Scanning the QR codes with a smartphone will give shoppers access to information about the products, such as nutritional content and traceability. It could also allow access to recipes and competitions.

The new codes will be applied to packaging of the supermarket's own-label sausages, including Tesco Pork Sausages, Tesco Pork Chipolatas and Tesco British Pork Sausage Meat.

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The change also applies to Tesco's British Cumberland Sausages and British Lincolnshire Sausages.

Tesco called it "one of the most revolutionary retailing improvements in decades", saying it will help to improve stock control and reduce waste.

The update is part of a wider industry transformation by GS1, the global standards body for barcodes, which is aiming for a "comprehensive rollout" of QR codes by 2027.

QR codes will enable shops to identify specific batches in the event of product recalls, instead of products being thrown away unnecessarily.

Retailers will be able to used them to block the sale of certain batches at checkout and contact customers who might have purchased them.

Tesco's development and change director, Peter Draper, said: "For customers, this is a tiny and almost invisible change at the checkout, but for the retail industry, it's a significant step forward.

"Over time, this opens up exciting possibilities, such as personalised digital tools to help customers manage the food they buy and reduce waste at home."

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GS1 UK's chief executive Anne Godfrey said the move was a "significant step forward for UK retail".

"It shows how the next generation of barcodes can support a more connected, transparent future," she said.

"We hope this progress encourages others to follow Tesco's lead so that consumers and businesses alike can benefit from richer, more trusted product information."

Tyler Robinson, 23, from Utah, is charged with aggravated murder in relation to the shooting of Mr Kirk at the Utah Valley University campus in Orem.

Robinson is due in court on Friday and his attorneys are pressing their claims that biased coverage is tainting potential jurors.

"The predominant purpose being served by the live stream coverage has not been the educational reporting of the court proceedings, but rather advertising profit, sensationalism, political agendas, and, most prominently, the vilification of Mr Robinson," his team wrote.

Among the numerous examples they cite is a New York Post story about his first court appearance on 11 December, when a conversation he had with his attorneys was scrutinised using "lip reading analysis".

This analysis was used to support the claim that Robinson said: "I think about the shooting daily". His lawyers say the story suggests Robinson confessed to Mr Kirk's killing.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Robinson if he is convicted over the 10 September shooting of the conservative activist.

Video of the incident showed Mr Kirk, 31, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, reaching up with his right hand after a gunshot was heard as blood came out from the left side of his neck. He died shortly after.

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Robinson has not yet entered a plea.

The prosecution, the media, and Mr Kirk's widow, Erika, want the court to allow cameras, arguing that transparency is the best way to guard against misinformation and conspiracy theories.

But the media has already tested the patience of Judge Tony Graf with its livestreaming from court.

During the December hearing, he briefly stopped the livestream and ordered the camera relocated after it showed the defendant's shackles, violating a courtroom decorum order.

A January hearing was interrupted too, when Robinson's attorneys argued that close-up shots of him livestreamed by a local television station could again lead to claims based on lip reading.

The judge ordered the camera operator not to film Robinson for the remainder of the hearing after this further violation of his decorum order.

But he has so far focused on whether rules are being followed inside his court, not what the media are saying outside of it.

Different states have different policies on cameras in court and many, including Utah, give judges discretion over whether to allow them, though they are generally prohibited in federal courts.

"There's Supreme Court precedent that says courts generally need to be open to the public, but that's not an absolute right," said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown.

"Even if they allow public access, that does not equal a right to broadcast or record."

Shannon Rossiter was charged with five counts of theft committed over two months after she entered shops, filled baskets up with products and walked straight out without making an attempt to pay.

CCTV footage showed Rossiter entering a Co-op in Sturry, northeast of Canterbury, on 14 October last year, holding a phone to her ear while grabbing various cleaning products and cans of alcohol and tossing them into a basket.

A staff member became suspicious of her behaviour and watched her head toward the exit without paying for the items worth £88.

They quickly closed the doors to prevent her from leaving, but when staff members tried to recover the stolen items, Rossiter became violent and assaulted two employees before fleeing.

Rossiter began her shoplifting spree on 15 September, when she stole four sandwiches worth £13 from Tesco in Sturry before targeting the local Co-op.

On 2 November, she took alcoholic drinks worth £11.80 from a Co‑op in Whitstable, then returned the next day and stole more food and drink worth £15.35.

Over a month after the violent incident caught on Co-op CCTV cameras, she stole four gift sets valued at £222 from Boots in Canterbury on 16 November.

Officers found her shortly afterwards in a Waitrose car park, and recovered one gift set from her and three more hidden nearby.

She was arrested at the scene, and officers discovered that she was wanted in connection with multiple thefts across Canterbury.

Rossiter was remanded in custody and appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court on 18 November, where she pleaded guilty to all charges.

She was handed a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), which bans her from any shop owned, run or managed by Co‑Operative Retail Services Ltd within Kent, at Folkestone Magistrates' Court earlier on 2 April.

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Rossiter is also banned from entering any shop in the company of several named individuals.

Kent Police's Canterbury Inspector Daniel Fordom said: "Whilst Rossiter did not receive a custodial sentence, the detailed accounts provided by staff and the evidence gathered by officers were crucial in securing this long-term CBO.

"It sends a clear message that sustained and violent shoplifting will not be tolerated, and we will continue to work closely with retailers and the court system to secure more orders like this one."

The driver of the Land Rover Defender was left with a suspected broken back after the incident on the A43 at Hulcote, Northamptonshire, on 10 January.

Crenguta Aruxandei was handed a six-month suspended prison term and a one-year driving ban.

Northamptonshire Police released dashcam video of the "completely avoidable" crash, showing the 44-year-old slowing down in an Audi Q2 and moving from the outside to the inside lane.

Her sudden move across the carriageway towards an exit - in front of the Land Rover - forces its driver to take evasive action.

But the resulting swerve to avoid hitting the Audi destabilises the military vehicle and its trailer, sending them flying into the air and rolling across both lanes before coming to a stop.

Aruxandei, of Old Factory Way, Northampton, was sentenced earlier this month at Northampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving, police said.

Her jail sentence was suspended for 18 months and she was disqualified from driving for 12 months. She must sit an extended test before regaining her licence and was ordered to pay a £154 victim surcharge.

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In a statement confirming details of the injuries caused in the crash, Northamptonshire Police said: "The 36-year-old driver was thrown from the Land Rover and sustained a suspected fractured back and was taken to the University Hospital Coventry.

"His 31-year-old male passenger was taken to Northampton General Hospital with a significant head injury."

Aruxandei initially opted to go to trial at Northampton Crown Court, but changed her plea to guilty before a jury had been sworn in.

Detective Constable Eleanor Hudson, of the force's Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "Holding a driving licence is a privilege and a responsibility and there is no place on our roads for drivers who put the lives of innocent members of the public at risk.

"This was a completely avoidable collision on one of our major roads, which has left two other road users seriously injured and I am pleased that Crenguta Aruxandei will not be able to get back behind the wheel without passing an extended test to ensure she is safe to do so.

"Reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads remains a priority for Northamptonshire Police and our partners at the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance.

"We will continue to take robust action to remove unsafe drivers from our roads."

Trump then endorsed the newly compliant Delcy Rodriguez to run Venezuela, took control of the country's oil business, and crucially, set up an oil blockade of Cuba.

In doing so, he indicated that Cuba was now on his list of countries he intends to "deal with".

Iran, already on that list, has recently been at the centre of the president's attention, but all the indicators are that Cuba is most certainly "next".

We know this because Trump has said so.

In reality, the oil blockade is already bringing Cuba to its knees.

Venezuela provided cheap fuel to Cuba, and it was augmented by supplies from Mexico.

These vital lifelines have both stopped on Trump's orders, though Mexico maintains it was a "sovereign decision".

A single Russian oil tanker has reached Cuba this year, but that is for now, all the oil it has received.

Cuba has failed to diversify its power supplies - there's little solar power, little wind power, and very little gas - making it particularly reliant on oil to the point that now it can barely function.

I've recently been inside Cuba, and the effects of the blockade are devastating and immediately obvious.

This oil blockade is an economic war every bit as destructive as bombs and bullets.

There are continuous power blackouts across the country, and now also in the capital Havana, which was traditionally spared this type of treatment.

Government food stores and bakeries selling heavily subsidised household essentials are now regularly closed or virtually empty.

Many Cubans relied on these stores to buy food to survive - and not having this vital supply means there is a growing crisis, with people going hungry.

Petrol stations are largely closed and empty, pharmacies are bare, and people are queuing to get money from cash machines that are often drained and always come with a strict withdrawal limit.

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The tourism industry that once brought billions of dollars of hard currency to Cuba has almost come to a standstill.

Trump's threats, the blackouts, and a lack of aviation fuel have scared tourists away, particularly in Havana.

The traditional safety nets in Cuba, like its healthcare system, have broken. Hospitals are running on generators with very little supplies.

Charities are doing their best to pick up the slack with food handouts for the elderly and the homeless - they say they're now also handing out food to children and trying to help with education.

But they're struggling to find the resources, struggling to keep up with the demand and the need.

Rubbish is piled up on the streets all over the capital, and that's mainly because there's no fuel for the bin trucks to collect it.

I watched as people picked through the rotting food and vegetables in the rubbish, looking for something to eat - sometimes eating it where they stood. In alleyways nearby we filmed as people slept rough.

Countless people I spoke to told me that even though Cuba is a poor country, seeing this type of thing was not common here in the past - this was not how it used to be.

But these types of images have now become a constant visual reminder of how every facet of life in this Caribbean country is being affected by the blockade and Donald Trump's threats.

The once magnificent buildings that marked Havana out as a special place in the region are crumbling, even completely falling apart in places. People still live in these monuments to Cuba's past; they're clinging to a way of life that is disappearing.

A charity director I spoke to, who is also a tour guide mainly for Italian visitors, explained it to me this way: when her clients see Havana's disintegrating buildings, they ask her when the war was that brought this destruction about - there hasn't been a war, she has to explain.

Observers, neutral or otherwise, agree that people can't go on living like this and that Cuba needs help.

So far, Trump and his advisers have shown little regard for the fate of the Cuban population.

His promise that Cuba is next means nothing to the average person, because they don't know what next means, and here many doubt that the president or anyone in the White House knows what next means either, or if there is even a plan for a future in Cuba.