Oil on track for record monthly surge as Iran war disrupts markets

The Brent crude oil price is on track for its biggest monthly gain on record in March after the Iran war caused mayhem in the markets.Brent crude, the international benchmark, has climbed by 51% since the start of March, LSEG data shows, beating the previous monthly record of 46% in September 1990 after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, leading to the first Gulf war.Brent closed at $112.57 a barrel on Friday, up from $72.48 a barrel on 27 February, the day before the US-Israeli war on Iran began

War in Iran erodes the chancellor’s headroom and exposes our fragility | Heather Stewart

It is with no pleasure that I must report a depressing domestic byproduct of the war in the Middle East: headroom chat is back.Of course, shifts in investors’ appetite for gilts – UK government bonds – are trivial in the context of the bloodshed in Iran and beyond. But as a result of the economic chaos unleashed, gilt yields, which determine the interest rate on government borrowing, have resumed their grip on British politics. And one of Rachel Reeves’s proudest boasts, the £23bn in “headroom” she had built up against her fiscal rules, is in jeopardy.Less than a month ago, the chancellor was able to stand up in the House of Commons and report that her headroom had increased since November’s tax-raising budget

How Meta’s victim-blaming failed to sway jurors in landmark social media addiction trial

When Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, sought to defend itself in the landmark social media addiction lawsuit alleging its products caused personal injury to a young user, it went on the offensive. The mental health problems that the 20-year-old known as KGM suffered since she was a child were not the result of exposure to harm on Instagram, Meta’s lawyers and public relations team argued, but instead linked to her mother’s parenting and her offline social problems.In a bench memo filed before the trial began, lawyers for Meta quoted excerpts from KGM’s teenage text messages, personal writings and social media posts complaining about her mother. They combed through therapy notes and called on doctors to testify to examples of personal conflict. Throughout the proceedings, Meta’s communications team sent reporters repeated updates from the trial and quotes from testimony that highlighted her familial issues

‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

Recently, the literary agent Kate Nash started noticing that the submission letters she was receiving from authors were becoming more thorough – albeit also more formulaic.“I took it as a rise in diligence,” she said. “I thought it was a good thing.”But then she had what she described as her eureka moment: the letter with the AI prompt right at the top. “It read: ‘Rewrite my query letter for Kate Nash including a comp to a writer she represents,’” she said

Kimi Antonelli goes back-to-back with victory in Suzuka – as it happened

But that’s about all that’s needed from me. I’ve been Joey Lynch and it’s been great to have your company once again, watching on as Kimi Antonelli won his second-straight race, became the youngest driver to ever lead the F1 Championship, and flirted with breaking Japan’s underage drinking laws.Stay tuned for Giles Richards’ full report from Japan.Due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi races, the F1 season will now go on a one-month break until it returns on the first weekend in May from Miami.Until then, thanks and success!Youngest

Kimi Antonelli wins Japan Grand Prix to become youngest F1 championship leader

There was an element of good fortune for Kimi Antonelli in taking victory at the Japanese Grand Prix but the youngster demonstrated emphatically that given a sniff of a chance, he is ready to close out with the precision of a veteran. A champion’s trait which was suitably marked as in so doing the 19-year-old has become the youngest driver to lead the Formula One world championship.Antonelli, still a fresh-faced youth, whooped and hollered with abandon when he took the flag, having claimed the win after dropping from pole to sixth at the start. His sheer, unrestrained joy at delivering on his undoubted talent, and the pleasure he clearly revels in when competing, is positively infectious. With two straight wins now Formula One not only has a new star to celebrate but one who has unmistakably staked his claim to be considered as a potential champion