ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Children aged 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK will face a voluntary overnight social media curfew, alongside a shutdown of infinite scrolling and mandatory breaks in AI chatbot use, under new plans announced by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

According to a report by The Independent UK on Tuesday, the measures form part of the government’s wider restrictions on children’s social media use, and will see default settings block access for older teenagers between midnight and 6 am.

Kendall, in a statement, said, “These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life.

“We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive.”

The Independent said features designed to keep users engaged, such as never-ending video reels and algorithmic feeds, will also be automatically switched off under the new defaults.

However, the report noted that critics have questioned how effective the measures will be, given that 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to turn off these default settings themselves.

The curfew plan follows last month’s announcement of a broader social media ban for under-16s by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government, expected to cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal, from next spring, according to the newspaper.

The report added that responsibility for working out key details of the policy will fall to Andy Burnham, who is set to become prime minister after winning the Makerfield by-election.

Kendall is also reportedly pushing new safeguards for children using artificial intelligence, including requiring under-18s to take regular breaks while using chatbots, and a crackdown on AI services that give dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice.

Ministers are said to be considering banning chatbots deemed a serious threat to children.

Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott reportedly criticised the plan, describing it as “another dog’s dinner from Labour” and arguing that curfews teenagers can simply switch off “won’t achieve anything.”

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

At least 27 people have been killed and eight left critically injured after a fire tore through a bar in Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak district.

Firefighters were called to the scene just after midnight on Monday, and discovered patrons fleeing through the flame-enveloped front door of the venue.

Eyewitnesses say the fire started near the bar’s stage and spread rapidly. Footage posted on X show flames blasting out of the bar as people are seen running out, some screaming and falling over.

This is not the first time such incidents have occurred in Thailand. Despite official promises to improve fire and electrical safety standards following previous accidents, they are still often poorly enforced.

Firefighters arrived at the scene just after midnight, reportedly after a passing driver saw the venue on fire around 23:30 local time. He told local news outlet the Daily News that he leapt out of his car and broke windows to help two people escape.

The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

He also told reporters that he had spoken to a musician, who was performing when the fire started, who recounted what happened.

“He said that there was a fire at the cut-out switch, and after that things happened very quickly. There was blasting and everybody tried to flee from the smoke and flames,” he said.

“Many of them were not able to make their way out because they went to the back of the building and tried to hide themselves from the smoke and flames in the toilet, and that’s where we found most of the bodies.”

Firefighters were reportedly able to bring the flames under control in about half an hour, but despite this – some nine men and 18 women were killed, and more than 60 are being treated in hospital, eight of whom are critically injured.

Initial findings suggest that majority of the victims had died from smoke inhalation, said Suriyachai Raviwan, the director of Bangkok’s disaster department. However, he added, further investigation was needed to confirm this.

One motorcyclist, Surin Jaiharn, told AFP that he helped about five people flee the burning bar, using clothing to extinguish flames on their bodies.

“I feel depressed. I saw many deaths and I do not know the fate of the people I helped,” he told AFP.

As of Monday morning, the bar – Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao – has been cordoned off, with shattered windows and furniture piled up outside its entrance. An acrid smell of burning lingers in the air.

Confronting pictures taken after the fire had been brought under control show many body bags lined up outside the bar, and a large cordon around the area.

Inside, the furniture, walls and ceiling are completely blackened, and parts of the ceiling is peeling off.

Bangkok governor Chatchart Sittipunt visited the scene and claimed the fire had spread quickly through the flammable interior decorations on the bar’s ceiling. Toxic smoke from the burning decorations might have also caused victims to lose consciousness, he added.

There were also reports of numerous people found unconscious near the building’s emergency exit, said Chatchart, who added that there might have been tables or other objects obstructing the area.

“However, this matter requires a thorough and official investigation by forensic officers,” he added.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred.

Four years ago another fire in a bar in a town south of Bangkok killed 22 people; in 2009, 66 people died in a nightclub fire in the capital.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The US said it launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran after Tehran struck a ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it closed the waterway until further notice, and the “offending” vessel was attacked after it turned off its systems and diverted from the approved route, according to state media.

US Central Command (Centcom) says it carried out the “third round of strikes this week” after the IRGC forces “blatantly attacked” a Cyprus-flagged vessel.

It comes after incidents earlier this week in which three commercial tankers were attacked, prompting an exchange of strikes with the US.

Centcom said the MV GFS Galaxy was “unable to continue its journey” as a result of significant damage to the engine room. One civilian crew member was missing, it said.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had been informed by military authorities that the crew were forced to abandon ship and were in a lifeboat.

“Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels but has again failed,” Centcom wrote in a statement shared to X.

The statement was shared by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who wrote: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”

Earlier on Sunday, state media said Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz until further notice after firing a naval cruise missile at a vessel that was attempting to sail along an unapproved route.

The Guards said the vessel was “hit by warning shots and stopped” after ignoring repeated instructions, according to a statement carried by state news agency

It also warned that any US “aggression” as a result of the closure would be responded to with “severity” and new bases in the region would be targeted.

Earlier this week, three commercial tankers were attacked as they tried to cross a US-recommended route through Omani waters. Iran has repeatedly said the only “safe” route is a separate route through its waters.

The incident prompted a series of US strikes in which 17 people were killed and 115 injured, according to Iranian officials. Iran responded with strikes on US allies in the Gulf.

The exchange raised tensions, with US President Donald Trump declaring the Iranian attacks mean the ceasefire is over. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the US of violating the deal.

However, the US leader said talks would still continue and mediators were trying to revive the process. US media has reported that Iran told American officials the attacks on tankers were a mistake and blamed a rogue internal group.

American officials say they have conveyed through mediators the demand that Iran publicly state that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international shipping route, is open and pledge to stop firing on commercial ships.

The closure follows a call for revenge from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first public statement since taking leadership.

His father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an air strike on 28 February, on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran. He was buried in his home city of Mashhad on Friday.

Reading a statement on state television, the new ayatollah said that vengeance was the “will of the nation”.

“We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers,” he was quoted as saying.

“The matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass.”

Many Iranians taking part in funeral ceremonies over the past few days carried placards calling for the killing of US President Donald Trump, who on Saturday warned that any such plans would see the US “decimate and destroy all areas” of Iran in response.

The Wall Street Journal and other US media reported this week that Israel had shared intelligence with Washington that Iran had recently devised a plan to assassinate the US president.

However, Trump denied that Tehran had made a fresh plan or that Israel was the source of any intelligence. He told the New York Post in an interview that he had been “No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time”.