Pound dips to 14-month low as bond sell-off piles pressure on Rachel Reeves

The pound briefly fell to a 14-month low against the US dollar on Thursday morning after the sell-off in the bond market fuelled investors’ anxiety about UK assets and piled further pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.Sterling extended recent losses against the US dollar, falling by a cent at one point, before recovering to trade half a cent down at $1.23.The sell-off in British government bonds – known as gilts – drove up the yield, or interest rate, paid to those holding them and therefore UK borrowing costs.However, comments by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, later on Thursday appeared to calm the market

Lloyds to let customers use Halifax and BoS branches, raising job cut fears

Lloyds Banking Group will allow customers to use any of its Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds branches as part of a shake-up that has sparked fears of job cuts and site closures, weeks before a strategy update by its chief executive, Charlie Nunn.A memo circulated to staff earlier this week explained that customers would be able to conduct their in-person banking at branches of any of the group’s three brands, regardless of which of lender they held accounts with.But unions representing Lloyds Banking Group staff are concerned this could open the door to job cuts, given that roughly 25% of the high street lender’s branches were within close distance of one another, according to a 2023 estimate. So far, they have been serving different sets of customers.Hints of the move came last year, when the group rolled out standardised uniforms across Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds branches

Meta has ‘heard the message’ from Trump, says whistleblower Frances Haugen

Mark Zuckerberg has “heard the message” from Donald Trump on restricting online content and his Meta platforms will intervene “less and less” on users during the president-elect’s administration, according to the whistleblower Frances Haugen.Haugen, who revealed the Facebook and Instagram owner’s struggles with user safety in 2021, said the US president-elect thought “the right way to run social media is with no restrictions”.Zuckerberg’s announcement on Tuesday that Meta was dropping third-party factcheckers in the US and making other moderation changes reflected this view, she added.“The announcement from Mark is him basically saying: ‘Hey I heard the message, we will not intervene in the United States,’” said Haugen.Announcing the changes on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said he would “work with President Trump” on pushing back against governments seeking to “censor more”, pointing to Latin America, China and Europe, where the UK and EU have introduced online safety legislation

Meta’s factchecking partners brace for layoffs

Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end factchecking on Facebook and Instagram in the US already has factchecking journalists bracing for cuts at their organizations, given the size of Meta’s funding.The social media giant has provided more than $100m for outside organizations certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to conduct factchecks on its social networks since 2016, which would result in posts receiving accuracy ratings and having their reach reduced if false. Major outlets like USA Today and Reuters have partnered with the social media company for these factchecks, as have factcheck specific sites like FactCheck.org. In all, 10 outlets are listed by Meta as current partners in the US

The wrong trousers: how sporting dress codes can create an image problem | Emma John

Wallace and Gromit is a festive TV staple in many a household – but it wasn’t their wrong trousers that scooped the post-Christmas headlines. That honour belonged to Magnus Carlsen, disqualified from a chess tournament in New York for wearing jeans.The world No 1 – who also happens to be the only current chess player most people can name – had balked when he was told to change his attire before his ninth-round match at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Walking out of the event, Carlsen shrugged that he would “probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer”. Instead, he returned three days later after the governing body, Fide, had agreed a more “flexible approach” to its dress code

Murray ready to be on the end of any Djokovic outbursts at Australian Open

Andy Murray says he would be absolutely fine with receiving any angry outbursts of emotion or venting on-court from Novak Djokovic, his new coaching charge, as the two former longtime rivals prepare for their first tournament together on the same team at the Australian Open.“Of course, I’ve thought about it,” Murray said in Melbourne on Thursday. “I would think that I’d be one of the people that would maybe hopefully understand that side of things. I know it’s not easy out there, and it’s stressful, and at times he’s going to want to vent towards his team and his box. Provided that he’s giving his best effort and trying as hard as he can, I’m absolutely fine with him expressing himself how he wants