Another shadow banking hit – but otherwise, Barclays looks fine

The Barclays boss CS Venkatakrishnan, having seen the bank hit in the space of six months by two high-profile blow-ups in the world of shadow banking, is pledging to take more care. “We are constraining lending to certain structured finance counterparties who operate more vulnerable business models and cannot convince us of the quality and independence of their financial controls,” he said.There’s an obvious response to that vow of greater vigilance: what were you doing previously? Wouldn’t it have been a good idea in the first place not to lend to high-risk outfits with unconvincing financial controls – for example, those with large mortgage exposures but small audit firms? There was, in other words, a sense in the chief executive’s comments of stable doors being shut rather too late.But here’s the other point about Barclays’ twin embarrassments: they are significant but not enormous in the grand scheme. The impairment charge in Tuesday’s first-quarter numbers for Market Financial Solutions (MFS), which collapsed in February amid allegations of fraud, was £228m

US gas prices surge to highest level in four years, averaging $4.18 a gallon

US gas prices rose to their highest level in four years on Thursday, reaching an average $4.18 a gallon at the pump as US-Israeli peace talks with Iran remain at a standstill.The last time average US gas prices breached $4.15 a gallon was in April 2022, when oil prices soared shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Average gas prices are now $1 higher than just a year ago, when they were closer to $3

Google reportedly signs classified AI deal with US Pentagon

Google has reportedly signed a deal with the US Pentagon to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work. The tech company joins a growing list of Silicon Valley firms inking agreements with the US military.The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google’s AI for “any lawful government purpose”, the report from the Information added, putting it alongside OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI, which also have deals to supply AI models for classified use. Similar agreements, both at Google and other AI firms, have sparked significant disagreements with the Pentagon and major employee pushback.Classified networks are used to handle a wide range of sensitive work, including mission planning and weapons targeting

‘It feels like a betrayal’: anger as Apple to close its first unionized store in the US

Workers at the first Apple store to unionize in the US are pushing back against the company’s decision to shut it down by June, alleging that Apple’s decision is rooted in “a cynical attempt to bust the union”.On Monday, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Apple, alleging unionized employees at the store in Towson, Maryland, are being denied transfer rights and other rights compared with workers at non-unionized stores. The union is also alleging retaliation for being unionized.According to the union, Apple claims the collective bargaining agreement prevents relocation, a claim the union says is “simply false, and raises serious concerns that this closure is a cynical attempt to bust the union”, the union said in a statement.Apple denied the claims in the charge

‘Like cutting the head off a hydra’: how Mary Cain exposed Nike’s disgraced coaching team

“As someone who has lost touch with reality, I like to hold a firm grasp on it now,” Mary Cain says while we walk through a palm-tree spotted campus in California.She’s telling me why she insisted she write her own memoir, This Is Not About Running, without ceding the narrative to a ghostwriter, as happens with many athletes. “My story is so complicated … there are so many bad actors that I think it forces the reader to embrace nuance, and I don’t think you see that very often.”At 29, Mary Cain is a decade removed from her experience as the United States’ highest hope for a middle-distance track star since Mary Decker smashed women’s world records up and down the stat sheet in the 1970s and 80s.Cain set four different national high school records as a teen, and as a 17-year old made the world championships in the 1500m, finishing 10th in a field of pros

The Breakdown | Celebrating elite speed machines who can send rugby into the stratosphere

As Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe crossed the line to complete his world-record London Marathon sprint on Sunday the BBC’s commentator Steve Cram almost swallowed his microphone. “Absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that. What a finish.” Running 26