Bank of England expected to leave interest rates on hold; UK construction activity shrinks again – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Interest rates on both sides of the channel are likely to be left on hold today, but relief may be coming for UK borrowers within months.Both the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are expected to maintain their respective interest rates unchanged today.UK interest rates are currently 3.75%, and the rise in inflation in December to 3

Shell to hand investors bigger payouts despite continued fall in profits

Shell has said it will continue to hand investors bumper payouts despite reporting its third consecutive year of falling profits following weaker oil prices.The oil company reported a 22% fall in adjusted earnings to $18.5bn (£13.6bn) for 2025, down from $23.7bn in 2024, owing to steadily falling global oil market prices

What does the disappearance of a $100bn deal mean for the AI economy?

Did the circular AI economy just wobble? Last week it was reported that a much-discussed $100bn deal – announced last September – between Nvidia and OpenAI might not be happening at all.This was a circular arrangement through which the chipmaker would supply the ChatGPT developer with huge sums of money that would largely go towards the purchase of its own chips.It is this type of deal that has alarmed some market watchers, who detect a whiff of the 1999-2000 dotcom bubble in these transactions.Now it seems that Nvidia was not as solid on this investment as had been widely believed, according to the Wall Street Journal. Negotiations had not progressed, with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, privately emphasising that the deal was “non-binding” and “not finalised”

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: great Bluetooth earbuds at a good price

Google’s latest budget Pixel earbuds are smaller, lighter, more comfortable and have noise cancelling, plus a case that allows you to replace the battery at home.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Pixel Buds 2a uses the design of the excellent Pixel Buds Pro 2 with a few high-end features at a more palatable £109 (€129/$129/A$239) price, undercutting rivals in the process

From London to LX: the British mastermind behind the Seahawks’ standout Super Bowl defense

Midway through the 2023 NFL season, Dallas Cowboys star edge rusher Micah Parsons was frustrated. Asked about the source – a feeling of being held by opponents all the time – Parsons credited his defensive line coach Aden Durde with keeping him in check.“[Coach Durde] pulled me aside and said, ‘You gotta remember, you’re Micah fucking Parsons,” he recalled. “‘This shit is going to happen. You just gotta keep going

The Patriots’ Robert Kraft posed as an NFL voice of reason – then fell back in line for Trump | Howard Bryant

During the worst of it, when Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police a decade ago and Colin Kaepernick took a knee in protest, when a widespread reaction was to tell the highly accomplished, overwhelmingly Black professional athletes they were un-American, or well-paid farmhands who needed to get back to work, or both, and some of his peers in the ownership class were releasing players as punishment for joining the protest, it was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft who positioned himself as the voice of reason.Kraft attempted to broker peace between the ownership hawks who saw the high-paid kneelers as ungrateful mutineers and, after decades of docility, the radicalized players unwilling to collect their checks in exchange for political silence. Kraft encouraged two of his players – the twins Devin and Jason McCourty – into deeper citizenship, to engage with the legal and political systems and promote reforms. As a sign of compassion and a willingness to listen, Kraft visited the incarcerated rapper Meek Mill, and later the two partnered with another artist, Jay-Z, on various criminal justice initiatives.On 6 January 2021, when so many of the voices loudest in their opposition to player protests, the ones who said the dissenting ballplayers were treasonous for disrespecting both the American flag and law enforcement at the behest of outgoing president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and contributed to the deaths of one policeman and the trauma and eventual deaths of several others, it was Kraft who was apparently so disgusted that he stopped talking to Trump, publicly distancing himself from the man to whose inauguration four years earlier he had donated $1m