UK interest rate cut in March more likely after unemployment rate hits five-year high – business live

The chances of a cut to UK interest rates next month have risen, following this morning’s data showing a rise in unemployment and a slowdown in wage growth.The City money markets now indicate there’s a near-75% chance that the Bank of England lowers interest rates to 3.5% at its next meeting, in March, up from 69% last night.Investors now fully expect two rate cuts by Christmas, which would bring Bank Rate down to 3.25%

Boohoo and Debenhams owner raises £35m, risking Mike Ashley clash

The owner of Boohoo and Debenhams is raising £35m from shareholders in a move that could open a fresh conflict with Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.The company, which also owns Oasis, Warehouse, Pretty Little Thing and Karen Millen, said on Tuesday that the new cash would help reduce debts and fund its turnaround plans. These involve slashing costs, selling off a distribution centre and operating Debenhams as an online marketplace for other brands.The fund raise, backed by the Boohoo founder, Mahmud Kamani, comes less than 18 months after the group raised £39m from shareholders as it battles to revive sales amid heavy competition from rivals such as Shein and Vinted.Debenhams, which changed its name from Boohoo last year, posted a share price fall of almost 9% on Tuesday morning

Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing

Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbots and image generation tools driving the sector’s explosive growth of gas-guzzling datacentres, the analysis of 154 statements found.The research, commissioned by nonprofits including Beyond Fossil Fuels and Climate Action Against Disinformation, did not find a single example where popular tools such as Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot were leading to a “material, verifiable, and substantial” reduction in planet-heating emissions.Ketan Joshi, an energy analyst and author of the report, said the industry’s tactics were “diversionary” and relied on tried and tested methods that amount to “greenwashing”.He likened it to fossil fuel companies advertising their modest investments in solar panels and overstating the potential of carbon capture

TikTok creator ByteDance vows to curb AI video tool after Disney threat

ByteDance, the Chinese technology company behind TikTok, has said it will restrain its AI video-making tool, after threats of legal action from Disney and a backlash from other media businesses, according to reports.The AI video generator Seedance 2.0, released last week, has spooked Hollywood as users create realistic clips of movie stars and superheroes with just a short text prompt.Several big Hollywood studios have accused the tool of copyright infringement.On Friday, Walt Disney reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance which accused it of supplying Seedance with a “pirated library” of the studio’s characters, including those from Marvel and Star Wars, according to the US news outlet Axios

Winter Olympics 2026: crunch time in curling, women’s slopestyle postponed by snow – live

End of period one in both hockey matches. Switzerland lead Italy 2-0 and Germany lead France 3-0; the winners will face Finland and Slovakia respectively.It’s going to be a long afternoon for France, Peterka rounding Junca to put Germany 3-0 up with a minute and change to go in the first.This is really nice.A long-range punt from Josi, an NHL all-star … and Switzerland lead Italy 2-0

‘No cushion, no seatbelt, no airbag’: the GB bobsledder who races with her eyes closed

Ashleigh Nelson was never meant to be in the Winter Olympics. If you’d asked her 18 months ago where she expected to be competing this week, she would have told you she would be at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham running the 60m at the UK Indoor Championships, not standing at the top of the world’s newest ice track riding a £75,000 bobsleigh.“I was tricked into it,” Nelson says. “You laugh, but it’s true.” Nelson only got into it after the GB bob pilot Adele Nicole sent her a message on Instagram just after the Paris Olympics asking if she fancied giving it a go