Western security officials have voiced fears that a series of incendiary devices that started fires in British and German warehouses over the summer were "dress rehearsals" for a potential Russian attack on transatlantic flights.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the devices – disguised as electric massage machines from Lithuania, containing a highly flammable "magnesium-based substance" – that ignited at DHL logistics hubs in Leipzig and Birmingham in July were part of a "covert Russian operation" with the ultimate aim of starting fires aboard cargo or passenger aircraft flying to the US and Canada.

Who is behind the plot?
Pawel Szota, the head of Poland's foreign intelligence agency, believes that Russian spies were to blame. "I'm not sure the political leaders of Russia are aware of the consequences if one of these packages exploded, causing a mass casualty event," he told the WSJ.

Szota's comments "echo" those from other Western intelligence officials, "indicating that Russia, and specifically its military-intelligence agency, known as the GRU, was responsible".

What has Russia said?
Some officials believe that "a plan to bring down an aircraft flying from Europe to North America, with significant potential for escalation, could only have been approved by the highest levels of the Russian government", said The Times.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has denied any Russian involvement. Dismissing the "traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media", he said that no European government had formally accused Moscow of causing the fires.

What is the next move?
Security officials across Europe are "on edge" about the increasing volume of Russian-sponsored acts of sabotage, said The Times. These are "often commissioned by Moscow's spy agencies but carried out by local 'single-use' proxies".

The threat from Russia is "metastasising as Russian agents, increasingly under scrutiny by security services and frustrated in their own operations, hire local amateurs to undertake high-risk, and often deniable, crimes on their behalf", said CNN.

MI5 chief Ken McCallum warned last month that Russia's GRU military intelligence appeared to be on "a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets" by means of "arson, sabotage and more".

A teenager's obsessive attachment to an AI-generated chatbot fashioned after a "Game of Thrones" character led him to take his own life, according to a lawsuit filed by his mother. The case in Florida has shone a spotlight on the risks of the largely unregulated industry and the potential threat of such chatbots to impressionable young people in blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

'A big experiment'
Eight months after 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III killed himself, his mother Megan Garcia has filed a lawsuit against Character.AI for wrongful death, negligence, deceptive trade practices and product liability. Garcia argues that the platform for custom AI chatbots is "unreasonably dangerous" despite marketing to children. She accused the California-based company of harvesting teenage users' data for AI training, having addictive features that keep teens engaged, and luring some into sexual conversations. "I feel like it's a big experiment, and my kid was just collateral damage," she told The New York Times.

The lawsuit outlines how Setzer began interacting with a Character.AI bot modelled on Daenerys Targaryen from the TV drama. As he gradually lost interest in other things, Setzer's "mental health quickly and severely declined". On 28 February, Sewell told the bot he was coming home, to which "Dany" replied, "... please do, my sweet king". Seconds later, the teen took his life.

A 'wake-up call for parents'
The lawsuit underscores the "growing influence and severe harm" that generative AI chatbot companions can have on the "lives of young people when there are no guardrails in place", James Steyer, the founder and CEO of the non-profit Common Sense Media, told The Associated Press. Teens' overreliance on AI-generated companions could significantly affect their social lives, sleep and stress levels, "all the way up to the extreme tragedy in this case". The lawsuit is a "wake-up call for parents", who should be "vigilant about how their children interact with these technologies".

Character.AI said it was "heartbroken by the tragic loss" of one of its users and expressed "deepest condolences" to his family. The company has announced several safety changes, including a pop-up that directs users to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline "triggered by terms of self-harm or suicidal ideation". It also changed its models for users under 18 to "reduce the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content".

National Geographic's newly published list of the 25 best places in the world to visit in 2025 ranges from medieval Italian monasteries to the "alpine paradise" of India's Suru Valley. Tucked in the middle of the list of must-sees is the UK's own Outer Hebrides.

The beautiful backdrop for the BBC's upcoming Gaelic-language drama "An t-Eilean" ("The Island") is a serene destination for your next trip. The archipelago's "dramatic landscapes and Celtic heritage" are best explored while cycling or walking the Hebridean Way, which spans 200 miles across 10 islands and includes "silvery beaches, whisky distilleries, wildflower-bedecked machair grasslands", said NatGeo.

After taking in the "unspoiled beauty" of the black cliffs and vast expanses of white sand and blue water, you feel "a sense of stepping back in time", said Peter May in The Guardian.

If you missed the recent aurora borealis sightings, the Calanais Standing Stones, a neolithic monument older than Stonehenge, is highly rated for viewing the Northern Lights free from the light pollution of major cities, said Janani Venkateswaran in the Daily Express. The Outer Hebrides is also a "wildlife enthusiast's haven" and you have a chance at "abundant" dolphin, otter and eagle sightings.

The location means a bounty of "fresh and local" seafood too, said May, from food trucks serving "traditional local fare" to "creative dishes" at Lochmaddy Bay Prawns.

Hidden behind this budget is a terrible bombshell: billions in cuts for disabled people
Frances Ryan in The Guardian
Since the Budget there's "barely been a word about the policy set to hit the group long scapegoated as Britain's skivers", says Frances Ryan. "It turns out austerity isn't over for everyone", with disabled people facing huge cuts in benefits, which "won't be awarded based on who needs them – just on what they cost". This is "social security by spreadsheet", and it's "severing the social contract that promises the state will be there in times of sickness and disability".

The 'joy' of fireworks isn't worth the misery they inflict on animals
Jack Symes in The Spectator
Firework displays may seem fun but "sheltered in our homes", a "very different scene unfolds", with pets "shaking, crying, attempting to escape", writes Jack Symes. "Countless wild animals" are also "thrown into a warzone" by the bangs, and "is our pleasure worth their pain"? Most of us enjoy fireworks "a little", "not that much" or "not at all", according to a recent government report. That "doesn't seem nearly enough enthusiasm to justify the harm caused to animals".

Swearing in the workplace: blunt instrument
The Times editorial board
Northerners have "long been reconciled" to their status as "targets for hopelessly outdated southern cliché", says The Times. But their "toleration for gentle mickey-taking" has "come under strain" after a judge said that swearing in the workplace is more common in the North, during an employment tribunal of a man dismissed for swearing at a colleague. Maybe the judge has "not visited a naval pub in Portsmouth" or "an army one in Aldershot", or a "City trading floor". Northern accents may make "their f*** more formidable" but not necessarily more common.