Wall Street hits record high on trade deal hopes; UK car exports to US halve due to tariffs – as it happened
UK car production has slumped to a 76-year low, as Donald Trump’s trade war hurt the British auto industry.Shipments to the US fell by 55.4% last month, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.The SMMT says:This was primarily due to the imposition by the US administration of a supplementary 25% Section 232 tariffs on cars from March which depressed demand instantly forcing many manufacturers to stop shipments.However, with the trade agreement negotiated by government due to come into effect before the end of June, this should hopefully be a short-lived constraint
Barclays and Jes Staley face fresh lawsuit in US over Epstein link
Barclays and its former chief executive Jes Staley are facing a class action lawsuit in the US over claims they defrauded and misled investors over Staley’s relationship with the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.A judge in a Los Angeles court denied Staley’s request to dismiss the case this week, paving the way for a fresh hearing that continues a long-running legal saga emanating from Staley’s statements to regulators and investors over the nature of his ties to the disgraced financier.It is a bruising outcome for the American banker, who lost a legal challenge in the UK on Thursday against the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which in 2023 had banned him for life from holding senior management roles in the City for misleading the watchdog over his history with Epstein.The US class action suit, led by pension funds in New York and Missouri, alleges that Barclays, its chair, Nigel Higgins, and Staley repeatedly misrepresented Staley’s history with Epstein to media and investors, starting in July 2019, weeks after Epstein was arrested on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex.Court documents allege that this was done in an attempt to protect Barclays’ reputation and share price
Superdrug to add 25 stores as demand for weight loss drugs soars
An increase in demand for weight loss drugs, including Mounjaro and Wegovy, as well as demand among its generation Alpha customer base for beauty products is driving expansion at Superdrug.The retailer plans to add 25 more stores to its 800-plus strong chain this year as well as extending existing outlets, despite troubles across the high street that have led to the closure of hundreds of stores at its rival Boots and downsizing at chains from Poundland to River Island.Superdrug is bouncing back from difficult times during the coronavirus pandemic as demand for its weight-loss services almost 300% in the first half of this year compared with last year.While many of the drugs are ordered online via its private GP service, the retailer is looking at how it can adapt and expand in-store services to cater for demand so that its team of nurses can offer help with the potential side-effects, such as hair loss, for example. More serious problems, including with the pancreas, have also been flagged up in some cases
Rising poverty in conflict zones ‘causes a billion people to go hungry’
Extreme poverty is accelerating in 39 countries affected by war and conflict, leaving more than a billion people to go hungry, according to the World Bank.Civil wars and confrontations between nations, mostly in Africa, have set back economic growth and reduced the incomes of more than a billion people, “driving up extreme poverty faster than anywhere else”, the Washington-based body said.Underscoring the breadth of conflicts beyond the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, it said the 39 developing economies classified as being in fragile and conflict-affected situations are plagued by instability and weak institutions, “hindering their ability to attain the robust, sustained economic growth needed for development”.In its first assessment of conflict zones since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, the World Bank urged western governments to step up support for war-torn countries to end the conflicts and rebuild vital institutions.Since 2020 the level of national income per head of population has shrunk by an average of 1
EU retaliation against Trump drug tariffs would be bad idea, says industry
The European pharmaceutical industry has urged Brussels not to retaliate if Donald Trump brings in threatened tariffs on imported drugs, amid fears he could impose the levies as early as next week.The US president said last week that the sector-specific tariffs were coming “very soon”. There is concern in Brussels that he could impose them imminently to give himself further leverage ahead of his self-imposed 9 July deadline for trade deals with the EU and about 60 countries.At a briefing in the Belgium capital on Thursday, the president of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations said it would hurt everyone if the EU hit back with its own import duties.“We’re shipping a lot of exports out of the US into Europe,” Stefan Oelrich said
Period drama: Here We Flo pulls ‘plastic-free’ pledge amid row over green claims
The sustainable period care brand Here We Flo, which launched in 2017 selling “plant powered” pads and liners that are “100% free of nasties”, is removing the terms “plastic-free” and “no synthetic fibres” from its packets.The company said it had been working on a “packaging refresh” for the past year.It denied that it had made the changes because “the sustainable material claims are misleading”, but admitted it would no longer be using terms such as “biodegradable”, “no synthetic fibres, “plastic-free”, “eco-friendly” and “planet-friendly” on its period products.The changes come amid an angry spat between Here We Flo and a rival brand, Mooncup, which has complained to regulators about Here We Flo’s green claims.Mooncup cited a report by scientists at a leading university that allegedly found Here We Flo’s pads and liners contained a combination of synthetic and semi-synthetic materials
Trump’s tax bill seeks to prevent AI regulations. Experts fear a heavy toll on the planet
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Anthropic did not breach copyright when training AI on books without permission, court rules
M&S boss slams ‘bureaucratic madness’ of products requiring ‘not for EU’ labels
The boss of Marks & Spencer has called on the government to rapidly reset relations with the EU and criticised new rules which demand extra checks and labelling on products headed from the UK mainland to Northern Ireland as “bureaucratic madness”.Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, which has 25 stores in Northern Ireland, said that from next week the retailer would have to label 1,000 more products destined for the UK country with “not for EU” while another 400 items would require “additional checks”.The “not for EU” labelling is designed to prevent products intended for sale in Northern Ireland being moved to the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member.In a post on X, he said the change in rules added “yet another layer of unnecessary costs and red tape for food retailers like M&S”.“Quite frankly it’s bureaucratic madness, confusing for customers, and completely unnecessary given the UK has some of the highest food standards in the world
Lotus plans to end UK sportscar production, putting 1,300 jobs at risk
Lotus is planning to end production of its sportscars in the UK and shift it to the US, a move that would put 1,300 jobs at risk and represent a major blow to the British car industry.The carmaker’s Chinese owner, Geely, is looking at options including manufacturing its Emira sportscar in the US, and permanently stopping production at its factory in Hethel, Norfolk, according to a person with knowledge of the company’s thinking. No final decision has been made.Workers at the factory, in a former second world war bomber facility, have not been informed of the plans. Lotus declined to comment on “rumours and speculation”
Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green
Google’s carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company’s efforts to go green.While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence.The company reported a 27% increase in year-on-year electricity consumption as it struggles to decarbonise as quickly as its energy needs increase.Datacentres play a crucial role in training and operating the models that underpin AI models such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT-4, which powers the ChatGPT chatbot. The International Energy Agency estimates that datacentres’ total electricity consumption could double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, approximately Japan’s level of electricity demand
Inside a plan to use AI to amplify doubts about the dangers of pollutants
An industry-backed researcher who has forged a career sowing doubt about the dangers of pollutants is attempting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify his perspective.Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr, a Denver-based risk analyst and former Trump adviser who once reportedly claimed there is no proof that cleaning air saves lives, is developing an AI application to scan academic research for what he sees as the false conflation of correlation with causation.Cox has described the project as an attempt to weed “propaganda” out of epidemiological research and perform “critical thinking at scale” in emails to industry researchers, which were obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by the Energy and Policy Institute, a non-profit advocacy group, and exclusively reviewed by the Guardian.He has long leveled accusations of flimsiness at research linking exposure to chemical compounds with health dangers, including on behalf of polluting interests such as cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA and the American Petroleum Institute – a fossil fuel lobbying group he has even allowed to “copy edit” his findings. (Cox says the edit “amounted to suggesting a small change” and noted that he has also obtained public research funding
Josh Hazlewood blitz sends Australia to victory inside three days in West Indies
It was an extraordinary final session to end the first Test in Barbados in the long shadows of the third evening. After two days of wobbles, a portion of Australia’s batting got its act together, with the lower-middle-order trio of Travis Head, Beau Webster, and Alex Carey making half centuries to lift Australia’s second innings to 310. That left West Indies needing 301 to win the first Test in Barbados, always unlikely on a Kensington Oval pitch that already had balls keeping low. Josh Hazlewood made sure of it with a withering burst of 4-4 in 16 balls, later upping that to 5-23, as West Indies crashed humiliatingly to 141 all out, losing by 159 runs.Hazlewood has been the subject of some public attention of late, given his injury absences and how well Scott Boland has performed during each one
Jake Connor shines as Leeds sweep Leigh aside to keep title charge building
This was a night where you could almost sense the mood of all those associated with Leeds Rhinos shift from cautious optimism to genuine belief about what could lie ahead this summer.After several years of malaise, disappointment is rare in this part of West Yorkshire these days but after an underwhelming defeat to St Helens last weekend, Brad Arthur had demanded his side show a response. How they did that here, and in some style on another impressive evening for Leeds.The ultra-demanding Arthur will likely be frustrated with the amount of points his side conceded but credit must go to Leigh, who are in the top four alongside Leeds on merit. But when the Rhinos attacked, they were utterly sensational and were worthy winners to climb above the Leopards and move up to third
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