Starmer says ‘more to do’ on cost of living despite £117 fall in energy bills from April - business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Energy bills in Great Britain will fall by £117 to a typical annual bill of £1,641 from April, the regulator Ofgem announced this morning.It announced a 7% reduction of the energy price cap for the period covering 1 April to 30 June.This change amounts to a reduction of about £10 a month for the average household using both electricity and gas, Ofgem said. This is more than £200 lower than a year ago

HSBC bankers to share $3.9bn bonus pot, the highest in more than a decade

Bankers at HSBC are set to share a bonus pot worth $3.9bn (£2.9bn), the highest in more than a decade, after Europe’s largest lender reported better-than-expected annual results.The bonus pool for staff was 10% higher than a year earlier, which the bank said it had determined “based on a review of our performance against financial and non-financial metrics”, while the bank’s chief executive’s pay also rose.It came as Georges Elhedery, who took over as the CEO in 2024, signalled that his sweeping turnaround of the lender was drawing to a close

Signs of psychosis seen in Australian users’ interactions with AI chatbots, expert warns

A leading AI expert has warned some Australians are showing signs of psychosis or mania in their interactions with chatbots, arguing Silicon Valley is being “careless” with the technology amid a pursuit of profit.During an address at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Toby Walsh, scientia professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales, said he believed the AI race will be both “boom and doom”, with some benefits.But his speech – a copy of which was provided to Guardian Australia – also warned about dangers he said had outraged him since the technology began maturing in recent years.“My childhood dreams are turning into a reality that is both good and bad,” he said in his prepared remarks.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailWalsh’s speech highlighted the legal case against OpenAI by the family of US teenager Adam Raine – along with its data that showed more than a million of its users each week send messages that include “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent”

Reddit fined £14.5m in UK over use of under-13s’ data

The UK information regulator has fined the social news service Reddit £14.5m for using the data of children under the age of 13 unlawfully and potentially exposing them to inappropriate and harmful content.The hefty punishment from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the largest fine yet for a breach of children’s privacy and comes after the US-based company introduced age checks in July, including age verification to access mature content. Prior to this, the ICO said, there were “a large number of children under 13 on the platform and Reddit did not have a lawful basis for processing their personal information”.Reddit asks users to declare their age when opening an account but the ICO said relying on self-declaration presented risks to children as it was easy to bypass

Among the gangsters, gamblers and high rollers: a master bookie’s life in Las Vegas

Forty years ago, the New England Patriots played in their first Super Bowl. It ended disastrously for New England, who lost 46-10 to the Chicago Bears. The Bears’ mammoth defensive tackle, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, even got involved in the scoring with a touchdown.That moment looked like it would cause serious problems for Art Manteris, who at the time ran the sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Under Manteris, Caesars had offered odds on whether Perry would score during the game – and, as fans scrambled to back the popular player, the house stood to lose a significant sum if he did

The Spin | Zimbabwean breakout at T20 World Cup has fans rejoicing renaissance

Dean du Plessis could tell that Zimbabwean cricket had turned a corner by the noise of the crowd. The veteran broadcaster, who was born blind, has forged a remarkable career as a commentator by distinguishing the game’s almost imperceptible audio shifts. He can tell a slower ball has been bowled by the fractional delay before ball meets bat. He can tell if a batter has pressed forward or back by the scratch of spikes against the hard pitch. And he could tell, in 2018, that the sport he loved would never be the same again