Bank of England tipped to raise UK interest rates twice this year to fight inflation shock from Middle East crisis, as oil and gas prices rise – as it happened

Time for a recap….A turbulent day in the financial markets has seen energy prices surge, and European stock markets fall.UK and European gas prices have jumped 15% today, after yesterday’s attacks by Iran on energy infrastructure across the Middle East.QatarEnergy has revealed that Iran’s strikes have damaged facilities responsible for producing 17% ​of the company’s LNG export capacity, and it could take three to five years to repair the damage.Brent crude jumped by 10% at one state – extending the gap between Brent and US oil – before slipping back to $110 a barrel, up 3

Oil and gas prices jump after Iran and Israel attack gasfields

Gas prices jumped to four-year highs and oil prices rose again after an escalation of attacks by Israel and Iran on gasfields heightened fears of prolonged disruption to international energy supplies.QatarEnergy told Reuters on Thursday that Iran had damaged facilities that produced 17% of the state-owned company’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity and that it would take three to five years to repair them.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 10% to $119 a barrel at one point before slipping back to $110 a barrel, a gain of 3.3%. Crude prices have soared by 60% since the US-Israeli war on Iran started on 28 February

Essex police pause facial recognition camera use after study finds racial bias

Essex police have paused the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology after a study found cameras were significantly more likely to target black people than people of other ethnicities.The move to suspend use of the AI-enabled systems was revealed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates the use of the technology deployed so far by at least 13 police forces in London, south and north Wales, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Surrey and Sussex.The ICO said Essex police had paused LFR deployments “after identifying potential accuracy and bias risks” and warned other forces to have mitigations in place. LFR systems are either mounted to fixed locations or deployed in vans. In January, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the number of LFR vans would increase five-fold, with 50 available to every police force in England and Wales

US startup advertises ‘AI bully’ role to test patience of leading chatbots

Imagine a day at work where your main task is to pick a fight with a computer. No meetings, no emails – just you, a chair and a chatbot with the maddening tendency to think it has the cleverest mind in the room.The job title alone raises an eyebrow: “AI bully”. But this is precisely what a California startup called Memvid is offering: $800 to spend eight hours testing the patience and memory of artificial intelligence.“You’ll spend a full eight-hour day interacting with leading AI chatbots – and your only job is to be brutally honest about how frustrating they are,” the company’s job listing states

‘The one medal I don’t have’: confident Keely Hodgkinson targets a first world title

Keely Hodgkinson believes she could not be in better shape to win a first world title this weekend having kicked on again after breaking the indoor 800m world record last month.The Olympic champion is the overwhelming favourite for gold at the world indoor championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, and sounded bullish when asked if she had pushed on in training after obliterating Jolanda Ceplak’s record by running 1min 54.87sec in Liévin in February.“Yeah, training’s gone really well,” said Hodgkinson, who starts her competition with heats on Friday morning. “I’m very happy with where I am

Striking gambit: Erling Haaland invests in new world chess championship

Erling Haaland has become a significant investor in a new world chess championship tour that is expected to star his fellow Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the Guardian can reveal.The deal was agreed shortly before Manchester City played at West Ham last Saturday, with Haaland shown on Sky Sports wearing a Norway Chess cap as he entered the London Stadium – without anyone noticing.Haaland said that his investment in the Total Chess World Championship Tour, which will have an annual prize pool of $2.7m (£2m), was part of his ambition to help chess become a bigger and more spectator-friendly sport.“Chess is an incredible game,” Haaland said