Wall Street and FTSE 100 hit record highs after US inflation report fuels interest rate cut hopes – as it happened

Newsflash: US inflation has risen, but not as much as expected, new delayed economic data shows.The annual US consumer prices index rose to 3% in September, up from 2.9% in August, but lower than the 3.1% which economists had forecast.That means the cost of living is continuing to rise faster than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, as the US central bank comes under pressure from the White House to cut interest rates faster

Nigel Farage seeks influence over Bank of England in same vein as Trump and US Federal Reserve

Nigel Farage has suggested he would replace the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, if he were to become prime minister.“He’s had a good run, we might find someone new,” Farage said in an interview with Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain show.“He’s a nice enough bloke,” the Reform leader added.However, Farage is unlikely to have a say in Bailey’s leadership, given the governor’s single eight-year term is due to end in March 2028 and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, is only required to hold a general election sometime before 15 August 2029.Farage has been calling for politicians to have greater influence on the central bank, which was made independent in 1997 by the then chancellor, Gordon Brown

‘Sycophantic’ AI chatbots tell users what they want to hear, study shows

Turning to AI chatbots for personal advice poses “insidious risks”, according to a study showing the technology consistently affirms a user’s actions and opinions even when harmful.Scientists said the findings raised urgent concerns over the power of chatbots to distort people’s self-perceptions and make them less willing to patch things up after a row.With chatbots becoming a major source of advice on relationships and other personal issues, they could “reshape social interactions at scale”, the researchers added, calling on developers to address this risk.Myra Cheng, a computer scientist at Stanford University in California, said “social sycophancy” in AI chatbots was a huge problem: “Our key concern is that if models are always affirming people, then this may distort people’s judgments of themselves, their relationships, and the world around them. It can be hard to even realise that models are subtly, or not-so-subtly, reinforcing their existing beliefs, assumptions, and decisions

Meta found in breach of EU law over ‘ineffective’ complaints system for flagging illegal content

Instagram and Facebook have breached EU law by failing to provide users with simple ways to complain or flag illegal content, including child sexual abuse material and terrorist content, the European Commission has said.In a preliminary finding on Friday, the EU’s executive body said Meta, the $1.8tn (£1.4tn) California company that runs Instagram and Facebook, had introduced unnecessary steps in processes for users to submit reports.It said both platforms appeared to use deceptive design – known as “dark patterns” – in the reporting mechanism in a way that could be “confusing and dissuading” to users

NBA gambling scandal shines harsh light on US sports’ embrace of betting

The NBA gambling scandal is the biggest story of the year in US sports, a culmination of the years-long embrace between professional leagues and the multibillion-dollar gambling industry that has now crossed the line from synergy into scandal.In two sweeping federal indictments unsealed in Brooklyn on Thursday, prosecutors charged more than 30 people – including the Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player and assistant Damon Jones – with schemes that turned inside information and rigged card games into engines of profit for organized crime.Federal officials dubbed the twin takedowns Operation Nothing But Bet and Operation Royal Flush, likening the sprawl of defendants and their aliases to something out of a Scorsese film.It’s the most significant corruption crisis to hit a major American league since betting was legalized in most US states, and the most revealing picture yet of how deeply gambling has fused itself into the bloodstream of professional sports.The filings describe a network of insiders, bookies and mafia affiliates who allegedly used private player data to wager on prop bets – wagers on specific occurrences within a game, such as how many assists a player records or whether they’ll make their first three-point attempt – and ran high-stakes poker games wired with cheating technology

NFL hands down $315k in fines over Giants’ concussion protocol violations

The New York Giants, head coach Brian Daboll and running back Cam Skattebo have been fined for violating the NFL’s concussion protocol during an evaluation of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart in the team’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the league and NFL Players Association announced Friday.The Giants were hit with a $200,000 fine for breaching the protocol, while Daboll was fined $100,000 and Skattebo $15,000 for conduct detrimental to the league.The incident occurred during the 9 October matchup at MetLife Stadium after Dart was sacked midway through the third quarter and remained on the turf, clutching his helmet. Following standard procedure, he was escorted to the blue sideline medical tent for a concussion evaluation by team physicians and an independent neurotrauma consultant.According to the league’s review, Daboll approached the tent during the evaluation and briefly stuck his head inside