. That’s partly because, like other needy western leaders, Britain’s prime minister did not dwell on awkward subjects such as human rights abuses, the Jimmy Lai travesty, spying and Taiwan. But in talks with President Xi Jinping, one vital issue was avoided altogether and should not have been: China’s dangerous, unexplained, secretive and rapid buildup of nuclear weapons. More than the climate crisis, global hunger, Kaiser Trump’s Prussian militarism and the ever prevalent threat…