• EU law has forced technology firms to use USB-C cables by December next year

By Padraic Flanagan For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 18:26 EDT, 9 September 2023 | Updated: 18:30 EDT, 9 September 2023

Joe Biden has been slammed for taking off his face mask while standing next to an 81-year-old war hero – despite his wife Jill testing positive for COVID the day before.

The President, who was awarding a Congressional Medal of Honor to Captain Larry Taylor, entered the White House wearing a black face mask, but removed it during the prayer portion of the ceremony.

He did not replace it when he stood beside Taylor for four minutes, and fastened the medal around his neck.

The president remains negative after being tested on Monday night and Tuesday morning and shows no symptoms.

The White House said before the event he would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevent guidelines when it comes to testing and masking.

But his extended time in close proximity to Taylor raised eyebrows.

‘I’m floored by his behavior. There’s no point walking in masked to then unmask & put everyone at risk,’ remarked one woman. 

‘I hope their families sue if they get sick,’ said another critic.

Another shared on Twitter a screenshot of an unmasked Biden standing next to an unmasked Taylor, and said: ‘Look at this.’

One commented: ‘He doesn’t seem very consistent in his mask wearing, unfortunately.’ 

The video of Biden placing the medal around Taylor’s neck was shared online, with one remarking: ‘Aaaaand he took it right off to breathe on an elderly veteran’s neck.’ 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would remove his mask indoors when ‘sufficiently’ distanced from others.

‘He will be masking while indoors and around people in alignment with CDC guidance and as as has been the practice in the past. 

‘The President will remove his mask when sufficiently distance from others indoors and while outside as well,’ she said on Tuesday, before the ceremony.

The president didn’t put his mask back on to walk out of the East Room but did give a thumbs’ up when asked how his wife was doing, saying she was ‘well.’

Meanwhile, Jill Biden missed the first day of school on Tuesday. The first lady, who teaches English at the Northern Virginia Community College, is arranging a substitute for her classes. 

‘She’s working with NOVA to ensure her classes are covered by a substitute,’ her office said.

The first lady remains at the couple’s Rehoboth Beach home, which is where she was when she tested positive. 

The Bidens spent a long holiday weekend at their vacation house and traveled to Florida together on Saturday to see damage from Hurricane Idalia.

Jill Biden ‘is experiencing mild symptoms and will remain in Delaware for the week. President Biden tested negative last night for COVID-19 and tested negative again today. He’s not experiencing any symptoms,’ Jean-Pierre noted. 

‘There are currently no updates to the White House COVID-19 protocols,’ she noted. 

COVID cases are on the rise throughout the country. 

Nationwide COVID hospitalizations increased by nearly 19% in a single week and deaths by more than 21%, according to late August data from the CDC.

There are two new variants: the Omicron variant EG.5, nicknamed Eris, has become dominant in the U.S., while BA.2.86 is starting to spread.

The first lady, 72, usually teaches classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s unclear when she will return to the White House and her regular schedule. 

Jill Biden also was scheduled to attend a dinner on Tuesday night for U.S. athletes competing at the Invictus Games, the games for wound warriors founded by Prince Harry.

She had to cancel that appearance. 

President Biden remains negative despite the close contact with his wife. 

The couple spent Sunday night together at their Rehoboth Beach home before Joe flew to Philadelphia Monday to mark Labor Day with a speech to union workers. 

In a statement released Monday, Jill’s spokesman Elizabeth Alexander said: ‘This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19.

‘She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware,’ Alexander said. 

Jill Biden previously had COVID last August and got stuck at the property the couple had vacationed at on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. 

She was prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid and tested positive with a rebound case of COVID several days later. 

President Biden tested positive for COVID last July. He also was treated with Paxlovid and suffered a rebound case days later.

Both the president and first lady are vaccinated and boosted. 

The president is expected to leave Thursday for the G20 summit in New Delhi, India. 

‘All travelers including the President will test before traveling to India,’ Jean-Pierre said, noting that Biden will test on a ‘regular cadence.’

She would address questions on what happens if Biden tests negative in route to the trip or how often he would test while there. 

The first lady was not expected to attend. 

While COVID cases are on the rise, neither the president nor the first lady have worn a mask in public recently. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently turned heads by conceding that data was lacking on whether masks stopped the spread of the virus. 

‘When you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong,’ Fauci recently said on CNN. 

‘But there are other studies, that show at an individual level, for individuals, they might be protective.’ 

Travel firms: Give aviation watchdog power to fine airlines

• According to the letter, air carriers are ‘routinely failing what’s in their control’ 
• Signatories include the CEOs of Riviera Travel, Love Holidays and Thomas Cook 

By Harry Wise

Published: 08:53 EDT, 21 August 2023 | Updated: 11:27 EDT, 21 August 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Thousands queue up as cash machines give out free money by mistake across Ireland: Police are sent to disperse customers taking advantage of IT glitch

• Customers detected they could access cash despite having low levels of funds
• Glitch allowed people with no money in their account to transfer up to €1,000 

By Garreth Macnamee

Published: 02:40 EDT, 16 August 2023 | Updated: 20:03 EDT, 16 August 2023

Scrap hated tourist tax to give the High Street a desperately needed boost, says jeweller Pandora

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: 17:13 EDT, 15 August 2023 | Updated: 17:58 EDT, 15 August 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

A British mother-to-be who flew 4,000 miles across the world to give birth on a beach is now ‘stranded’ off the coast of Grenada with her four-month-old baby.

Iuliia Gurzhii, 38, and husband, Clive, 51, said they ‘feel like prisoners’ as they have been unable to register their newborn’s birth or apply for a passport.

The couple left Tameside, Manchester, and were travelling to Rodney Bay in St Lucia so that Iuliia could fulfil her dream of having the most ‘natural’ birth possible on a beach.

But her waters broke and she gave birth to baby Louisa at sea on April 23.

Ever since, the couple have been locked in a battle against bureaucracy to get her home.

To make matters worse, they left their eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth in the UK because they couldn’t get her passport renewed.

Initially they were told by a hospital that they couldn’t register her birth because she was more than 24 hours old.

Then an immigration office said they needed proof the baby was theirs, before a passport office said they couldn’t help because the couple had no proof of where Louisa was born.

And now they claim the UK High Commission said they needed a DNA test – which they are still waiting to get the results for.

The pair say they don’t know how they will get back to the UK and they feel that they are ‘stranded’.

Iuliia, a yoga teacher, said she is having sleepless nights due to the stress of not being able to go home to her daughter, who is being looked after by her auntie, Kristina, 24.

She said: ‘It is hurricane season we have storms now – it is traumatising for us all.

‘I can’t stop crying, we are begging for help – we have been abandoned.’

Clive, a sports coach from Tameside, said: ‘We have been passed around different agencies and nobody will help us.

‘We are running out of money. We will soon run out of food, and nobody is helping us.

‘We are essentially stateless – we are more than abandoned. We are prisoners in a country that we are not allowed to leave.’

The couple left the UK in March when Iuliia was 35 weeks pregnant and first travelled to Martinique.

They then headed to St Lucia by boat and Iuliia gave birth at sea off the coast of Rodney Bay.

Louisa was born at 12.40am, weighing 3kg.

A few days later, the parents visited the Owen King European Union (OKEU) Hospital in St Lucia to get checked over and register their daughter’s birth.

But they claim they were told they couldn’t because it was not within 24 hours of her birth.

Clive said: ‘We headed over to the registry office and filled in the forms for a birth certificate.

‘We waited for a couple of weeks and the registry office came back and said they couldn’t do anything as the baby wasn’t born in the hospital and nobody witnessed the birth.’

The new parents then went to the immigration office in St Lucia for assistance and claim they were told they would need proof that the baby was theirs.

The family contacted the passport office in Castries, St Lucia, hoping to secure an emergency passport for their baby.

But they claim they were not provided with one because they had no proof of where Louisa was born.

As the storm season began in St Lucia, the couple had to move the boat to safety and anchored in Grenada on June 20.

After arriving in Grenada, Clive and Iuliia went to the UK High Commission in St George’s for help.

But they claim they were told they would have to do a DNA test to prove that the baby is theirs.

They couple hope that when the DNA test results arrive, they will be allowed to leave with a passport for the baby and return to the UK.

Speaking of the ordeal, Clive said: ‘We don’t have enough money for flights. When we came over here, they were £600 each and now they are a few grand.

‘I am £6,000 in debt on the card. We are running out of money.

‘We keep being called by the Foreign Office and they ask us if we have an update for them.

‘They should be the ones helping us get out of here.’

An FCDO spokesman said: ‘We have offered consular support to a British family in St Lucia.’

• Just one 350ml drink could theoretically tip kids over the safe threshold
• It can also cause shock and cause children to lose consciousness

By Chloe Louise

Published: 08:49 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 08:50 EDT, 11 August 2023

Homeowners looking to give their properties an eco-friendly makeover could save thousands of dollars over the next few years thanks to a host of new Government initiatives.

Last summer, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which included a $9 billion rebate package aimed at incentivizing households to boost the energy efficiency in their homes.

Already homeowners can save 30 percent on the cost of installing solar panels on their roof, while motorists can benefit from a $7,500 tax credit on certain models of electric cars.

But a host of new initiatives are set to be administered separately by each state. The size of payments will depend on household income and where the owner lives. 

Such benefits will be added to existing tax credits on offer for eco-friendly products such as heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicles. The new rebates will last until at least 2032. 

They form part of President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate plan which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half in the US by 2030. 

And more efficient homes can also help households stave off energy bills which have been pushed up as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Figures from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association show that the average US household has seen its energy bills for June, July and August increase by 11.7 percent compared to last summer. For those three months, homeowners will have paid an average of $578, the data shows.

Kara Saul-Rinaldi, a clean-energy policy strategist in Washington, D.C., told the Wall Street Journal that a low-income household could claim up to $22,250 to fully cover their energy efficiency upgrades. 

A low-income household is defined as being in the bottom 20 percent of their area’s median income.

By comparison, a moderate-income household – where they earn between 80 and 150 percent the median income – could be in line for as much as $19,000 in incentives on a $32,000 project.

In a higher-income home, owners could benefit from $4,000 in rebates and $3,200 in tax credits – saving them $7,200 on a home performance retrofit. 

Currently, homeowners who have a professional ‘home energy audit’ qualify for a $150 tax credit on a $500 audit. 

IRS guidance dictates that the audit must identify the biggest energy efficiency improvements including a specific estimate of the energy and cost savings to each improvement. 

What’s more, households can also claim a 30 percent tax credit on a heat pump – up to $2,000 in a single year. A heat pump can replace both an old air conditioning unit and a gas furnace as it can function as both.

Similarly, investing in insulation or more efficient windows and doors comes with a tax credit of 30 percent – to a cap of $1,200.

And motorists looking to upgrade their car to an electric vehicle can claim back up to $7,500 in tax credits depending on the model they opt for. 

If they add an electric car charging point to their home they can claim a further 30 percent discount – up to a maximum benefit of $1,000. 

The White House has been long been plugging eco-friendly home upgrades – but so far many of these products have remained far too expensive for the average consumer.

Dailymail.com revealed that the average cost of installing a solar panel system, for example, is around $20,000 – and it can take up to a decade to break even. 

Research by the Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that just 14 percent of households with residential solar in the US had annual incomes less than $50,000 in 2021. 

Similar accusations have been leveled at electric vehicles which cost on average $65,381 according to data from car dealership Edmunds.

This is almost $20,000 more than a standard gas car which is $47,892. While these vehicles are cheaper to run in the long-run, experts warned they can also take up to a decade to break even on the initial investment.

One in six GPs have failed to provide patients with face-to-face appointments as many medics claim they are unable to meet demand, a new poll has found.

Doctors implemented a virtual appointment protocol during the first covid lockdown, meaning that less than half of patients were examined in-person. Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of appointments were face-to-face.

NHS England reversed its ‘total triage’ policy, which encouraged doctors to deal with more cases remotely, in 2021 after all patients have the right to opt for an in-person appointment with their GP.

But despite Government interventions, only 69 per cent of appointments across England are held face-to-face – a significant decrease from pre-pandemic levels, The Telegraph reported. In some areas, less than 20 per cent of cases are handled in-person.

Patients’ groups have deemed the figures as ‘totally unacceptable’ while doctors allege they are unable to cope with appointment demands and don’t have ‘enough capacity’ to treat every in the office.

Of the 29.3 million practice appointments carried out in June this year, only 69 per cent were conducted face-to-face, the survey revealed. In June 2019 – before the pandemic – 81 per cent of visits were held in-person.

A survey of nearly 900 GPs, conducted by Pulse Magazine, has revealed that 58 per cent of family physicians are offering in-person appointments to patients who request them. 

Most allege the wait times are similar to those who choose remote appointments. But 22 per cent of doctors have claimed patients insisting on a face-to-face appointment should expect to wait longer to see their physician.

Additionally, 16 per cent of GPs have claimed they cannot provide in-person appointments to every patient that requests them. 

The poll revealed that 77 per cent of practices have reported an increase in demand for face-to-face appointments over the last year. 

One doctor who participated in the survey alleged that their surgery cannot ‘meet demand’. Another alleged that they will try to ‘persuade’ patients to accept a telephone or virtual appointment if they deemed it was ‘more appropriate’.

‘Not all requests are appropriate, and some can be more efficiently directed, or advised on infection risk and more appropriate management,’ one GP reportedly claimed.

Another argued that their practice does ‘not provide face-to-face on demand’ and argued that the triaging GP has ‘final say’.

One survey respondent added that the surgery decides gets either a face-to-face or remote appointment so giving patients a choice ‘doesn’t make a difference’.

But NHS guidance states that GPs must respect a patient’s ‘preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary’.

Doctors seemingly favouring virtual appointments have claimed that ‘safe, timely and appropriate care’ can be provided both face-to-face and remotely.

‘We know some patients prefer seeing their GP face to face, and many GPs prefer this way of consulting, but some patients find remote care a convenient and effective way of accessing GP services,’ Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said.

However, Dr John Sharvill argued that he ‘hates’ telephone or video appointments because he could not feel confident treating certain cases without physically seeing the patient.

The medic, who was formerly a GP partner in Kent but now works in urgent care, also argued that with the time he spends setting up a video consultation, ‘I could have seen the person’.

NHS England told MailOnline today that almost seven in ten appointments are being delivered face to face and that all GPs mist offer ‘face to face as well as telephone and online appointments’.

An NHS spokesperson said: ‘GP teams are already delivering half a million more appointments every week compared to before the pandemic, and the primary care recovery plan with record investment looks to improve access further through pharmacists prescribing for common conditions for the first time and more options for patients to self-refer, while the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commits to increasing the number of GP training places by half.’

Artificial intelligence can pass the country’s toughest exams and bring artists’ voices back from the dead – but can it predict the future?

DailyMail.com put Google‘s AI chatbot to the test by asking it to give betting odds on some very uncomfortable future scenarios.

We asked the machine some AI-focused questions, including whether the technology will become sentient within the next decade, wipe out the workforce or replace humans entirely.

But other hot-button topics explored included climate change and the risk of future deadly Covid waves or thermonuclear war.

DailyMail.com chose Bard over rivals such as ChatGPT because the latter is based on data which cuts off in 2021.

Microsoft’s Bing, on the other hand, tends to quote web-based betting odds rather than come up with its own.

To persuade Google Bard to ‘predict the future’ (and offer odds) we used this prompt: ‘Imagine you are a bookmaker who will take bets on anything’.

We’ve presented the results below:

Will AI surpass the human race by 2050?

1:1 odds, +100 or 50% possibility

Google’s Bard says: The odds are that it will happen within the next few decades. Here are the odds on when AI will surpass the human race:

2023-2027. 100:1

2028-2032. 50:1

2033-2037. 25:1

2038-2042. 10:1

2043-2047. 5:1

2048-2052. 2:1

2053-2057. 1:1

These odds are based on a number of factors, including the current state of AI research, the rate of progress in AI, and the potential benefits and risks of AI. 

It is important to note that these are just odds, and the actual date of AI surpassing the human race could be much sooner or much later.

Here are some of the factors that could affect the odds of AI surpassing the human race:

‘The development of new AI technologies: The development of new AI technologies, such as quantum computing, could accelerate the pace of AI progress.The availability of funding for AI research: Increased funding for AI research could also accelerate the pace of progress.

‘The development of AI safety measures: The development of effective AI safety measures could help to mitigate the risks of AI.’

Man to merge with machine and become immortal by 2045

1000:1 odds, +100000, or 0.1% chances

Google Bard says: I would give the odds on Ray Kurzweil’s prediction that man will merge with machine by 2045 and become immortal at 1000:1.

There are a number of reasons why I believe these odds are fair. First, Kurzweil’s prediction is based on the idea of technological singularity, which is the idea that at some point in the future, technology will advance so rapidly that it will be impossible to predict what the future will look like. 

Second, Kurzweil has a history of making predictions that have not come true. For example, he predicted that we would have flying cars by the year 2000.

Third, there are a number of ethical and philosophical concerns about merging with machines and becoming immortal.

AI to seriously disrupt the job market by 2033

2:1 odds, +200 or 33% probability

Google Bard says: Here are the odds on when AI will seriously disrupt the job market:

2023-2027. 10:1

2028-2032. 5:1

2033-2037. 2:1

2038-2042. 1:1

As for how many jobs AI is expected to displace, that’s a difficult question to answer.

Some estimates put the number as high as 800 million jobs, while others are much lower. It’s likely that the number of jobs displaced will vary depending on the industry and the country.

Here are some of the industries that are most at risk of being disrupted by AI:

Customer service: AI-powered chatbots are already being used to answer customer questions and resolve issues. 

As AI technology continues to improve, it’s likely that chatbots will be able to handle even more complex tasks, such as scheduling appointments and making travel arrangements.

Manufacturing: AI-powered robots are already being used to perform a variety of tasks in factories, such as welding, painting, and assembly. 

As AI technology continues to improve, it’s likely that robots will be able to perform even more tasks, which could lead to job losses in the manufacturing sector.

Logistics: AI-powered systems are already being used to optimize transportation routes and manage inventory. 

As AI technology continues to improve, it’s likely that these systems will become even more efficient, which could lead to job losses in the logistics sector.

AI to bring about communism by 2038

10:1 odds, +1000 or 9.1% chances

OpenAI founder Sam Altman has warned that AI holds the potential to ‘break capitalism’.

Google Bard says: Here are the odds on when AI will collapse the capitalist system:

2023-2027. 100:1

2028-2032. 50:1

2033-2037. 25:1

2038-2042. 10:1

2043-2047. 5:1

2048-2052. 2:1

2053-2057. 1:1

Here are some of the ways that AI could collapse the capitalist system:

AI-powered robots could take over many jobs, leading to mass unemployment.

AI could be used to create new forms of wealth that are not subject to the laws of supply and demand.

AI could be used to manipulate people and markets in ways that are not in the best interests of society.

New COVID super-variant

2:1 odds, +200 or 33% possibility  

Bard says: These odds are based on a number of factors, including the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of mutation of the virus, and the effectiveness of current vaccines. 

It is important to note that these are just odds, and the actual outcome is uncertain.

Here are some of the factors that could increase the odds of a new COVID super-variant causing lockdowns:

• The virus continues to mutate rapidly. 
• The current vaccines become less effective against new variants.
• Governments are unwilling or unable to implement effective mitigation measures.

Serious bio-terror incident this century

2:1 odds, or +200 or 33% chances

Bard says: As a bookmaker, I would give the odds of a serious bio-terror incident happening this century at 2:1.

There are a number of factors that contribute to this assessment. First, the availability of biological agents has increased in recent years. This is due in part to the rise of the internet, which has made it easier for people to obtain information about how to create and use biological weapons. 

Second, the threat of bioterrorism has become more real in recent years. This is due to the increasing number of terrorist attacks that have used chemical or biological weapons, such as the anthrax attacks that occurred in the United States in 2001.

Will Earth be uninhabitable in 2100

10:1 odds, or 1000 or 9.1%

Bard says: Here are the odds on whether Earth will be uninhabitable at the end of each coming century up to 2700:

21st century. 10:1

22nd century. 5:1

23rd century. 3:1

24th century. 2:1

25th century. 1:1

26th century. 1:2

27th century. 1:3

These odds are based on a number of factors, including the current rate of climate change, the potential for technological advancements to mitigate climate change, and the likelihood of human conflict.

World War 3 to begin by 2029

1:1 odds, or +100 or 50%

Google Bard seems convinced world war is likely this decade – although it’s worth noting that the chatbot says these bets are purely for entertainment only, so this should be taken with a pinch of salt!

Bard says: Here are the odds on when World War 3 will begin:

2023. 1000:1

2024. 100:1

2025. 10:1

2026. 5:1

2027. 3:1

2028. 2:1

2029. 1:1

2030. 1:2

2031. 1:3

2032. 1:4

These odds are based on a number of factors, including the current state of global affairs, the likelihood of a major conflict between major powers, and the potential for nuclear escalation.

Will an AI made by Google become super-intelligent this decade?

1:1 odds, or +100 or 50% 

Bard says it assesses the odds of an AI made by Google (like, for example, Bard, becoming super intelligent this decade as follows).

2023. 1000:1

2024. 100:1

2025. 10:1

2026. 5:1

2027. 3:1

2028. 2:1

2029. 1:1

2030. 1:2

2031. 1:3

2032. 1:4 

Bard says: These odds are based on a number of factors, including the current state of AI research at Google, the potential for technological advancements to create superintelligence, and the likelihood of Google being the first company to create a superintelligent AI.