Operation Nanook, carried out in conjunction with allies, aims to ‘project force’ in a region attracting growing interest from Russia and China

The winter sun hasn’t yet risen above Inuvik’s jagged horizon of black spruce trees, but already, more than 150 nervous soldiers have gathered in a community recreation centre.

Tables clear of their breakfast and fingers fiddle with pens, a giddiness akin to the first day of school settles over the room.

In a quiet Australian backwater an unravelling cast of women make claustrophobic crime fiction out of a close-knit community

Although the Australian series Neighbours has been cancelled again (this time by Amazon), the soap’s 40-year run is some measure of its popularity. The storyline focused on several households in the same Melbourne suburb, depicting the residents’ friendships and rivalries. Kate Kemp’s debut novel takes place at a different time and place, but employs the same formula: ordinary folk and gossip.

Set in the sweltering summer of 1979 in a quiet cul-de-sac, in a Canberra suburb, The Grapevine opens with a woman scrubbing traces of blood from her bathroom floor. We learn that her husband has killed their neighbour, Antonio Marietti. The next day, as news of the gruesome murder spreads and Antonio’s body parts are discovered, the residents of Warrah Place start to point the finger at potential suspects.

Autonomous digital assistants are being developed that can carry out tasks on behalf of the user – including ordering the groceries. But if you don’t keep an eye on them, dinner might not be quite what you expect …

I’m watching artificial intelligence order my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, it types each item into the search bar of a supermarket website, then uses its cursor to click. Watching what appears to be a digital ghost do this usually mundane task is strangely transfixing. “Are you sure it’s not just a person in India?” my husband asks, peering over my shoulder.

I’m trying out Operator, a new AI “agent” from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Made available to UK users last month, it has a similar text interface and conversational tone to ChatGPT, but rather than just answering questions, it can actually do things – provided they involve navigating a web browser.

Autonomous digital assistants are being developed that can carry out tasks on behalf of the user – including ordering the groceries. But if you don’t keep an eye on them, dinner might not be quite what you expect …

I’m watching artificial intelligence order my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, it types each item into the search bar of a supermarket website, then uses its cursor to click. Watching what appears to be a digital ghost do this usually mundane task is strangely transfixing. “Are you sure it’s not just a person in India?” my husband asks, peering over my shoulder.

I’m trying out Operator, a new AI “agent” from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Made available to UK users last month, it has a similar text interface and conversational tone to ChatGPT, but rather than just answering questions, it can actually do things – provided they involve navigating a web browser.

Wingfield Manor is part-managed by English Heritage, but has fallen into a state of disrepair

At various points in history it has been a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots, a battleground in the English civil war, and the site of one the country’s first flushing toilets.

But despite its storied past, Wingfield Manor in Derbyshire has fallen into disrepair, and members of the public can no longer visit the magnificent ruins on a hilltop in Amber Valley.

Exclusive: Costs particularly acute in more rural areas, where many children with special needs have to use taxis

Councils in England are spending on average twice as much on school transport for children with special educational needs than on maintaining their road networks, a Guardian investigation has found.

Many councils have said their obligations under the wider special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system are financially unsustainable, with the rapid increase in pupil transport costs becoming a particular burden.