UK economic growth confirmed at 0.7% in first quarter; Lincolnshire oil refinery calls in administrators –as it happened

Here’s our full story on the UK GDP data:UK households faced a renewed cost of living squeeze in the first three months of 2025 amid increases in taxes and inflation, official figures show, despite the economy growing at the fastest rate in the G7.The Office for National Statistics said an important measure of living standards – real household disposable income per head – fell by 1% in the first quarter after growth of 1.8% in the final three months of 2024, in the first quarterly decline for almost two years.The households’ saving ratio – which estimates the percentage of disposable income Britons save rather than spend – slumped by 1.1 percentage points to 10

Lindsey oil refinery owner Prax falls into administration as ministers urged to intervene

The government has called for an investigation into the conduct of bosses at one of the UK’s largest oil refineries after it collapsed into administration on Monday, prompting concern about job losses and disruption to fuel supplies.Sources familiar with the situation said that government officials had been growing increasingly fearful about the finances of State Oil, which owns the Prax Lindsey refinery in north Lincolnshire, since April.The heavily lossmaking company assured ministers it was in good health during a meeting at the Prax site in May but is understood to have suddenly admitted in the past week that it was on the verge of insolvency.The company, the only British business to own one of the UK’s five key refineries, is understood to have failed to comply with multiple requests from Westminster to open its books as it plunged towards failure.The government said workers had been “badly let down”

‘Lidar is lame’: why Elon Musk’s vision for a self-driving Tesla taxi faltered

After years of promising investors that millions of Tesla robotaxis would soon fill the streets, Elon Musk debuted his driverless car service in a limited public rollout in Austin, Texas. It did not go smoothly.The 22 June launch initially appeared successful enough, with a flood of videos from pro-Tesla social media influencers praising the service and sharing footage of their rides. Musk celebrated it as a triumph, and the following day, Tesla’s stock rose nearly 10%.What quickly became apparent, however, was that the same influencer videos Musk promoted also depicted the self-driving cars appearing to break traffic laws or struggle to properly function

Elon Musk calls Trump’s big bill ‘utterly insane and destructive’ as Senate debates

The billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Saturday criticized the latest version of Donald Trump’s sprawling tax and spending bill, calling it “utterly insane and destructive.“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk wrote on Saturday as the Senate was scheduled to call a vote to open debate on the nearly 1,000-page bill.“Utterly insane and destructive,” Musk added. “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”Passing the package, Musk said, would be “political suicide for the Republican Party

Farewell tradition, hello robots: Wimbledon adjusts to life without line judges

Sometimes progress registers simply as absence, and so it was on the opening day of Wimbledon this year when the pursuit of greater accuracy led to the disappearance of the tournament’s famous line judges.Electronic line calls are now in operation in SW19, bringing the championships into line with the grand slam tournaments in Melbourne and New York and also the ATP Tour. The French Open still uses line judges. But the shift to camera‑based, AI‑enhanced decision-making cuts deeper at Wimbledon, where up to 300 line judges have been a colourful part of the tournament’s ensemble cast for the past 147 years.With protests outside the gates (albeit with tongue in cheek) and ambivalence among fans, there were also unexpected reactions from players to the changes

Sibley hits 305 as Surrey break run record: county cricket day two – as it happened

On and on went big bad Dom. Past 200, past his highest previous score, past 250 and, with a sprinted single that left him spreadeagled in the Oval dust, to 300.Sibley clambered to his feet, raised his bat and soaked up the warm applause for a mammoth effort of concentration: 28 fours, two sixes and 472 balls of toil as the mercury rose. He joins an elite club of triple-centurions for Surrey at the Oval, in Mark Ramprakash, Kevin Pietersen, Bobby Abel, Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward. At the other end, Dan Lawrence shimmied 174 and Will Jacks 119 as Surrey set their record first-class score, finally putting Durham out of their misery at 820 for nine