Benjamin Netanyahu has posted a disturbing AI warning on social media showing a nuclear explosion destroying Tel Aviv, as Israelis head to the polls in a momentous election that could oust the long-serving Prime Minister.
The Israeli leader posted an AI-generated image of a nuclear explosion destroying Tel Aviv on X with a claim the country could face a “second Holocaust” if Iran acquires nuclear weapons.
The message, posted just hours before the elections today, suggested that voting for a new prime minister who would not be tough on Iran could have catastrophic consequences for Israel.
Why Jimmy Carr thinks comedy should be taught in school
Stand up comedian Jimmy Carr has said comedy should be taught in schools.
Here is everything we know.
Comedy is a ‘teachable skill’
54-year-old Carr is known for hosting 8 Out Of 10 Cats and as well as performing his own stand-up comedy shows.
Carr said he thinks no one is born funny and that comedy is a “teachable skill” that can help young people find their “authentic voice”.
Comedy is a ‘valuable skill’
Speaking on the podcast, he said: “I think comedy should be taught in schools, well drama more generally, but comedy specifically.
“It is a teachable skill. Is it an innate ability? Are you born funny? I don’t think so.
He added: “You will write down and order your thoughts. You’ll learn to communicate them and you will speak in your own authentic voice.
“It’s a valuable skill to learn.”
Everything you need to know about Israel’s election
Today, Israel is due to hold its first elections since the 7 October Hamas attacks in 2023.
What you need to know
Many Israelis have described the upcoming election as the most important one in their country’s history.
Polls show current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing in the race behind his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
However, it may take weeks or months before it’s clear who will be designated the winner.
More about the key players
Netanyahu has led Israel for 19 of the last 30 years at the head of a far-right coalition. He is currently on trial for corruption, so losing power could risk jail time for him.
Gadi Eisenkot is the former head of the Israeli military. He’s positioned himself as the opposite of Netanyahu, naming his party Yashar, or “Honesty”.
What are the polls saying?
Netanyahu in decline
Most polls show Netanyahu’s Likud and his current coalition parters losing their majority.
Anti-Netanyahu majority
Polls also show a clear anti-Netanyahu majority, but opposition seats are divided.
Palestine parties
Palestinian politicians have indicated they might support a minority government to unseat Netanyahu.
Voters disenfranchised
In the occupied West Bank, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers can vote.
In occupied East Jerusalem more than 230,000 Israelis with voting rights live among 350,000 Palestinians who cannot vote.
Two million Palestinians in Gaza, who live under Israeli military occupation, according to the international court of justice, also have no vote.
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What the result could mean
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Their most significant differences concern democratic institutions, the West Bank and Israel’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Netanyahu has governed with ultra-Orthodox parties that support settlement expansion in the West Bank. Eisenkot presents himself as a more pragmatic alternative. He has also taken a tougher position against violence by Israeli settlers.
The key detail Spotify is asking family plan users to prove
Spotify has outlined a new verification process for family plan users to prove they live in the same household.
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The process
What has changed?
Spotify will now ask family plan users to verify their address using a QR code.
How will it work?
The plan manager opens the QR code which needs to be scanned. All users on the plan need to be in the same place to scan.
What if you don’t?
If verification isn’t completed in seven days, the member can’t join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality and value of Premium we implement measures to ensure appropriate use of Spotify accounts. This includes reviewing Household Plans to ensure they are used only by primary account holders and those living at the same address, as stated in our terms and conditions.
a spotify spokesperson told sky news
The key takeaways from Russell Brand trial so far
Comedian and actor Russell Brand stands accused of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault. He denies all seven charges and has pleaded not guilty.
What we heard yesterday
- The jury heard from prosecution witnesses, including Brand’s former personal assistant, Helen Berger.
The first witness of the day was the sister of one of the alleged victims who said Brand raped her in the toilets of a Soho bar in 2004.
The manager of another alleged victim told the court that two of Brand’s male associates “both sat and watched and laughed” during the alleged sexual assault.
Berger told the court the comedian’s bad behaviour was “on another level” and she had seen “women being mistreated”.
What else did Berger say?
Berger also told the court that “peacock” Brand found random women online to satisfy his “insane sexual appetite”, but sex often made him depressed.
- “Though I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities before and seen a lot of people normalising bad behaviour, this was on another level,” she said on Monday.
The trial so far
Previously, the trial heard from alleged victims of Brand, with six female complainants making allegations spanning from 1999 to 2009.
One alleged the comedian groped her with a “maniacal grin”, before dragging her into a toilet to rape her. Another alleged he had raped her anally while she “begged” him to stop.
Women warned against using AI for cancer information
The Eve Appeal, a gynaecological cancer charity, has urged women not to use artificial intelligence (AI) platforms which offer “unreliable” information about common symptoms.
- The charity said that an AI tool “missed” a common red flag symptom of ovarian cancer – persistent bloating which is not improving with changes to diet.
- The popular tool also failed to reveal that vulval cancer could be behind another symptom.
- And the AI platform also gave incorrect information about cervical cancer screening, the charity said.
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Soaring inquiries in recent years
The charity has made its own AI tool, Ask Eve Assist, to ensure people were getting “trusted information” instead of an “online wild west”.
Athena Lamnisos, chief executive of the charity, warned: “The mistakes made by online AI platforms could be fatal.”
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The six Brexit options from rejoin to customs union
Explore what could be on the cards as Andy Burnham has put getting closer to the European Union at the heart of his premiership.
A future with Europe
At Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool last month, the Prime Minister said Brexit had done “more harm than good”.
Over the weekend, he opened the door to a future deal with Europe reintroducing freedom of movement.
Here are the main options which are likely to be on the table.
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What the options could look like
1. Reverse Brexit fully
The most radical option is to rejoin the EU. Burnham said he would like to see this “in my lifetime”.
2. Rejoin customs union
This allows goods to move freely within the union which would cut much of the bureaucracy created by Brexit.
3. Rejoin single market
It would improve the UK’s access to the EU market. But, it comes with major trade-offs.
What else is on the table?
4. Swiss-style model
Switzerland is not in the EU but has frictionless access to the single market via a web of bilateral agreements.
5. Bespoke UK-EU deal
Burnham could try to secure a tailor-made agreement rather than opting for other ‘off the shelf’ models.
6. A second referendum
On Monday, Burnham said that he would not reintroduce freedom of movement without a referendum.
The post came amid a flurry of AI videos posted by the Prime Minister warning of disastrous outcomes if he is ousted, with critics branding them a desperate attempt to stay in power.
Netanyahu has campaigned on a promise to “finish the job” against Iran after several rounds of fighting. His team also released election videos showing Iranian leaders monitoring the results and hoping for an opposition victory.
The opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of using “lies and scare tactics”. Israeli comments on the nuclear explosion post noted that the Prime Minister previously claimed to have destroyed Iran’s nuclear threat.
Another video from the Prime Minister warned that preventing an opposition alliance from taking power with support from Arab parties is “a matter of life and death”.
The Prime Minister has courted controversy throughout a fractious campaign, including a spat with the military over a potential new attack on Iran, with polls suggesting today’s vote could mark the end of his long reign.
Who are the key players?
Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party currently leads a governing coalition with support from far-right partners Religious Zionism and Jewish Power, and two religious parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism.
The opposition bloc is led by Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party, which has the support of right-wing party Jewish Home, the centre-right Together grouping, and the centre-left Democrats.
Neither bloc is expected to reach the 61 seats required for a majority in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, according to polls, which could give influence to unaligned parties.
Two Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, are not committed to either group but they are expected to provide – potentially critical – support for the opposition. The new Reservists party, running on ending exemptions from military service, is keeping its options open.
Dozens of smaller parties are also running but not expected to play a part in forming a government, from the libertarian Pirates party to the feminist All Women Unite.
How the election works
Israel uses a complex electoral system that makes predictions difficult and often leads to messy outcomes.
Voters cast their ballot for a single party and the totals are used to determine representation in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. A party must clear a threshold of 3.25 per cent to secure seats in parliament.
If a party does not clear the threshold, its votes are distributed among parties that have, which can dramatically shift the balance of power among competing coalitions. The failure of the left-wing Meretz party to reach the magic number in 2022 helped Netanyahu to an eight-seat majority.
Several parties are polling close to the threshold this time including the Reservists.
Parties can sign vote-sharing agreements that allow them to combine votes for additional seats, as Likud did with Religious Zionism in 2022.
Each party that wins seats submits a recommendation for a prime minister to Israel’s president, currently Isaac Herzog, who chooses the candidate they believe is most likely to command a majority or workable coalition. That leader then has 28 days to form a government, which can be extended by a further 14 days.
If no coalition is sustainable, another election is called. Israel held five in four years up to the last vote in 2022.
What’s on the line for Israel, the region and the world
The election is Israel’s first since the deadly Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 and subsequent wars from Gaza to Iran, and it could have profound implications for the region and beyond.
The vote is largely a referendum on Netanyahu, said Nimrod Novik, an Israeli political analyst and former diplomat. “The national divide for a long time now is yes Bibi or no Bibi,” he said, using a shortening of the Prime Minister’s first name.
Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister has been written off many times over nearly 20 years in office over three spells, with many analysts predicting that security failures around the Hamas attacks – which happened on his watch – would end his reign.
But Netanyahu has rebuilt his security credentials through a series of military campaigns that have been popular with the Israeli public – while damaging the country’s international standing – and still has a chance of a seventh term.
Defeat could mean resumption of his trial on corruption charges and a potential prison sentence.
The Israeli leader has pledged to resume the war with Iran and bring down its clerical regime, while maintaining control of occupied territory in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon.
If his coalition returns, far-right partners such as the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, will seek formal annexation of the Palestinian territories and settlements in Gaza.
The opposition may appear less hawkish but Together co-leader Naftali Bennett has suggested Israel could take on new foes, describing Turkey as the “next Iran” and Qatar as an enemy.
All but one of the opposition leaders have pledged to thwart the creation of a Palestinian state and pledged varying degrees of support for settlements on Palestinian territory that are illegal under international law.
But there could be a silver lining if the opposition bloc does secure power. The British government believes it could be more amenable to re-establishing the British consulate in East Jerusalem that was downsized after the UK imposed sanctions on settlements last month.