French sovereign borrowing costs rise to highest premium in 12 years

French sovereign borrowing costs have soared to the highest premium since the eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil as the government faces the risk of collapse over a planned austerity budget.The gap between French 10-year government bond yields and their German equivalent ballooned to as much as 90 basis points on Wednesday, the widest level in 12 years, while shares listed on the Paris stock exchange also tumbled.Reflecting the dangers of a renewed period of political unrest in the eurozone’s second-largest economy, it comes as the prime minister, Michel Barnier, attempts to push through a budget involving €60bn (£50bn) of spending cuts and tax rises despite lacking a working majority in parliament.Barnier, who was appointed by Emmanuel Macron in September after the snap general election called by the president left France with a hung parliament, warned on Tuesday that toppling the government would trigger meltdown in financial markets.“There will be a big storm and very serious turbulence on the financial markets,” he said when asked on French broadcaster TF1 what the impact would be if the budget measures did not pass

Vauxhall owner was ‘confident’ about meeting EV rules before factory shutdown

The owner of Vauxhall told investors that it was “confident” it would meet the UK’s rules on electric vehicle sales just two months before it blamed them for the decision to close a factory in Luton, the Guardian can reveal.Stellantis cited the UK’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate when it announced the closure of its van factory in Bedfordshire on Tuesday, putting 1,100 workers at risk of redundancy or relocation to its factory making smaller vans in Ellesmere Port.However, Natalie Knight, Stellantis’s chief financial officer, told a conference in September that the business expected to make a profit from its British sales and to meet the ZEV targets, avoiding steep fines.The comments appear to undermine Stellantis’s repeated claims that the factory, which makes the Vivaro van, was threatened by the mandate.Carmakers have launched a months-long lobbying effort to persuade the UK government to relax the mandate, which aims to spur the shift away from polluting petrol and diesel vehicles towards cleaner battery cars and vans

X trying to block transfer of platform’s InfoWars accounts to the Onion

Elon Musk’s X is trying to block the transfer of the platform’s InfoWars accounts to the Onion after filing a legal objection stating that it owns users’ accounts.The social network has filed a “limited objection” to the sale of InfoWars, a media platform run by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the satirical news outlet the Onion.Although X said it did not oppose the sale as a “general matter”, it is arguing that its users do not own their accounts and cannot sell or transfer them without its permission.“X Corp.’s TOS [terms of service] make clear that it owns the X Accounts, as the TOS is explicit that X Corp

Amazon, Google and Meta are ‘pillaging culture, data and creativity’ to train AI, Australian inquiry finds

Tech companies Amazon, Google and Meta have been criticised by a Senate select committee inquiry for being especially vague over how they used Australian data to train their powerful artificial intelligence products.Labor senator Tony Sheldon, the inquiry’s chair, was frustrated by the multinationals’ refusal to answer direct questions about their use of Australians’ private and personal information.“Watching Amazon, Meta, and Google dodge questions during the hearings was like sitting through a cheap magic trick – plenty of hand-waving, a puff of smoke, and nothing to show for it in the end,” Sheldon said in a statement, after releasing the final report of the inquiry on Tuesday.He called the tech companies “pirates” that were “pillaging our culture, data, and creativity for their gain while leaving Australians empty-handed.”Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe report found some general-purpose AI models – such as OpenAI’s GPT, Meta’s Llama and Google’s Gemini – should automatically default to a “high risk” category, and be subjected to mandated transparency and accountability requirements

Danni Wyatt-Hodge sets England run landmark in T20 win over South Africa

Danni Wyatt-Hodge celebrated becoming the first English woman to bring up 3,000 runs in T20 internationals with a blistering 78 from 45 balls, while Nat Sciver-Brunt hit a third consecutive half-century, as England sealed the T20 series with a 36-run win against South Africa.England amassed a mammoth 204-run total against October’s World Cup finalists – just the fourth time they have surpassed 200 in the format – and the series win will go some way to restoring confidence amongst a group of players who were bruised by the vocal criticism of their own premature World Cup exit.Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionBut England were helped along by some distinctly average South African fielding, which included dropping Wyatt-Hodge on nine and 29, and Sciver-Brunt on 25, and their own bowling was none too penetrative, with the usually metronomic Sophie Ecclestone conceding 40 runs from her four overs. Annerie Dercksen was let off the hook after being bowled by a Lauren Filer no-ball, and though Sarah Glenn saw her off in the next over – finishing with four for 20 – South Africa smashed 33 runs from the final two overs.England may have won comfortably in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, but that comfort rested on the weight of their runs, rather than the quality of their efforts in the field

Australia’s mission improbable: crack the genius of Jasprit Bumrah in 10 days | Barney Ronay

Test cricket is supposed to be cruel. This is a key aspect of its beauty. This thing hurts. It will seek out your weakest points and then very carefully and skilfully gouge its nails into the wound. But is it meant to be this cruel?There was something tender, painful and even a little disturbing about what Jasprit Bumrah did to Marnus Labuschagne during the first Border-Gavaskar Test in Perth