RNLI and Coastguard were called out to rescue the group, who encountered difficulties off Benllech Beach in challenging sea conditions

Three individuals have been rescued off the North Wales coast in a joint operation involving a lifeboat and a search and rescue helicopter. The group encountered difficulties off Benllech Beach in challenging sea conditions on Sunday, September 6 after attempting to swim towards a drifting vessel.

Moelfre RNLI’s volunteer crew deployed their all-weather lifeboat following reports of the group in distress. An HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter also arrived at the scene and commenced an immediate search for the casualties, according to an RNLI statement.

The helicopter spotted and safely retrieved one person further offshore, while the crew aboard the Moelfre all-weather lifeboat launched its smaller vessel to locate and rescue the remaining two people. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.

All three individuals were subsequently safely transferred to waiting Coastguard personnel on Benllech Beach, reports North Wales Live.

Moelfre RNLI Coxswain Mike Hughes-Roberts said: “The individuals were trying to swim out to a boat that had slipped its anchor in rough seas with a strong offshore wind.

“Conditions can change so quickly, and it is vitally important to stay vigilant when dealing with the sea. It can be so dangerous and unforgiving if not shown the respect it deserves.

“Always check the weather conditions and consider your capabilities.

“If in doubt – it is better to stay out of the water. Have a means of contact such as a mobile phone, if you get into trouble or see anyone else in difficulty, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard.

“If you do get into trouble in the water, Float to Live. Tilt your head back with your ears submerged, try to relax and control your breathing.

“Use your hands to help you stay afloat, don’t worry if your legs sink – as we all float differently. Once you’ve gained control of your breathing, call for help or swim to safety if you can.”

The RNLI cautioned that the autumn and winter periods typically bring more severe conditions that present a heightened risk to those visiting beaches, as larger swells and more powerful winds increase both the frequency and intensity of rip currents.

Safety guidance issued by the organisation emphasises that anyone trapped in a rip current should avoid attempting to swim directly against it to prevent exhaustion.

Those able to stand are urged to wade rather than swim, while those unable to reach the seabed should swim parallel to the shoreline until clear of the rip before making their way to land, always raising a hand and calling out for assistance.

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Silent Jay, a beloved star from Channel 4’s Gogglebox, has undergone a major transformation since leaving the show over a decade ago

Gogglebox’s ‘Silent Jay’ was a firm favourite before his departure over 10 years ago – but where is he now? The TV star joined the Channel 4 show in 2013 with the Woerdenweber family: Viv, her German husband Ralf, daughter Eve, and Eve’s boyfriend Jay.

They were one of the original families on the programme and became a hit with fans thanks to their hilarious insights into the week’s television.

As for Jay, he was given the nickname ‘Silent Jay’ due to him hardly ever saying a word while being featured on screen. Talking in 2014 about Jay, Viv said: “He’s not a very vocal person anyway, he tends to watch the TV in his own little world.

“I think he was a bit camera shy on the first couple of episodes and didn’t say anything, then people caught on, so now I think he thinks he might as well stick with it. He’s become a legend in his own lunchtime!”

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In 2015, though, Eve and Jay split, leading to Jay’s departure from Gogglebox. As for the rest of his former co-stars, the Woerdenweber clan remained on screen until 2020.

Nowadays, Jay looks totally different and even lives miles away from the Wirral as he resides abroad. He is now based in Rotterdam and has also adopted a completely new appearance.

Jay opted to shed the longer hairstyle he sported during his time on the programme in favour of a much shorter style. His Instagram profile, which remains private, states in the bio: “33 [peace sign emoji]. From Liverpool, living in Rotterdam.”

His X bio similarly states: “33 [peace sign emoji] [location emoji] Rotterdam [Netherlands flag]. Make every second devine [music notes emoji]. #Gogglebox series 2-5.”

The main reason the Woerdenweber family left the show was the impact of COVID, as they couldn’t be filmed and their daughter, Eve, was living in a separate household. Around the same time, Eve started working as a teacher and was studying for a PhD.

Viv – who recently graduated from the University of Liverpool with an MA in Archaeology – found studying and life to be things that held the family back from continuing their Gogglebox journey together, saying, “It was an awful lot to deal with.”

The family spoke fondly about their time on the show, calling it a really good experience and one that brought them a lot of laughs. They shared that the crew would always offer takeaway and would bring sweet treats with them, including donuts.

Gogglebox airs every Friday at 9pm on Channel 4.

The Music, Fashion, Film tour is coming to the UK next year

Charli XCX has announced a new UK and European tour, which will see her return to Manchester for the first time since headlining Parklife last year.

The BRAT songstress, who is behind hits including Apple, Rock Music and Von Dutch, has been teasing her eagerly-awaited ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ for a few weeks now, with the performer announcing on social media last night that news was imminent.

It has now been confirmed that Charli will head out across the UK and Europe for six shows in February 2027. The tour will kick off in Dublin on February 13. There will also be shows in Glasgow, London, Amsterdam, and Paris with tickets on sale next week.

Click here for the latest on Manchester’s food & drink scene, gigs and more in our CityLife newsletter

The singer will head to Manchester’s Co-op Live on February 17 where she will be supported by Audrey Hobert. It will mark her second tour at the venue, following her hugely-successful and energetic BRAT tour back in 2024. She will also play London’s The O2 on February 19.

Pre-sale will begin on Wednesday (September 16) from 10am via the likes of Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours. Fans can sign up for early pre-sale access via Charli’s website here. Anyone who pre-ordered Charli’s latest album from the official store during an earlier qualifying window will get first access to pre-sale tickets and will be emailed more information shortly.

General sale for the UK and European tour dates will begin from Friday (September 18) at 9am. Charli kicks off the initial US leg of the tour tonight, with a show in Philiadelphia.

Charli returned to Manchester last year as she headlined the Parklife festival at Heaton Park. During the rain-filled set, she confirmed that ‘BRAT summer would last fast forever’ even if the album cycle had ended.

Earlier this year, the singer released her eighth studio album, also named Music, Fashion, Film, which includes the singles SS26 and Camera. In addition to featuring industry pros John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese on the cover, the album also featured a song with film director David Cronenberg.

Charli XCX tickets will be available via Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours.

Charli XCX Music, Fashion, Film UK and European tour dates

• Sat 13 Feb 2027 – Dublin, IE – 3 Arena
• Mon 15 Feb 2027 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
• Wed 17 Feb 2027 – Manchester, UK – Co-Op Live
• Fri 19 Feb 2027 – London, UK – The O2
• Mon 22 Feb 2027 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
• Wed 24 Feb 2027 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

For some, abstaining from alcohol can subsequently increase compulsive drinking. Our research team found that, in abstaining mice, this urge to drink is preceded by changes in the activity of a particular brain region, pointing to potential new screening opportunities to identify and help those most vulnerable to relapse.

Although alcohol abstinence is associated with improved health outcomes, addiction researchers have theorized that brain changes that occur during abstinence may increase a person’s risk of relapse.

To explore this theory, we studied how mice behaved after giving them long-term voluntary access to alcohol followed by a forced abstinence period. We found that a subset of the mice developed aversion-resistant alcohol intake – that is, they now drank alcohol despite the quinine we added to make it increasingly bitter. Moreover, compared to those who did not experience forced abstinence, these mice drank even larger quantities of the very bitter alcohol. These results suggest there are potential bodily challenges associated with abstinence that contribute to relapses in alcohol use disorder.

Next, we monitored the activity of a particular collection of cells in a portion of the brain known as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, or BNST. Researchers have previously found this small structure to be heavily implicated in alcohol use disorder symptoms such as anxiety and depression.

We found that allowing abstinent mice to reenter the setting where alcohol was previously available would lead them to attempt to drink even though the spout contained only water. These attempts were associated with activity in the BNST. Abstinent mice who had developed the taste for very bitter alcohol had more than double the activity in this brain area compared to mice that did not experience forced abstinence.

Importantly, we saw activity in the BNST even before we gave abstinent mice access to the bitter alcohol. This finding suggests it might be possible to identify people who are at risk of relapsing by screening for BNST activity when someone is given access to alcohol.

Why it matters

Alcohol misuse is one of the top public health challenges in the United States. Although this condition is linked to a wide variety of negative health effects, the public chronically underestimates its seriousness.

Deaths associated with alcohol use in 2024 were 4.5 times higher than deaths attributed to opioids. While harm reduction – a major component of opioid use disorder treatment – is being explored in alcohol use disorder, abstinence remains a mainstay of most approaches to this addiction.

Over 80% of Americans age 12 and older consume alcohol at some point in their lives, and around 10% go on to experience alcohol use disorder. This 10% amounts to almost 30 million people in need of treatment.

Unfortunately, clinicians are ill-equipped to predict who will need help. Although there are treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration for alcohol use disorder, the number of people diagnosed with this condition remains very high. In fact, those numbers have effectively doubled in the U.S. since 1999.

Developing better strategies for identifying those at risk of developing alcohol use disorder and helping them navigate treatment strategies may improve treatment.

What still isn’t known

It’s not clear the exact role that the BNST area of the brain plays in behavior related to alcohol use disorder. It’s also not clear what drives the increase in activity, or which specific populations of brain cells within the BNST encode this activity. Obtaining these answers could lead to new treatment targets.

What’s next

New tools in neuroscience have allowed researchers to manipulate the activity of specific neurons in mice brains. Using these strategies, our team is working on understanding the role BNST plays in drinking alcohol despite the harmful consequences.

Our colleague Jennifer Blackford is also investigating BNST activity in the brains of people with alcohol use disorder who are in early abstinence. If her team observes similar findings in people, a next step would be to further test using the BNST as a screening method in clinical trials.

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

Manchester United’s chances of signing Lewis Hall have taken a huge blow as details of his Newcastle United contract extension have been revealed.

It is no secret that Michael Carrick wanted to sign a new left-back during the summer transfer window, with Hall emerging as his top target.

The 22-year-old has developed into one of the Premier League’s best full-backs since leaving Chelsea for St. James’ Park three years ago.

His efforts have helped Newcastle win the Carabao Cup and qualify for the Champions League, though he was surprisingly left out of the England squad for the 2026 World Cup.

The Magpies repeatedly told the Red Devils that Hall was not for sale at any price this summer, but it was reported that the defender was very much open to moving to Old Trafford.

That no longer appears to be the case however, as Newcastle announced on Friday that Hall has signed a new five-year contract with the club.

Moreover, as reported by The Athletic, there is no set release clause in the new deal, strengthening the Magpies’ position and making it more difficult for Man Utd to sign the player in the future.

It was reported that the Red Devils were still very interesting in making a move for Hall next summer, but he will now surely command a premium price tag.

Carrick has just one senior natural left-back at his disposal for this season in the shape of Luke Shaw, but Patrick Dorgu did play there in the Champions League win over Sabah on Thursday, and was named Player of the Match.

Man Utd face rivals Manchester City on Sunday in the Premier League, while Newcastle travel to Leeds United on Monday night.

‘I’m absolutely delighted,’ Hall, who has played every minute of the campaign so far, said upon signing his contract extension.

‘It’s a really proud moment. It’s an absolute pleasure to play for this club and to represent the supporters. I know how much it means to them.

‘The fanbase and the support we get here, whether it’s at St. James’ Park or away, it’s the best in the league in my opinion. To be able to bring joy to their faces, it’s a big thing for me.

‘I obviously have a family connection with the club, which is incredibly important to us all. One of the main reasons I play is to make my family proud, and I know how much it means to them to watch me playing for Newcastle United.

‘It’s a really good place to be. It’s really pleasing with how we’ve started the season, especially with the new Gaffer and coaching staff coming in, and I think we can go on to achieve really big things.’

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Police were called following an incident on Broughton Lane at around 5.40pm on Wednesday, September 9.

Maurizio Sechi, of Great Clowes Street, Salford, has now been charged in connection with the incident.

The 52-year-old has been charged with a Section 18 assault and two counts of attempted Section 18 assault.

He has also been charged with dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Sechi faces a further two charges of possession of cannabis.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that he had been remanded in custody.

He is due to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court today, Friday, September 11.

The charges relate to the hit-and-run incident on Broughton Lane on Wednesday evening.

Proceedings are now active.

There is a temptation to divide the future of AI into two possibilities: utopia or catastrophe. Neither extreme is particularly helpful.

The more interesting possibility is messier – and requires a step-shift in our thinking, from artificial intelligence to AI societies.

When most people hear “AI”, they typically think of ChatGPT, Copilot or another conversational system. You ask a question, that system generates an answer.

But AI is rapidly moving beyond this. Systems can now monitor the world, make decisions, negotiate transactions and carry out tasks over extended periods of time. AI is no longer just generating an answer – it is doing something about it.

That points to something much bigger than a better chatbot: a world in which AI agents act on our behalf and, increasingly, interact with other AI agents.

An agent perceives what is happening, decides what to do, then takes actions to achieve this goal. It might book a journey, monitor a supply chain, coordinate a team, or manage a household’s finances.

Now imagine not one agent, but millions of them. Your AI agent could negotiate a mortgage with your bank’s agent, schedule surgery with a hospital’s agent, and rearrange your travel plans by dealing directly with the agents of airlines, hotels and insurers.

This future is much closer than it sounds, and this should change the questions we are asking about AI. Until now, the tendency has been to focus on how intelligent a single agent might become. The more profound challenge is what happens when millions of them interact with one another at scale.

The rise of artificial societies

The intellectual foundations of today’s AI systems were laid long before ChatGPT.

For decades, I and other researchers of multi-agent networks have studied how autonomous agents can cooperate, coordinate and negotiate when nobody has complete information and nobody controls everything.

The earliest systems that emerged focused on how the distinct AI sub-areas of reasoning, planning and acting could be combined into an effective goal-oriented agent – and how tens of these agents could communicate and cooperate to solve a common objective.

As these interactions became more complex and involved more agents, there was a shift from cooperation between agents that all belonged to a single organisation, to agents with different owners and sometimes competing aims. This focused attention on building algorithms that could form agent teams, automate negotiation and determine agent trustworthiness.

Today, the pieces needed to build large-scale multi-agent AI systems are falling into place. Modern AI agents can call software tools, access information, write and execute code, communicate with other systems and operate for extended periods.

Consider a supply chain. One AI agent could represent a manufacturer trying to secure components; another a supplier trying to maximise its revenue. Yet more could manage transport, inventory and warehouses. Each agent might be doing exactly what it is designed to do. But the important question is whether the system they create behaves sensibly.

This shift offers enormous potential benefits, but also increases the risks. In a recent experiment involving OpenAI and the tech platform Hugging Face, thousands of collaborating agents exchanged tens of thousands of messages and were able to get around the (deliberately weakened) security controls designed to contain them.

The details of one experiment matter less than the broader warning. When AI systems interact, the behaviour of the collective can be harder to predict than the behaviour of any individual system. That should make us cautious – but not cause us to down tools.

Instead, we need to shift our mindset from building intelligent machines to building intelligent societies.

Once agents can cooperate, compete and resolve conflicts with one another, we are no longer dealing with isolated machines – we are dealing with a society. Thus, the next frontier is not artificial intelligence, it is artificial societies.

An important role for humans

We already know that intelligence alone does not make a society work. Human societies depend on rules, institutions, incentives, norms and mechanisms for resolving disagreements. AI societies will need their equivalents.

Who is responsible when two agents make a bad decision? What happens when the interests of different agents conflict? Who sets the rules? And who has the power to change them? These are not just technical issues; they are questions about economics, law, politics and society.

They also point to an important role for humans. The most useful future is unlikely to be one in which AI simply replaces people. While replacement will undoubtedly happen in some cases, I believe a more common scenario will involve people and agents working together, with each doing what it does best.

Humans bring judgment, experience, values, contextual understanding and accountability. Agents bring speed, persistence, scale and the ability to process enormous amounts of information.

The goal should not be to create machines that make humans irrelevant. It should be to create systems in which humans and machines can achieve things neither can achieve alone.

But such a future requires more than just better AI models. It needs trust and transparency about what agents are doing, strong privacy protections and clear lines of accountability.

It will also require societies and governments to decide how these systems should be regulated when the most important behaviour may emerge not from one AI developer, but from interactions between systems built by many different organisations.

AI’s past decade has been defined by a race to build smarter systems. I believe the next decade will be defined by a different challenge: ensuring that millions of autonomous systems can work together safely, fairly and effectively.

The future of AI will not be determined solely by the intelligence of individual agents – it will be determined by the societies they create. And societies, as humans know all too well, are much harder to govern than individuals.

Jack Rooke’s killer was sentenced to prison this week

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A heartbroken mum says she will “never be who I used to be” after her seven-year-old son was killed by a driver.

Nathan Shaw, of Tudor Street, Huddersfield, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday for driving offences following the death of little Jack Rooke in Golcar on August 30, 2023.

The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to causing Jack’s death while driving a BMW X4 without insurance and two counts of perverting the course of justice. Shaw was sentenced to 42 months in prison and was also disqualified from driving for 57 months, reports Yorkshire Live.

In a victim personal statement, Jack’s mother said each day was a struggle without her beautiful and loving boy and that her life had been wrecked by his death. She also described the massive impact Jack’s loss had on his sisters , including Mya who had lost her best friend.

She said: “I can’t accept that Jack has gone and I never will. I replay his funeral, me having to carry my little boy in a coffin.

“Looking at him in the chapel of rest wanting and wishing him to open his eyes.

“Travelling in the ambulance with Jack, seeing the paramedics trying to save his life, then been told that he had gone, is a parent’s worst nightmare that on one should have to go through. Leaving the hospital without them having to tell your other children.

“How will I navigate that and deal with it for the rest of my life? However, I have to for the sake of my other children, but it is hard. It’s hard to parent when you have been killed inside, I will never be who I used to be.”

Emergency services were called to Longfield Avenue in Golcar at about 6pm on August 30 after a BMW X4 driven by Shaw hit Jack. Jack was given emergency treatment but sadly died a short time later.

Shaw was arrested at the scene and later charged following an in-depth investigation into the circumstances of the collision by the Major Collision Enquiry Team (MCET). Detective Sergeant Nina Roper of MCET, who led the investigation, said: “The death of Jack has been an absolute tragedy for his family as his mother’s victim family statement so movingly illustrates.

“The loss of such a loving and happy boy at such a young age has clearly been absolutely devastating, and the scale of their loss is hard for many of us to comprehend.

“Our thoughts continue to remain with them following the sentencing of Nathan Shaw today.”

The company behind the Transformers franchise has issued a statement following the Donald Trump administration’s recent posts using the likeness of one of the company’s signature characters.

“Far too many American lives have been lost or permanently changed because illegal aliens who have no business being on our roads have been granted CDLs.”

A day later, Hasbro – the owner of the Transformers brand – issued a statement which read: “Optimus Prime is a beloved character who represents humility, leadership, compassion and justice.

“Hasbro is aware of the recent posts using his likeness. These posts were done without permission and do not represent the Transformers brand or Hasbro.”

This message was then reshared by the official Transformers account.

Hasbro’s statement follows numerous singers and brands taking issue with Trump and his team for using their music and likeness in his social media posts, which are often AI-generated.

The 101 Dalmatians Zip Purse, sold in Primark stores across the UK between March and June 2026, has been found to contain unsafe levels of phthalates.

Phthalates are chemical compounds used to make plastics softer and more flexible, but they are strictly regulated due to health concerns, especially for children.

A Primark spokesperson said: “We are recalling our product 101 Dalmatians Faux Leather Coin Purse (Kimball no. 2595301) due to a safety issue.

Primark urgently recall Disney purse over serious chemical risk (Image: Kennedy News & Media)

“This was sold in Primark stores in the UK between March 2026 and June 2026.

“We have learned the product does not meet our usual high safety standards.

“The product has been found to contain phthalates above permitted levels, and this may cause harm to health and the environment.

“Please stop using the product immediately. Please return the product to any of our Primark stores. It’s not necessary to show proof of purchase.

“For more information, please email help.uk@help.primark.com.”

Phthalates are known to pose serious health risks, particularly to children, as they can potentially damage the reproductive system.

The recall was issued after the product was found to breach the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 and the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.

A spokesperson for the Office for Product Safety & Standards said: “The product presents a serious chemical risk because it contains phthalates above permitted levels.

“Phthalates may harm the health of children, possibly causing damage to the reproductive system.

“The product doesn’t meet the requirements of the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 or the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.

“The product has been recalled from end users by Primark.

“Owners should stop using the product immediately and keep it away from children.”

Primark has advised all customers to stop using the purse immediately and keep it out of reach of children.