The government set up the task force last year to tackle what Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dubbed "evil grooming gangs".

However, fewer than one in five (19%) of the cases it has investigated so far involve networks of offenders.

The figures show that 27% of cases involved family members, and 22% were abused by other children.

When he announced the new task force in April 2023, Mr Sunak said: "For too long, political correctness has stopped us from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women."

The government said the task force would involve "parachuting in" officers with "extensive experience of undertaking grooming gang investigations".

Read More

Law enforcement agencies are gravely concerned about the emergence of hyper-realistic AI-generated content, fearing that it could blur the lines between real and computer-generated victims, creating complex challenges in identifying children in danger.

The NCA's director-general, Graeme Biggar, emphasises that the proliferation of such material might normalise abuse and escalate the risk of offenders transitioning to harm real children.

In response to these alarming developments, discussions are underway with AI software companies to implement safety measures, including digital tags to identify AI-generated images.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been urged to tackle a surge in child abuse images created by artificial intelligence when he gathers world leaders to discuss the technology later this year.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which monitors and blocks such material online, said the Prime Minister must specifically outlaw AI-generated abuse images and pressure other countries to do the same.

Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, said: "AI is getting more sophisticated all the time. We are sounding the alarm and saying the Prime Minister needs to treat the serious threat it poses as the top priority when he hosts the first global AI summit later this year."

Not a victimless crime

Hargreaves' comments came as the IWF confirmed for the first time that it was removing cases of AI-generated child abuse images, including the most severe "category A" illegal material.

Despite the absence of real victims in these disturbing images, the IWF firmly asserts that creating and distributing AI-generated child abuse content is far from a victimless crime. Instead, it poses a serious risk of normalising abuse, hampering the identification of real instances of child endangerment and desensitising offenders to the gravity of their actions.

Adding to the alarm, the IWF has stumbled upon a chilling "manual" authored by offenders, instructing others on how to leverage AI to create even more lifelike abusive imagery.

The NCA said that an explosion in fake child abuse images could make saving real children suffering from abuse more difficult.

Chris Farrimond of the NCA said: "There is a very real possibility that, if the volume of AI-generated material increases, this could greatly impact on law enforcement resources, increasing the time it takes for us to identify real children in need of protection."

Sources

Cryptopolitan

The Telegraph

The ‘Prayers for Tomorrow', written by Catholics across England and Wales, were delivered to 10 Downing Street to call for action to tackle the climate crisis.

The prayers are a direct response to the call by Pope Francis to reflect on humanity's treatment of ‘our Common Home' and how actions today will impact the lives of people in the world tomorrow.

Organised by CAFOD, Sister Karen Marguerite d'Artois, a Dominican Sister of Newcastle, led the hand-in of the book of prayers at No 10 on 16th June.

Sister Karen said: "It's amazing and inspiring to see how many people of all ages have been praying for our common home, and for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers who are suffering from a climate crisis they did not cause. We have to take responsibility for our actions and change our ways.

Read More

Stats NZ says food price inflation in New Zealand jumped 8.3 percent year-on-year in August 2022.

All food categories gained annually: fruit and vegetables (16 percent), grocery food (7.7 percent), meat, poultry & fish (6.7 percent), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food (6.9 percent) and non-alcoholic beverages (4.8 percent).

Increasing prices for yogurt, two-minute noodles and tomato-based pasta sauce were the largest drivers within grocery food.

The second-largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit & vegetables; the items within this group that influenced this movement the most were capsicums, tomatoes, and broccoli. Month-on-month food prices increased by 0.4%.

Food charities

A new survey of 43 food charities from around the country has revealed that the demand for food support continues to skyrocket, as a result of the long-lasting impacts of Covid-19 and the ever increasing cost of living.

The New Zealand Food Network (NZFN) ran the survey to ask the food hubs it works with about their experience with food support between January and June 2022.

The results found that the top three reasons for requesting food support were low household income due to low paying jobs (79%), unemployment (70%), and Covid-19 isolation (60%).

International impact

International reports show food inflation is a problem stretching from the UK to New Zealand.

In the UK, for instance, a senior economist is warning "daunting" food inflation in the UK could soar to between 17 and 19 percent next year.

According to the Office for National Statistics, food inflation in the 12 months to September hit 14.6 percent.

That increase is significantly higher than overall consumer price index inflation, which was 10.1 percent.

James Walton, chief economist at the Institute of Grocery Distribution, has warned MPs that the worst is yet to come.

"Consumer food price inflation is currently around 15 percent," Walton said.

"This is as bad as it's been to date - but we do think it will go further.

"Today, we've issued a new forecast... [we expect it] will probably peak in the first part of next year, between 17 percent and 19 percent ... that is a fairly daunting prospect.

"We think that inflation will start to dissipate over the course of 2023, but it will still be above zero by the end of the year."

Walton also warned "food stress" is no longer an issue which is primarily facing those on lower incomes.

"Food stress is becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK," he told MPs.

"Not just amongst the least well off households, but actually amongst households further up the income ladder."

Last week, a YouGov poll revealed that one in six Britons are not confident they can afford to feed their families.

Young people are the age group struggling most the rising cost of groceries. Twenty-six percent of 18-24 year olds say they are borrowing money to afford food bills.

The news is on a sorry downward slope.

In September, the Food Foundation warned one in five families are facing food poverty.

New prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt are coming under pressure amid the rising prices.

They are expected to provide more cost of living support when they deliver their autumn statement next week.

"Food stress is becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK.

"Not just amongst the least well off households, but actually amongst households further up the income ladder," Walton says.

Source

• Yahoo News
• NZ Food Network