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Opening night of the Pet Shop Boys’ Obscure tour turned the Electric Ballroom in Camden into a shrine for deep‑cut enthusiasts. Frontman Neil Tennant opened with a cheeky promise – “no hits tonight” – and the crowd responded with delighted roars, eager for the rare material the duo had promised.The Obscure moniker is no accident. Tennant and synth‑master Chris Lowe rehearsed 35 songs from their 42‑year catalogue, deliberately sidestepping the familiar chart‑toppers in favour of B‑sides, album tracks and fan‑favourite deep cuts. A fan‑compiled Spotify playlist of 226 non‑single tracks illustrates just how vast the selection pool is, yet even that list fell short of the band’s final set.Two songs made their live debut: a never‑performed track from the unreleased stage show Naked titled “I Dream of a Better Tomorrow,” and the 1986 B‑side “Jack the Lad” from the Suburbia era, which had never before been heard on stage. Phones rose in the audience as Tennant sang the cheeky tale of a ne’er‑do‑well, capturing a moment that will likely become a new fan legend.Highlights included a soulful rendition of the 1990 ballad “To Face the Truth,” where Tennant’s hand‑over‑stomach gesture added a rare glimpse of vulnerability, and the 1987 piano‑driven “Do I Have To?” showcasing Lowe’s most tender synth‑piano work. The set also featured “King of Rome” (2009), its horn‑laden refrain enveloping the room in a warm, nostalgic glow.Interspersed with the music, Tennant acted as an urbane quizmaster, prompting the audience to shout B‑side titles and rewarding them with trivia – for example, a medley that combined 1993’s “One in a Million” with Culture Beat’s “Mr Vain,” performed for the first time since its original 1994 Latin America appearance.Closing the main set, the 2005 anthem “The Performance of My Life” evoked the duo’s early club‑scene roots, while the encore opened with the poignant B‑side “Your Funny Uncle” (1989), a lament that still resonates with listeners who first found solace in its lyrics during the AIDS crisis.In a final, forward‑looking moment, Tennant introduced “I Dream of a Better Tomorrow,” a brand‑new song taken from the unreleased stage production based on *The Emperor’s New Clothes*. He declared, “change is coming… the start of something new,” hinting at fresh creative directions beyond the archival focus of the tour.The Obscure run, part of the broader Dreamworld tour that began in 2022, demonstrates the Pet Shop Boys’ mastery of both pop craftsmanship and archival curation, offering fans a rare chance to hear the hidden gems that have long lived in the shadows of their massive catalogue.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) continues to serve as a cinematic comfort food, delivering a relentless parade of perils—jungle treks, venomous creatures, double‑crossing allies, and larger‑than‑life set‑pieces—while never losing its playful spirit.The film’s charm lies not only in its nonstop thrills but also in a deep‑seated nostalgic longing for an imagined era when “the good guys always won.” Its creators—George Lucas, co‑writer Philip Kaufman, and director Steven Spielberg—crafted an homage to the 1930‑ and 1940‑year‑old serial B‑movies they grew up watching, such as Buck Rogers and Zorro’s Fighting Legion. Those serials, broken into bite‑size chapters before the main feature, taught a formula of relentless action that Raiders replicates with modern polish.Beyond childhood reminiscence, the film offered early‑1980s America a respite from the lingering shadows of the Vietnam War and Watergate. By resurrecting the mythic Greatest Generation—who triumphed over the Great Depression and World War II—the movie positioned its hero, Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones, as a symbol of moral clarity in a time of “great moral obscurity,” marked by political turmoil, economic recessions, and the so‑called “war on terror.”For many viewers, the experience of watching Raiders on weekend television added another layer of comfort. The film’s frequent rotation on cable and syndication turned it into a ritual: a lazy Sunday, a remote‑controlled channel‑surf, and the inevitable arrival of Indy battling Nazis or escaping deadly traps. That sense of surrendering control to the “all‑knowing cable programming gods” amplified the film’s soothing effect.Ultimately, the story’s resolution—where a divine‑like intervention saves Indy and Marion—mirrors the audience’s desire for reassurance that, no matter how chaotic the world, a protective force is watching over us.Available for streaming on Paramount+ (US), Now TV (UK), and Disney+ (Australia).

Donald Trump’s demand that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz has an immediate impact on U.S. gasoline prices, but analysts warn that a prolonged conflict will push energy costs higher across the globe, far beyond the fuel pump. Systemic increases in power prices and disrupted supply chains are set to compress margins for industries worldwide; in the United States, the effect could be especially damaging to the fragile economics of the AI boom. Oil‑importing nations in the Global South are already feeling the strain: Egypt has imposed curfews, Indonesia is trialling work‑from‑home Fridays, and the Philippines has declared a national energy emergency. While the United States, as a major oil exporter, can partially insulate itself, the country cannot escape the global rise in energy costs. Experts predict that price pressure will linger for months even if the strait reopens within days. Companies are revisiting cash‑flow forecasts, and the AI sector—characterised by energy‑intensive model training and debt‑laden expansion—faces a particularly acute risk. OpenAI chief Sam Altman attempted to downplay environmental concerns, likening the energy required to train an AI model to the cumulative food intake over a human’s 20‑year development. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee warned that rising energy costs could depress AI share prices, noting that investors were already uneasy about the sector’s heavy reliance on debt financing and uncertain return prospects before the war began. "The conflict could increase these concerns, particularly given the energy‑intensive nature of the supply chain for key components and the operation of datacentres," the committee said. World Trade Organization chief economist Robert Staiger echoed this view, cautioning that a prolonged period of high energy prices could "crimp" AI investment. He highlighted that AI‑related goods accounted for 70% of U.S. investment growth in the first three‑quarters of last year. A forensic note from US law firm Quinn Emanuel revealed that the AI sector generated roughly $60 billion in revenue last year while committing $400 billion to capital expenditure. The financing structure mirrors the 2008 crisis, with off‑balance‑sheet special purpose vehicles and asset‑backed securities playing a central role. Leading "hyperscalers" and infrastructure providers such as CoreWeave are borrowing enormous sums to build out datacentres, although some analysts argue that many projects lag behind their lofty promises. Much of this borrowing comes from private‑credit lenders, making total liabilities opaque and challenging for regulators—an issue the Bank of England has repeatedly flagged. Complex financing arrangements see datacentres owned by special purpose vehicles, debt pooled and sold to pension funds, and other layered structures that obscure true exposure. Quinn Emanuel estimates that $120 billion of datacentre debt has been moved off‑balance sheets in the past two years. The firm warns that distress at any single node could cascade through the tightly interconnected AI ecosystem. Extended higher energy costs, combined with volatile interest rates and weaker consumer demand—both likely fallout from the Middle East war—could trigger that distress. The fundamental question remains: can the AI sector generate sufficient revenue to justify its sky‑high valuations? Even modest energy price hikes may force a market rethink, with potential spill‑over effects across U.S. markets and beyond. As the article concludes, the economic fallout may be yet another unintended consequence of Trump’s aggressive stance on Iran, unleashing forces beyond his control.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a comprehensive report titled None Can Run Away, concluding that Burkina Faso’s military, its allied Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDPs), and the al‑Qaeda‑linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wa al‑Muslimin (JNIM) have perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity since the coup that brought the junta to power in September 2022. Through in‑person and telephone interviews with more than 450 witnesses across Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Mali, HRW verified 57 distinct incidents involving wilful killing, attacks on civilians and civilian objects, pillage, looting, and forced displacement. The report estimates that 1,837 civilians were killed between January 2023 and August 2025, with over 1,200 deaths directly linked to government forces. The United Nations estimates that the conflict has displaced approximately two million people, underscoring a humanitarian crisis of regional magnitude. Among the deadliest attacks, the military and VDP militias slaughtered more than 400 civilians across 16 villages near the northern town of Djibo in December 2023. In November 2023, allied militias killed 13 Fulani civilians—including six women and four children—in the western village of Basse, employing methods described by survivors as “blindfolded, hands tied, and riddled with bullets.” JNIM’s own atrocities were highlighted by the August 24, 2024 massacre in Barsalogho, where at least 133 civilians, many of them children, were shot indiscriminately. HRW’s findings point to a systematic targeting of the Fulani ethnic group, whom the junta accuses of supporting armed insurgents, resulting in what the report characterises as an ethnic cleansing of entire communities. HRW calls for urgent investigations into President Ibrahim Traoré, the supreme commander of the armed forces, and six senior military commanders for “grave abuses.” The organization also urges scrutiny of Iyad Ag Ghaly, JNIM’s supreme leader wanted by the International Criminal Court, and four of his commanders under the principle of command responsibility. “The scale of atrocities taking place in Burkina Faso is mind‑boggling, as is the lack of global attention to this crisis,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of HRW. “The junta is committing horrific abuses itself, failing to hold those responsible on all sides to account, and curtailing reporting to obscure the suffering of civilians caught in the violence.” Survivors recount harrowing details: a 41‑year‑old father described his son’s body “shot in the back of the neck,” while a 39‑year‑old witness to the Barsalogho attack said, “People were falling like flies. They came to exterminate us. They did not spare anyone.” These revelations amplify calls from the international community for accountability and for renewed humanitarian assistance to the millions displaced by the protracted Sahel conflict.

Recent commentary on the Iran school bombing rightly challenges the knee‑jerk tendency to blame artificial intelligence for the tragedy. The deeper issue, however, lies in the emerging linguistic habit of labeling incidents as "AI errors," which subtly removes the human actors from the narrative.When responsibility is shifted from people to systems, moral accountability becomes vague. Human designers, authorisers and operators remain the decision‑makers, even if the technology automates the final act. Concealing this fact is not a technical flaw; it is a civic failure that hampers accountability.Beyond accelerating warfare, AI is fostering a subtler shift: using automation as an alibi. If public discourse cannot pinpoint who acted, the public cannot hold anyone to account.Critics also note that the language used to describe rogue AI agents—terms like “connived,” “lied,” or “cheated”—anthropomorphises machines and further obscures responsibility. As Dr. Felicity Mellor of Imperial College London observes, such phrasing assigns moral agency to large language models instead of the people who deploy them.Consider a hypothetical where a company releases high‑speed vehicles without functional brakes. We would not say the cars "connived" to cause accidents; we would blame the company’s reckless leadership. Similarly, if uncontrolled AI ever harms civilians, we must be able to hold technology firms and the governments that endorse them accountable, which requires clear attribution of moral agency in our language.Anthony LawtonMarket Harborough, LeicestershireDr. Felicity MellorDirector, Science Communication Unit, Imperial College London

Mohamed Salah's future has become a hot topic in the football world, with several top clubs vying for his signature. The Egyptian forward is set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season after a highly successful nine-year stint. Salah has won two Premier League titles and the Champions League with Liverpool.Egypt's national team director, Ibrahim Hassan, has expressed concerns about Salah potentially moving to Major League Soccer (MLS). Hassan believes that a move to MLS would cause Salah to fade into obscurity, comparing it to the current situation with Lionel Messi, who joined Inter Miami in 2023.“Personally, I would prefer him to stay in Europe,” Hassan told On Sports. “I have heard about offers from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Bayern Munich and clubs in the Italian league.”However, MLS Commissioner Don Garber has expressed interest in seeing Salah in the league. San Diego FC's billionaire owner, Mohamed Mansour, also believes Salah would be an “asset” to any team, including his own club.If Salah does move to the United States, San Diego FC has been heavily linked with the forward, not least due to their British-Egyptian owner, Mansour. Mansour praised Salah, stating that he is proud of the Egyptian forward and believes he would add a lot to the league and the team.Salah is currently sidelined by injury and will miss Egypt's ongoing training camp as they prepare for the World Cup in North America. Egypt faces Spain in a friendly in Barcelona on Tuesday after a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Friday.

A recent investigation has revealed a sophisticated scam operation where individuals are paid to write fake Google reviews in exchange for cryptocurrency. The scam, which was discovered on Telegram, involved recruiters posing as representatives of legitimate companies, offering individuals up to $800 per day to write fake reviews for various businesses, including hotels and restaurants. The scammers used a division of labor approach, with different individuals handling recruitment, coaching, and payment processing. The investigation found that the scammers were using Telegram channels to advertise their services and recruit new victims. These channels had thousands of subscribers and posted a steady stream of job offers, with payments starting at $5 per review. The scammers' main target was not just to create fake reviews but also to launder money and extract cash from their victims. They used cryptocurrencies to make payments, which were then laundered through a process called 'tumbling' to obscure their origin. The investigation also found that the scammers were using AI-generated images and stolen profiles to create fake identities. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has estimated that fake reviews cause annual harm of between £50m to £312m to UK consumers. Google has taken steps to combat fake reviews, removing over 240m fake reviews since 2024 and restricting 900,000 accounts for violating policies.

When Hugh Bonneville was first asked to reprise his role as Ian Fletcher in John Morton's workplace satires, his emotions were conflicted. The actor described being 'absolutely delighted' yet 'terrified' at the prospect, calling the experience 'the most painful and horrible' of his television career.Bonneville, now widely recognized for his roles in Downton Abbey and Paddington, first portrayed Fletcher as 'Head of Deliverance of the Olympic Deliverance Commission' in Twenty Twelve. In W1A, he played 'Head of Values' at the BBC. Nine years later, the weary character returns as 'Director of Integrity' at an international football organization hosting a tournament, with its real-world basis deliberately obscured by the production.Despite the seemingly mundane setting of boardroom meetings and PowerPoints, the series stands out for its meticulously constructed naturalism and intricate dialogue. The scripts are twice as long as typical 30-minute sitcoms, featuring stammered half-sentences where the difference between phrases like 'yes well but' and 'but well yes' is profoundly significant.'It's the most impossible thing to learn because sometimes the sentences don't make sense,' Bonneville explains. 'The difference between 'yes well but' and 'but well yes' is profound', he adds, noting that he frequently struggles with the complex dialogue while his co-stars excel.Twenty Twenty Six shifts the setting to Miami, transforming Fletcher from a captain of British politeness into a mediator in American corporate culture. He's reunited with Will Humphries (Hugh Skinner), his hapless intern from BBC days, whose social uncertainty remains unrivalled. 'I'm now describing Will as the Paddington of the office world - he means well, but he's going to bump into everything and set the photocopier on fire,' Bonneville says.The series expands the ensemble with international characters including Belgian chief coordinating attaché Eric Van Dupuytrens, American sustainability head Sarah Campbell, and Mexican 'VP Optics and Narrative' Gabriela De La Rosa. If previous shows examined unspoken British social etiquette, this installment presents more of a culture clash comedy, with Fletcher navigating a world where people express themselves directly rather than through British subtlety.John Morton, the creator, chose the World Cup backdrop not for its football significance but because its unwieldy scale across 16 cities presents fertile ground for comedic mishaps. 'As a writer, you think: hmm, that smells like things could go wrong,' Morton explains. The show addresses contemporary issues including Trump references and environmental concerns, though Morton maintains it's not about football controversies.The filming itself presented unique challenges, with production in a Wembley school transformed to resemble a Miami arts center. Despite the artificial setting, the cast found the UK heat surprisingly authentic to Florida's climate. 'The irony being had we filmed it in Miami, it would have been air-conditioned,' Bonneville laments, capturing the production's British approach to discomfort.

The UK government has introduced a temporary ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, following a review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The ban, recommended by Philip Rycroft, a former senior civil servant, aims to allow regulators to catch up with the risks associated with crypto assets.Rycroft's review highlighted that crypto assets are used as a vehicle to channel in foreign money, posing a risk to the integrity of the political finance system. While a full ban is not deemed necessary, the moratorium will remain in place until parliament and the Electoral Commission are satisfied that new rules are effective.The Electoral Commission has warned parties that the same verification procedures for cash donations also apply to crypto donations, including checking the source of donations over £500 and reporting donations from a single source over £11,180. The commission has noted that cryptoassets present particular challenges and risks in meeting electoral law requirements.Concerns over crypto donations have been raised due to the potential for using 'mixers' to obscure the true source of a donation or AI tools to split donations, which could evade reporting thresholds. The joint committee on the national security strategy has called for a ban on crypto donations, citing the risk to the integrity of the political finance system.Only three parties have said they will accept crypto donations: Reform UK, the far-right Homeland Party, and the Other Party. Reform UK has received crypto donations, but they have not exceeded the £11,180 threshold. The party accepts crypto donations through a Polish payment platform called Radom, which claims to follow UK rules around verifying the identity of donors.