UK startup snares $20m to recreate gigs with ‘hyper-realistic’ digital avatars 20. September 2026 (15:00) Unit1 hopes to offer cheaper version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venueThe former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars.Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment executive who ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cats-to-Evita empire for five years from late 2011. It has secured the $20m in funding from a group of investors, including tech backer Balderton Capital through its partner Daniel Waterhouse, who made early investments in Spotify. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
RNLI warns supporters their personal information may have been hacked 20. September 2026 (14:28) Data raid comes amid targeting of lifeboat charity by far-right agitators who object to migrant boat rescuesSupporters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) have been warned that their personal information could have been stolen by hackers amid targeting of the charity by far-right agitators.In a letter accompanying the autumn copy of its Lifeboat magazine, the charity warned members that their “name, contact details and records of interactions with the RNLI” could have been breached in the raid on a company it uses for customer relationship management. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Former president of Chile abandons UN secretary general candidacy 20. September 2026 (14:04) Former president of Chile drops out after support collapsed in security council straw poll, leaving seven candidates in contestMichelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, has withdrawn her candidacy to become the next secretary general of the UN, ending a bid that had struggled to gain traction among security council members.Bachelet, 74, announced her decision in a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, saying: “I will now continue, with the same determination as always, my international work.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘I have nothing in the UK at all’: British man torn from his Swedish wife and home 20. September 2026 (14:02) Charles lands at Heathrow with just two bags and nowhere to go as a result of Brexit and Stockholm’s hardline immigration positionDoubled over a Heathrow baggage trolley, the former British business director is sobbing uncontrollably, exhausted emotionally and physically after being deported from Sweden.Hours earlier the 65-year-old had been marched on to a plane in Stockholm, separated from his home and his Swedish wife after a five-year battle to stay in the country after Brexit came to an end. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rabies concerns grow in the US – but it’s unclear if there’s an increase of the fatal disease 20. September 2026 (14:00) Rabid goats at a North Carolina petting zoo and a diseased beaver attacking a Maryland boy have set the public on edgeRecent unusual incidents involving humans and rabid animals and a subsequent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory have prompted concerns about rabies, but it’s not clear if there has actually been an increase in cases of the deadly disease in the United States, experts say.In recent months, rabid beavers have attacked three people in Maryland, and hundreds of people were exposed to goats with rabies at a petting zoo in North Carolina, according to news reports. The CDC issued a health advisory on 10 September “in response to recent reports of increases in human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
