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Woman issues urgent warning after reta ‘nearly killed and 'paralyzed' her

I couldn't eat for a whole entire week.”Following the frightening ordeal, Lyndsey has decided to stop taking GLP-1 medications and is now receiving professional nutritional support as she focuses on maintaining her weight.“Currently I am now seeing a nutritionist and I am not on GLP-1s, but I'm going to try to maintain the healthy way or the healthier way.”What is retatrutide?(Getty Stock Images)Retatrutide is an experimental medication that’s being developed by Eli Lilly and Company - the world

Woman who spent two years behind bars for giving herself a miscarriage wins $1.6 million payout

Aged 26 and living with her two sons at the time, she was unable to travel 165 miles to Reno for an abortion.Instead, she looked online for ways to end the pregnancy herself and tried eating cinnamon and lifting heavy objects, believing they might cause a miscarriage.Two months later, she gave birth to a stillborn baby boy, whom she named Abel, and buried him in her garden.In 2019, she was found guilty of manslaughter under a Nevada law dating back to 1911, which made it illegal for women to del

Horrifying simulation shows treadmill torture method that was banned from British prisons for being too brutal

What they were doing was literally pointless."An illustration depicting a penal treadmill (Getty Stock Images)The treadmill punishment was typically handed down to inmates sentenced to hard labour for their crimes, with Cregan-Reid noting that author Oscar Wilde was forced to walk on a treadmill after being sentenced to two years of hard labour in 1895.In Wilde's case, two years of hard labour on the treadmill would cause irreparable damage to his health, as he died a couple of years after being

Gruesome simulation shows why you should never pop your blisters

If you're someone currently considering popping a blister, you might want to take a look at this simulation first.Although it can be extremely tempting to get rid of the small, painful lump that has appeared on your skin, it's best to leave it alone.That's because that pesky bubble is actually protecting you - as this gruesome simulation explains.Despite them having a bad reputation, blisters are actually doing us a favour in the health department, as they develop to protect skin that has been d

Witness describes chaos at Yorkshire Wildlife park after man 'scaled fence and jumped into tiger enclosure'

A witness has described the ‘chaotic’ scenes at Yorkshire Wildlife Park after police said a tiger attacked and ‘seriously injured’ a man.The park, near Doncaster, will remain closed for the weekend because a man entered the tiger enclosure and was ‘attacked’ by the animal shortly after 1.30pm on Saturday.In a statement shared with LADbible, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) said ‘the tiger has subsequently attacked the man and this has resulted in serious injury’.“Officers are working at pace to make

Christa Pike released from hospital as she breaks silence after botched execution

Johnson Rehabilitation Centre, where she has been housed for more than 30 years," the statement, shared by Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, and Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the TN Office of the Post Conviction Defender, read.The statement did not share any new details about Pike's current health, but added that she was 'grateful' for the care she had received from medical professionals."She is grateful to the first responders and her medi

Shots fired' at Yorkshire Wildlife Park after tiger attacked man 'who jumped into enclosure'

'Shots were fired' at a UK wildlife park after a man jumped inside of a tiger enclosure, stunned visitors have claimed.Yorkshire Wildlife Park was hastily evacuated on Saturday (10 October) amid reports that a guest had entered the 'Land of the Tigers' area.The park has confirmed it has closed its doors for the weekend in wake of what it described as a 'serious incident', while cops announced the man had sustained a 'serious injury' in the enclosure.Shocking footage circulating on social media a

UK universities are withdrawing international students’ offers with some rejected for baffling reasons

Universities in the UK are withdrawing offers to international students, including from countries like Nigeria and Pakistan, due to a significant increase in study visa refusals by the Home Office.The crackdown in the education sector is said to be driven by concerns over students using the route for asylum claims.According to the Financial Times’ analysis of Home Office data, 10.5 percent of UK study visa applications were withdrawn during the first half of 2026, compared with 2.3 percent in 20

EasyJet cuts 1.4 million winter seats as warning issued over flight prices

EasyJet has confirmed it will be increasing its winter reductions from 700,000 to 1.4 million between October 2026 and March 2027.According to a report from the Financial Times, Chief Executive Kenton Jarvis confirmed the move, saying the budget airline was eyeing up ways to cut back on costs now that peak holiday season had ended in Europe."People are taking capacity out, we see that across all competitors," Jarvis noted, adding that he wasn't surprised by the move, given the fact that jet fuel

Toby Carvery responds after staff filmed weighing meat portions on Sunday roast

Next they’ll be counting the peas!"His video has since been viewed hundreds of times and plenty of people had something to say about Toby Carvery allegedly putting a cap on their portion sizes.One person commented: "I'm boycotting Toby Carvery until they revert back to you can have as much meat as you like."Another fumed: "If they weigh the meat in every Toby I won't be going anymore."A third added: "Ridiculous weighting the meat...keep it, I'd sooner cook my own."Customers take what they like f

When Should AI Refuse to Answer in Regulated Fintech Support?

<h4>Fintechs are automating more of their customer support with AI, and the usual measure of success is how much contact no longer needs a person. In regulated financial services, a short customer message can carry vulnerability, fraud or consent issues that an automated answer is not equipped to handle.</h4>Anastasia Ioseliani previously worked at a UK regulated fintech, where she progressed into customer experience management and worked directly with AI-supported customer operations. In this opinion piece she draws on that experience, without reference to any confidential company or customer information, to argue that the more important question is when AI should stop and escalate. The views are her own.The customer’s message looked simple enough. They could not make a payment. For an automated support system, this is exactly the kind of query that seems easy to handle. Identify the topic, locate the relevant information, generate the response and move on.But anyone who has worked in regulated customer support knows that a short message can contain much more than a short question. Why can’t the customer make the payment? Have they lost their job? Are they dealing with a bereavement? Is someone else controlling their finances? Are they confused about what they owe, or are they telling us that they simply cannot afford it?The technical answer may be easy. The correct response may not be. That difference is where I think much of the conversation around AI in customer service is still missing the point.Companies are understandably focused on what AI can answer. In regulated industries, we should be paying just as much attention to what it should refuse to answer.<h5>The obsession with automation</h5>AI has obvious value in customer support. A large percentage of customer enquiries are repetitive. Customers want to know where to find something, why a transaction is pending, how a process works or what they need to do next. These are areas where automation can work extremely well. It can reduce waiting times, remove repetitive work from support teams and give customers access to information almost instantly.Having worked with AI-supported customer service processes in regulated fintech, I am not sceptical about the technology itself. Quite the opposite. I have seen how useful it can be.What concerns me is the assumption that the natural endpoint of good automation is more automation. It is easy to start measuring success by the percentage of conversations that no longer require a person. But there are situations where avoiding human involvement should not be the goal. Sometimes escalation is the correct outcome.<h5>Customers rarely speak in compliance language</h5>One of the hardest parts of customer support is that customers do not describe their circumstances using the categories companies use internally. A customer rarely writes: “I am experiencing financial vulnerability and require additional support.”They say: “I can’t pay this week.” They say: “My partner normally deals with all of this.” They say: “I’ve been off work for a while.” They say: “I don’t understand any of these charges anymore.”A human support agent may immediately recognise that the conversation needs more care. An automated system may simply identify the apparent question and continue.This is particularly important in financial services because vulnerability is rarely contained in one obvious keyword. Context matters. Tone matters. The history of the conversation matters. Sometimes what looks like a routine payment question is no longer a routine payment question once you understand what sits behind it.AI can be trained to recognise certain indicators, but recognition alone is not enough. The system also needs rules for what happens next. In some cases, the correct next step should not be a better automated answer. It should be: Stop. Escalate this conversation.<h5>Fraud is where ‘helpful’ can become dangerous</h5>Fraud-related conversations are a good example of why an AI system cannot simply be trained to provide the fullest possible explanation. Customers naturally want to understand what is happening. Why was a payment stopped? Why is additional verification required? Why has an account or transaction been reviewed? What exactly caused the system to flag something?Those questions are completely reasonable from the customer’s perspective. But in fraud prevention, more information is not always better. There are situations where explaining exactly how a fraud control works, what triggered a review or which internal indicators were detected could make the system less effective.An automated assistant that is heavily optimised around being transparent and helpful may not understand that distinction unless the boundaries are deliberately built into it. This is one of the areas where refusal matters.The AI should not try to fill in the gaps. It should not speculate about the reason for a fraud review. It should not reveal internal detection logic. It should not confirm assumptions simply because the customer phrases them confidently. Sometimes the correct response is deliberately limited.That can feel uncomfortable in customer service, because we are used to thinking that a better explanation always creates a better experience. In regulated environments, that is not always true. A very detailed answer can be operationally worse than a careful one.<h5>Data, consent and the temptation to answer because the information exists</h5>There is another area where AI needs very clear boundaries: customer data. Support teams often have access to large amounts of information. Identity details, transaction histories, account activity, previous conversations and sometimes information provided by third parties can all form part of a customer record.The fact that information exists inside a system does not automatically mean it should be used, repeated or shared in every conversation. Who is asking? Has their identity been properly verified? Are they asking about their own information? Are they acting on behalf of somebody else? Do they have authority to do so? Has the customer actually consented to their information being shared?These questions are easy to overlook when an AI model can retrieve information instantly. Imagine a family member, partner or representative contacting a company and asking for an update on somebody else’s account. The system may have the answer. That does not mean it should provide it.The same issue appears when a customer casually mentions another person during a conversation. An automated system should not treat every piece of information available to it as fair game simply because it is technically accessible. This is why data protection cannot be reduced to a disclaimer at the bottom of a chatbot. The permission to access information and the permission to disclose it are two different things.In practice, good automation needs to understand not only what information it knows, but under what circumstances it is allowed to use that information. And when there is uncertainty around identity, consent or authority, the safest response may again be to stop. Not because the AI lacks the answer. Because it should not be the one giving it.<h5>Information is not the same as financial advice</h5>There is another boundary that matters in FCA-regulated financial services: the difference between providing information and giving a customer a recommendation. A customer may ask: “Should I make this payment now or wait?” “Which option is better for me?” “What should I do with this balance?”From a customer-service perspective, those questions can sound completely ordinary. But depending on the product, the firm’s regulatory permissions and the context of the conversation, there may be an important difference between explaining what options exist and telling the customer what they personally should do.That distinction becomes even more important with AI. AI is naturally good at producing recommendations. Give it a few facts and it will often try to identify the ‘best’ option, explain why and present the answer confidently. In a regulated environment, that instinct can create risk.An automated system should be able to explain factual information clearly: what a payment option means, when something is due, what the consequences of a particular process are, or where the customer can find further information. But it should not automatically turn that information into personalised financial advice where the firm, product or interaction does not permit it.The difference can be surprisingly small in language. “There are three available options” is information. “Based on what you’ve told me, you should choose the second option” can be something very different. That is exactly the kind of line an AI system may cross without realising that it has crossed it.In FCA-regulated businesses, customer communication is not just about whether an answer sounds helpful. Firms also need to consider whether communications are fair, clear and not misleading, whether vulnerable customers are being treated appropriately, and whether the interaction stays within the regulatory permissions and responsibilities of the business. This is another situation where the safest AI may be the one that knows when to stop giving an answer.<h5>We should design AI to fail safely</h5>A lot of AI product design focuses on reducing failure. That makes sense, but in regulated environments the definition of failure needs to be more careful. Refusing to answer is not necessarily failure. Escalating is not necessarily failure. Admitting uncertainty is not necessarily failure. The real failure may be continuing confidently when the system does not have enough information or should not be making the decision.AI can still play a significant role. It can summarise long conversations. It can surface relevant information for agents. It can identify repeated customer issues. It can categorise straightforward enquiries. It can help teams understand where customers are getting stuck. It can reduce enormous amounts of repetitive work. None of that requires the system to become the final decision-maker in every interaction.The strongest use of AI in regulated customer support may not be replacing judgement. It may be helping humans know where judgement matters most.The post <a href="https://thefintechtimes.com/when-should-ai-refuse-to-answer-in-regulated-fintech-support/">When Should AI Refuse to Answer in Regulated Fintech Support?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://thefintechtimes.com">The Fintech Times</a>.

AI Is Getting Really Good at Messing With Cybercriminals

Anti-cybercrime initiatives are increasingly using AI to scam the scammers by tricking them into talking to lifelike bots that they think are real victims.

Best Lego Gifts for Brick Builders (2026): Smart Bricks, Video Games, and More

There's more to Lego than just another basic set. We tested tons of Lego-themed gifts to find the perfect ones for the brick builder in your life.

The Best Smart Scales for Tracking Weight and Body Composition (2026)

Whether you want a weight log on your phone or a bathroom gadget packed with sensors, I’ve found an option for you.

Symptoms of Dengue fever as Florida hit by largest outbreak in decades

Florida is experiencing an unprecedented rise of locally acquired dengue fever, with several counties declaring states of emergency as health officials battle to contain the mosquito-borne disease.More than 250 locally acquired cases have been recorded since July, with Hillsborough County and Tampa, accounting for 223 infections.The outbreak has also claimed the life of an 80-year-old Tampa woman who died in September after contracting the virus.According to Florida Health, Dengue fever ‘is a mo

Man who was set to be executed after Christa Pike maintains innocence

But it was rescheduled for this year, and for a number of reasons, the case is controversial in the death penalty debate.Sutton always claimed he is innocent, and his legal team have fought to have his conviction overturned, citing that the evidence does not prove he was the murder in the case of Tommy.According to a statement from his attorneys, per AP News: “The scientific evidence linking Gary to the case is from disgraced state medical examiner Charles Harlan who was later stripped of his li

Delivery man in so much debt he was forced to steal food and sell his plasma now 'crypto millionaire'

That was massive for me.”Tyler started to earn his money through trading (JamPress)Tyler made thousands from tradingWhile working for DoorDash, Tyler continued teaching himself about financial markets and eventually began making money through trading and cryptocurrency.After he starting trading, Tyler then suffered another huge blow, loosing the entirety of the $112,000 he had made.He said: “I turned $10,000 into $112,000. But I lost it all and then ended up $2,000 in the red. My life was a mess

Family reveals exactly how much they save after ditching UK to move across the world

A family who decided to leave the UK say they've 'basically replicated' their routine now they live in Thailand and they've saved over £1,000 a month in costs since the move.Saskia Dalyanci, 27 and partner Ben, 26, were renting a three-bed home in Tunbridge Wells for £1,000 a month when they decided to leave the UK.The mum, a former tutor, was already home schooling her children as she reckons her kids 'didn't require Ofsted-excellent rated schools', and when Ben got a job in Chiang Mai they dec

Humans Watched This Supernova Explode Nearly a Millennium Ago. Now You Can See It in High Definition

The new image isn’t just stunning—it may also provide clues about how this star survived its own explosion.

BKN301’s CTO on Why Cards May Carry Stablecoins Mainstream

The BIS has made a similar point, warning that emerging tokenised systems need to be interoperable to avoid creating “walled gardens” and trapping liquidity.“Banks don’t need to predict exactly what money will look like in twenty years, but they do need to build infrastructure flexible enough to support forms of money and transactions that don’t even exist yet,” he said.His advice for the next twelve months is to treat stablecoin capability as infrastructure rather than a product bolt-on: get da