Vicki Barker

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells the Observer newspaper,

The ruling that Meta and Google intentionally built addictive social media platforms that damaged the 20-year-old plaintiff's mental health was a turning point.

One month into the consultation, Starmer said a consensus is already emerging about the addictive nature of some of the algorithms aimed at teens and children.

Though initially opposing a complete ban for under-16s,

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and prosecutor, said he is now open-minded about it.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

The British government had already launched a three-month consultation on a possible social media ban when the California verdict came down.

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells the Observer newspaper the ruling that Meta and Google intentionally built addictive social media platforms that damaged the 20-year-old plaintiff's mental health was a turning point.

One month into the consultation, Starmer said a consensus is already emerging about the addictive nature of some of the algorithms aimed at teens and children.

Though initially opposing a complete ban for under-16s, Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and prosecutor, said he is now open-minded about it.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

Some filling stations in the UK have reported running dry, but with gas prices approaching $7 a gallon, these are seen as temporary local shortages caused by drivers rushing to fill their tanks before prices rise even further.

Nick Butler, a former BP executive turned academic, telling the BBC...

That could ultimately involve the kind of government rationing last seen during the Suez Crisis of 1957.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

Organizations as diverse as Amnesty International and the British Medical Association are joining faith groups, union leaders and refugee charities at the march.

Jo Grady, head of the UCU Academics Union, urging its 120,000 members to attend.

Organizers are hoping for a record turnout in London's Trafalgar Square, six months after the far-right anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson drew more than 100,000 supporters to the same place.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

The Iran war has already pushed up gas prices and mortgage rates in Britain, with nearly a thousand home loan products pulled off the market.