Up to 4,500 more cancer cases will be reviewed by an NHS trust that admitted women had their breasts removed unnecessarily.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust today agreed to widen its investigation into its dysfunctional breast unit.

Victims have told how they were left in agonising pain after being ‘butchered’ and ‘mutilated’ by surgeons, with at least 20 women known to have been subjected to mastectomies they did not need.

Officials probing the scandal will now examine breast cancer cases going back more than a decade to 2015 in a process that is expected to take five years.

The trust’s ‘lookback review’ began in April last year and initially looked at patients treated between January 2023 and February 2025.

It has so far reviewed 538 cases and identified 321 who experienced some form of harm, including one death.

It will now examine up to 4,500 more cases, starting with the most recent and working backwards, taking the total past 5,000.

The decision to extend the review was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the trust’s board in Durham this morning.

Board chair Alison Marshall said: ‘I would like to offer a sincere apology to all the women and their families who have been affected by the failings in our breast services.

‘I can’t imagine the impact that has had.’

She said they could ‘not turn back the clock’ but would be ‘open, honest and transparent’ about the failings.

Chief nurse Gill Hunt told the board concerns were first raised in 2015 after a ‘service reconfiguration’ and loss of breast surgical trainee posts.

Over the following years patients and bodies such as the Northern Cancer Alliance, Care Quality Commission and NHS England raised multiple issues, she said.

The key ‘themes’ included treatment ‘not aligned to best practice’, excessive surgery and delayed diagnosis, she added.

About 640 patients have contacted a special helpline asking for their cases to be reviewed, the board heard.

The review cost £523,000 in its first year and involved nine reviewers looking at about 80 cases a month, a report to the board said.

Pam Brown, from Durham, was an NHS patient who underwent a mastectomy in 2022 at Spire Hospital in Washington, where one of the outsourced private clinics was based.

Ms Hunt said the expanded review would ‘provide a proportionate and evidence-led clinical approach’ in response to ‘emerging findings’, while decisions would be ‘supported by clear clinical rationale and formal governance review’.

‘We are committed to doing the right thing,’ she stressed.

The National Crime Agency is working with Durham Police to investigate allegations by former patients and determine if any criminal offences have taken place.

The Daily Mail previously told how consultant surgeon Amir Bhatti, who was CDDFT’s clinical lead for breast services from 2013 to 2024, has been suspended from clinical practice while an internal investigation is carried out – but he remains employed by the trust on full pay.

The trust spent nearly £6million over six years on breast cancer diagnostic clinics and surgery companies run privately by Mr Bhatti in what Mr Russell admits was a ‘conflict of interest’.

A 2025 review into the running of the trust – carried out by governance specialist Mary Aubrey – raised concerns about the arrangement.

She said there was a ‘clear financial incentive’ for Mr Bhatti’s firms to treat more NHS patients when it was paid per case, potentially creating a ‘risk to clinical standards’.

Consultants performed significantly more operations and consultations per session when acting in a private capacity than doing their usual NHS shifts, it found.

Further concerns were raised last year in a report by the Royal College of Surgeons that breast cancer cases had not been discussed properly in multi-disciplinary team meetings (MDTs), leaving surgeons to largely act as they pleased.

The trust had a high rate of repeated procedures, low uptake of breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy, and operations that may have been carried out ‘too quickly’.

The Aubrey review also suggested patients were potentially treated by locum consultants who were not competent, and noted that Mr Bhatti had repeatedly raised concerns about trust delays in obtaining vital diagnostic equipment.

Mr Bhatti last week denied performing unnecessary mastectomies and blamed the NHS for paying £6million to his private clinics in just six years.

He refused to apologise to women who said they had been ‘mutilated’ under his care and instead said of the unnecessary removal of breasts: ‘Nobody ever does anything like that.’

The Daily Mail approached Mr Bhatti at his large detached farm conversion in Hetton-le-Hole, near Sunderland, where a Range Rover Sport with a personalised numberplate sits on the drive.

Speaking via the Ring doorbell, he said he was out of the country, adding: ‘I can’t say anything because obviously it’s all under investigation and it is all in legal hands really.

‘I wish I could say more.’

One of Mr Bhatti’s companies, Durham Surgical Services Ltd, currently has assets of more than £2.6million, company accounts show.

Chief executive Steve Russell today said the trust was ‘incredibly conscious women and their families’ had experienced ‘distress, uncertainty and harm’.

He said no apology could undo that but the trust would ‘support women who have been impacted’ in any way possible.

For example, some women who had undergone unnecessary mastectomies could be offered breast reconstruction surgery as they previously should have been, Russell said.

He also said the trust was currently exceeding national standards for breast cancer treatment, including for the number of women having breast conservation surgeries and being offered immediate reconstruction.

‘None of that changes what has happened to women in the past but hopefully gives confidence the changes made in the service have had an impact on the outcomes,’ Mr Russell said.

He said patients today could be ‘confident’ they would be ‘treated appropriately’ and get ‘good clinical outcomes’.

The helpline, which is available by phone or email, would remain open with any concerned patients encouraged to contact it ‘irrespective’ of when they were treated, he said.

Campo in Whitefield, Bury, reacted to the comments they had seen about their prices

A tapas bar and restaurant in Whitefield has taken to social media to open up about the challenges faced by the hospitality industry and explained the breakdown behind their prices.

Campo, located on Moss Lane in Whitefield, specialises in tapas, drinks and Sunday roasts. It opened in 2018 as Campo Blanco and is run by husband and wife team Faye and Aaron Cummings.

The popular restaurant has spoken out about the challenges faced by the industry before. In 2022 they spoke to the Manchester Evening News about their soaring energy bills, which at the time rose to between £8,000-£10,000 a month.

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Now, the business has opened up about the current challenges faced by the industry in a social media post. The restaurant took to both Instagram and Facebook to share “a little bit of honesty”.

They cited that customers sometimes complain that they are charging ‘town prices’ but Campo explained why they have to charge what they do, breaking down the extra costs that often remain unseen by the customer, such as wages, rent and bills. The team also highlighted that quieter periods are becoming more common, especially during the week.

What the restaurant said

The post, which acquired more than 800 likes on Instagram and Facebook combined, read: “We’ve held off writing something like this for a while, but we wanted to share a little of what running Campo feels like at the moment. We love what we do and being part of Whitefield, but quieter weekends are becoming harder to manage as the cost of keeping our doors open rises.

“So we wanted to speak openly with the people who make Campo what it is. We know that people do not have the same disposable income they once had. Eating out can feel expensive when household bills have increased too, and we never take it for granted when someone chooses to spend their money with us.

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“At the same time, the cost of running an independent restaurant has increased enormously. Food, drink, wages, energy, rent, VAT and countless other costs all have to be covered before a restaurant makes anything at all.

“We sometimes receive comments that our drinks are at “town prices”, and we understand that people want to feel they’re getting good value. Being outside the city centre doesn’t automatically mean our food and drink costs less to buy.

“Larger venues and chains can often secure better buying prices because of the volumes they purchase. We work incredibly hard to keep our prices fair while covering our costs and offering the food, service and atmosphere you come to Campo for.

“We still have plenty of busy moments at Campo, but we’re seeing more quiet days between them. The quieter weeks are becoming much harder for independent businesses like ours to manage.

“The response to our recent menu post reminded us how many Campo fans are still out there, which genuinely meant so much to us. We have an amazing team, brilliant regulars and a community that has supported us for over eight years.”

The restaurant added that they appreciate any form of support, whether that’s people coming for a roast or just for a coffee and a dessert. The team explained that advanced bookings can help the business in terms of planning food and staffing, while it also helps the business reduce waste. Campo explained that even supporting the business on social media helps as well.

They also called for honest feedback on how they can improve and to understand what it is people want. They added: “If there’s a reason you stopped visiting, our inbox is open and we promise to listen.

“We’re working hard behind the scenes on our new menu, our events and the overall Campo experience. We aren’t asking our customers to solve the challenges facing hospitality. We simply wanted to be honest and remind people that choosing local and independent really does make a difference.”

How customers have reacted

The post received dozens of comments across the two social media platforms, with many praising the venue and sharing their thoughts on the menu. One comment from Lindsay on Facebook read: “We love campo and wish we could come more often.. purely out of busyness of life! We will be visiting in October for sure to get our campo fix! Keep going guys doing a great job.”

Another from Stacey said: “Lovely words and would always rather pay a hard working business that’s passionate and caring and not a just a chain that doesn’t really care about the customer too – Fab food and people you are missing out if you haven’t been here already.”

On Instagram, Bury-based bakery business Little Blonde Bakes commented: “Had too many conversations like this this week, the winter months can get increasingly more quiet up until near Christmas so many may not make it through. It’s so sad. I’ll be in asap.”

For more of the latest What’s On news, click here.

Like a beacon of dread the ejection handle on a fighter jet is a terrifying object – as initiating it would be the same as pulling the pin on a massive bomb beneath your backside. It’s going to bruise.

This is the part of the cockpit no pilot wants to have to touch – because it will set off an incredibly violent reaction, triggering a huge explosion beneath him or her as they rocket to safety. But it could save their life- and yesterday it did.

As two British RAF pilots recover from ‘minor injuries’ having ejected from their Hawk T2 craft above Anglesey yesterday, they know they may have notched up a once in a lifetime nightmare – hopefully the most violent ordeal of their careers.

Barely having time to acknowledge the word “eject” both pilots will have wrenched their heads back into their headrest to prepare as one or both pulled the ejection lever and they were blasted into a maelstrom of unimaginable noise and confusion.

One or both of them made that incredibly quick decision to take advantage of their plane’s barely upright position so ejecting would point them upwards to safety.

A split second after ejection was initiated they will have been catapulted at a speed through the air few humans survive, perhaps as much as a bone-crunching 20G-force at 50 feet per-second as a rocket fired them out of the cockpit and the nightmare was still not over.

The G-force alone might be double what most fighter pilots ever endure, even in wartime and the chance of serious injury or worse is sky-high. That is the measure of force on the human body, normally set at 1G on the ground and up to 5G on a rollercoaster.

It increases as jets manoeuvre at – literally – breakneck speeds and pilots are given special suits which pump varying pressures all their body to protect them from that force.

It can feel like being punched in the stomach or limb but the first stays in place whilst the G-Force is increasing.

Apart from learning about the correct posture for the explosion, it is impossible to train fully for ejection it because it is so hazardous.

I have sat on one of these bomb-catapult ejector seats, with a handle between your legs to set it off, after joining a war veteran fighter pilot called Brian, nicknamed “Sumo”, flying an RAF Tornado over Scotland in 2012.

It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had in decades of war reporting and flying in all kinds of warplanes and helicopters.

On take-off it was hard to take my eyes off the taped handle as the pilot, Gulf War veteran Wing Commander Brian “Sumo” James, then 42, told me to pull it only if he is incapacitated and the plane is in trouble and I needed to eject from the plane.

Otherwise, he advised me, he would pull a master control to eject for both of us …and that for now it was probably best to “leave it alone,” that we were just off on a one hour flight and there was nothing to worry about.

Fortunately my one hour Top Gun experience, which marked the one millionth flying of British Tornados, above Scotland did not go wrong and I was being flown by the best.

But I recall the G-Force suits pressurising as we went into dives and it felt like a person many times my weight sitting on me and not getting up.

If something does go wrong with the jet – and apparently it did yesterday, one or both flyers can pull the ejector handle or button, if the other is injured or unconscious.

The ejector control is indeed a frightening device, even though it may save your life, because you are told how violent the force will be and the chance of injury.

This can range from severe spinal, head or limb injuries caused by the immense pressure.

When ejection is initiated the canopy explodes above you and then you shoot through the air and if too high, perhaps 10,000 feet, you free fall uncontrollably until the parachute opens, possibly above enemy territory, a desert, mountains or the sea and maybe injured.

Some who are forced to eject suffer long-term back injuries or worse.

These two are said to have suffered minor injuries and they were lucky.

Their parachutes will have opened fairly soon after the jet explosion rocketing them to safety expired as they were low-flying.

When I flew in the Tornado I asked “Sumo” what pressure he endured in the Gulf War as he took evasive action from enemy missiles and he told me it was above 9G-force.

Even double the 4G I endured is hard to imagine without breaking something.

But the force these two pilots endured was probably five times that.

They are very fortunate only to have suffered minor injuries.

The five-caravan strong group moved in on Tuesday evening (September 24), taking up along the Southern edge of Barlow Park Playing Field in Astley Bridge.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

Astley Bridge Cllrs Toby Hewitt and Hilary Fairclough have been active in working to have the group moved on, quickly contacting the council liaison and requesting they begin the process.

A Bolton Council spokesperson said: “If the travellers are still there when we visit the camp later today the normal process will proceed.”

Cllr Hewitt confirmed the group were indeed still there, meaning they will be subject to a removal order.

Cllr Fairclough confirmed that the council had undertaken a welfare check on the group, which found they were all healthy and safe.

The removal process takes several days to complete once the court order has been issued.

Over recent months Travellers have set up camp across the borough, including in Harwood and Breightmet.

Clean-up operations have had to take place as a result, with some residents in Breightmet say they felt intimidated by the group.

The Bolton News recently revealed Town hall chiefs have spent more than £19,000 to remove Travellers from their land.

The Bolton News submitted a Freedom of Information Request following a number of unauthorised Traveller encampments in and around Bolton in recent weeks and months.

The money spent covers the past two years, but almost all of the costs have fallen within a single year.

The fire at the state-owned Polish satellite station broke out on Wednesday night in Wola Krobowska. It remains operational.

The deputy prime minister said it transmits internet traffic through Poland to countries including Ukraine, and uses SpaceX systems that provide connectivity via Starlink terminals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Moscow does not plan to attack Nato states.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was Europe speaking about preparing for war, adding: “If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war [from that in Ukraine], and it will be very short.”

Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014.

In Ukraine, Kharkiv and Kyiv experienced the worst of Russia’s attacks overnight into Thursday.

In Kharkiv, six people were killed and twelve others injured in a Russian strike on a farm in the village of Stara Hnylytsia, Ukraine’s state emergency services said.

It said they were agricultural workers sorting vegetables, with the head of the Kharkiv region adding that four were women.

It turns out flying really does get some people going

Anything else?

This year’s Guinness World Records Gamer Edition book is available to buy now and includes a Fortnite loving grandma and the world’s youngest game developer.

There are plenty of grandmas who have gone viral and made headlines thanks to their love of video games. More recent examples include a 92-year-old Tekken 8 champion and an 81-year-old who took to Minecraft streaming to raise funds for her grandson’s cancer treatments.

Now, one of these gamer grannies has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest female Fortnite streamer in the world, at 78 years old.

Named Cath Bowie, she hails from Scotland, where she regularly streams Fortnite on Twitch under the username grumpygran1948. It’s not clear who the oldest male Fortnite streamer is but Yang Binglin of China is 89 and covers a range of single-player games.

Even if you’re not familiar with the name, Bowie has built a not insubstantial audience of more than 24,000 followers, having been introduced to the game through her grandson.

This happened in September 2017, so Bowie jumped on the Fortnite train very early, as the game was still in its infancy at that point, having only launched two months prior, which was long before its battle royale mode became the cultural juggernaut it is today.

‘Although I have tried several other games, I have never found the excitement that I get from Fortnite. I call myself a Fortniter more than a gamer,’ says Bowie in an official statement.

She also takes a moment to mention how her grandson doubted anyone would want to watch her play Fortnite; something she no doubt loves to rub in his face nowadays: ‘As a young guy, he just couldn’t believe that his grandma would do such a thing and suggested that nobody would join me or watch me.

‘Saying that was like a red rag to a bull to me. I would show him that I could do it. 24,000+ followers later and he doesn’t mention it. I wonder why.’

Bowie’s achievement is acknowledged in this year’s Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition book, which is currently available for purchase, and something that Bowie is very proud of.

‘Being recognised as an older female player and streamer in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027 always felt like a distant goal. … So to have achieved this honour means a great deal,’ says Bowie, adding, ‘You are never too old to start gaming. Do it.’

Alongside Bowie is one Max Baker, who hails from Wales and is on the other side of the age spectrum, at 10 years old. He’s made it into the book for being the youngest male game developer, having created a game called Gravity Parkour 2.0 using the programming language Python.

He’s a self-taught coder and has been learning how to build games since he was seven years old. You can play Gravity Parkour 2.0 yourself for free via itch.io, which Baker made in four hours. He also insists he made it without any generative AI assistance or ‘vibe coding.’

The game involves making a ball jump across a series of platforms to reach a goal. There are only five levels, although the platforms start to move and spin as you progress.

‘It was also quite fun working with the time pressure for the record attempt – I was trying to get as many features in as possible with the four hours that I had,’ says Baker, who was also chosen to write the foreword for the book.

‘It’s absolutely amazing!’ says Baker when asked about his achievement. ‘It’s been such a whirlwind since I first did the attempt, and I can’t thank everyone over at Guinness World Records enough. It’s a dream come true.’

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Andy Carroll was sexually assaulted by a ‘celebrity mate’ who was later jailed for three years after a ‘humiliating and horrendous’ court case, the former England footballer has revealed. 

In a deeply candid passage in his new book, Owning It, the striker, 37, said he went through the ‘traumatic’ assault a few years ago, and only decided to detail the incident ‘at the last minute’ following lengthy discussions with his publisher.

Andy, who played for England from 2010 to 2012, wrote: ‘Other things I’d quite like to forget but can’t, something happened to me a few years ago that was so traumatic I only decided to include it in this book at the very last minute.’

‘I was sexually assaulted, there I said it. Scary to even think about and only a few people knew about it before now.’

The attacker was found guilty of sexual offences and sentenced to three years in prison. 

Andy explained he was assaulted the evening after he had played a game for Newcastle United when a ‘celebrity mate’ of his former partner invited himself round to watch a boxing match.  

Andy, who played for England between 2010-2012, said he only decided to detail the incident ‘at the last minute’ following lengthy discussions with his publisher

Describing their relationship, he wrote: ‘He was always asking me and my ex to go out with him and even buys me clothes. He is divorced with kids but I can’t shift the feeling he likes me more than a platonic way.

‘Whenever I bump into him at parties he is always with young boys.’

He continued: ‘I was playing down south somewhere and on my way home this guy texts to ask what I am up to.

‘When he texts again to ask if he can come round to watch the boxing with me, my partner tells me to stop pieing him off.

‘He takes over the kitchen, mixing drinks. I start to feel lightheaded and think has he slipped me something. “Right, time for bed,” I say to him, “I’ll order you a taxi.”

‘”Oh no,” he says, “I’ll stay in the spare room.”

He then claims he awoke to the friend sexually assaulting him. 

‘I sleep naked and when I wake up this guy is under the duvet trying to give me a blowjob.’

Andy went on to ‘smack’ him as he ordered him out the house. ‘I smack him as hard as I can and he hits the deck,’ he writes. 

‘I grab hold of his feet and drag him out on the driveway. I go back inside, lock the door and call the police and the nanny. And then it suddenly occurs to me, what if I killed him?

‘He regains consciousness just as the police turn up and immediately starts telling the policed I hit him for no reason. As it is the police arrest him and I have to go to the station as well.’

The attacker was later found guilty of sexual offences and sentenced to three years in prison. He was placed on the Sex Offender Register and banned from entering the village where Andy lived.

Andy described the court case as ‘humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous’, while the attacker denied the allegations. 

‘The case dragged on for two years. Nobody else knew about it other than my partner and her family and they gave me no support whatsoever.

‘The police called me to say he had been found guilty and I started uncontrollably crying.’

He added: ‘What happened to me affected every facet of my life. I’d think about it every day, making it difficult to focus on anything else, including football…The trauma of what happened to me hasn’t gone away.’ 

After speaking with girlfriend Lou Teasdale, 42, he decided speaking publicly about being assaulted would be ‘worth it’ if it helped others. 

‘Me and Lou spent a lot of time discussing whether to mention it in this book or not. I avoided my publisher for so long that they probably suspected I got cold feet.

‘Scary to talk about but it’s made the person I am today as much as any of the good stuff. And if me talking about it helps just one person then good it will have been worth it.

Andy had reportedly vowed to cut down on alcohol in a bid to save his relationship with Lou Teasdale (pictured), as he confirmed the pair were trying ‘to work through their difficulties’

The ex-Newcastle and Liverpool striker, who now plays for National League South club Dagenham & Redbridge and serves as assistant manager, goes on to talk about his relationship with Lou.

The on-and-off couple, who appear to currently be on, have broken up many times due to alcohol, according to sources.

Andy had reportedly vowed to cut down on alcohol in a bid to save his relationship with Lou, as he confirmed the pair were trying ‘to work through their difficulties’.

‘Lou couldn’t believe how normal I was when she first met me,’ he wrote.

‘I’m not saying I could have had a career like Harry Kane but he is a great example of what kind of career you can have when you live a clean and disciplined life.

‘Don’t drink alcohol, eat the right things and spend hours each week in the gym and recover properly.

‘Contrast, I wanted to live an everyday life. Go out at weekends with friends and go on holiday with friends in the international break.

‘Go to music festivals and have a few too many drinks and a kebab now and again. Make mistakes without appearing in the papers.

‘You could argue trying to live a normal life is incompatible with being a majorly successful sports person.

‘But there is no point spending the rest of my days wishing I had a different mindset. I’m sure I’ve had more fun than your average player.’

‘I tell young players, if you want to party all the time, go for it. But you won’t be as successful in football as you could be but you’re an adult, it’s up to you.’

He added: ‘Strip clubs are very much part of football culture and only when I grew up did I realise how wrong it was to sit around ogling over naked women.

‘It’s incredibly disrespectful and not who I am. But as a young teenager in Belarus I was excited as anyone.’

Reflecting on how his huge salary rise affected his behaviour, he added: ‘Before my weekly wage jumped to £2,500 a week, I was quite sensible.

‘But soon enough I was spending time in bars, strip joints and casinos. If everyone wanted a tray of shots, I’d buy a tray of shots.

‘And while alcohol didn’t turn me into some violent loon, a well known footballer spending time in local establishments was bound to attract trouble.’

The ex-Premier League footballer recently pleaded not guilty to breaching a non-molestation order after being accused of repeatedly calling his reality TV star ex-wife Billi Mucklow.

Andy has formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charge and is due to stand trial next January.

Andy and TOWIE star Billi, 37, were together for 11 years but confirmed their split in September 2024 after secretly separating earlier in the year.

Billi and Andy got engaged in 2014 before marrying in 2022 and share three children. Billi also cares for Andy’s two other children who he had from a previous relationship.

Meta is making a Tamagotchi-style device that can run your life for you, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

The device, called the Muse Charm, is a small gadget that can be worn on a string and used to speak to Meta’s newly viral AI agent. Muse was launched in early September and Meta has pushed it as a way of letting artificial intelligence run people’s lives – booking appointments, writing emails and buying things on their behalf.

It marks yet another step in an ongoing attempt by the tech industry to put artificial intelligence into physical devices that can be spoken to at any time. And it is yet another try from Meta to move itself away from its controversial social networks and the rival platforms made by Apple and Google that they run on.

Having once championed the metaverse — the immersive digital world that inspired the company’s name change in 2021 — as the next computing platform, Zuckerberg now sees “personal superintelligence” as the bigger ⁠and more immediate breakthrough, after his previous costly wager failed.

“It is actually quite ​clear ⁠personal superintelligence will not only come first; it will be much bigger and more important,” Zuckerberg said at the company’s annual Meta Connect conference.

“So we have shifted our focus to building the best devices for personal superintelligence,” he said, adding that Muse ⁠would also soon be available across Meta’s smart glasses lineup.

The remarks follow a blockbuster few days for Muse, which has drawn millions ​of downloads ⁠in what some analysts have said could be the biggest ‌app launch in the US since ChatGPT arrived in November 2022 and kicked off the AI boom.

Investors have embraced Muse’s potential to automate tasks ranging from booking flights to filing taxes, lifting shares of partners such as Shopify while dumping companies seen as vulnerable to disruption, including ‌online travel agency Booking and TurboTax software creator Intuit.

Meta’s shares were down about 2 per cent ‌in premarket trading on Thursday after gaining nearly 12 per cent this week.

Muse Charm could resonate with younger consumers at a time when digital cameras, flip phones and MP3 players are enjoying nostalgic comebacks, analysts say.

Gen Z consumers, aged about 14 to 29, treat AI assistants as companions or brainstorming partners rather than simply ⁠search tools. Many interact with technology through voice notes, short videos and AI chatbots, unlike older users who are often more comfortable with PCs and smartphone apps.

“Muse Charm could find some traction among Gen Z and younger consumers. The combination of AI, fashion and personalization could appeal to younger users, especially if it is affordable and easy to use,” said Linda Sui, founder of Smart Analytics Global, a market research firm.

The device features a roughly 2-inch (5-cm) screen that can be navigated with a thumb, with a customizable Muse character at its center. A built-in 5G modem allows access to Muse even without Wi-Fi, though it cannot make calls.

“They are appealing to people who might not want to wear glasses or might ‌not trust glasses,” said IDC director Jitesh Ubrani.

“Some people might remember Tamagotchi and this might evoke that,” Ubrani said, referring to ​colorful virtual pets that became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1990s. “They might be able to run a small language model ‌locally. So you can run AI on such a small package.”

Whether ⁠Muse can sustain its momentum and the device can amplify that appeal is a question for the months ahead.

Similar devices ⁠have had limited success. The Rabbit R1, a handheld generative AI device from startup Rabbit Inc with a screen and a button, had a buzzy launch in early 2024 only ‌to flop because it overpromised on AI ​features and delivered an unreliable experience.

“I would be cautious about its mass-market ‌potential,” Sui said. “Unless Muse Charm can offer unique functions that smartphones, watches, ​earbuds or smart glasses cannot easily replace, it is more likely to remain a nice-to-have device for early adopters than become a mainstream product.”

Additional reporting by agencies

Prince Harry has been called out for making an alleged “embarrassing move” as the royal family drama continues. It comes as the royals have faced a turbulent time

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Prince Harry has been accused of making an “embarrassing move” following a public appearance this week. On Wednesday, September 23, the Duke of Sussex delivered a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative event in New York; however, things did not go entirely to plan, sparking considerable debate.

The incident prompted some to label him an “embarrassment”, with many expressing their views in forthright terms. Following an unexpected turn of events, it is reported that Prince Harry left the stage, prompting a wave of near-identical reactions from those who have since witnessed what unfolded.

The incident occurred as King Charles and the wider royal family continue to endure a difficult period in the wake of Earl Spencer’s new book. It comes after Prince Harry was alleged to have shown his “true colours”.

One social media user wrote: “Prince Harry was making a speech about the DANGERS of AI when his teleprompter stopped working in the middle of talking. He was unable to remember the rest of his speech, so he walked off the stage.”

While addressing the audience, the 42-year-old stated: “We do not have years for what comes next.” He then fell silent for a prolonged moment.

He appeared to stare at the teleprompter, before declaring: “And that’s it.” The audience laughed as the moment played out, and Harry subsequently departed the stage.

Various clips of the incident have since circulated widely across social media, drawing a host of comparable reactions, with opinions divided across X and YouTube.

One observer remarked: “What a tool. Ok fine, the teleprompter fails, but you mean he can’t actually tell us what the gist of the opinion he was meant to read out? He obviously doesn’t know anything.”

Another questioned: “Did he not know his own speech?” A third commented: “He talks about social media and the dangers of it, while his wife continually posts pictures of his children on her open social media account. You can’t make the stuff up.”

A fourth person observed: “Oh this is very embarrassing. Walked off stage because his teleprompter stopped working.”

Nevertheless, some commenters rallied to the Prince’s defence. Across various social media platforms, others appeared to offer their backing.

One social media user stated: “HARRY CAME BACK TO FINISH HIS SPEECH. Teleprompter challenges happen to the best of us.”

Another person wrote: “He just shouldn’t be doing this. He’s not an expert or a thought leader.

“I do feel sorry for him as this is quite embarrassing.” A third suggested: “I thought he dealt with the autocue malfunction quite calmly and in quite an amusing way.

“He probably hadn’t written the speech, which would explain why he had to stop when the words disappeared.” However, reports indicate Harry returned to the stage approximately 40 minutes later to complete his address.

He reportedly joked: “Hello again. So AI got into my speech, so I was asked to come out and finish it. Interesting to see what it was so concerned about in part two.”

It has since been confirmed there was an issue with the teleprompter.