UK ‘weeks away’ from medicine shortages if Iran war continues, experts say

Britain is “a few weeks away” from medicine shortages ranging from painkillers to cancer treatment if the Iran war continues, according to experts, while drug prices could also rise.The conflict has disrupted the supply of a myriad of crucial raw materials, including oil, gas, crop fertiliser and helium – and health essentials could be next.David Weeks, the Texas-based director of supply chain risk management at the analytics group Moody’s, said: “It’s the perfect storm. We have the conflict in the Gulf that caused the strait of Hormuz to shut down, and India is known as the pharmacy of the world. They produce a lot of the generic [off-patent] drugs and APIs [active pharmaceutical ingredients]

Wall Street hits six-month low and Dow falls into correction as Trump ‘appears to lose his grip on markets’ – as it happened

The US stock market has dropped to its lowest level since last September, as analysts warn that president Trump may be losing his grip on the markets.The S&P 500 index has dropped by 0.8% today to 6,425 points, adding to Thursday’s 1.75% fall on the benchmark US stock market index.The tech-focused Nasdaq index is down 1%, also at a six-month low

Sony to hike PS5 prices by $100 as AI and Iran war push up memory chip costs

Sony is raising global prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles, including a $100 increase in the US, marking its second hike in less than a year as the entertainment giant grapples with rising costs of key components such as memory chips.The tech industry’s race to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure has pushed memory makers to favor higher-margin datacenter chips, tightening supply for consumer devices like the ones Sony sells.The updated US prices, effective 2 April, will put the standard PS5 at $649.99, up from $549.99

Wikipedia bans AI-generated content in its online encyclopedia

Wikipedia has banned the use of artificial intelligence in the generation or rewriting of content for its voluminous online encyclopedia.In a recent policy change, Wikipedia said that the use of large language models (or LLMs) “often violates” its core principles and will not be allowed. The English language version of Wikipedia has more than 7.1m articles.The use of AI has been a contentious issue among Wikipedia’s community of volunteer editors but a vote among the site’s editors supported the ban, according to 404 Media

Bristol’s Big Day Out turns sour as Harlequins and Isgró spoil the party

In theory Bristol’s Big Day Out concept in Cardiff had all the right ingredients. Here was a chance to attract a few more floating voters and show them a good time in one of the world’s great stadiums. For the Prem as a whole it also massages the league’s aggregate attendance figures and projects the sense of a tournament growing steadily bigger and better.So much for best-laid plans. The attendance was about 6,000 fewer than the club’s previous game in Cardiff last season and the outcome also did nothing for Bristolian blood pressure as the Bears suffered a serious dent to their playoff chances at the hands of a Harlequins side winless in their previous six matches

‘I want to follow in Bannister’s footsteps’: Josh Kerr gunning for world mile landmark

It is, says Josh Kerr, a moment that makes the hairs on the back of his neck tingle every time he watches it. We are talking about Roger Bannister, his body taut then spent, falling into a crowd of well-wishers on a cinder track in Oxford in 1954 having become the first person in history to break the four-minute mile barrier. “That’s what I live for,” Kerr says, with the broadest of smiles.And then comes the grand reveal. Because at the London Diamond League in July, Kerr intends to stand on the shoulders of track and field’s giants – such as Bannister, the Australian Herb Elliott, Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett – by breaking the mile world record