Oil price heading for biggest weekly gain in four years, as strait of Hormuz traffic grinds to a halt – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.The oil price is on track for its biggest monthly gain in four years, fuelling fears of an inflation spike that will reignite the cost of living crisis and hurt growth around the globe.The Iran conflict has driven Brent crude, the international benchmark, has soared by 17.65% this week to over $85 a barrel. That would be the biggest jump since the week to 4 March 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine

‘We’re powerless … and hoping nothing hits us’: trapped on a tanker as Iran war escalates

Thousands of seafarers are trapped on tankers in the Gulf after the strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to shipping by the escalating war on Iran.The Guardian spoke to a crew member on one of the stranded tankers that typically ferries vast quantities of oil from the Middle East to ports around the world.“When [Donald] Trump said Iran had 10 days to agree to his deal or bad things would happen, I did the math and thought we might get stuck here. And we did,” said the seafarer.From a cabin below deck, they explained how the crew watched explosions light up the sky as they loaded the vessel with crude oil at an industrial complex in the Gulf

UK arts must not be sacrificed for speculative AI gains, peers say

The UK’s creative industries must not be sacrificed in the pursuit of speculative gains in AI technology, a House of Lords committee has warned, as the government prepares to reveal the economic cost of proposals to change copyright rules.A report by peers has urged ministers to develop a licensing regime for the use of creative works in AI products and abandon proposals to let tech firms use the work of novelists, artists, writers and journalists without permission.The call from the House of Lords communications and digital committee comes as the government prepares to release an economic impact assessment of proposed changes to copyright law, as well as a progress update on a consultation about the legal overhaul, by a deadline of 18 March.Barbara Keeley, a Labour peer and committee chair, said the UK’s creative industries faced a “clear and present danger” from AI firms using their work without credit or payment.“AI may contribute to our future economic growth, but the UK creative industries create jobs and economic value now,” she said

Mark Zuckerberg says criminal behavior on Facebook inevitable

Harms to children, such as sexual exploitation and detriments to mental health, are inevitable on Meta’s platforms, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram leader Adam Mosseri said in taped depositions played at a trial in New Mexico on Tuesday and Wednesday.“I just think if you’re serving billions of people, the unfortunate reality is that some very small percent of them are going to be criminals, and we should work as hard as we can to stop that activity from happening,” said Zuckerberg. “I don’t think that the standard for our platforms would be that you should assume that it will ever be perfect.”Meta’s apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, are among the most popular in the world, each with 3 billion monthly active users.The trial has set the social media giant against New Mexico’s attorney general, who alleges that Meta’s platforms put profits and user engagement over child safety

Australia v India: one-off women’s cricket Test, day one – live

26th over: India 99-4 (Jemimah Rodrigues 15, Deepti Sharma 4) Ash Gardner with the last over before the break, Rodrigues plays it away without incident. Deepti and Rodrigues, bump gloves but Australia had the best of that first session.“It was really exciting,” says Hamilton of her first Test wicket. “The support has been the biggest thing, getting my cap from Beth Rooney.”Time for me to grab a coffee, back shortly

Aston Martin fear they may not be able to compete in Australian GP after practice disaster

Aston Martin’s disastrous start to the new Formula One season grew even worse after free practice in Australia with the team principal, Adrian Newey, revealing there were now fears they would not be able to take part in qualifying or the race at the Albert Park circuit.On Thursday Newey had hosted an extraordinary press conference when he had admitted that a severe vibration issue with the team’s Honda engine meant that their drivers were in danger of receiving permanent nerve damage through the steering wheel. Newey said Fernando Alonso believed he could manage only 25 laps in the car and his teammate Lance Stroll only 15, both well short of half the 58-lap race distance in Melbourne.After only one practice session in Melbourne Newey conceded that it might yet be a moot point as the team were down to their last two battery units for their hybrid engines and if they had any issues there were no further replacements.“The critical point is the number of batteries,” he said