Best-selling author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has announced.
The writer was known as the “queen of the Aga saga” because her novels often focused on romance and intrigue in middle England, although she rejected the tag as “patronising”.
In a statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said their “beloved and inspirational mother” had died “peacefully at her Oxfordshire home” on Thursday.
Trollope’s novels include The Rector’s Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters in Law.
Trollope’s literary agent James Gill said in a statement: It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.
“Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and – of course – her readers.”
Trollope’s books have been translated into more than 25 languages, and several have been adapted for television.
Trollope was made a CBE in 2019 for services to literature,
Trollope was a writer for more than five decades, and one of the best known novelists in the UK.
She authored 22 contemporary novels including 2013’s Sense & Sensibility, the lead title in HarperCollins’s Austen Project, as well as 10 historical novels published under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.
Trollope also occasionally wrote short stories and pieces for magazines, chaired book prizes, authored a 2006 study of women in the British Empire called Britannia’s Daughters, and edited a 1993 anthology of rural life, The Country Habit.
Trollope was born in Gloucestershire, a fifth-generation niece of the English novelist Anthony Trollope.
“I’m not a direct descendent of his, although I’m from the same family, but another branch of it,” she once told the Independent. “I admire him hugely, and take several things he said about writing very much to heart.”
She read English at Oxford University and worked in the Foreign Office and as a teacher before becoming a full-time author in 1980.
Her early novels were all written under her pseudonym until the release of her first contemporary novel, the choir, in 1987.
Several of her later novels were adapted for the screen, including A Village Affair, The Choir, Other People’s Children and The Rector’s Wife.
But the description of her books as “Aga sagas” caught on despite only two of Trollope’s novels actually featuring an Aga.
She later admitted she was “fairly tired of such an inaccurate and patronising tag”.
“Actually, the novels are quite subversive, quite bleak,” she told the Guardian.
Trollope said it was “a great honour and an even bigger challenge” to rework Austen’s Sense & Sensibility in 2013.
But, she had previously said that comparisons of her own work with Austen’s “make me fidget”.
“There is a huge gulf between being great and being good. I know exactly which category I fall into and which she falls into,” she told the Independent.
“On a good day, I might be good. I think of my writing as contemporary accessible fiction and it really isn’t for me to add the qualifying adjectives.”
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s holding company has axed a fifth of its workforce, even as he plots a high street restaurant comeback six years after his JamieOliver Italian chain collapsed into administration.
Sky News has learnt that Jamie Oliver Group – which is not connected to the newly revived restaurant business – is making 25 of its 126 staff redundant.
A spokeswoman confirmed by email that “the consultation [process] is complete” and the numbers of staff affected but refused to answer further questions, including about why the restructuring was taking place and whether the 25 employees had formally left the company.
The chef‘s group operations include his media activities, such as digital content and partnerships with third parties.
stepped down as chief executive of Jamie Oliver Group.
Last year, Kevin Styles, a former executive at Thomas Cook and the cinema chain Vue, stepped down as chief executive of Jamie Oliver Group after just over two years in the role.
The company’s spokeswoman said he had been replaced but declined to provide further details, and no announcement about the changes was apparent on the group’s website.
Brava Hospitality Group, the owner of Prezzo, is orchestrating the return of Jamie’s Italian to the British casual dining scene.
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“I will drive the menus, make sure the sourcing is right, do the staff training, and ensure the look and feel of the restaurant is brought to life in the right way.”
The chain’s demise in 2019 resulted in about 1,000 job losses and came after frantic efforts to find a buyer for the business.
The airport said the increase was “not a decision we have taken lightly” and blamed “several increasing costs, including a more than doubling of our business rates”.
Rod Dennis, RAC senior policy officer, said, “The words ‘Happy New Year’ are unlikely to be uttered by drivers dropping off friends and family at Gatwick in January.”
He added, “A more than 40% increase in the cost to drop-off is the largest we’ve ever seen and represents a doubling of the fee since it first came in.”
Southend Airport charges £7 for drop-off for up to five minutes, but that increases to £15 for between five and thirty minutes.
A drop-off fee of £5 was introduced at Gatwick in March 2021.
That increased to £6 in 2024, with the cost rising again to £7 in May.
“Passengers can still drop off for free in our long-stay car parks, with a free shuttle bus to the terminal,” stated a Gatwick spokesperson.
“We also have excellent public transport connectivity at the airport, with passengers able to connect directly with more than 120 train stations.
“Many local bus routes serve the airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Blue Badge holders remain exempt from the charge.
major airport without a drop-off fee
The statement added: “The increase in the drop-off charge will support wider efforts to encourage greater use of public transport, helping limit the number of cars and reduce congestion at the entrance to our terminals.
“It will fund a number of sustainable transport initiatives – such as our £1m investment in new and enhanced Metrobus routes in 2025.”
Drop-off fees are also rising at Heathrow from 1 January from £6 to £7.
London City is the UK’s last major airport without a drop-off fee and is to introduce one later this month.
Out of mainland Europe’s biggest 10 airports, only one, Schiphol in Amsterdam, charges for drop-off, according to RAC research.
The number of patients in hospital in England with influenza has risen by more than 50% in the past week, with NHS bosses warning there is no sign of “super flu” peaking yet.
In the week up to Sunday, there were 2,660 flu cases per day on average in hospitals, and NHS England said the numbers had continued to rise this week.
NHS England said it was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients, with some reporting nearly one in 10 beds occupied by patients with the virus.
Officials said the numbers had continued rising this week, with fears it may top 5,000 by the weekend.
Increases are also being reported across the UK.
In Scotland, the number of confirmed cases rose by nearly a quarter in the last week, while the number of people admitted to hospital for flu went up 15%.
The picture was similar in Wales and Northern Ireland, with children and young people particularly affected, according to health officials there.
Some schools have had to bring back Covid-like measures to prevent the spread of the virus. One site in Caerphilly had to close temporarily, while some schools in Aberdeenshire reduced their hours.
Children and young people aged five to 14 also had the highest positivity rates for flu in England.
But in terms of who is most affected or sickest, hospital admission rates for flu in England are highest among people over 75 and children under five.
Writing in the Times, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said, “This winter, our NHS faces a challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic.”
He said the number of people admitted to hospital with flu “could triple by the peak of the pressures – and the NHS doesn’t know when the peak will hit”.
NHS England medical director Prof Meghana Pandit said, “This unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year – with staff being pushed to the limit to keep providing the best possible care for patients.”
The number of people in hospital with flu is at its highest level at this time of year since records began – although they only date back to 2021 and so do not capture the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years, which were seen in 2014-15 and 2017-18.
Flu rates began rising a month earlier than normal this year, driven by a mutated strain of the virus. The dominant strain is H3N2, but it has some genetic changes this year.
The general public likely has less immunity because they have not encountered this exact version of flu before.
NHS England said the number of patients in hospitals with the vomiting bug norovirus was also on the rise, with more than 350 beds occupied by people with it.
It comes ahead of a strike by resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, which is due to start next week.
There are hopes it may be called off after a fresh offer from Health Secretary Wes Streeting prompted the British Medical Association to agree to poll their members to see if they were willing to call off the five-day walkout that is due to begin on Wednesday. The results of that poll will be announced on Monday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused the BMA of being “irresponsible” and said it should accept the offer on the table, adding the offer can only go forward if they stop strike action “particularly in the run-up to Christmas, particularly when we’ve got a problem with flu.”
Daniel Elkeles, of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said: “The NHS is in the thick of a storm that came early. The flu is hitting hard, and other winter bugs are surging.
“Now more than ever, the NHS needs all hands on deck.
“We have to hope that BMA resident doctors will step back from next week’s strike, take up the government’s reasonable offer, and end their damaging dispute.”
Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which takes into account levels of infection in the community as well as hospitals, shows infection rates are continuing to rise, but not as sharply as they were in the previous week.
But officials stressed it was too early to take that as a sign that flu could be peaking.
They warned that the virus was unpredictable, with a lull potentially leading to another surge.
Dr. Conall Watson, an infectious diseases expert at the UKHSA, urged people who are eligible for a free flu vaccine on the NHS, which includes the over-65s, those with certain health conditions, and pregnant women, to still come forward if they have not yet gotten one.
Flu vaccines are available to protect.
“There are still plenty of flu vaccines available to protect those who need them—what’s running out is time to be protected ahead of Christmas.”
“If you are eligible, this is the last chance to get protected as we head into Christmas – so make an appointment with the NHS today.”
It can take up to two weeks following vaccination to develop the fullest protection from the jab, Dr Watson added.
Dr. Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said winter viruses were placing further strain on an “already buckled system.”
Patients in A&E were experiencing lengthy waits due to hospital staff’s overwhelming workload.
But she accused NHS England and the government of using it as a “convenient scapegoat” for the “predictable breakdown” in NHS capacity caused by workforce shortages.
“The situation in emergency departments has become so dire that what was once considered a critical incident is now seen as normal and routine. What is happening is not an isolated emergency but the culmination of systemic failure.”
The rise in Tube fares was part of a funding deal with the government
The cost of travelling on the London Underground, the Overground and the Elizabeth line is set to rise by 5.8% next year, the mayor of London has confirmed.
The increase is 1% above the rate of inflation and will come into force in March.
The freeze in national rail fares announced last month will not apply to Transport for London (TfL) services.
Sir Sadiq Khan says he proposes to freeze the price of Travelcards until March 2027, which means the weekly and daily caps will not change, and fares on London buses and trams will not rise.
EPA
Fares on London’s buses will be frozen until July 2026
The mayor said a rise – equivalent to one percentage point above the RPI rate of inflation – was a condition of the £2.2bn capital funding deal that TfL agreed with central government in the spending review in June.
He said the freeze on bus and tram fares until July 2026 was “an emergency cost-of-living measure” funded by City Hall.
Fares on London’s buses will be frozen.
Sir Sadiq added, “This is the seventh time I’ve been able to freeze bus and tram fares, and it will particularly benefit those on the lowest incomes in our city.
“The plans would mean that only fares on Tube and TfL rail services would now increase from March 2026.
“I also plan to ensure that increases to pay-as-you-go fares on the Tube will be capped at 20p, with many only rising by just 10p.”
City Hall Conservatives criticised the announcement.
In a statement, they said, “Whilst the rest of the country enjoys a fare freeze, Sadiq Khan has burdened Londoners with cost increases that are disproportionately going to affect the young professionals that are the backbone of our city’s economy, as well as the other millions of passengers who use these services.”
The Liberal Democrats said the mayor had “failed to make this case to his ‘mates’ in government like he promised he would; he’s now expecting working Londoners to stump up the costs instead.”
The fare rises will apply to all TfL-run rail services, including the Docklands Light Railway.
The mayor said the increase would mean an off-peak pay-as-you-go Tube fare from Tottenham Court Road in Zone 1 to Edgware in Zone 5 would rise from £3.60 to £3.80.
Pay-as-you-go fares on Tube and TfL rail services within Zone 1 only will rise from £2.90 to £3.10 in the peak and from £2.80 to £3.00 during off-peak and weekends.
A peak-time journey from Upminster in Zone 6 to Cannon Street in Zone 1 will increase from £5.80 to £5.90.
The government capital funding deal is expected to help to replace ageing fleets, upgrade signalling technology and improve buses.
The fare rises will be subject to a final decision by the mayor.
London TravelWatch, the statutory transport watchdog for London, said the city already had some of the most expensive public transport fares in Europe.
It said delays to the delivery of new Tube and DLR trains, alongside worsening bus speeds across the capital, “will make the overall package feel like a hard sell to many passengers”.
It added: “Coming on top of last summer’s price rise for concessionary cards and next month’s hike in the congestion charge, Transport for London will need to run ever faster to show it is delivering value for money to the travelling public.”
The phrase ‘Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO fit to stand trial’ has become a central topic in a high-profile legal saga involving former fashion executive Michael Jeffries. After months of debate over his mental competency due to serious health issues, federal prison officials now say Jeffries is mentally capable of facing a federal court for sex trafficking charges. This development marks a major shift in what has been a complex and controversial legal case. AP News
Who Is Michael Jeffries?
Michael Jeffries is one of the most recognisable names in fashion. As the long-time CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 until 2014, he helped transform the company into a global brand synonymous with youthful, aspirational lifestyle clothing. However, serious legal troubles now overshadow his legacy. New York Post
The Charges Explained
Jeffries is facing federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges related to allegations that he, along with two associates, lured men to drug-fuelled parties under the promise of modelling work. Prosecutors allege these activities occurred in New York City, the Hamptons, and other locations. WSLS
Early Stages of the Legal Process
After being charged, Jeffries pleaded not guilty to all counts and was released on a $10 million bond. Initially, legal proceedings moved forward until questions arose about his ability to participate in his defence due to his health. KSAT
Competency Concerns
Earlier this year, Jeffries was found mentally unfit to stand trial because he struggled to understand the charges and assist in his defence. This stemmed from concerns over his cognitive condition and ability to participate meaningfully in legal proceedings. New York Post
Health Diagnoses in Detail
A key part of the controversy has been Jeffries’ medical status. His health struggles include Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and effects of a traumatic brain injury — all conditions that can significantly impact memory, judgement, and communication. The Telegraph
Hospitalization for Treatment
To address these concerns, a federal judge ordered Jeffries to be hospitalised at the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina. He spent about four months receiving treatment intended to restore his competency. WSLS
Federal Prison Officials’ New Assessment
Recently, prison officials filed a letter saying Jeffries is now “able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and to assist properly in his defence.” This is documented in a Certificate of Restoration of Competency, a key legal milestone that signals he can potentially face trial. wplg
Defense’s Arguments Against Competency
Jeffries’ legal team strongly disputes this assessment. Defence attorneys argue that multiple doctors previously concluded his cognitive issues were progressive and incurable, meaning he would not regain the ability to participate in legal proceedings. They plan to present testimony from at least three experts at upcoming hearings. WJXT
Prosecutors’ Position
Prosecutors maintain that the prison’s evaluation shows Jeffries can participate in trial preparations and understand the case. While they agree there must be a formal hearing, they are prepared to move forward with the criminal case if the judge agrees he is competent. WTOP News
Upcoming Legal Hearings
A competency hearing is scheduled for early 2026, where both sides will present evidence related to Jeffries’ mental state. If the judge rules he is competent, a trial date has been suggested for later in 2026, possibly by fall. Yahoo News Australia
Potential Trial Timeline
U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury has indicated that the aim is to proceed with a full trial by October 2026, assuming Jeffries is found mentally fit during the competency hearing. WSLS
Impact on Victims and Public Perception
For alleged victims, the updated competency finding represents a step toward accountability. Some have expressed relief at the possibility of a trial where evidence can be fully heard in court. Yahoo News Australia
How This Affects Abercrombie & Fitch’s Legacy
Though Abercrombie & Fitch is not legally implicated in these charges, the association with a former CEO facing such serious allegations has affected the brand’s broader reputation and public perception. The case has stirred discussions about corporate responsibility and accountability. New York Post
Legal Precedents and Similar Cases
This case echoes other high-profile instances where defendants’ mental competency became a central legal issue. Determining whether someone can stand trial — especially with conditions like dementia — involves careful medical and legal evaluation. AP News
Conclusion
The declaration that the ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO is fit to stand trial marks a pivotal moment in a long and complex legal saga. With a key competency hearing scheduled and a possible trial on the horizon, the case continues to unfold, drawing attention from both legal observers and the public at large.
FAQs
1. What does it mean to be “fit to stand trial”? Being fit to stand trial means a defendant can understand the charges and assist in their defence, as determined by qualified medical professionals and reviewed by a judge. wplg
2. Why was Michael Jeffries previously deemed unfit? Jeffries was initially found unfit due to serious cognitive conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. New York Post
3. What charges does Jeffries face? He faces federal charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution related to allegations of luring men to drug-fuelled sex parties. WSLS
4. When is the competency hearing? A hearing to assess Jeffries’ competency is expected in early 2026. Yahoo News Australia
5. Could Jeffries go to trial later this year? If ruled competent at the hearing, the trial could be scheduled for late 2026.
OpenAI has signed its first major licensing deal to bring well-known characters to life on its Sora video generator.
The company said the agreement with Walt Disney was part of a push to ensure creators’ rights in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) space amid growing concerns over copyright, fakes, and misinformation.
It forms part of a $1bn Disney investment in OpenAI that will see the entertainment firm roll out ChatGPT to its staff and grow its AI capabilities.
Latest news: There is an urgent warning regarding tumble dryers.
The initial three-year license deal will allow Sora users to generate and share videos based on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.
These include Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker.
Sora allows people to quickly create realistic clips based merely on text prompts.
More on Artificial Intelligence Disney characters,
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1:33
Some have depicted fake messages from celebrities and even used the dead.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said: “This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences.
His counterpart at Disney, Bob Iger, added that the partnership would “extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works”.
As part of the deal, some user-generated Sora videos will be made available on the Disney+ streaming service.
Shops and restaurants across the Swiss city of Lugano now accept bitcoin
In a McDonald’s by a lake surrounded by mountains, in the centre of the Swiss city of Lugano, a customer orders coffee.
“Can I pay with bitcoin?” he asks, and the person behind the counter holds out what looks like a credit card payment terminal.
It is in fact a machine for paying by cryptocurrency. The equipment has been distributed free to local retail businesses by the city council.
The buyer pays by contactless from the bitcoin wallet on his mobile phone. The bill comes to 0.00008629, which is roughly $8.80 (£6.60).
Few people who have bought bitcoin would probably think about using it to purchase actual things in shops. It is instead generally seen as an investment, a bet on its value going up.
But in Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, it’s a different story.
While you can of course still pay for everything in Swiss francs, some 350 shops and restaurants now also accept bitcoin. The local authority has even started taking payments in cryptocurrency for municipal services. You can, for example, pay for preschool childcare in bitcoin.
I get talking to the McDonald’s customer, Nicolas, who comes from France. He is what you might call a Bitcoin true believer.
“What’s great about paying in bitcoin is the feeling of freedom it gives you,” he says. “You are no longer dependent on a financial system with its middlemen and its costs.”
Nicolas says he’s discovered bitcoin cards in Switzerland. These are prepaid gift cards. You buy a certain sum in Swiss francs but download it in bitcoin onto a digital wallet on your phone.
Can I pay with Bitcoin?
I walk through the centre of Lugano, down a high street where just about all the shops sell luxury stuff. Jewellery or expensive clothes mainly.
In a shop called Vintage Nassa that sells new and second-hand bags and watches, the owner, Cherubino Fry, tells me he accepts bitcoin because the processing fee he has to pay per transaction is less than those charged by credit card companies.
For Bitcoin it is generally below 1%, while for debit cards it can be as high as 1.7%, and up to 3.4% for credit cards. Although for the latter two it can vary from country to country.
I ask Mr Fry if he does much business in bitcoin.
“In reality, not a lot. For now, only sporadically, only some clients,” he says. “But using bitcoin will be like a tree growing, and this tree will grow very big in five or 10 years.”
Users pay via bitcoin using a suitable app on their mobile phone
A stone’s throw from Mr Fry’s shop, I visit the headquarters of Plan B, an initiative launched in 2022 by the City of Lugano in collaboration with cryptocurrency platform Tether.
With the B standing for bitcoin, its stated aim is to educate people about cryptocurrency and “to make Lugano the European hub for bitcoin”.
“I want to talk about an experiment I did this July,” says Plan B hub director Mir Liponi. She explains that she had a problem with her bank, which resulted in her not being able to access her funds.
For 11 days she had no way of paying, other than with bitcoin, but she says that experiment turned out well and that you can mostly survive just on bitcoin in Lugano.
“Plenty of medical places, but not a dentist. And another big thing is [energy] bills. You cannot pay bills in bitcoin yet.”
Ms Liponi adds that in the future she wants to see “circular economies where people earn bitcoin, keep bitcoin, spend bitcoin, and pay for services in bitcoin”.
Yet elsewhere, similar bitcoin projects to Lugano’s have come unstuck.
In 2021, El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar. To encourage its use, the government gave people the bitcoin equivalent of $30 that they downloaded via an app.
“So what people did was download the app, exchange the bitcoin for dollars and never use it again,” says Vincent Charles, head of cryptocurrency firm Unchain Data.
He went to El Salvador earlier this year to see how Bitcoin uptake was going and concluded that people don’t really use it, and retailers and service providers rarely accept it.
However, there are other successful bitcoin adoption examples from around the globe. Slovenian capital Ljubljana was declared the world’s most crypto-friendly city in a report back in April, followed by Hong Kong and Zurich.
Shopkeeper Cherubino Fry expects the use of bitcoin to grow strongly
Back in Lugano, not everyone is seemingly impressed with Bitcoin. In a park on the lakefront there used to be a statue representing Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the unknown person or persons who claim to have invented the cryptocurrency back in 2008.
In August, vandals broke the sculpture into bits and threw it into Lake Lugano.
“It’s interesting because not that many things get vandalised around here,” says Lucia, a passerby who lives in the city. “People are usually fairly well-behaved. And you don’t often see people having very strong political opinions either.”
She adds, though, that she herself is sceptical of cryptocurrencies in general.
“At the University of Lugano, where I study, there’s a club to promote Bitcoin and everything. I do find it surprising that institutions such as my university would promote cryptocurrencies so much. I think they are associated with crime, with the dark web and speculation.
“A lot of people lose their money because they invest in a cryptocurrency and then it crashes.”
AFP via Getty Images
Special ATM machines in Switzerland allow people to convert Swiss francs to bitcoin, and vice versa
Sergio Rossi is a professor of economics at Switzerland’s University of Fribourg. He says that bitcoin is a risk for shopkeepers in Lugano or elsewhere because of its volatility – its value can go sharply up and down.
So, he says it is important that they instantly convert the bitcoin they receive into Swiss francs, euros, or another currency issued by a government or central bank. These are also known as “fiat” currencies.
He adds, “There is also a reputational risk with those cryptocurrencies used in illegal transactions, which could affect the city of Lugano and its financial institutions.”
Prof. Rossi also cautions that people’s bitcoin is held by a digital third party, which makes it risky. “If the platform where my digital wallet is recorded fails or goes bankrupt, my cryptocurrencies disappear instantaneously.
“And therefore, I lose the corresponding amount forever. By contrast, in Switzerland, all bank deposits are guaranteed up to the amount of 100,000 Swiss francs ($125,000; £94,000). This means that if the bank where my savings are recorded goes bankrupt, I can recover them up to this amount.”
At Lugano town hall I ask Mayor Michele Foletti if he is concerned that Lugano could be a magnet for mafia money.
“No. You can use fiat money to do something good or something bad,” he says. “The same with bitcoin.
“And mafia people are more interested in using fiat for money laundering. When they sell drugs or something like this, they receive [physical] fiat money, not bitcoin, because the more anonymous way is cash,” he says.
He adds that bitcoin continues to be positive for Lugano and that 110 crypto-sector companies have now moved to, or started up in, the city.
The US Department of Defence has launched GenAI.mil, a new AI platform powered by Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government, to equip nearly 3 million personnel with advanced capabilities.
This initiative aims for AI technological superiority.
enabling tasks like policy summarisation and risk assessment. The platform ensures secure, unclassified use, with Google guaranteeing data won’t train public models.
The US Department of War, also known as the War Department, has launched GenAI.mil, a military-focused artificial intelligence platform powered by Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government.
delivering advanced AI capabilities to nearly 3 million military personnel and civilian employees across all Pentagon desktops and American military installations worldwide. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the platform represents the Pentagon’s commitment to achieving AI dominance.
an unprecedented level of AI technological superiority” following President Donald Trump’s July mandate. The deployment marks one of the largest mass rollouts of commercial generative AI technology across the entire defence apparatus.
The Pentagon prioritises AI dominance as a strategic imperative.
Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, stated that there is no room for second place in the global race for AI dominance. “We are moving rapidly to deploy powerful AI capabilities like Gemini for Government directly to our workforce.”
The platform enables defence personnel to perform tasks such as summarising policy handbooks and generating compliance checklists.
extracting key terms from work statements, and creating detailed risk assessments for operational planning. All tools are certified for Controlled Unclassified Information and Impact Level 5, ensuring secure operational use.
Google secures military contract with security guarantees
Google emphasised that employees could only use the platform for unclassified work and data from GenAI. MIL will never train Google’s public models.
The tech giant had previously held AI-related contracts with the Department of Defence, including the controversial Project Maven drone program. The War Department is providing free training to all employees, designed to build confidence in using AI and maximise its potential.
Gemini for Government features natural language conversation, retrieval-augmented generation, and web grounding against Google Search to reduce AI hallucinations.
Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael indicated that additional AI models will be available on the platform in the future, further establishing what Hegseth called an “AI-first” workforce culture aimed at dominating the digital battlefield.
Drug crime has skyrocketed in Marseille, France’s second-largest city
Warning: This article contains disturbing details from the start.
A group of children spotted Adel’s body on their way to school, just as his parents were heading to the police station to report him missing. Adel’s body, a grotesque, charred silhouette, lay reclining, with one knee raised, seemingly lounging on one of Marseille’s nearby beaches.
He was 15 when he died, in the usual way: a bullet in the head, then petrol poured over his slim corpse and set on fire.
Someone even filmed the scene on the beach, the latest in a grim series of shoot-then-burn murders linked to this port city’s fast-evolving drug wars, increasingly fuelled by social media and now marked by chillingly random acts of violence and by the growing role of children, often coerced into the trade.
“It’s chaos now,” said a scrawny gang member, lifting his shirt in a nearby park to show us a torso marked by the scars of at least four bullets – the result of an attempted assassination by a rival gang.
France’s Ministry of Justice estimates that the number of teenagers involved in the drug trade has risen more than fourfold in the past eight years.
“I’ve been in [a gang] since I was 15. But everything has changed now. The codes, the rules – there are no more rules. Nobody respects anything these days. The bosses start… to use youngsters. They pay them peanuts. And they end up killing others for no real reason. “It’s anarchy all over town,” said the man, now in his early 20s, who asked us to use his nickname, The Immortal.
The Immortal, a Marseille gang member, displayed his bullet wounds from an attack by a rival gang.
Across Marseille, police, lawyers, politicians and community organisers talk of a psychosis – a state of collective trauma or panic – gripping parts of the city, as they debate whether to fight back with ever tougher police action or with fresh attempts to address entrenched poverty.
“It’s an atmosphere of fear. It’s obvious that the drug traffickers are dominant and gaining more ground every day,” said a local lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals against her or her family.
“The rule of law is now subordinate to the gangs. Until we have a strong state again, we have to take precautions,” she said, explaining her recent decision to stop representing victims of gang violence.
“The competition in the drug trade is so intense that individuals are willing to do anything.” So, we have kids aged 13 or 14 who come in as lookouts or dealers. The young see dead bodies; they hear about it every day. And they’re no longer afraid of killing or being killed,” community organiser Mohamed Benmeddour told us.
The trigger for Marseille’s current psychosis was the murder, last month, of Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old trainee policeman with no links to the drug trade. It is widely believed his death was intended as a warning to his brother, a prominent 22-year-old anti-gang activist and aspiring politician named Amine Kessaci.
Under close police protection now, Kessaci spoke to the BBC about Mehdi’s death and the guilt he feels.
“Should I have made my family leave [Marseille]? The struggle of my life will be this fight against guilt,” he said.
AFP via Getty Images
A French anti-drug activist, Amine Kessaci (centre), is mourning his brother Mehdi, who was murdered in Marseille.
In 2020, Amine Kessaci gained national prominence following the murder of his older brother, Brahim, a gang member.
“We’ve had this psychosis for years. We’ve known that our lives are hanging by a single thread. But everything has changed since Covid. The perpetrators are getting younger and younger. The victims are younger and younger,” he said.
“My little brother was an innocent victim. There was a time when real thugs adhered to a moral code. You don’t kill during the day. Not in front of everyone. You don’t burn bodies. First you threaten with a shot to the leg… Today these steps have all disappeared.”
France police are responding.
Citing today’s “unprecedented” levels of violence, French police are responding with what they call security “bombardments” in high-crime areas of Marseille.
Although one gang, the DZ Mafia, now appears to dominate the trade, it operates a kind of franchise system, with a fractious network of small distributors often staffed by teenagers and undocumented immigrants, who clash violently over territory.
According to one estimate, up to 20,000 people may be involved in the city’s drug industry. Last year officials confiscated €42m (£36m) in criminal assets from the gangs.
Video footage shared on social media routinely shows gang members armed with automatic rifles shooting at each other in Marseille’s various cités—poor neighbourhoods characterised by high-rise buildings and a concentration of social housing.
On a cold afternoon last week, we accompanied a group of armed riot police on one of their regular “bombardment” missions.
The officers sped up to a dilapidated block of flats in their vans as a youthful gang lookout on the gate promptly fled on foot. Splitting into two groups, the police ran up either side of the building seeking to catch dealers in the stairwells.
“The aim is to disrupt the drug-dealing spots. We’ve closed more than 40 of them… and we’ve locked up many people,” explained Sébastien Lautard, a regional police chief.
Watch: BBC films arrests in a Marseille drug raid.
“Turn him round,” said an officer, brusquely, as his team pinned an 18-year-old up against a door.
In a filthy cellar nearby, the police found dozens of vials and tiny plastic bags used to distribute cocaine. Later, a policeman explained that the young man they had detained was pleading to be arrested, saying he had come to Marseille from another city and was now being held against his will and forced to work for a drug gang.
The officers took him away in a van.
“This is not El Dorado. We have many youngsters recruited on social media. They come to Marseille thinking they’ll make easy money. They’re promised €200 ($233; £175) a day. But it often ends in misery, violence, and sometimes death,” said the city’s chief prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone.
In his office close to the city’s old harbour, Bessone described an industry thought to be worth up to €7 billion nationwide and characterised by two new developments: a growing emphasis on online recruitment, sales, and delivery and a rising number of teenagers coerced into the trade.
“We now see how the traffickers enslave these… little soldiers. They create fictional debts to make them work for free. They torture them if they steal €20 to buy a sandwich. It’s ultra-violence. The average age of the perpetrators and victims is getting younger and younger,” said Bessone.
He urged local people not to succumb to a psychosis but instead to “react, to rise up”.
The lawyer who asked us to hide her identity described a case she had handled.
“One young person, who absolutely didn’t want to be part of a network, was picked up after school, forced to participate in the drugs trade, was raped, then threatened, and then his family was also threatened. All means are used to create a workforce,” she said.
On TikTok, dozens of videos, set to music, advertise drugs for sale in Marseille’s cités “from 10:00 to midnight”, each product with its own emoji, for cocaine, hashish and marijuana. Other adverts seek to recruit new gang members with messages like “recruiting a worker”, “€250 for lookouts”, and “€500 to carry drugs”.
For some local politicians, the answer to Marseille’s troubles is a state of emergency and far tougher rules on immigration.
“Authority must be restored. We need to end a culture of permissiveness in our country. We need to give more freedom and more power to the police and the judiciary,” said Franck Alissio, a local MP for the populist, far-right National Rally party and a prospective mayoral candidate.
Although the ancient Mediterranean city of Marseille has, for centuries, been known for its large immigrant community, Alissio argued that “today, the problem is that we are no longer able to integrate economically and assimilate. The issue at hand is the excessive influx of immigrants. It’s the number [of immigrants] that’s the problem. And in fact, the drug traffickers, dealers, lookouts, and leaders of these mafias are almost all immigrants or foreigners with dual nationality.”
It is a controversial claim that is difficult to verify in a country that strives to avoid including such details in official figures.
Alissio claimed that billions of euros had been poured into Marseille’s poorest neighbourhoods by successive governments to no effect. While blaming parents and schools for enabling children to engage in the drug trade, he emphasised his focus on “solving the problem, not doing sociology”.
Far-right parties have long enjoyed strong support across the south of France, but less so in the diverse city of Marseille itself. Critics of the RN, like the lawyer whose identity we have concealed, accused the party of “exploiting misery and fear” and wrongly blaming immigrants for a “gangrene” that is widespread across all communities in France.
Philippe Pujol, a local writer and expert on the drug trade in Marseille, was also offered police protection after the murder of Mehdi Kessaci last month.
“I’m not sure if there’s a good reason for this terror. But… terror is taking hold. I would rather be afraid and careful than take unnecessary risks,” he said.
But he hit back against calls for tougher police action, arguing it was merely nursing the symptoms “of a suffering society”, rather than treating the causes of the problem.
Describing entrenched poverty as a “monster”, Pujol painted a picture of a society radicalised by decades of neglect.
“The monster is a mixture of patronage, corruption, and political and economic decisions made against the public interest,” Pujol said.
“These kids can be jerks when they’re in a group, but when you’re alone with them, they’re still children, with dreams, who don’t want this violence.”
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