Foreign interference or opportunistic grifting: why are so many pro-Trump X accounts based in Asia?

A new feature on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter allows users to see the location of other accounts. It has resulted in a firestorm of recriminations

When X rolled out a new feature revealing the locations of popular accounts, the company was acting to boost transparency and clamp down on disinformation. The result, however, has been a circular firing squad of recriminations, as users turn on each other enraged by the revelation that dozens of popular “America first” and pro-Trump accounts originated overseas.

The new feature was enabled over the weekend by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who called it the first step in “securing the integrity of the global town square.” Since then many high-engagement accounts that post incessantly about US politics have been “unmasked” by fellow users.

Published: November 27, 2025, 12:01 am

ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology

OpenAI responds to lawsuit claiming its chatbot encouraged California teenager to kill himself

The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.

The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.

Published: November 26, 2025, 3:31 pm

European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16s

MEPs pass resolution to help parents tackle growing dangers of addictive internet platforms

Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.

MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.

Published: November 26, 2025, 4:28 pm

London councils enact emergency plans after three hit by cyber-attack

Kensington and Westminster councils investigating whether data has been compromised as Hammersmith and Fulham also reports hack

Three London councils have reported a cyber-attack, prompting the rollout of emergency plans and the involvement of the National Crime Agency (NCA) as they investigate whether any data has been compromised.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), and Westminster city council, which share some IT infrastructure, said a number of systems had been affected across both authorities, including phone lines. The councils shut down several computerised systems as a precaution to limit further possible damage.

Published: November 26, 2025, 4:34 pm

Computer maker HP to cut up to 6,000 jobs by 2028 as it turns to AI

US firm says plan to speed up product development and improve customer satisfaction would save $1bn a year

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Up to 6,000 jobs are to go at HP worldwide in the next three years as the US computer and printer maker increasingly adopts AI to speed up product development.

Announcing a lower-than-expected profit outlook for the coming year, HP said it would cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs by the end of October 2028. It has about 56,000 employees.

Published: November 26, 2025, 2:53 pm

Don’t buy new tech this Black Friday: expert tips for buying refurbished phones and laptops

Tech is on its last legs? Refurbished can be the cheaper, greener option. Here’s how to choose well and avoid the pitfalls

• How to shop smart this Black Friday
• How to make your phone last longer

Even if you do your best to avoid it, it’s hard to escape the noise of retailers offering implausible-seeming Black Friday discounts on desirable technology. What they won’t be so keen to highlight is the huge environmental cost that comes from feeding the capitalist beast year on year, given what an obvious sales vibe-killer it would be.

While the best approach for the planet is to opt out completely and observe the alternate holiday of Buy Nothing Day instead, such an approach can prove self-defeating to your finances in the long term. If you shop smart on Black Friday and avoid the lure of impulse buys, it’s a good time to stock up on the things you need, at lower prices than at the rest of the year.

Published: November 27, 2025, 12:00 pm

The best robot vacuums in the UK to keep your home clean and dust free, tested

Our writer trialled the most powerful robot vacuums – some of which even mop your floors – and these are the ones he rates

• The best window vacs for clearing condensation: seven expert picks for streak-free shine

Robot vacuum cleaners take the drudge work out of cleaning your floors and carpets. No more tiresome weekly stints of vacuuming, and no more last-minute panic sessions when you have visitors on the way. Instead, your compact robot chum regularly trundles out from its dock, sucking up dust, hair and debris to leave your floors looking spick and span.

Over the past few years, robot vacuums have become much more affordable, with basic units starting at about £150. They’re also doing more than they used to, mopping areas of hard flooring and charging in sophisticated cleaning stations that empty their dust collectors and clean their mop pads for you.

Best robot vacuum cleaner overall:
Eufy X10 Pro Omni

Published: November 26, 2025, 10:00 am

T​he era-defining Xbox 360 ​reimagined ​gaming​ and Microsoft never matched it

Two decades on, its influence still lingers, marking a moment when gaming felt thrillingly new again

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Almost 20 years ago (on 1 December 2005, to be precise), I was at my very first video game console launch party somewhere around London’s Leicester Square. The Xbox 360 arrived on 22 November 2005 in the US and 2 December in the UK, about three months after I got my first job as a junior staff writer on GamesTM magazine. My memories of the night are hazy because a) it was a worryingly long time ago and b) there was a free bar, but I do remember that DJ Yoda played to a tragically deserted dancefloor, and everything was very green. My memories of the console itself, however, and the games I played on it, are still as clear as an Xbox Crystal. It is up there with the greatest consoles ever.

In 2001, the first Xbox had muscled in on a scene dominated by Japanese consoles, upsetting the established order (it outsold Nintendo’s GameCube by a couple of million) and dragging console gaming into the online era with Xbox Live, an online multiplayer service that was leagues ahead of what the PlayStation 2 was doing. Nonetheless, the PS2 ended up selling over 150m to the original Xbox’s 25m. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, would sell over 80m, neck and neck with the PlayStation 3 for most of its eight-year life cycle (and well ahead in the US). It turned Xbox from an upstart into a market leader.

Published: November 26, 2025, 3:00 pm

Kirby Air Riders review – cute pink squishball challenges Mario for Nintendo racing supremacy

Nintendo Switch 2; Bandai Namco/Sora/HAL Laboratory/Nintendo
It takes some getting used to, but this Mario Kart challenger soon reveals a satisfyingly zen, minimalist approach to competitive racing

In the world of cartoonish racing games, it’s clear who is top dog. As Nintendo’s moustachioed plumber lords it up from his gilded go-kart, everyone from Crash Bandicoot to Sonic and Garfield has tried – and failed – to skid their way on to the podium. Now with no one left to challenge its karting dominance, Nintendo is attempting to beat itself at its own game.

The unexpected sequel to a critically panned 2003 GameCube game, Kirby Air Riders has the pink squishball and friends hanging on for dear life to floating race machines. With no Grand Prix to compete in, in the game’s titular mode you choose a track and compete to be the first of six players to cross the finish line, spin-attacking each other and unleashing weapons and special abilities to create cutesy, colourful chaos.

Published: November 26, 2025, 10:00 am

Face transplants promised hope. Patients were put through the unthinkable

Twenty years after the first face transplant, patients are dying, data is missing, and the experimental procedure’s future hangs in the balance

In the early hours of 28 May 2005, Isabelle Dinoire woke up in a pool of blood. After fighting with her family the night before, she turned to alcohol and sleeping tablets “to forget”, she later said.

Reaching for a cigarette out of habit, she realized she couldn’t hold it between her lips. She understood something was wrong.

Published: November 27, 2025, 11:00 am

Is it the beginning of the end for animal testing? – podcast

Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, research and innovation, recently unveiled a plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI and other technologies, with the eventual aim of phasing it out altogether. To understand how this will affect research and what could be used in place of animal models, Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample, Prof Hazel Screen of Queen Mary University London and Prof Kevin Harrington from the Institute of Cancer Research

UK minister unveils plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Published: November 27, 2025, 5:00 am

Study claims to provide first direct evidence of dark matter

Astrophysicist Prof Tomonori Totani says research could be crucial breakthrough in search for elusive substance

Nearly a century ago, scientists proposed that a mysterious invisible substance they named dark matter clumped around galaxies and formed a cosmic web across the universe.

What dark matter is made from, and whether it is even real, are still open questions, but according to a study, the first direct evidence of the substance may finally have been glimpsed.

Published: November 26, 2025, 10:31 am

Changes in solar energy fuelled high speed evolutionary changes, study suggests

Cause of oxygen fluctuations that drove explosion of weird and wonderful inhabitants 500m years ago linked to changes in Earth’s orbit

Just over 500m years ago life on Earth got souped-up, going from simple single-celled organisms to sophisticated multicellular lifeforms. The Cambrian explosion produced an array of weird and wonderful new inhabitants, such as the five-eyed opabinia and the spiky slug wiwaxia. Pulses of oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean are thought to have fuelled the diversification, but until now it has not been clear what drove the oxygen fluctuations. Now a study suggests changes in the Earth’s orbit may have been behind these evolutionary pulses.

Researchers used a climate and biogeochemical model and looked at how periodic shifts in Earth’s orbit affected the amount of solar energy reaching Earth. They discovered that the changes in solar energy every two to three million years kept in step with the ups and downs in observed oxygen levels.

Published: November 26, 2025, 6:00 am