UK borrowing costs jump again on fears Iran conflict will curb growth

UK borrowing costs jumped for a second day on Tuesday as the potentially damaging effects of the Iran conflict spooked investors concerned that growth will stall across the major industrial economies.Investors fear inflation will rise, driven by rising oil and gas prices, hitting businesses and households just as they are recovering from a long period of elevated inflation.Analysts said higher energy costs were likely to lead to price rises, forcing central banks to delay expected cuts in interest rates until later this year.Brent crude passed $83 a barrel on Tuesday, up from about $60 in December.The government had hoped that last month’s decline in inflation to 3% and a faster fall in Whitehall’s annual spending deficit would further push down the interest on UK debt

Dirty Business and the failure of privatised water | Letters

Since the 1989 privatisation of water in England and Wales we have treated water companies as cash machines, our rivers as sewers and our beaches as middens (Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal, 28 February). Water is a monopoly on an essential resource and it once generated all the income necessary to maintain and update the system. Instead, for more than three decades, the profits from our rising bills have gone into the pockets of venture capitalists.This is one of the biggest robberies perpetrated on an unsuspecting population in recent times. We have lost safe access to the rivers and coastal waters for swimming and other recreation

What was really behind Jack Dorsey laying off nearly half of Block’s staff?

Jack Dorsey cited AI as the driving force behind cutting 40% of his company’s employees, but other factors such as a weak crypto market, overstaffing and a declining stock price may also have motivated the move.Last week, the financial technology company Block announced that it would lay off 4,000 of its 10,000 workers. Dorsey, Block’s CEO, said in a letter to shareholders that advances in AI “have changed what it means to build and run a company”.“We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better

OpenAI amends Pentagon deal as Sam Altman admits it looks ‘sloppy’

OpenAI is amending its hastily arranged deal to supply artificial intelligence to the US Department of War (DoW) after the ChatGPT owner’s chief executive admitted it looked “opportunistic and sloppy”.The contract prompted fears the San Francisco startup’s AI could be used for domestic mass surveillance but its boss, Sam Altman, said on Monday night the startup would explicitly bar its technology from being used for that purpose or being deployed by defence department intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA).OpenAI, which has more than 900 million users of ChatGPT, made the deal almost immediately after the Pentagon’s existing AI contractor, Anthropic, was dropped.Anthropic had insisted “using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values”, leading the US president, Donald Trump, to call Anthropic “leftwing nut jobs” and directing the federal government to stop using its technology.Despite denials from OpenAI that the agreement allowed for surveillance use, commentators raised the spectre of the Snowden scandal, which broke in 2013, when it emerged the NSA was engaged in mass harvesting of phone and internet communications

Borthwick says England failed to meet ‘unwavering standards’ after axing players

Steve Borthwick has pointed to his misfiring players’ failure to meet his unwavering standards as justification for the most radical England overhaul in the professional era, after ripping up his side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday.Borthwick has wielded the axe for the match in Rome on Saturday, ­making nine personnel and three position changes, and sent a clear message to his out-of-form players that performances have not been up to scratch. The head coach has also fielded an entirely new backline with Tommy Freeman, the only survivor from the 42-21 defeat by Ireland, shifting from wing to outside‑centre.George Ford, Freddie Steward, Henry Arundell and Fraser Dingwall are axed from the matchday squad while Fin Smith comes in at fly-half and Seb Atkinson is selected for a Six Nations bow at inside-centre. Tom Roebuck returns on the right wing with Cadan Murley selected on the left and Elliot Daly tasked with providing experience from full-back

‘We back ourselves in one-offs’: Black Caps plan revenge against South Africa

In Colombo on Saturday New Zealand’s players and staff gathered in small groups at various locations around the city. One assembled in a beachside bar overlooking the Laccadive Sea, where they shared snacks, nursed drinks and tried their best to engage in conversation while making furtive glances towards the big screen. There was another in the team hotel, crammed into the room of their captain, Mitchell Santner. All of them monitored Pakistan’s game against Sri Lanka, and their pursuit of a victory that would enable them to pip the Black Caps to a place in the World Cup’s final four.In the end Pakistan did win, but not by the margin they required – and on Tuesday it was reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board had fined each player around £13,500 as punishment, informing them that if they can accept rewards for good performances they “must also pay penalties for poor ones”