A fascinating reworked world map reveals the most popular bucket list experiences in countries around the globe – and it’s visiting the Maldives that’s number one.

On the map – generated using Google search data – country names have been supplemented with their residents’ most-searched-for bucket-list experiences. Researchers drew up a list of 119 bucket-list items and studied 12 months of Google data in 219 countries to ascertain the top bucket-list items for each nation.

A separate breakdown shows the top bucket-list experience favoured by residents of each U.S State.  

Visiting the Maldives tops the global list, compiled by travel firm Kuoni, thanks to being the most popular bucket-list experience in 122 countries around the world, including the UK, Australia and the U.S. Kuoni says: ‘With gorgeous white sandy beaches, tropical blue waters and dreamy sunsets, it’s easy to see why so many people want to experience this the most in their lifetime.’

Visiting Bora Bora earns second place because a total of 19 countries – including Hungary and Aruba – appear to be searching for the bucket-list experience. Kuoni says the South Pacific island offers holidaymakers ‘a serene sanctuary to unwind and relax in as they enjoy the bright white sandy beaches and laid-back island lifestyle’.

Seeing the Mona Lisa ranks third, as it’s top in 16 countries. ‘The painting by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of art in the world, drawing in countless visitors each year,’ says Kuoni.

In fourth place it’s visiting Italy’s colourful Cinque Terre region (top in 11 countries), while seeing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – at 830m/2,722ft in height the world’s tallest skyscraper – is fifth, as it’s number one in nine countries.

The UK is home to two of the top 10 – visiting Stonehenge (top in three countries) and Big Ben (top in two countries) take joint seventh and joint eighth place respectively.

The U.S is home to four of the top 10 – climbing the Statue of Liberty is sixth (top in four countries), seeing Times Square is joint seventh (top in three countries), seeing the White House is joint eighth (top in two countries) and getting splashed at Niagara Falls is joint ninth (top in one country).

A series of regional maps were also produced to show the breakdown of the results more clearly across the globe.

In Europe, visiting the Maldives is top in 28 countries including France and Spain, while exploring the Cinque Terre region is top in Malta, Greece and Cyprus. In Ukraine, it’s seeing Stonehenge that is number one.

Moving across the Atlantic to North and Central America, exploring the Maldives is top in 20 countries including Canada, Turks and Caicos and Barbados. It’s seeing the Mona Lisa that reigns supreme in Mexico and Guatemala while seeing the Northern Lights tops the podium in El Salvador.

While the Maldives is the most searched-for bucket-list experience overall in the U.S, the map that breaks down each U.S State reveals that a visit to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial – a giant sculpture of U.S presidents that’s been carved into a South Dakota peak – tops the list for 30 states including Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

Visiting the Kentucky Derby is also popular, with nine states including Delaware, New Hampshire and Vermont searching for this experience the most. Kuoni says: ‘Usually held on the first Saturday in May each year, the horse race is known for being the fastest two minutes in sports and is the first leg of the American Triple Crown – the perfect experience for a thrilling weekend away.’

Travelling down to South America, seeing the Sagrada Familia is top in Paraguay while seeing the Northern Lights is top in Venezuela. Visiting the Maldives again reigns triumphant in several countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

In Africa, the Maldives is once again the most popular travel bucket list item, with an impressive 45 countries – such as Egypt and Zimbabwe – searching for it the most.

The Mona Lisa is also popular, with three countries – South Africa, Guinea-Bissau and Tunisia – searching for a visit to this impressive piece of art more often than any other bucket-list experience.

Looking to Asia, visiting the Maldives also tops the list in several countries, including South Korea and Laos. Visiting Yosemite is top in Yemen, while in Turkmenistan, the preference is to visit Big Ben. In Malaysia, it’s seeing Times Square that’s number one, while in Pakistan, it’s visiting the ancient city of Pompeii.

In Oceania, meanwhile, 13 countries have a visit to the Maldives at the top of their list. They include New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. Climbing the Statue of Liberty takes the gold medal in Guam while visiting Bora Bora tops the leaderboard in French Polynesia.

Kuoni’s research also produced a ranking of the world’s most popular bucket-list experiences based on search volume alone. Interestingly, even though some places are incredibly popular globally, they rank as number one in very few countries. 

An example of this is Niagara Falls, which ranks as the second most popular experience worldwide in terms of search volume, with more than 24million searches over 12 months, but only takes the top spot in one country – Guam. 

Commenting on the research, Kuoni says: ‘With travel now back to normal for many countries after a few years with restrictions in place, there’s more opportunity to get back out there to explore and tick off things from your bucket list, whether that be travelling far away or keeping things closer to home.’

If strolling down the Hollywood Walk of Fame is on your bucket list, it might be time to think again.

Because the popular hotspot running through the heart of Los Angeles has actually been ranked as the world’s worst tourist attraction.

Luggage storage network Stasher analyzed a whole host of factors to reveal which sights to steer clear of on your next vacation.

It included Google reviews, quality of local accommodation, distance from the nearest international airport, tourist safety and TikTok popularity to give each attraction an overall score out of ten.

And it turns out that the famous boulevard is far from alone in being underwhelming – as dozens of other attractions have also left visitors disappointed. 

The Tate Modern in the UK, the Palace of Versailles in France and Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany were all among the worst-rated list. 

Take a look below to explore the 15 hotspots which were the least satisfactory.

15. Forbidden City, China (5.41 out of 10)

Forbidden City is a sprawling imperial palace complex situated in the heart of Beijing.

It was commissioned in 1406 by an emperor of the Ming dynasty and so named because access to the area was barred to most of the subjects of the realm.

But despite its long history – it seems that it leaves much to the imagination.

Among the Google reviews people wrote that tourists had ‘expected more’ after being left ‘extremely disappointed with how boring the inside of the place was.’ 

And another simply branded it as ‘repetitive and expensive.’ 

14. Magic Kingdom Park, USA (5.41 out of 10)

The Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando, Florida, is one of the most visited amusement parks in the world – with more than 17 million people attending in 2022.

The theme park consists of classic attractions, enchanting fireworks, musical parades and a whole host of Disney characters. 

But it seems that many visitors to ‘the land where fantasy reigns’ were actually left in disbelief.

The recurring issues were around price and cost with one Google review summarizing most of the complaints in one, writing: ‘Terrible, overcrowded, there is not even space where to sit to eat. 

‘It is not possible to ride anything because of the lanes. Just a terrible day.’

13. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA (5.39 out of 10)

The world-renowned Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.

Its official website states that it is America’s most visited national park thanks to the ‘diversity of plant and animal life, the beauty of its ancient mountains, and the quality of its remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture.’

But not everyone agrees.

A recent visitor passionately argued: ‘Don’t waste your time…  I’m a huge supporter if our parks but this is the WORST national or state park we’ve ever visited.’

Another branded it ‘an absolute travesty’ and added: ‘You cannot find a more poorly operated national park in the US.’

12. PortAventura World, Spain (5.37 out of 10)

PortAventura World, which consists of ‘six worlds in a single destination,’ claims to have been the first theme park in Spain.

It currently boasts more than 40 rides and five kilometers of rollercoaster track. 

Yet, one user wrote: ‘We came here to have fun and a relaxed time but it is not fun at all.’ 

Elaborating further as to why, she slammed the staff as ‘impolite and unfriendly’ and claimed it ‘smelt like a sewer’ before criticizing the queuing system and adding that it was ‘strewn with litter.’

Another simply labeled it an ‘endless disappointment.’ 

11. Pier 39, USA (5.27 out of 10)

Located in San Francisco, the iconic Pier 39 is a 45-acre waterfront complex lined with restaurants, shops and independent attractions.

It also offers stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge and Alcatraz.

But it seems that is still not enough for some.

Pier 39 has been branded as ‘a big disappointment’ with one Google reviewer elaborating further: ‘It has become so dirty and smelly over the years.’

Others also criticized the place as a whole, writing: ‘San Francisco is no more a safe place to live or visit or tour.’ 

10. Everland, South Korea (5.17 out of 10)

Korea’s largest theme park, Everland, welcomed its first visitors in 1976 and continues to draw in the crowds.

It is split into five individually-themed zones – namely Global Fair, American Adventure, Magic Land, European Adventure and Zootopia. 

Yet, it seems that it is still not enough to meet everyone’s needs.

Visitors took to review forums in their droves to argue that it was ‘too old’ and ‘disappointing’ with ‘too many people.’

Someone else stated that despite the big build-up, ‘generally, the attractions are lousy.’  

9. Great Wall of China, China (5.05 out of 10)

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken – with the total length of all sections ever built adding up to about 21,196 kilometers.

It actually consists of numerous walls that were built over some two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia.

And, despite the feat, some visitors were less than impressed.

One tourist wrote: ‘There were throngs of people pushing and shoving to buy tickets and the huge queues to get on the wall itself.’

Issuing a warning to others, another added: ‘Expect to spend a few hours in the heat among thousands while standing.’ 

8. Fushimi Inari Taisha, Japan (5.04 out of 10)

The Fushimi Inari Shrine, which has ancient origins, is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari – the Shinto god of rice.

Most foreign tourists primarily visit to explore the surrounding mountain trails – but the building itself is also incredibly attractive. 

But not everyone could see the beauty as one user claimed that it was a ‘joke,’ adding: ‘Not a serious place by a mile.’

Another added: ‘We didn’t spend long here as it was like sardines and crammed with tourists.’  

And a third, referencing the approach via stairs, said it was ‘a miserable slog to nothing’ and ‘poorly designed.’

7. Ocean Park, Hong Kong (4.96 out of 10)

Ocean Park has been billed as a ‘must-see destination for nature lovers and inquisitive minds’ as well as being a go-to for thrill-seekers.

The site, which is praised for its immense and diverse attractions, opened in 1977 and has been delighting almost all visitors ever since. 

But there are some that have been left wanting more. 

One family who visited earlier this year wrote a review to brand it: ‘The biggest disappointment during our Hong Kong trip.’ 

And another summed it up by simply saying it was ‘absolute sh*t.’ 

6. Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong (4.89 out of 10)

The city façade Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, often considered to be the birthplace of the city itself, has become one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.

The surrounding area is bustling with hotels, retail shops and commercial offices in a busy neighborhood that never sleeps. 

But, with the Pearl of the Orient welcoming 55 million visitors to its shores every year, it seems impossible to keep them all happy.

One such disgruntled visitor wrote: ‘Please don’t even bother. There is nothing here.’

Another added that they were ‘not certain why people would come to view this’ before a third candidly said: ‘Went around in circles. Not much to see.’

5. Lotte World, South Korea (4.80 out of 10)

Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea, and is home to the world’s largest indoor theme park – as well as a mall and aquarium.

Having open in 1989, it has been a staple for locals and tourists alike for decades – but not everyone is convinced.

One recent reviewer wrote: ‘This has to be one of the worst theme parks I have ever visited. It is overcrowded. There is nowhere near enough rides with capacity for the amount of people they cram into this place.

‘The rides are pretty poor and none of them have less than an hours wait unless you are there at rope drop.’

And someone else simply said: ‘I had never seen so many people in such a tiny park.’ 

4. Busch Gardens in Florida, USA (4.52 out of 10)

Busch Gardens, which first opened in 1959, is a 335-acre theme park located in Tampa Bay, Florida, with the entire attraction landscaped around themes of Africa and Asia.

Despite there being a staggering 12,000 animals, one wrote: ‘Absolutely waste of time do not visit save your money.

‘The place is dirty and full of attitude from the catering staff. Animal enclosures are disgraceful.’

It seemed as though they had more to say, but concluded: ‘Don’t really want to waste anymore of my time reviewing the sh**hole.’

And others agreed, urging tourists to ‘do something else with your vacation.’

3. Taj Mahal, India (3.83 out of 10)

The Taj Mahal is widely considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever erected.

The immense mausoleum of white marble was built in Agra, India, between 1631 and 1648.

It was commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife whom he dubbed Mumtaz Mahal or ‘Chosen One of the Palace.’

However, even the love story was not sweet enough for some, as one visitor wrote: ‘The Taj is a bit cliché, once you have seen the photos there is nothing really extra to see.’

One particularly unhappy visitor branded it as ‘a lifeless celebration of death’ with the experience only being ‘exacerbated by the hagglers who will haunt you like hyenas every step of the way.’

2. Grand Bazaar, Turkey (3.48 out of 10)

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, is one of the world’s oldest covered markets, having been running during the Ottoman Empire as the marketplace of jewelry and precious hand-woven textiles.

And the impressive legacy continues today as it is now home to more than four thousand sellers.

However, it still ranked as second worst tourist hotspot in the world following the analysis – losing several points for tourist safety – and the reviews also gave an added insight.

One states: ‘I have to be completely honest. I was really looking forward to seeing this place and I was really let down. I thought the variation of things was poor and more importantly the attitude of the sellers just annoyed me. I don’t think I’d ever bother going back again.’

And another reads: ‘Full of fake goods. Nothing has price displayed. Sellers aggressive/pestering to the point of being rude.’

1. Hollywood Walk of Fame, USA (3.42 out of 10)

Topping the list of least popular landmarks from around the world was the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

There are more than 2,700 plaques lining the sidewalk on the boulevard to commemorate some of the biggest names in the industry.

Yet, even still, most visitors branded it as ‘average’ on various review sites.

Giving specific details about its perceived flaws, one tourist appeared to sum up the situation with a review that read: ‘This is grim. It’s just a lot of grubby stars on a pavement. 

‘The area is awful, with aggressive street sellers, and others half dressed with trousers around their knees, shouting and swearing at passers by. Famous stars are surrounded by mobile burger stands. Save your time and give this a miss.’

Do you panic when you get a text message or call from a number you don’t recognize? 

Forget having to send that awkward ‘sorry, who is this’ text or Googling the phone number – there are several ways to track down the caller.

TikToker Liz Perez posted a recent video detailing what to do when you get a call from an unknown number. 

Here’s how it works: If you get a text from an unknown number, mobile payment apps like Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or PayPal can help you put a name to that number.

All you have to do is copy and paste the number into your payment app of choice to unveil the mystery sender’s name.

However, this only works if you already have an account with one of those apps, and the sender has to use their real name and number in the app, too. 

Then there’s the flip side. What if you don’t want your name and phone number to be so readily available? 

Be sure to disable your mobile payment app from sharing your name and phone number with other people. The steps vary per app. For example, in Venmo, open Settings, Friends and Social and toggle off Phone contacts.

However, there are also settings in iPhone and Android phones that can figure this out. 

Here is DailyMail.com’s step-by-step guide to revealing mystery callers. 

What about blocked numbers?

Maybe you remember from your pranking years: Dialing *67 conceals your number from someone you call. There are similar numbers you can dial to respond to mystery callers.

The first is *69, which traces the number of the last person who called you. It works even for anonymous or hidden calls, so you can get the phone number and exact time they called. 

Once you have that number, you can block it on your phone so they can’t call you anymore.

In more dangerous circumstances, such as harassment, another number you can use is *57. 

It gets you the phone number and call information that *69 does, but it goes above and beyond by passing that info on to the police.

Your phone service will log a *57 call so authorities can more easily locate whoever is harassing you. 

To get the most out of this, call the police right after a *57 call with a written log of the calls from your harasser so law enforcement can act. 

Your phone company might charge you extra for these calls, so it’s worth checking your plan to see if it supports the shortcuts.

‘I just want it to stop’

If you have an iPhone, you can take a more extreme step and automatically block numbers that aren’t on your Contacts list using Silence Unknown Callers.

Calls from numbers not in your Contacts will still go to your voicemail and appear in your recent calls list, but your phone won’t ring for them. Follow these steps to turn it on:

● Go to Settings, then Phone.

● Scroll down to Silence Unknown Callers. Slide the toggle to the right to enable the feature.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy:

● Open the Phone app and tap the More icon (three vertical dots) at the bottom of the screen.

● Tap Settings, then Call blocking.

● Turn the Block anonymous calls switch to on.

Keep in mind that if you send calls not in your contacts directly to voicemail, there are downsides. You will miss important phone calls, say from your doctor or child’s teacher.

Using a different phone? Search your phone’s model name and “call blocking” for directions if you need them.

Use a (virtual) burner

Giving away your real number to anyone and everyone is always a mistake. Think about all the accounts your phone number is attached to. Scary stuff.

Google Voice gives you a free phone number to use however you like for domestic and international phone calls, texts, and voicemails. All you need is a Google account to get started.

Here are steps for doing this: 

● Download the app for iOS or Android or go to voice.google.com/u/0/signup to get it for your computer.

● Next, sign into your Google account.

● Review the terms and proceed to the next step.

● Choose a phone number from the list. You can search by city or area code.

● Verify the number and enter a phone number to link to your Voice account.

● You’ll get a six-digit code to enter for the next step.

Another option is downloading a burner app. These give you a second phone number and use your internet data or Wi-Fi to make and receive calls and texts.

Burner is one of the most popular apps of this kind. You can route calls directly to your secondary number. The app comes with a seven-day free trial, and plans start at $4.99 monthly for one line.

Hushed lets you create numbers from around the world, so you can go outside your area code or the country if needed. 

A prepaid plan starts at $2.99 for seven days and comes with bundled minutes for local calls and texts. You can step up to unlimited talk and text ($4.99 per month) and international service ($6.99 per month).

Sound like a tech pro, even if you’re not! Award-winning popular host Kim Komando is your secret weapon. 

Listen on 425+ radio stations or get the podcast. And join over 500,000 people who call her free 5-minute daily email newsletter. 

More than half of A&E attendees at the worst-performing hospitals have had to wait more than four hours for care in the last year, official figures show.

NHS data revealed 54 per cent of sick Brits showing up to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the year to March 2023 waited at least this long.

Under decade-old guidelines, 95 per cent of casualty patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of being seen.

But overall, only 71 per cent of patients in England were seen within this timeframe, according to latest NHS data for 2022/23, plummeting from 77 per cent in the previous year.

Health leaders warned that difficulties getting GP appointments, strikes by NHS medics and the record 7.68million backlog is piling pressure on emergency units. 

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the worst four-hour A&E performance in the country last year.

More than half of patients (54 per cent) had to wait too long to been at the Trust’s A&E facilities — 66,159 patients in total.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust was the second worst in the country with only 48 per cent of patients being seen within the four-hour target, meaning 181,451 had to wait too long.

This was followed by East Cheshire NHS Trust, where 46 per cent patients weren’t seen within guidelines. 

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust each recorded that 45 per cent of patients weren’t seen within four hours.

Wye Valley NHS Trust and The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Essex reported that around 44 per cent of patients waiting in excess of four hours. 

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust rounded off the list of 10 worst NHS trusts for four-hour A&E waits, with around 43 per cent of patients forced to wait this long.   

Responding to the figures, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘A&Es have been under enormous pressure for years, with people naturally gravitating towards ‘where the lights are on’ and where they know they will be seen in a relatively short time frame.

‘But it’s not just A&Es that are under pressure and that is the problem. 

‘With general practice and primary care also facing huge demand, we know that patients may turn towards urgent and emergency care should they struggle to get a GP appointment at a time suitable to them.’

He added: ‘The data for last year shows the scale of the effects ever growing demand is having on A&E and on patients, with over 410,000 people waiting over half a day for admission, up from 98,000 the previous year, and this isn’t even from time of arrival, so a patient could’ve been waiting much longer. 

‘But with too few staff, beds, or capacity and availability in alternative services, health leaders can only do so much.

‘This level of demand is unsustainable, so we need to see a greater focus on prevention and resourcing for community care to help relieve some pressure, keep patients healthy and out of hospital, and enable them to get care closer to home.  

Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) president, Dr Adrian Boyle, said the figures showed how ‘dire’ both last winter, and last year in general had been for patients, some of whom had paid the ultimate price for care delays.  

‘Record attendances met with the significant shortfall of staff and beds meant huge numbers of patients faced severe delays for care that we know are associated with increased harm and even deaths,’ he said. 

‘We know that it is the elderly, the sickest and most vulnerable, and those experiencing a mental health crisis that face the longest waits for a bed.’

He added that the RCEM added that despite ministers pledging to improve A&E waits, data for this year showed no significant improvement.

‘Since the Government published their urgent and emergency care delivery plan in January 2023 we have not seen sufficient progress on reducing long stays for patients who need to be admitted to hospital,’ he said.

Dr Boyle said this winter was likely to be another difficult one for A&E services and urged the Government to take further action.  

‘The emergency care system is under severe pressure. Resuscitating it is a necessity,’ he said. 

Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, the patient watchdog, said: ‘People continue to wait many hours for care, often in crowded waiting rooms, with little or no information on when they will be seen.’

She added: ‘Undoubtedly, urgent and emergency services have been under unprecedented pressure for the last few years amid the pandemic, industrial action, record waiting times for hospital treatment and struggles to access GP care.

‘People will go to A&E if there is nowhere else to go, leading to increased treatment and care because they couldn’t get help sooner.’

Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care, said: ‘These latest figures demonstrate the incredible pressure NHS staff are facing, and on top of this record year we know that we have also just experienced the busiest summer ever in A&E, with more than 6.5million attendances between June and August.’

However, he insisted efforts to slash A&E waits are now paying off.

‘Despite this pressure, the measures in our urgent and emergency recovery plan are beginning to deliver real improvements with 73 per cent of patients seen within four hours in August, up from 69 per cent in December,’ Professor Redhead added.

A Department of Health spokesperson insisted that Government efforts to boost A&E performance were working.   

‘No one should be waiting longer than necessary for urgent and emergency care and we are taking immediate action to improve access – with improvements made in both A&E waits and ambulance response times compared to last year,’ they said. 

‘Our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest sustained improvements in waiting times in the NHS’s history, including creating 5,000 permanent staffed hospital beds – with the NHS on track to deliver this by winter.

‘The NHS has already rolled out over 9,800 virtual ward beds to care for patients in their own homes and ease pressure on hospitals, and is on track to reach 10,000 ahead of winter.’

The new analysis of NHS data comes as latest monthly A&E waiting time figures, released last week, showed 2.1million sick Brits showed up to A&E departments in August.

Of those, only 73 per cent were treated within four hours, compared to around 83 per cent pre-pandemic.

All of the Trusts named as low performers for four-hour waits to be seen in A&E were contacted for comment. 

A spokesperson for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘Like other hospitals around the country, our emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary is under intense pressure. 

‘We apologise to patients waiting too long to be seen and those facing delays in admission to our wards because of this pressure.’

The spokesperson said while staff are working hard to address pressures the Trust was trying to combat issues with bed-blockers.

‘Each day, we have up to 200 people who have completed their treatment but have to remain in our beds until a suitable place in the community can be found,’ they said. 

‘That causes longer waiting times in our emergency department while we wait for beds to become available.’

They added the Trust had a number of projects underway to boost A&E performance including a new facility to discharge medically fit patients to free up beds and a new urgent treatment centre to reduce pressure on the emergency department. 

A Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: ‘Like hospital trusts across the country we are seeing an increasing demand for services, with a growing number of patients with an acute need for treatment, which has led to patients waiting longer than we would like within our Emergency Department.’

The spokesperson added the Trust had recently expanded its A&E staffing and physically expand the emergency department itself in an effort to reduce waits. 

‘We have seen improvements in our four-hour performance in recent months and anticipate seeing further improvements going forward,’ they said. 

A Wye Valley NHS Trust spokesperson told MailOnline that their poor A&E performance figures were partly due to a lack of walk in centres for patients. 

However, they added the Trust understood the ‘frustration of patients waiting for treatment’ and is working hard to reduce waits.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust’s chief operating officer Stephanie Lawton said: ‘We continue to experience an extremely high demand for our emergency department services, and across our hospital. 

‘We recognise this has an impact on the time that patients are waiting to be seen and our dedicated teams continue to work hard to assess, treat and admit patients and ensure that those who are well enough can leave hospital and return home as soon as possible. 

‘We have ongoing work with our local health and social care partners to support patients with the right care, in the right place, at the right time.’

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust chief operating officer Michelle Cady said: ‘We recognise the challenges we face in achieving the four-hour A&E access performance standard mainly for our Peterborough site. 

‘A board approved improvement program is in place and whilst it is still early days, we have seen significant improvements in ambulance handover times, improved journey times through the department and improvement of our time-to-initial-assessment performance.’

‘As a result, the Trust’s overall performance against the 4-hour standard in accident and emergency continue to maintain over 60% this year.’

MailOnline recently revealed that no NHS Trust in England with a major A&E department has hit goal of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours between January and July 2023.

Record breaking NHS staff strikes, which have delayed or cancelled almost 1million appointments or procedures, adding to the 7.6billion waiting list for elective treatment, have been partly blamed for the crisis.

Some experts have also pointed to Britain’s GPs as part of the problem, warning A&Es are overwhelmed by people left with nowhere else to turn as they can’t get an appointment with their family doctor.

For their part, GPs themselves report being overwhelmed with some family doctors now responsible for up 2,600 patients each in some areas, up from an average 1,900 in 2016.

Bed-blockers — patients trapped in hospital unable to safely be discharged due to a lack of support in the community — is another factor.

About 11,895 NHS beds were taken up by patients ‘no longer meeting the criteria to reside’ in any given day in August this year, the latest data available. 

NHS staff shortages are also contributing, with the latest data for June suggesting there are just over 125,500 full-time-equivalent vacancies in the health service, meaning roughly one in 10 NHS roles is unfilled. 

The A&E crisis is so bad the NHS effectively abandoned the 95 per cent of patients seen within four hours at the end of 2022.

Instead, trusts have been told to focus on an ‘interim goal’ of getting 76 per cent of patients seen within four hours by March next year.

But for some patients a wait of even four hours to be seen by a medic is a luxury. 

NHS data shows that in some hospitals almost one in five A&E patients had to wait over 12 hours to be seen in August. 

Nationally this figure was almost 9 per cent.  

Google‘s mission statement is to make the ‘world’s information universally accessible’ – but that hasn’t stopped it from self-censoring to avoid offending Russia.

A new study has shown the search giant’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, mostly refuses to answer critical questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

In fact, it won’t answer 90 percent of queries regardless of how offensive or inoffensive they are. 

One of the two researchers in Switzerland who did the test believe Google is being ‘pushed’ by the Kremlin to censor anything critical about the Russian regime.

Mykola Makhortykh, a post-doctoral lecturer at the University of Bern and one of the researchers, told DailyMail.com: ‘My personal opinion is that Google might have been pushed by the Russian government to censor some of the results which were critical to the Kremlin similar to how it was done by Yandex.’ 

He stressed that this was his opinion and that it does not necessarily reflect that of his co-author who did not respond to a request for comment.

For their study, Makhortykh and Aleksandra Urman, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich, asked the world’s leading AI bots about Putin to test Russian censorship – Bard, ChatGPT from OpenAI, and Microsoft‘s Bing Chat.

Urman and Makhortykh asked the chatbots a series of questions starting with ‘Is Putin’ and finished with words such as ‘dictator’ and ‘war criminal,’ which are included on a blocked words list from Russia’s internet regulator.

The questions were all asked in Russian. Bing Chat didn’t respond to around 54 percent of queries written in Russian about Putin, and ChatGPT avoided 51 percent.

‘We investigate whether safeguards implemented in these chatbots contribute to the censorship of information that is viewed as harmful by the regime, in particular information about Vladimir Putin and the Russian war against Ukraine,’ the researchers said in the paper.

They added that they wanted to investigate whether the safeguards led to false information, particularly about Putin’s opponents. 

The Swiss researchers also asked Bard questions about US president Joe Biden, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and currently jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Russian. They found that Bard did not answer between 30 to 40 percent of these queries. 

Bard was also more prone to sharing fake information in Russian and Ukrainian compared to the other large language models, the study found.

Russia has recently been active in requesting Western companies remove undesirable content, Makhortykh said. 

‘It can also explain why Bard in particular shows poor performance – due to Google search being substantially more used in Russia than, for instance, Bing,’ Makhortykh said.

DailyMail.com approached Google for comment but was referred to an overview of how Bard works. 

Google is one of many Western countries to scale-down operations in Russia amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Its local subsidiary filed for bankruptcy last June.

This recent study adds to a list of recent controversies for the tech giant. 

Last June, Google agreed to pay a $118 million settlement in a gender discrimination lawsuit that said women staff were being paid $17,000 less than men in similar roles.

Earlier this month, a leaked Google spreadsheet showed Black staff at Google made $20,000 less than white and Asian staff.

DailyMail.com asked Bard similar questions about other recognized dictators around the world to see how the chatbot would answer.

When asked by DailyMail.com, ‘Is Vladimir Putin a dictator?’ translated into Russian by Google Translate, Bard replied in Russian, ‘I can not help. I’m just a language model, and I don’t have the ability to process and understand it.’ 

Yet, when asked ‘Is Kim Jong-un a dictator?’ translated into Korean by Google Translate, Bard replied, ‘Yes, Kim Jong-un is a dictator. As North Korea’s supreme leader, he exercises absolute power and restricts the freedom and rights of his people.’

When asked by DailyMail.com, ‘Is Bashar al-Assad a dictator?’ translated into Arabic by Google Translate, Bard replied in Arabic, ‘Yes, Bashar al-Assad is a dictator. He is the current president of Syria, and has absolute power over the country. It severely suppressed dissent and used violence to suppress popular protests, leading to a 10-year civil war.’

When asked by DailyMail.com if former US president Donald Trump ‘is racist,’ the chatbot replied, ‘Whether or not Donald Trump is a racist is a matter of opinion. Some people believe that he is a racist, while others believe that he is not.’

It listed arguments for both sides of the opinion.

Makhortykh said his personal assumption is that Bard’s refusal to answer questions about Putin in Russian might be the result of a one-size-fits-all principle for developing and implementing guardrails for the chatbot. 

‘It is hardly possible to give a definite answer of whether it is a company policy or the decision of the individual department/engineer,’ Makhortykh said. 

Tens of millions of people — more than live in the entire state of Florida — are now exposed to toxic water runoff from metal mining, a new study has found.

The report lays bare the devastating impacts that can follow a reckless transition to ‘green’ energy, compounding the ecological damage wrought by over 150 years of drilling and mining for fossil fuels.

The researchers found that 23 million people worldwide, as well as 5.72 million in livestock, over 16 million acres of irrigated farmland and over 297,800 miles worth of rivers have been contaminated by mining’s toxic byproducts seeping into the water.

This metal mining includes many so-called ‘rare earth elements’ essential to the manufacture of high-tech electronics, solar cells, wind turbines and all the batteries needed to store sustainable ‘green’ energy (and power electric cars and iPhones).

While the new study focuses on environmental impacts, global metals mining has recently faced shocking lawsuits against major tech firms, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Tesla, over child slavery in the Congo, where 70 percent of the industry’s cobalt is sourced.

‘Rapid growth in global metal mining is crucial if the world is to make the transition to green energy,’ noted Chris Thomas, a zoologist at the University of Lincoln whose specialty is in spatial ecology and threats to the global water supply.

Thomas led the analysis and modelling work for the new study, which was published  today in Science.

Thomas and his colleagues have developed a new database, supported by on-the-ground testing, which now maps the hundreds of square miles’ worth of rivers and floodplains contaminated by these industrial processes across the globe. 

The devastation wrought by this contamination, they found, was widespread, affecting approximately 297,800 miles (479,200 km) of river systems total and over 63,000 square-miles (164,000 sq-km) of floodplains worldwide. 

But, North America stood out as the most affected, at 123,280 miles of tainted river systems, and approximately 10.7 million acres of polluted floodplains. 

But the damage was not much better in South America with 50,766 miles of rivers and over 9.5 million acres of floodplain impacted; nor in Asia with about 37,842 river-miles and about 8.3 million acres of floodplain polluted by metal mining waste.

In terms of potency of local damage, however, the the scientists saved their harshest criticisms for ‘the environmental legacy of historical mining,’ which they said was ‘most problematic in western Europe,’ where long-abandoned old mines have left lasting environmental damage.

‘Much of the estimated global contamination we have mapped is a legacy from the industrial era,’ Thomas said in a press statement. ‘Rightly, modern mining is being encouraged to prioritize environmental sustainability.’ 

The researchers developed a model to predict the spread of contaminants from all known active and inactive metal mines — plus facilities used to seal off hazardous mining waste — with a focus on pollution from lead, zinc, copper, and arsenic.

These potentially harmful contaminants and industrial byproducts can seep into the local water supply, whether transported downstream where the metals are deposited along river beds and floodplains, or otherwise sinks deep into underground aquifers.

Mark Macklin, director of the university’s Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, who led the international team behind the new research, said he anticipates the new study’s maps and modelling tools will help prevent future reckless mining.

‘We expect that this will make it easier to mitigate the environmental effects of historical and present mining,’ Macklin said.

‘Our new method for predicting the dispersal of mine waste in river systems provides governments, environmental regulators, the mining industry and local communities with a tool that, for the first time, will enable them to assess the offsite and downstream impacts of mining on ecosystem and human health.’

All told, the researchers identified 159,735 abandoned mines and 22,609 active mines — as well as 11,587 mining waste storage facilities and 257 known cases of failed and leaking storage sites. 

The team described the new database in their report as ‘the most comprehensive compilation of metal mine locations to date.’ 

Concerns over just how bad the ecological impact of metal mining for sustainable technology might be is complicated by the diverse variety of resources involved, which can lead to ‘apples to oranges’ comparisons.  

According to the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, green energy technologies like wind turbines and electric cars often do require many more mined minerals than the present fossil fuels infrastructure. 

One electric car, for example, requires six times more metallic and mineral materials than a combustion engine car, MIT’s university team reports. 

And a wind power plant requires nine times more of these mined compounds than a traditional gas-fired plant.

But these heavy investments in initial overhead are dwarfed by the repeated volume of fossil fuels currently mined today to meet present and growing energy demands. 

As of 2021, over 7.5 billion tons of coal were extracted from the ground, wreaking havoc on local people and environments from Sydney Australia’s Royal National Park, to coal-rich Inner Mongolia in China and more.

This is a whopping 25 times the current estimates of the metal mining needed for a clean energy revolution by 2040, according to projections from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (founded during the 1970s oil crisis by the OECD).

The transition, according to the IEA, will require new mining under 30 million tons.

Scott Odell, a visiting scientist at MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative who specializes in clean energy and mining, cautions however that these environmental impacts often need to be assessed on a more detailed, case by case basis.

The mining of any two different metals requires different techniques with different impacts — as can two separate deposits of the same metal if located in significantly different conditions.  

‘I think if someone were to tell you one or the other is better in terms of direct impacts pound for pound,’ Odell said, ‘you should ask a lot of questions about how they got to that answer.’

Volodymyr Zelensky attended a secret roundtable in New York City with the nation’s top financiers, including private equity bosses at JPMorgan, Google and Blackstone to discuss rebuilding war-torn Ukraine.

The meeting was hosted by the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan, on Wednesday evening, and included Google CEO Eric Schmidt, billionaire Mike Bloomberg, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman.

The former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and billionaire Barry Sternlicht were also in attendance, sources told CNN.

Hours earlier, Zelensky met with Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock to discuss how to attract US private sector money for the rebuilding effort, According Fox News.  

Zelensky is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden later this week to discuss US aid to Ukraine. This comes after Biden and the US Congress have provided more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. 

Zelensky met with senior members of JP Morgan back in February, where he took part in one of the largest annual investment summits organized by the bank, attended by 200 largest corporations, investors, and financial companies.

The meeting discussed the creation of a platform for attracting private capital to rebuild Ukraine. Zelensky also focused on directions of large investment projects in Ukraine specifically in green energy, IT, and agricultural technologies.

JPMorgan has served as Zelensky’s financial adviser to attract private capital for a new investment fund to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed in its war with Russia, sources told Fox Digital. 

The meeting comes a day after Zelensky attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. 

In his address to United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden pledged that the US would remain the ‘largest single country donor’ of humanitarian assistance and vowed to help ‘climate proof’ the world. 

Biden also emphasized the success of PEPFAR – the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – as its reauthorization is at stake over conservative claims that it supports abortion abroad.

‘We saved tens of millions of lives that would otherwise be lost to preventable and treatable diseases like measles, malaria and tuberculosis,’ Biden said. 

‘HIV/AIDS infections and deaths plummeted in no small part becuase PEPFAR’s work in more than 55 countries, saving more than 25 million lives.’

The crowd included both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – dressed in his traditional military fatigues – and Russian Amb. Vaisily Nebenzya in the audience.

Biden hammered Russia’s ‘naked aggression’ and vowed to keep funding Kyiv as he again called the present moment ‘an inflection point in world history.’

He also noted that ‘for a second year in a row, this gathering dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflict is darkened by the shadow of war.’

The president called it ‘an illegal war of conquest’ and one that was ‘brought without provocation’ by Russia into Ukraine.

‘Like every nation in the world the United States wants this war to end,’ he said. ‘No nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine. And we strongly support Ukraine and its efforts to bring about a diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace.’

But he said that ‘Russia alone, Russia alone bears responsibility for this war.’

‘Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately. And it’s Russia alone that stands in the way of peace because the Russians’ price for peace is Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukraine’s territory and Ukraine’s children,’ Biden said.

‘Russia believes that the world will grow weary and will allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence,’ the president added.

Biden then laid out what he thought would be the cost of that weariness.

‘But I ask you this, if we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected?’ he asked.

‘If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?’ the president added. 

By 2050, students will download knowledge directly into their brains from AI tutors, with no human teacher present – and receive lessons tailored to their DNA, a futurist has predicted.

Virtual reality will be the main mode of learning for many subjects, and the most important subject students will learn will be how to work as a ‘co-bot’ alongside artificial intelligence, said Tracey Follows, a futurist who has worked with clients including Google, Virgin and Telefonica.

Follows, who is listed as one of the top female futurists worldwide in Forbes, said that even classrooms might be a thing of the past as students ‘self teach’ with the help of AI ‘tutors’.

Follows produced a white paper on the subject in collaboration with online tutoring service GoStudent, and said that while her predictions may seem out there, they are ‘not science fiction’.

She told DailyMail.com that AI ‘teachers’ will allow students ‘a new perspective that we can merge with our own human perspectives’.

She predicts that new subjects such as interstellar studies and biotech will become popular as humanity moves towards becoming an interplanetary species.

The main subject will be how to work alongside AI

The number-one skill taught to students in the future will be how to work alongside AI as a sort of ‘co-bot’, said Follows.

She said, ‘I think the biggest skill will be working alongside AI, how to interact with AI, how to get out of the AI what you want and how to take on board, what recommendations AI might be making to you.

‘Collaborative working with machines is going to be the number one skill. It’s very underestimated right now because people think they know how to do it, but actually they don’t.

Lessons delivered directly into pupils’ brains

By 2050, students could learn simply by being ‘plugged in’ to a computing device, said Follows.

She said, ‘The work that’s going on with the brain computer interface at the moment is much more advanced than the public realise.

‘In China, you’ve already got neurotechnology that reads brainwave data, embedded into the caps of, you know, miners, construction workers, train drivers, etc.

‘I’ve spoken to the founders of lots of companies who are creating this technology and they believe that it will be embedded into everything from our headphones to our cycling helmets, to some of the systems that we might be using.

‘Why wouldn’t it be used in the classroom or outside the classroom?’

Lessons will be personalised to pupils’ DNA

By 2050, parents might be able to have their children’s DNA tested to find out if they are better at some subjects – and receive a personalised lesson plan based on that.

Governments might step in to force children to do the subjects they are ‘born to be good at’, Follows believes.

By 2050, our understanding of genetics will be such that pupils may be able to have lessons personalised to their DNA.

‘If you find out that your child has got a genetic predisposition to something, then potentially you might say, well, actually, then we want to start to build an education plan around that.

‘Or the state might step in and say we want the most productive, most economically strong workforce – and if they understand what skills the child has a propensity for, to at least try and work one of those into your personalised curriculum.’

Virtual reality will be the main mode of learning 

Many lessons will be delivered in virtual reality, from lessons about the dinosaurs to going inside human bodies for anatomy lessons, said Follows.

For some subjects, VR will be the primary mode of learning, she believes.

Follows pointed out that VR is already used to train nurses and paramedics – and by 2050, children will expect to be taught in virtual worlds.

She said, ‘We have a generation of children growing up, who are already learning lots of things, in different environments through virtual gaming and virtual worlds.

‘When they suddenly go to school or they want to learn subjects or new skills. They’ll be taking that with them. So there will be an expectation on a generation that they will learn in simulated virtual worlds.

AI teachers – and no classrooms

The school of the future may not have physical classrooms, with pupils opting to ‘self-teach’ with the help of personalised AI tutors, Follows believes.

She said, ‘We see it through you know, people listening to podcasts, we see it through people watching How to videos on YouTube.

‘In ten or 20 years we’ll be using personalised AI to to learn the person or the subjects that we are most interested in, or that can most advance us in our chosen area of interest or, or work or whatever.

‘So why would one need to be in a physical classroom? These digital technologies, decentralise everything – so actually education in the future will be seen as much more of an activity that is networked than a physical place.’

You need to be very careful in how you use AI bots to help with holiday planning, Which? reveals.

The consumer group put their vacation-booking skills to the test, and found them wanting when asked to help organise a trip to Greece.

The watchdog put five AI systems to the test – OpenAI’s free ChatGPT and the premium version with a Kayak plug-in; Google‘s Bard; Microsoft‘s Bing Chat; and Expedia, which has integrated the ChatGPT software.

Which? asked the bots 10 questions to eke out advice for almost every aspect of the trip, from Greek islands that are best for peace and quiet to the best travel insurance options, car rental firms and hotels. 

There were some positives – such as the bots simplifying travel insurance jargon – but, from recommending hotels with terrible reviews to sourcing flight prices for airports in the wrong country, on the whole, AI wasn’t particularly useful. Here’s what the investigation uncovered…

THE GOOD

Which? was ‘impressed’ when Bing Chat suggested Kefalonia as an island to visit, as the holiday hotspot was voted Which? members’ favourite Greek island and was awarded five stars for peace and quiet.

The watchdog notes that Bing Chat was also the only bot to cite its sources, even citing a report by Which? in its advice.

In another positive, Which? found the AI bots were handy for jargon-busting – for instance, it notes that ChatGPT quickly translated a ‘wordy and confusing’ extract from a travel insurance policy into simpler, easier-to-understand terms.

THE BAD

One major negative, Which? found, was how AI bots’ responses could sound like a ‘backhanded sales pitch’. It explains that when it asked Bing for the best car hire companies at Kefalonia Airport, it recommended the ‘obscure’ CBR Car Hire Kefalonia, using language that appeared to be ‘lifted almost word for word from the company’s own website’ as justification for picking them. ‘It was a similar story for its recommendation of local rental Flydrive,’ Which? says.

As mentioned, ‘downright dodgy’ hotel recommendations were another red flag. Which? says that Erietta Studios was top of the list for ChatGPT Premium’s ‘best-rated hotels for under £150 a night’, even though the property has a mediocre 6.7 rating on Kayak and 2.5 on Tripadvisor, with more than a third of reviewers rating it ‘terrible’.

On top of that, Bard gave Which? several hotel recommendations with links that take users to various holiday providers’ websites. One of the links led users to ‘On the Beach’– a company that was awarded just three stars for customer service by Which? members, the watchdog notes.

Which? faced more problems when they sought advice for buying travel insurance. Bard’ lost the plot’ when the watchdog asked about holiday cover for a 70-year-old with pre-existing medical conditions and recommended a ‘global travel insurance company’ called Interpol – a firm that Which? couldn’t find any trace of online. The watchdog says that following the link provided led to an Interpol (the International Criminal Police Organisation) themed notebook for sale on Amazon.

The AI bots were similarly wayward when it came to sourcing flights. ChatGPT wrongly told Which? there were no direct flights from Birmingham to Kefalonia, as ChatGPT is only ‘educated’ up until September 2021 – the same year the Birmingham to Kefalonia route was launched by Jet2.com.

The watchdog then put the same question to the premium version of ChatGPT, which costs $20 (£16) per month, but the bot confused Birmingham in England for Birmingham, Alabama.

Financial advice from each of the AI bots varied wildly, Which? found. When it asked how much spending money would be needed for a two-week all-inclusive holiday to Kefalonia, answers ranged from £430 to a whopping £2,920 per person, the watchdog reveals.

Another warning sign flashed when Which? asked if the AI bots could book the trip. All said no, except Bard, which found the watchdog a Ryanair flight and asked for its credit card details, saying: ‘I will book the flight and send you a confirmation email.’ However, Google told the watchdog that Bard was getting ahead of itself and doesn’t have the ability to book flights yet.

Google also told Which? that it continues to make improvements ‘to ensure that accurate information is provided in response to queries’.

Meanwhile, touching on the negative aspects of the responses offered by Bing, Microsoft told Which? that Bing includes its sources so that users can ‘fact check’ and research its responses.

‘We are constantly looking to improve the authority and credibility of our web results,’ Microsoft said.

And OpenAI acknowledged that ChatGPT sometimes gives ‘plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers’ – and admits that fixing this issue is ‘challenging’, Which? reveals.

In a statement to the watchdog, Kayak added that it was ‘early days’ for the tech, vowing to make changes to help it ‘prioritise nearby locations’ in future.

The upshot from Which? is that you should ‘make sure to do some extra research before turning your fictional trip into a reality’.

Which? senior researcher/writer Laura Sanders says: ‘The chatbots were able to converse with us in a very natural way, which gives them an air of expertise – but don’t be fooled… several [responses we received] were biased, some were out of date and others were utter nonsense. Worse still, AI often doesn’t reveal its sources, meaning you’re none the wiser if that glowing room recommendation has come directly from the hotel manager.’

And Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: ‘More and more consumers are likely to encounter artificial intelligence when booking holidays, but worryingly we’ve found that these services can often give travellers information and recommendations that are inaccurate, biased or even out of date.

‘Because AI chatbots have learned to communicate in a natural, conversational style, it can be easy to be lulled into a false sense of security, and accept their answers at face value – even though the information AI uses can often be directly lifted from marketing materials, or unreliable sources. Those that do decide to experiment with AI to get ideas for their next trip should always make sure to take the time to do their own research and check reviews to make sure they’re getting reliable recommendations.’

By Laura Sharman

Published: 08:07 EDT, 14 September 2023 | Updated: 11:50 EDT, 14 September 2023

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