Bank of England tipped to raise UK interest rates twice this year to fight inflation shock from Middle East crisis, as oil and gas prices rise – as it happened

Time for a recap….A turbulent day in the financial markets has seen energy prices surge, and European stock markets fall.UK and European gas prices have jumped 15% today, after yesterday’s attacks by Iran on energy infrastructure across the Middle East.QatarEnergy has revealed that Iran’s strikes have damaged facilities responsible for producing 17% ​of the company’s LNG export capacity, and it could take three to five years to repair the damage.Brent crude jumped by 10% at one state – extending the gap between Brent and US oil – before slipping back to $110 a barrel, up 3

Oil and gas prices jump after Iran and Israel attack gasfields

Gas prices jumped to four-year highs and oil prices rose again after an escalation of attacks by Israel and Iran on gasfields heightened fears of prolonged disruption to international energy supplies.QatarEnergy told Reuters on Thursday that Iran had damaged facilities that produced 17% of the state-owned company’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity and that it would take three to five years to repair them.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 10% to $119 a barrel at one point before slipping back to $110 a barrel, a gain of 3.3%. Crude prices have soared by 60% since the US-Israeli war on Iran started on 28 February

Lack of funding is stifling scientific research | Letter

Liz Kendall is right to warn that the UK must not let quantum computing talent slip through its fingers (UK must learn lessons from AI race and retain its quantum computing talent, says minister, 17 March).However, UK Research and Innovation’s current funding decisions risk doing exactly that.The government has announced £1bn for quantum computing, but it is cutting support for fundamental research in particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics (PPAN). These are not separate issues. It is precisely the kind of blue-sky research funded through PPAN that trains the scientists and develops the ideas that underpin emerging technologies like quantum computing

Essex police pause facial recognition camera use after study finds racial bias

Essex police have paused the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology after a study found cameras were significantly more likely to target black people than people of other ethnicities.The move to suspend use of the AI-enabled systems was revealed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates the use of the technology deployed so far by at least 13 police forces in London, south and north Wales, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Surrey and Sussex.The ICO said Essex police had paused LFR deployments “after identifying potential accuracy and bias risks” and warned other forces to have mitigations in place. LFR systems are either mounted to fixed locations or deployed in vans. In January, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the number of LFR vans would increase five-fold, with 50 available to every police force in England and Wales

March Madness: Coach lashes out at elite programs as High Point shock Wisconsin

Chase Johnston made his first two-point basket of the season, a fast-break layup with 11.7 seconds remaining that gave No 12 seed High Point an 83-82 victory over fifth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Johnston finished with 14 points, including four three-pointers for the Panthers, who were 10-and-a-half-point underdogs. He came in shooting 64 of 136 (47.1%) from three-point range but 0 of 4 inside the arc

Keely Hodgkinson leads British medal hopes at world indoor championships

Due to a fault in their plane’s GPS, the British team for the world indoor championships arrived at their hotel in Torun late on Wednesday night. Perhaps they should have asked Keely Hodgkinson to guide them. After all, she knows this place better than most, and she is absolutely locked on reaching her target – a first world gold medal – in Poland this weekend.“I’m looking forward to it and this last month has been great,” she says on the eve of the championships, which begin on Friday morning. “I couldn’t ask to be in a better position to be honest