Unemployment rises in US and UK, adding to pressure to cut interest rates – as it happened

Time to wrap up…. on a day in which unemployment has risen on both sides of the Atlantic….The US labor market grew by more than expected last month, recovering some of the damage inflicted by the federal government shutdown, according to official data.An estimated 105,000 jobs were lost in October, and 64,000 were added in November, a highly-anticipated report showed on Tuesday.Jobs growth was higher in November than anticipated by many economists, with a consensus forecast of some 40,000 jobs added

US lost 105,000 jobs in October and added 64,000 in November, according to delayed data

The US labor market grew by more than expected last month, recovering some of the damage inflicted by the federal government shutdown, according to official data.An estimated 105,000 jobs were lost in October, and 64,000 were added in November, a highly-anticipated report showed on Tuesday.Jobs growth was higher in November than anticipated by many economists, with a consensus forecast of some 40,000 jobs added.But the headline unemployment rate continued to climb – and hit 4.6%, a four-year high, last month – amid apprehension around the strength of the US economy

Water levels across the Great Lakes are falling – just as US data centers move in

The sign outside Tom Hermes’s farmyard in Perkins Township in Ohio, a short drive south of the shores of Lake Erie, proudly claims that his family have farmed the land here since 1900. Today, he raises 130 head of cattle and grows corn, wheat, grass and soybeans on 1,200 acres of land.For his family, his animals and wider business, water is life.So when, in May 2024, the Texas-based Aligned Data Centers broke ground on its NEO-01, four-building, 200,000 sq ft data center on a brownfield site that abuts farmland that Hermes rents, he was concerned.“We have city water here

Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan

A campaign fronted by popstars including Elton John and Dua Lipa to protect artists’ works from being mined to train AI models without consent has received a boost after almost every respondent to a government consultation backed their case.Ninety-five per cent of the more than 10,000 people who had their say over how music, novels, films and other works should be protected from copyright infringements by tech companies called for copyright to be strengthened and a requirement for licensing in all cases or no change to copyright law.By contrast, only 3% of people backed the government’s initial preferred tech company-friendly option, which was to require artists and copyright holders to actively opt out of having their material fed into data-hungry AI systems.Ministers subsequently dropped that preference in the face of a backlash. Artists who have opposed any dilution of their copyright include Sam Fender, Kate Bush and the Pet Shop Boys

The Breakdown | Storming ahead means increasingly little in era of rugby’s comeback kings

They won’t always say so publicly but every journalist is familiar with the concept of a “reverse ferret”. In the heyday of printed newspapers a piece might be filed in good faith only for new information to force a frantic, face-saving rejig for later editions. Plenty of coruscating “why oh why” match reports, confidently hammered out at half-time, have been known to morph into gushing symphonies of praise thanks to an improbable late twist.It may just be that one or two backpedalling ferrets were spotted in the west of Scotland on Saturday night. To be fair, those reporters in attendance had every excuse

Joshua v Paul makes Joe Louis’ ‘Bum of the Month’ look like the Rumble in the Jungle | Sean Ingle

Precisely 85 years ago, one of the most fearsome heavyweight boxers in history stunk out the joint. Joe Louis was in the midst of his “Bum of the Month club”: a staggering run of 13 world title defences in 29 months against an assortment of stiffs, wild men and colourful characters. And when he arrived in Boston on 16 December 1940, most believed that Al McCoy would rapidly become his next victim. Only it didn’t quite turn out that way.“McCoy was expected to crumple under the first punch Louis tossed in his direction,” the New York Times’ correspondent wrote