US interest in electric vehicles surges as gas prices jump amid Iran war

US car buyers are showing a surge in interest in electric vehicles after Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran helped cause a major jump in gasoline prices.The cost to refuel a vehicle in the US is at its highest level in nearly three years, with the average national price of gas standing at $3.90 a gallon on Friday.This increase has been driven by the rising global cost of oil in the wake of the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran, a major oil producer. The conflict has resulted in the strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that conveys around a fifth of the world’s oil, being shut off by Iran

‘It’s come at the wrong time’: how Iran war has floored the Gulf as a sports hub

The sight of Nasser al-Khelaifi grounded in Doha when Paris Saint Germain hosted Chelsea in the last-16 of the Champions League last week provided a symbolic illustration of the fragility of the Gulf’s sports project amid the conflict in the Middle East.Al-Khelaifi is the president of PSG, the chair of Qatar Sports Investments and, most crucially, the European Football Clubs, a lobby group that, along with Uefa, runs the Champions League. He is seen as the second-most powerful individual in world football, after the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. Yet, with Qatari airspace closed, the 52-year-old was forced to miss his first PSG match for years.After watching PSG’s thrilling 5-2 victory in the first leg on the sports channel of the global TV network he also chairs, BeIN Media Group, Al-Khelaifi made it to London to watch Luis Enrique’s side inflict further misery on Chelsea with a 3-0 win in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday

Musk responsible for Twitter investors’ stock dropping when he bought company, jury rules

A California jury has ruled that Elon Musk is responsible for Twitter investors’ stock plummeting when he sought to buy the social media platform for $44bn in 2022. Jurors handed the win to a group of investors who sued the billionaire saying he publicly disparaged the company with the aim of bringing down Twitter’s stock price to get a better bargain.The trial, which began earlier this month in federal court in San Francisco, focused on whether Musk intended to move the market with his comments. During a six-month period in 2022, after his offer to buy Twitter, he posted constantly to his millions of followers that the social network was rife with bots that produced spam and created fake accounts.Musk did eventually buy Twitter for $54

Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

The publisher of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and the Irish Independent has suspended one of its senior journalists after he admitted using AI to “wrongly put words into people’s mouths”.Peter Vandermeersch, the former head of the Irish operations at Mediahuis, said he “fell into the trap of hallucinations” – the term for AI-generated errors – when using the technology.Vandermeersch, a fellow of “journalism and society” at the European publishing group, has been suspended from his role.The experienced journalist said he had summarised reports using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s NotebookLM, and not checked whether the quotes from those summaries were accurate. He subsequently published them in his Substack newsletter

The WNBA’s historic deal teaches girls everywhere to advocate for themselves | Etan Thomas

I interviewed Jemele Hill for my podcast The Rematch and asked for her reaction to the WNBA’s landmark new collective bargaining agreement, a seven-year deal that includes a salary cap increase to $7m (up from $1.5m in 2025), maximum salaries approaching $1.4m, 20% revenue sharing, expanded rosters, charter flights and more.Hill didn’t mince words.“Unfortunately, there’s still a very prevalent attitude when it comes to women’s sports that, ‘Hey sweetie, you should just be happy that somebody is letting you put on a uniform and bounce a ball,’” she said

Northampton hold off late Newcastle fightback in thriller to reclaim top spot

On the face of it, not a lot to see here. The league leaders return to the top of the table with a bonus-point win against the team placed bottom. But don’t you believe it. Newcastle may have shipped 60 the last time they played a Prem game here, but they pushed the Saints all the way.Northampton, it must be said, were about as far from full strength as can be