A new film featuring an AI-generated likeness of Val Kilmer as its lead “actor” is already facing a wave of backlash.

The Batman star died in April 2025 at the age of 65, 10 years after first being diagnosed with throat cancer.

Prior to his death, Kilmer had been set to star in the drama As Deep As The Grave, directed by Coerte Voorhees, as a Native American spiritualist and Catholic priest, Father Fintan.

It’s now been confirmed that Voorhees will move forward with the project with an AI likeness of Kilmer used to portray Father Fintan, with the approval of the actor’s estate and his daughter, Mercedes.

The filmmaker told Variety: “His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this. He really thought it was important story that he wanted his name on.

“It was that support that gave me the confidence to say, okay let’s do this. Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.”

As was anticipated by Voorhees, the announcement has been met with criticism by many, even if the decision has been approved by the late performer’s family…

Many online critics have already pointed out that the rise of generative artificial intelligence has become a contentious issue in the movie industry over the last few years, with the threats being posed by AI forming a major part of what led to the Hollywood strikes of 2023.

After the SAG-AFTRA strike, actors gained some legal protections against their likenesses being recreated with AI following their deaths, but the issue has continued to come up.

Back in 2024, the film Alien: Romulus featured a digital version of the late actor Ian Holm, which was met with some controversy, while plans to recreate the voice of French actor Alain Dorval in the dub of a recent Sylvester Stallone movie were dropped when his daughter panned them as “unacceptable”.

The Tories were left looking rather embarrassed today after a “best bits” compilation video of Kemi Badenoch played nothing at all.

Shadow local government secretary James Cleverly tried to launch the Conservatives’ local elections campaign by lauding the party leader’s “vim and vigour” – but a technical glitch turned it into a moment they’d rather forget.

Shortly before introducing Badenoch on stage, Cleverly told the waiting audience: “Just in case anyone has forgotten just how good she is, let’s remind ourselves with a quick look at her best bits.”

A few people in the audience excitedly declared that this clip was obviously “going to be long” as the screen briefly flashed up with the Conservatives’ slogans.

But it quickly went black. It then showed the Tory pledge to implement a “stronger economy and a stronger country” once more – before Cleverly started to give up.

“I’m going to give it… one more second…for the video,” he said, then adding: “Do you know what ladies and gentlemen? Forget the video.”

He then welcomed Badenoch onto the stage, who laughed at all the enthusiastic applause.

“That was a fabulous introduction, can we give it up to James Cleverly?” she said, pushing past the embarrassing encounter.

In the 16 months since she was elected to be Tory leader and leader of the opposition, Badenoch has been widely criticised for her performance.

Trying to carry the mantel after the Conservatives’ worst ever general election defeat, Badenoch struggled to hold her own in prime ministers’ questions and made a handful of very public – and painful – gaffes.

She’s also seen a series of ex-Tory MPs defect to Reform, including two of her own frontbenchers, Danny Kruger and Robert Jenrick.

Multivitamins might help to slow biological ageing, new research has found.

Published in Nature Medicine, the paper noted that these effects were stronger in people whose biological age (which relates to the health of their cells and tissues) was already older than their chronological age (how many years old they are).

On average, older people who took a multivitamin supplement daily had a biological age four months younger than those who didn’t.

The researchers looked at blood samples from just under 1,000 participants of the US’ COSMOS study – a randomised, double-blind trial.

Participants had an average age of 70. Some people took multivitamins, and others didn’t.

Blood samples were taken three times: at the start of the study, and 12 and 24 months after that.

The scientists calculated the biological age of the people in the research by looking for five biological ageing “clocks” in their blood.

These “clocks” had to do with the patterns on DNA, changes in which have been linked to a person’s ageing.

After comparing the blood samples, the researchers noted that people who took daily multivitamins showed signs of slower ageing in two of these “clocks”, which were associated with mortality risk.

Speaking to Nature, study author Howard Sesso said research like this is “not just identifying how to live longer, but also how to live better”.

He noted taking multivitamins “appeared to be on that type of trajectory over two years”.

We don’t know for sure, yet.

The paper said that though “statistically significant but small effects of daily MVM [multivitamin] supplementation on slowing biological ageing are encouraging”, additional studies are needed to explore this further.

Still, speaking to Nature, geroscientist Steve Hovarth (who was not involved in the study), said: “This is a very interesting and rigorous study… The public appetite for knowing whether everyday supplements can genuinely slow ageing is enormous.

“This study provides some of the most credible evidence we have to date.”

An Israeli strike on an Iranian gas field has sent alarm bells ringing across the world.

In the three weeks since Donald Trump and Israel first started bombing Iran, the Tehran regime has been targeting energy sites across the Middle East in retaliation.

It has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping lane, by attacking any oil tankers which attempt to pass through the waterway.

The conflict has sent international markets into a tailspin and pushed the cost of oil up to almost $110 a barrel.

This latest attack on a gas field has also increased gas prices by more than 25% – more than double the levels seen before the war began.

Here’s what you need to know.

Hours after killing Tehran’s intelligence minister and launching some of the most intense airstrikes in Beirut for decades, Israel hit the South Pars natural gas field on Wednesday, escalating its growing conflict with Iran.

The world’s largest natural gas site, located in the Persian Gulf, it is shared between Iran and Qatar.

Qatar is a close ally of the US and a host of the US largest military base in the Gulf.

Trump announced overnight that Israel had “violently lashed out” and targeted the major Iranian gas field in rage over what Tehran is doing in the region.

Iran condemned the strike and its president Masoud Pezeshkian warned of “uncontrollable consequences” which could “engulf the entire world”.

It then turned its fire on neighbouring energy facilities in the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia said it managed to intercept and destroy four ballistic missiles which were heading towards its capital Riyadh, presumably from Iran, and claimed more drones were intercepted and destroyed.

Meanwhile, State oil giant QatarEnergy reported “extensive damage” after Iranian missiles hit the Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes around a fifth of global gas supply.

The Habshan gas facilities and Bab field in the United Arab Emirates were also targeted and have since been shut down after interceptions over the major sites.

The UAE said Iran’s retaliatory strikes were a “dangerous escalation” and have ordered Iranian embassy officials to leave the country.

The US president insisted that the US did not have advance warning of the Israeli strike and also that Qatar was not involved.

In a post on TruthSocial, he wrote: “Israel out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lasted out a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran.

“Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and was unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”

But the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump did approve of Israel’s plan, according to US officials.

The president was reportedly hoping to pressure Tehran into unblocking the Strait of Hormuz with the attack.

But Trump has insisted that Israel would not make any further such attacks unless Tehran hits back – while claiming the US will “blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field” if Iran does retaliate.

For many in the region, this feels like a seismic moment in the conflict as neighbouring nations feel more under threat than before.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, the only export outlet for many local countries’ crude oil, was also hit by an aerial attack on Thursday.

The country made it clear overnight that it reserves the “right to take military action” over Iran’s attacks.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have also sent an evacuation warning to several oil facilities across Saudi Arbaia, UAE and Qatar.

In Europe, natural gas prices have already climbed by 35% since Thursday’s attack.

Gas prices overall have increased by more than 60% since the war began less than three weeks ago.

Brent crude, which is the international benchmark oil price, have jumped from $73 to around around $108 a barrel as of Wednesday – and every $10 increase pushes up pump prices by around 7p a litre.

This will impact the cost of living, though there is normally a time lag as prices trickle through to customers.

EU leaders are keen to curb the jump in energy prices and are meeting this week to discuss how to migitate the coming crisis.

There’s the human cost to consider, too.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started, according to the US-based Iran human rights group HRANA.

Local authorities say approximately 900 people have been killed in Lebanon, and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.

Iranian attacks have also killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states. At least 13 US military service members have been killed in the war.

Trump claimed Israel would not make any further such attacks unless Tehran hit back.

In his TruthSocial post, the president claimed: “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar.

“In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”

However he is also thinking about sending thousands more US troops to the Middle East according to reports from Reuters, possibly to help oil tankers move through the Strait of Hormuz.