theguardian

Meta CEO reportedly to offer pay packages worth up to $100m, a gambit OpenAI’s Sam Altman calls ‘crazy’

Mark Zuckerbergreportedly spent months putting together a list of the top AI engineers and researchers across the globe, preparing to offer potential recruits lucrative compensation packages inMeta’s attempt to poach AI talent from key competitors.

Silicon Valley has been talking for weeks about theMetaCEO’s quest to attract top AI talent, including by offering pay packages worth up to $100m.

Zuckerberg has personally reached out to desired candidates, according to theWall Street Journal.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been competing in the search for AI dominance with rivals likeOpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Amazon, which have invested billions of dollars into AI research and product development. Last month, questions were raised about the direction of Meta’s AI development after it delayed the scheduled rollout of Behemoth, its flagship AI model.

Earlier this month, Meta paid $14bn for a stake in Scale AI and is putting its founder, 28-year-old Alexandr Wang, in charge of its “superintelligence team” – an internal lab that would focus on Meta’s efforts to develop a hypothetical AI system that is smarter than humans.

Last year, Google bought out the shareholders in Character.AI, a chatbot service that allows users to have personal conversations with different AI personas, for $2.7bn.

People on “the list”, as Zuckerberg’s slate is known around Silicon Valley, include recent graduates from top PhD programs at schools like the University of California at Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon. Many are currently employed by Meta’s AI competitors, including OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind project, and have traded notes with each other on Meta’s recruiting efforts.

A recruit who has personally spoken to Zuckerberg said that his goal appears to be a “transfusion from the country’s top AI labs”. A WhatsApp group chat called “Recruiting Party” was formed for Zuckerberg and at least two other senior Meta executives to talk through potential hires. The Meta CEO has been trying to personally find candidates by looking through research papers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Zuckerberg’s hands-on recruiting efforts have drawn the ire of OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, whocalledthe rumored signing bonuses and compensation packages on offer “crazy”.

“I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” Altman said during an appearanceon the Uncapped podcast, which is hosted by his brother Jack. “I think the strategy of a ton of upfront, guaranteed comp, and that being the reason you tell someone to join, like really the degree to which they’re focusing on that and not the work and not the mission, I don’t think that’s going to set up a great culture.”

Woman’s injuries were not life-threatening, and officials were unable to find the likely young sand tiger shark

A 20-year-old woman was likely bitten by a juvenile shark while waist-deep in the surf at a suburbanNew Yorkbeach, according to state officials.

The unidentified woman suffered minor lacerations to her left leg and foot after being bitten Wednesday at Jones Beach state park on Long Island. She was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to a release from state parks officials.

The woman did not see what bit her, and a subsequent drone search for dangerous marine life was not successful. But experts analyzing photos of the injuries and other factors believe the bites “most likely” came from a juvenile sand tiger shark, state officials said.

Swimming was immediately suspended after the incident and resumed on Thursday morning after a check of the water by drones and lifeguards. Patrols aimed at protecting swimmers will reportedly remain in place through the summer.

Though they get a disproportionate amount of public attention,casesof sharks biting humans are rare.

There had been 47 confirmed unprovoked shark bites worldwide last year after an average of 64 annually between 2019 and 2023, saidthe International Shark Attack File, a renowned resource. Seven of those attacks last year were fatal.

Twenty-eight of 2024’s unprovoked shark attacks were in the US – and half were registered in Florida. None were inNew York– though in 2022, a cluster of five attacks over two weeks in the same Long Island area captured international headlines.

Governor Tim Walz eulogizes Melissa Hortman, killed with husband, as ‘most consequential speaker’ in state’s history

Killed ex-Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman lies in state alongside husband and dog

Democratic former Minnesota state house speakerMelissa Hortmanwas honored for her legislative accomplishments and her humanity during a funeral on Saturday that was attended byJoe BidenandKamala Harris.

The former president and vice-president were joined by more than 1,000 other mourners.

Hortman was shot to death during a pair of attacks two weeks earlier by a man posing as a police officer. Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has called the killing an assassination. The shootings also left her husband, Mark, dead and a state senator and his wife seriously wounded.

“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor and the most talented legislator I have ever known,” Minnesota’s governor,Tim Walz, said in his eulogy.

Walz, who was Harris’s running mate in the 2024 White House election won by Donald Trump, added: “For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.”

Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with Walz. Biden was also one of more than 7,500 people who paid their respects on Friday as Hortman, her husband and their golden retriever, Gilbert,lay in statein the Minnesota capitol rotunda in St Paul. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized. Biden also visited the wounded senator in a hospital.

Dozens of current and former state legislators from both parties and other elected officials who worked with Hortman also attended.

As House speaker, Hortman helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives such as free lunches for public school students along with strengthened protections for abortion and trans rights during a momentous 2023 legislative session. With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

Walz said Hortman – who was first elected in 2004 – saw her mission as “to get as much good done for as many people as possible”. And he said her focus on people was what made her so effective.

“She certainly knew how to get her way – no doubt about that,” Walz said. “But she never made anyone feel that they’d gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasn’t part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didn’t need somebody else to lose to win for her.”

The governor said the best way to honor the Hortmans would be by following their example.

“Maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about,” Walz said. “A moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did – fiercely, enthusiastically, heartily, but without ever losing sight of our common humanity.”

A private burial for the Hortmans will be held at a later date.

The Hortmans were proud of their adult children, Sophie and Colin Hortman, and the lawmaker often spoke of them.

In a voice choked with emotion, Colin said his parents embodied the “Golden Rule”, and he read the prayer of St Francis, which his mother always kept in her wallet. He said it captures her essence. It starts: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

After the service, Walz presented the children with US and Minnesota flags that flew over the state capitol on the day their parents were killed.

The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park on 14 June, and wounding Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin, surrendered near his home the night of 15 June.

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, remains jailed and has not entered a plea to charges that could carry the federal death penalty.

Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Garcia abandoned locked truckload of people in summer heat with no AC in 2022

Two men face spending the rest of their lives in prison after a federal judgesentencedthem on Friday for their roles in the deaths of 53 people – including six children – who were found dead in an abandoned tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022.

A federal jury inTexashad found the two men, Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Garcia, guilty of various charges at the conclusion of a trial in March. Federal judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Torres to life in prison and Ortega to 83 years of incarceration, essentially a life sentence.

The judge also imposed a $250,000 fine on each of the defendants.

Five other men have also pleaded guilty for their role in the smuggling operation and are scheduled to be sentenced later.

The truck washolding64 migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The vehiclehada broken air conditioner and no water, which amounted to suffocating conditions in the Texas summer.

Only 11 of those who were in the tractor-truck survived an ordeal that grimlyillustratedthe risks migrants are willing to take to cross the US border in order to escape violence or financial turmoil in their countries.

The migrants had paid the smugglers between $12,000 to $15,000 each to be taken across the US border, according to thecase’s indictment. They were placed in the vehicle in Laredo, a town at the border, and then headed to San Antonio, which is a three-hour drive away.

As temperatures rose inside the truck, the people inside screamed and banged on the walls. Many eventually passed out. When the truck was found on 27 June 2022, more than a dozen of them were taken to the hospital, where five more died.

The men had known the air conditioning in the truck was broken, according to prosecutors. And they had discovered dozens of the people inside had died when they opened the back of the truck at the end of the three-hour trip.

“Three years to the day after these two smugglers and their co-conspirators left dozens of men, women and children locked in a sweltering tractor-trailer to die in the Texas summer heat, they learned that they will spend the rest of their lives locked away in a federal prison,” said a statement from the US attorney for the western district of Texas, Justin Simmons.

Prosecutors said that Orduna-Torres was the leader of a group of men who smuggled people from Mexico and South America between December 2021 and June 2022. He and Gonzales-Garcia shared routes, vehicles, stash houses and transporters to “consolidate costs, minimize risks and maximize profit”, according to a statement from the justice department.

Migrant smuggling has become a multibillion-dollar industry that is often run in coordination with some of Mexico’s most violent cartels. While the number of migrants apprehended at the border has dropped since Donald Trump’s second presidency began in January,reportshave said people are still being smuggled into the US through methods and routes that are even more dangerous.

Lawmakers prepare for key procedural vote Saturday after dissent among GOP ranks threatens to postpone debate

TheUS Senateis preparing for a key procedural vote Saturday as Republicans race to passDonald Trump’s package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his Fourth of July deadline.

Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all Republican senators are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8tn in Trump tax breaks.

Before the expected vote to advance the measure, the White House released a statement saying it “strongly supports passage” of the bill that “implements critical aspects” of the president’s agenda. Trump himself was at his golf course in Virginia on Saturday with Republican senators, including one of the holdouts, Rand Paul of Kentucky.

“It’s time to get this legislation across the finish line,” the Senate majority leader, John Thune, said.

The940-page billwas released shortly before midnight Friday, and senators are expected to grind through the days ahead with hours of potentially all-night debate and countless amendments. Senate passage could be days away, and the bill would need to return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.

With the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board in the face of essentially unified opposition fromDemocrats.

Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump donor who came out in strong opposition to the House version of the bill, denounced the Senate draft on his social media platform, X, on Saturday. “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!”Musk wroteabove a comment from a green energy expert who pointed out that the bill raises taxes on new wind and solar projects.

“Utterly insane and destructive,” Musk added. “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

Bernie Moreno, the Republican senator from Ohio, opened the day’s session with an impassioned defense of the package that he said had been misrepresented by its critics. “Read it for yourself,” he said.

Senate Democrats intend to do just that, with the minority leader, Chuck Schumer,announcingon social media Saturday afternoon that his party will force the entire bill to be read aloud before a final vote on passage can take place.

Speaking on the Senate floor, SchumersaidRepublicans had released the bill “in the dead of night” and were rushing to pass it before the public fully knows what’s in it.

The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump’s party, which has invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic-policy plan. Trump is pushing Congress to wrap it up, even as he sometimes gives mixed signals, allowing for more time.

At recent events at the White House, including on Friday, Trump has admonished the “grandstanders” among GOP holdouts to fall in line.

“We can get it done,” Trump said in a social media post. “It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country.”

The legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities. At its core, it would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump’s first term that would otherwise expire by year’s end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350bn to national security, including for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning

But the spending cuts that Republicans are relying on to offset the lost tax revenues are causing dissent within the GOP ranks. Some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving healthcare through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives worried about the nation’s debt are pushing for steeper cuts.

Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he remains concerned about the fundamentals of the package and will not support the procedural motion to begin debate. Rand Paul has opposed the measure on the grounds that it will raise the nation’s debt limit by $5tn. And Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican pushing for deeper cuts, said he needed to see the final legislative text.

The release of that draft had been delayed as the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the bill to ensure it complied with the chamber’s strict “Byrd rule”, which bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills unless a provision can get 60 votes to overcome objections. That would be a tall order in a Senate with a 53-47 Republican edge, and Democrats unified against Trump’s bill.

Republicans suffered a series of setbacks after several proposals were determined to be out of compliance by the chief arbiter of the Senate’s rules. One plan would have shifted some food stamp costs from the federal government to the states; a second would have gutted the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But over the past days, Republicans have quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them.

The final text includes a proposal for cuts to a Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary objections and opposition from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25bn fund to aid rural hospitals and providers.

Most states impose the provider tax as a way to boost federal Medicaid reimbursements. Some Republicans argue that is a scam and should be abolished.

Thenonpartisan congressional budget officehas said that under the House-passed version of the bill,some 10.9 million more peoplewould go without healthcare and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions. Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600,the CBO said.

Venue drops gig under pressure from campaigners and local MP, who said show was against ‘city’s values’

Heavy metal starMarilyn Manson, has had the first UK concert of his One Assassination Under God Tour cancelled after pressure from campaign groups and an MP.

The first leg of the tour was due to kick off at theBrightonCentre on Wednesday, 29 October. Ticketmaster have since informed customers that the event will no longer go ahead as planned and they will be refunded.

An online campaign group, No Stage for Abusers, called on the Brighton Centre and Brighton and Hove city council, which owns the venue, to cancel the performance.

Four women had sued Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, accusing him of rape, sexual assault and bodily harm. However, after a year-long investigation, the case against him wasdropped in January.

Prosecutors in California found that the statute of limitations had been exceeded and argued they would not be able to bring charges that prove Warner was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The identities of the women were not revealed, but Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco, who sued Warner in a case that has now been settled, stated that she was part of the criminal investigation.

In 2021, Manson’s former fiancee, the Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood, also named him as her abuser for the first time in an Instagram post. Warner has dismissed the allegations as “falsehoods”.

Last week, Green Party MPSiân Berryexpressed her concerns about Warner’s scheduled performance in her constituency in Brighton, writing anopen letterto the leader of Brighton and Hove city council, Bella Sankey.

In Berry’s letter, which was co-signed by a host of groups and the University of Sussex students’ union, she made the case for cancelling the concert, saying it went against “the city’s well-renowned values”.

Berry wrote: “Many survivors in Brighton and Hove, and organisations supporting them, will have serious concerns about this booking and its wider impact on other people visiting the city centre, local residents and the wider community.”

She added: “The council has a responsibility to take action where there are risks of discrimination, harassment and victimisation.”

Supporters of Warner point out that Warner has not been found guilty of allegations against him. Others said the decision infringes on freedom of speech.

One person told The Argus: “This is cancel culture, nothing more, and it’ll backfire when artists don’t add a Brighton and Hove date to their tours and stick to London, which incidentally hasn’t bannedMarilyn Mansonfrom their city.”

Report in the Times alleges George Freeman was paid by company that helped him write questions to government

A Conservative MP has referred himself to the parliamentary watchdog after it was alleged he was paid by a company that helped him write questions to government.

Former minister George Freeman submitted queries to Labour ministers about the sector the firm operates in, the Times reported.

The newspaper published what it said were leaked emails that showed exchanges in which Freeman had asked the company’s director what to ask about as he prepared written parliamentary questions related to space data and emissions tracking.

He reportedly tabled the questions, which are a way for MPs to ask for more information on the policies and activities of government departments, to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

He became a paid adviser with GHGSat, a monitoring service for greenhouse gas emissions, in April last year.

The appointments watchdog, Acoba, advised him that in taking up the role, “there are risks associated with your influence and network of contacts gained whilst in ministerial office”.

“In particular, this is a company that is interested in government policy and decisions relating to the civil space sector and emissions.

“You noted you have made it clear to the company that you will not lobby government on its behalf, and this will not form part of your role.”

Freeman told the Times: “As a longstanding advocate of important new technologies, companies and industries, working cross-party through APPGs (all-party parliamentary groups) and the select committee, I regularly ask experts for clarification on technical points and terminology, and deeply respect and try to assiduously follow the code of conduct for MPs and the need to act always in the public interest.

“Throughout my 15 years in parliament (and government), I have always understood the need to be transparent in the work I have done for and with commercial clients and charities and am always willing to answer any criticism.

“I don’t believe I have done anything wrong but I am immediately referring myself to the parliamentary commissioner for standards and will accept his judgment in due course.”

Freeman and GHGSat have been contacted for comment.

A Conservative party spokesperson said: “George Freeman MP has referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner.

“It would be inappropriate for the Conservative party to comment further whilst the commissioner’s enquiries are ongoing.”

The MP for Mid Norfolk is on the science, innovation and technology committee and is a trade envoy.

He was responsible for the UK space agency in his previous role as a minister in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology under Rishi Sunak.

Police assessing video footage of rap trio’s performance to ‘determine if any offences may have been committed’

Kneecap began a politically charged set at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon, leading the crowds in chants of “Fuck Keir Starmer!”

The Irish rap act took to the stage at 4pm fortheir controversial set, which had been criticised by the UK prime minister as not “appropriate”.

The PM’s comment came after band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence for holding a Hezbollah flag at a London gig last November.

“We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,” said Ó hAnnaidh on the band’s support for the people of Gaza who have suffered at the hands of Israel’s military and through a lack of aid deliveries.

Later on Saturday, an Avon and Somerset police spokesperson said the force was assessing comments made by Kneecap during their set.

They told the Guardian: “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury festival this afternoon.

“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”

During the Kneecap performance, a sea of at least 200 Palestinian flags made it difficult for cameras to get a clear shot of the stage from inside the crowd.

“The BBC editor is going to have some job,” Chara joked, referring to the flags. Earlier the broadcaster confirmed itwould not be able to support a live streamof the performance.

The broadcaster has not yet confirmed when the footage will be available on iPlayer.

Users of the Glastonbury app received a push notification almost an hour before the band were due to perform saying the West Holts stage was closed. However, spectators were still getting in 20 minutes before the start of the set.

The show opened with clips of news and various TV discussion shows, with politicians and commentators saying the group should be banned and had been “avoiding justice for far too long”.

There was booing from the crowd for Sharon Osborne calling them a “pathetic band”.

“Glastonbury I’m a free man!” shouted Ó hAnnaidh, to wild cheers from the crowd.

“If anybody falls down, you’ve got to pick them up. We’ve got to keep each other safe,” he added.

The group, who rap in English and Irish, performed an energetic set including Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite, Get Your Brits Out and Fine Art in front of a backdrop which said “Free Palestine”, occasionally varying with other phrases including “Fuck Badenoch”, referring to the leader of the Tory party.

The crowds chanted: “Free Mo Chara, free free Mo Chara!”

“Mo Chara’s back in court for a trumped up terrorism charge,” said Móglaí Bap, also known as Naoise Ó Cairealláin.

“It’s not the first time there’s a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British criminal justice system,” he said.

Ó hAnnaidh cut a defiant figure, saying his plight in the courts was nothing compared to the suffering of the Palestinian people. The band urged people to come out to support Ó hAnnaidh at his next court date at Westminster magistrates court.

“I want to say a big thank you to the Eavis family [organisers of Glastonbury],” Ó hAnnaidh added, for “holding strong” in the face of criticism.

Asked on Wednesday about the controversy, organiser Emily Eavis said: “There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”

On numerous occasions, the trio chanted “Fuck Keir Starmer!”, with the crowd passionately shouting back. They also had the crowds chanting the Irish republican slogan, “tiocfaidh ár lá”, which translates as “our day will come”.

The band laughed with the crowd asking: “Is anyone going to see Rod Stewart tomorrow?”

The 80-year-old rocker was criticised ahead of his Pyramid stage performance after saying he thought the public should give Nigel Farage “a chance”.

Describing him as Rod the Prod, Ó hAnnaidh said: “I mean, the man’s older than Israel.”

Paloma Faith, the musician and public speaker, was in the crowd for Kneecap’s performance.

She told the Guardian: “A lot of people are now being demonised because there’s such a fear of terrorism. And I understand that fear but I don’t think that Kneecap have anything to do with that. They’re all about the soul and the heart of freedom of people.

“I don’t know anyone who likes to see children being killed on such a huge scale for any reason and I think [Kneecap] stand by that. Obviously they come from the perspective of a marginalised community at the hands of British colonialism.”

She said artists who speak out on human rights issues were worried about being misquoted by the press or having their words taken out of context at a time when peaceful activists are coming under increasing attack from governments.

She added: “Everyone’s a bit scared now. People are going to jail for stuff that isn’t what we perceive as violent. It’s scary times.”

It comes after the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on Monday that the pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Actionwould be proscribed under anti-terror laws.

If approved in parliament in a vote next week, this would make membership and support of the group illegal and punishable with a prison sentence under anti-terror laws.

On stage, Kneecap reiterated their support for the group and band member JJ Ó Dochartaigh, known as DJ Próvaí, wore a Palestine Action T-shirt, underneath a red boiler suit associated with the group as he surfed the crowd.

Seven-year-old girl dies in hospital after incident at Chalkwell park in Southend-on-Sea involving five children

A young girl has died and another is in a critical condition after a tree fell in a seaside park in Essex on Saturday.

The girls, aged seven and six, suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital. Police said the seven-year-old girl died in hospital.

Three other children suffered minor injuries following the incident in Southend-on-Sea.

Essex police said they were called to Chalkwell park shortly before 3pm, where they found “a number of casualties”.

Ch supt Leighton Hammett said: “Families are facing unimaginable hardship this evening and all of our thoughts are with them at this time.

“I cannot begin to put into words how difficult today’s events have been, and continue to be, for them.

“It’s also not lost on me how traumatic it must have been for the members of the public who witnessed this awful incident.”An East of England ambulance service spokesperson had earlier said: “Two children were transported by road to Southend university hospital.“A further three children were later transported by road to the same hospital with minor injuries.”Police advised the public to avoid the area.

Ishan Madan, 39, from Westcliff-on-Sea, was playing in a cricket match nearby when he heard a “horrendous, screeching scream”.

Madan, an accountant, said: “Everyone ran towards the clubhouse, where the tree is.

“The tree had snapped and I think there were four children, the fifth one was slightly further away, I think she’d been hit by a branch.

“Two of them were under a smaller branch, they were rescued easily, and unfortunately, the other two girls, they were stuck under this massive tree.

“So we got bystanders to help, it must have been 40 to 50 people who then tried to lift the fallen tree up and to our horror, these two little girls, poor girls, were stuck underneath it.

“Their mother was on the corner. It was horrendous.”Adam Hutchins, 47, told the EssexLive website: “I heard there were kids playing on the tree. They heard a big crack.

“It must have [been] pretty loud. They went running over and there were kids underneath the tree.“All the cricket guys ran over and tried to loft the tree up. I think it’s one of the oldest trees. It had metal stands propping it up.”David Burton-Sampson, Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, said: “The news of the sad death of one of the children involved in the incident at Chalkwell park today is truly devastating.

“I am sure I reflect the thoughts of all our residents here in Southend in sending my deepest condolences to the child’s family and friends.

“My thoughts are also with the other children injured and I wish them a full and speedy recovery.

“At the time of the incident, the park was very busy and a number of people witnessed what happened.”

Daniel Cowan, the leader of Southend’s city council, said on Saturday: “I’m aware of this very serious incident. We’re working with Essex police, the ambulance service and fire service, who are still at the scene.“I do understand that a tree has fallen, there’s a number of casualties and we’re just asking the public to avoid the area while those services carry out their work, and my thoughts are with those affected.”

Jonathan Reynolds to hold talks with carmaker after reports suggested its UK factory could close

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will hold talks with Lotus after the carmaker appeared to shelve plans to shut its UK operations.

After reports that Chinese owner Geely was planning tostop manufacturing at the Hethel plant in Norfolk, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, Lotus issued a statement saying it had “no plans” to close the factory.

Reynolds will speak to the company on Sunday, the PA news agency understands.

The British sportscar brand has been majority-owned by Chinese multinational Geely since 2017.

The Financial Times had reported it was considering shutting up shop in the UK in favour of a new plant in the US.

On Saturday, Lotus sought to ease concerns with a statement that it remains “committed” to the UK, which it called its largest commercial market in Europe and the “heart” of the brand.

“Lotus Cars is continuing normal operations, and there are no plans to close the factory,” it said.

“We are actively exploring strategic options to enhance efficiency and ensure global competitiveness in the evolving market.

“We have invested significantly in R&D and operations in the UK over the past six years. Lotus remains committed to the UK, and its customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, as well as its proud British heritage.”

A government spokesperson said: “The government does not comment on speculation or the commercial affairs of private companies.”