The BBC’s topical debate programme Question Time began in an usual way this week, featuring a panel of iconic people who all passed away decades ago.

Winston Churchill, Frida Khalo, Mahatma Gandhi and Emmeline Pankhurst briefly featured to introduce the programme’s topic – artificial intelligence (AI).

The programme went on to discuss the consequential issues of AI for the present day and beyond.

The real life panel consisted of Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister; Julia Lopez, shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology; Mo Gawdat, author, entrepreneur and former chief business officer at Google X; Laura Gilbert, senior director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; and Victor Riparbelli, founder and CEO of London-based AI company Synthesia.

Watch the full programme here.

Six years ago, the government rejected a House of Lords select committee proposal to add the Champions League final to the list of “crown jewels” events, which would have ensured it would always be free-to-air.

Highlights of the Champions League final will be available on the BBC Sport website and across social media channels 15 minutes after the trophy lift, and on BBC iPlayer and television later in the evening.

Live commentary will also be on BBC Radio 5 Live.

The Champions League final had been free on ITV each year from 1993 – with the exception of the 1994 final, which the BBC showed live – until BT Sport won the rights, starting from 2015-16.

BT Sport continued to make it available without a subscription through to 2023, simultaneously broadcasting the game on its YouTube channel.

This changed after BT Sport was bought by Warner Bros Discovery and rebranded as TNT Sports.

While the finals remained available without cost, fans needed to sign up for a discovery+ account to get access.

Discovery+ has been replaced by Warner Bros Discovery’s new streaming service, HBO Max, which has no free option.

Fans will not need a full TNT Sports subscription, and can instead sign up for HBO Max for one month.

The cheapest subscription starts at £4.99, which would include all three matches, though most Sky customers already get HBO Max at no extra cost.

From 2027-28, TNT Sports will lose its European rights.

Paramount+ has picked up the Champions League, while the Europa League and the Conference League will move to Sky Sports.

Warner Bros Discovery has been approached for comment.

The best sleep position for hot weather

Which is the best side to sleep on?

Canadian national Kenneth Law, 60, has admitted charges of aiding suicide relating to Canadian victims – he has been linked to deaths in the UK

A Canadian man who sold lethal substances online to people across the world, including the UK, has admitted charges of aiding suicide.

Kenneth Law, 60, appeared in court in Ontario, Canada, on Friday where he formally entered his guilty pleas to a total of 14 counts, all relating to Canadian victims.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said 79 UK victims who died as a direct result of purchasing Law’s products will form part of the wider case into his offending.

Authorities informed the victims’ families that Law would not face criminal proceedings in the UK because of the potential for the hotel cook to challenge the extradition after being convicted of similar offences in Canada.

After his Canadian convictions, British prosecutors described Law as a “serial offender who callously exploited many vulnerable and innocent people exchanging their lives for his financial gain”.

He sold 1,200 packages to 40 countries across the world from Canada-based websites – with 286 individuals in the UK receiving the products, leading to 112 deaths.

The NCA and CPS said in a letter to bereaved families that it had been established Law sent 330 products to the UK in total.

Explaining why the UK victims would be taken into the Canadian case, the letter said: “We recognise that this may be painful to hear, and that some victims and bereaved families may have hoped to see a separate prosecution in England and Wales.

“This difficult decision was reached only after detailed consideration of all available options.”

The senior investigating officer at the NCA, Damon Hayes, told reporters including British victims in the Canadian case “guarantees all victims and families in the UK will see justice”.

He added: “This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.

“This will allow the judge to take into account the full extent of Law’s criminal behaviour, including the fact that his actions resulted in the deaths of people in this country.”

Victims’ families have criticised the move, with one bereaved father saying: “I am angry but not surprised.”

David Parfett, the father of philosophy student Thomas Parfett, who died aged 22 after taking his own life in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, added: “For months, we have been told that the system is working and that existing measures are enough. They are not.

“If our own country will not put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it can do is hold a proper inquiry into how they were allowed to happen.”

The sister of 21-year-old Aimee Walton, from Southampton, who died in 2022, said that “doors have been shut” for families seeking justice.

Adele Zeynep Walton said: “The question for our own country is simpler still: who here will examine how the British state let this happen, and what it will do so that no other family goes through it?

“A foreign sentencing hearing cannot answer that. Only a statutory public inquiry can.”

Since opening its investigation in April 2023, the NCA has worked with 45 police forces across the UK to gather evidence on Law’s offending.

Specialist CPS prosecutor Andrew Hudson told reporters that “no victim has been left behind as part of this process”, adding that including British victims will “ensure that the full devastating extent of his criminal conduct is seen and considered by the sentence in court.”

Law was also investigated by police in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

– Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org.

This is a Breaking News story. You’ll be more likely to see our stories when any big news breaks in future by simply by clicking this link. You can also join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News, Flipboard, Apple News, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage.

South Lanarkshire Council are set to sell the property off.

A council house in Bothwell with serious structural problems is to be sold off after repair costs were found to be more than double the property’s market value.

The former tenant of the two-bedroom property at 13 Morven Way raised concerns about cracks throughout the building and the overall condition of the property — and was permanently rehoused.

The property has been lying empty ever since, and will now go before South Lanarkshire Council’s housing and technical resources committee on June 3, where councillors will be asked to approve the disposal of the house on the open market.

The single-storey end terrace house, which was built in 1960, was flagged after the tenant’s concerns prompted a full structural assessment.

The report by Grossart Associates identified serious defects throughout, including internal and external separation cracks, an off-level floor slab, and wall cracks throughout.

A report by housing director Stephen Gibson, which will be tabled at next week’s meeting, states that the inspection “identified an on-going structural problem within the property, with serious defects noted throughout.”

He wrote: “The total cost of reinstatement works to 13 Morven Way is estimated at £162,687.

“All works included within these costs are mandatory. Any works that were deemed non-essential have been removed from costings to cap the costs of this project.

“It should be noted that, even if these works were carried out, there is no guarantee that structural issues would not re-emerge following this.

“Similar style of properties within the Bothwell area have sold for £87,000 on the open market. Therefore, the reinstatement works to 13 Morven Way are just over double the market value of similar type properties.”

The works required are extensive — stripping out the interior, replacing the roof, installing new external render and windows, and strengthening the external walls.

The recommendation is to sell the 13 Morven Way property as it stands, with any proceeds going into the Housing Revenue Account’s Capital Programme.

With the local authority in the midst of a housing emergency, the council’s estates team “will actively monitor the market in an attempt to buy back other ex-council properties within the area to replace this property.”

*Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.

And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.

Twisted David Harker has been behind bars for more than 27 years for butchering mum-of-four Julie Paterson in 1998. 

Harker cut off Ms Paterson’s limbs and head before disposing of her torso in a black sack and dumping it in a house on Polam Lane – and even boasted about frying her thigh and eating it. 

The now-51-year-old, who had already been refused parole eight times, faced another hearing on May 13, this year. 

But a parole board has once again denied Harker’s release or an open condition in order to  “protect the public from serious harm”.  

Harker was said to ‘charming’, but he had a chilling dark side (Image: Contributor)

The parole board decision summary reveals Harker, who became eligible for parole in 2013, chose not to make any representations about his release and did not attend the hearing. 

It details how there have been “signs of change” in his behaviour in custody, with no disciplinary findings since 2015.

He has also undertaken an intervention to increase motivation and engagement and a programme intended to strengthen the methods he can use to reduce violent tendencies. 

The panel considered a dossier containing 356 pages of reports, including submissions on behalf of the Secretary of State arguing against release.

The person responsible for managing Harker in prison, two probation officers who would be responsible for him in the community if he were to be released, and a psychologist all expressed the view that he did not pass the test for release or open conditions.

The panel decided not to release Harker. He has 21 days to appeal for reconsideration. 

Harker – who was likened to Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs – was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in February 1999.

At the time, psychiatrists who examined him on behalf of both the defence and the prosecution agreed that his responsibility for his actions at the time of the killing was “substantially diminished by a severe psychopathic disorder”.

He was jailed for life. 

Ms Paterson first went missing in April 1988 and a murder investigation was launched when parts of body were found in a bin liner hidden in a garden hedge the following month.

Julie Paterson went missing in April 1998 (Image: Contributor)

She was just 32 when she died – and the rest of her remains have never been recovered. 

Detectives believed the evil killer had kept her decapitated head in the corner of his bedroom for several days before deciding to remove it, with her limbs and head never being found. 

At the time, officers trawled through 20,000 tons of rubbish at Coxhoe tip, in County Durham, dragging rivers and ponds and searching sewers, but to no avail.

When Harker was held on remand at Ashworth Hospital, in Liverpool, before being convicted, he told The Northern Echo what had happened to the mother.

Police searching for Julie’s remains at a County Durham landfill site in 1998 (Image: North News)

While Harker had refused to talk to the police about it, he openly admitted his guilt to former Echo reporter Karen Westcott during a call, then through twisted letters, and then in person.

Harker, who has the words “subhuman” and “disorder” tattooed on his scalp, admitted in these letters that he was making a mask out of human skin and intended to use the flesh of his victims to complete it.

He wrote: “I would have gone on until I was caught.

“The coroner would be busy in Darlington if I ever got out.”

Harker also told the Echo in person that he had consensual sex with Julie at his flat on Harewood Grove before he strangled her with her tights in his bedroom.

He said coldly: “It just happened.”

Ms Paterson’s family have long pleaded with Harker to reveal where he disposed of her body.

However, he has refused to answer their desperate calls to finally put their beloved mam to rest.

Americans infected with the deadly strain of Ebola will be taken to European countries for treatment instead of the US, an official has revealed.  

Concern is growing over the outbreak of deadly Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent weeks.  

Now an official from Trump’s administration has said that any Americans who need advanced medical care would be transported to Europe, not the US, according to NBC News.  

US officials have set up a quarantine facility in Kenya to treat American patients, and it is set to open today with 50 beds.  

This will be the first stop for the exposed Americans before they are taken to another country in Europe. The destination countries have not yet been named.  

The Trump administration has insisted that the reason for the plan is shorter flights.  

One American citizen, a surgeon who had worked in a hospital in DRC, was taken to Germany with his family after contracting Ebola.  

Dr Peter Stafford treated a person infected with Ebola unknowingly before the outbreak was noticed. His wife, also a doctor, had operated on the same patient.  

Five others who were exposed were also transported to Germany, while one patient was taken to Czechia, Reuters reports.  

The US has put stringent measures in place in a bid to prevent Ebola from spreading to the country.  

Non-citizens who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days are blocked from entering the US.  

Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said: ‘We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States.’ 

Death toll from the virus is mounting, with 223 suspected fatalities linked to the specific strain, which currently has no vaccine against it. Cases have soared to around 1,000.  

The recent outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship with people from dozens of countries complicated the response and where to take patients.  

MV Hondius, the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, was eventually allowed to dock in Tenerife, which sparked a protest on the island.  

Ebola in the DRC and Uganda has been declared a health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Efforts to tackle the outbreak in the DRC are hampered by ongoing internal conflict in the country, particularly in the eastern border regions controlled by various militias, and lack of resources.

Misinformation about the disease is also rife, which has led to violent clashes as mobs of people have forced their way into health clinics to reclaim bodies of loved ones.

The strain of Ebola behind the ongoing outbreak is known as the Bundibugyo strain. There is no vaccine, although scientists in Oxford are urgently developing one.

A vaccine for the strain could take up to nine months to create and roll out, the WHO has said.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: India reports first suspected Ebola case after woman travels from Uganda

MORE: Ebola patients who fled hospital set on fire by families ‘now evading treatment’

MORE: Makeshift Ebola hospital destroyed in fire after victim’s family try to take body

Muhammad Sheikhi was found guilty after a four-day trial at Stirling Sheriff Court.

A Syrian asylum seeker has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women in Falkirk. Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, carried out both attacks in the early hours of Sunday, November 30, last year, close to the Cladhan Hotel, where he had been staying.

He assaulted the first woman at a railway bridge on Kerse Lane, where he hugged her, repeatedly kissed her on the face and mouth, and put his hands under her clothing.

He then sexually assaulted a second woman in Kerse Lane and the nearby Bellsmeadow skate park, where he pinned her against a tree and put his hands under her clothing.

Sheikhi, who came to the UK by boat, denied all the charges against him. However, a jury found him guilty of both charges at Stirling Sheriff Court today, May 29, following a four-day trial. He is due to be sentenced on June 29.

Advertisement

Addressing the jury on Friday morning before he sent them out to consider their verdicts, Sheriff Keith O’Mahony said: “It is important that your verdict is based on the evidence. It must not be swayed by any emotional considerations or prejudice or any revulsion you might have for the type of conduct which is alleged.”

Stirling Sheriff Court previously heard CCTV footage showed Sheikhi walking alongside one of the women in Kerse Lane while she wore his shoes and he walked in socks after allegedly giving her his footwear because her high heels had broken.

On Thursday, jurors were shown footage of Sheikhi’s police interview following his arrest at the hotel later that morning. During the interview, conducted through an Arabic interpreter, Sheikhi claimed he had taken “pity” on the second woman after seeing her crying by the roadside.

“She told me that she needs help to get home,” he said. “She was crying and she was wearing high heels and the straps were broken, they were snapped. When I saw her, we are human so I took pity on her. I took pity on her, I took off my shoes, I gave her my shoes.”

During the walk, Sheikhi seized the woman, pinned her against a tree and sexually assaulted her before later attacking her again at Bellsmeadow skate park with intent to rape her.

“I said to myself, ‘you’re doing something nice to people’,” he told police. “When I was walking to her address I thought the guy she was talking to over the phone … I thought they would be thanking me for helping her, walking her home. To me it was something like an act of kindness.”

Regarding the woman earlier in the night, Sheikhi claimed the woman approached him and asked where he was from before requesting his Snapchat details. Asked whether he hugged or kissed the woman, Sheikhi said she hugged him and “might have kissed” him, but he denied touching her sexually.

Giving his closing speech on Thursday, prosecutor Jamie Hilland put it to the jury that Sheikhi had acted in a “predatory” manner towards the two women.

“I suggest that the evidence demonstrates that in the early hours of November 30 last year, the accused behaved in a predatory manner towards these two women and he sexually assaulted them,” Mr Hilland said.

“There are compelling similarities between the two crimes. These were so closely linked in time and circumstances as to form part of a single course of criminal conduct systematically pursued by the accused.”

He added: “On their evidence the accused approached both women, he’s tried to give them his phone. He tried to get them to add him on Snapchat. In both cases he’s tried to corner the complainer, and he then sexually assaulted both of them.”

In his closing speech, Sheikhi’s lawyer Paul Keenan urged the jury to acquit his client of both charges, saying the evidence against him was “flawed throughout”.

He cast doubt on the credibility of both women, saying both had been drinking for hours before the alleged assaults were said to have taken place. He also said the fact Sheikhi had remained with one of his alleged victims while she was talking to her friend was not consistent with him having just sexually assaulted her.

He asked the jury: “If Sheikhi had sexually assaulted her with the intention of raping her, does it make sense for him to be hanging about while she’s talking with other people?”

He added: “I would say not.”

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE

Drivers were asked to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge on Thursday night due to a police-led incident on the old Severn crossing

A man has been arrested after the Severn Bridge was shut in both directions on Thursday evening.

• Drivers were told to avoid the M48 Severn Bridge on Thursday evening due to a police-led incident. The bridge was shut in both directions for a number of hours, with drivers asked to use the Prince of Wales Bridge instead.
• Officers were called to reports raising concerns for the safety of an individual on the bridge shrotly before 8pm. Avon and Somerset Police and Gwent Police attended the scene alongside other emergency services.
• A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said the incident was brought to a safe conclusion at 10.30pm. The bridge reopened at 11pm.
• A man was arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and a racially-aggravated public order offence. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, police added.

Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice