Science & Technology

Published: 18 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online. Over the past 18 months, tens of millions of people in Russia have been pushed towards a new mobile application that authorities have presented as a home-grown alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp. Known as Max, the violet-blue messaging and payments platform has rapidly expanded into everyday life, raising growing concerns among researchers and users about privacy, surveillance and...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Artificial intelligence has become one of the defining technological and social debates of the 2020s, but following that debate can sometimes feel like moving between two extremes. One moment, AI companies are announcing enormous investments, new products and rapidly expanding computing infrastructure. The next, researchers, technology workers and critics are warning that increasingly powerful systems could create serious...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Children receiving treatment in English hospitals are facing a serious shortage of specialist play support, with new figures indicating that the number of health play professionals available to help young patients cope with illness and medical procedures remains far below recommended levels. The findings have renewed concern about how hospitals support children emotionally as well as clinically. Health...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online A United Nations fact-finding mission has said there are reasonable grounds to believe that US forces were responsible for two military strikes in Iran in February that killed or injured civilians and damaged civilian facilities. The mission concluded that the attacks on a primary school in Minab and a sports facility in Lamerd were indiscriminate and amounted to...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online US President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with potentially heavy tariffs and restrictions on trade after Brussels proposed opening the way for Canada to become the bloc’s first associate member, sharply escalating tensions over the future direction of transatlantic economic and strategic relations. Trump described the European proposal as “laughable” and said Washington could respond if...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Britain’s economic picture has become more complicated ahead of the Bank of England’s latest interest-rate decision, with new analysis suggesting that the UK economy may have been more productive than previously estimated even as inflationary pressures and a weakening labour market create difficult choices for policymakers. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee was due to announce its...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online OpenAI has disclosed six cases of unexpected or concerning behaviour observed in its artificial intelligence models as the company introduces a new framework for tracking, investigating and publicly reporting incidents involving what it calls “model misalignment”. The framework, announced on 16 September, is intended to make disclosures more systematic and more frequent. OpenAI said it had previously published...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online British fashion and homeware retailer Next has raised its full-year profit forecast for the fourth time this year after stronger-than-expected sales during the first half, with unusually warm weather helping drive demand for summer clothing. The FTSE 100-listed retailer increased its forecast for full-year pre-tax profit by £12m to £1.26bn after reporting a stronger first-half performance than it...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Access to parks, rivers, woodlands and other natural spaces remains uneven across England, with new research highlighting a significant gap between communities that can easily reach nature and those that cannot. The findings have renewed pressure on the government to move faster on its commitment to ensure people can reach green or blue space within a 15-minute walk...

Published: 17 September 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Thousands of people with advanced breast cancer in England are set to gain access to the targeted cancer medicine Enhertu after a new agreement cleared the way for its routine use on the National Health Service. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, known as NICE, has recommended trastuzumab deruxtecan, sold under the brand name Enhertu, for...