New business rates regime that is poised to hit pubs and hotels is latest example of hasty decision-making

There is a heavy cloud hanging over Labour’s Christmas celebrations.

The most recent figures show the economy is going backwards and worse, the slide is prompting recession talk in the corridors of City banks.

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© Photograph: Jon Crwys-Williams/Alamy

© Photograph: Jon Crwys-Williams/Alamy

© Photograph: Jon Crwys-Williams/Alamy

Fossil fuel execs Robert Pender and Michael Sabel deny wrongdoing after report on potential conflict of interest

Two more senior Democrats have called for an investigation into a share-buying spree by two fossil fuel billionaires with close ties to the Trump administration, after a Guardian investigation raised questions about potential wrongdoing.

Robert Pender and Michael Sabel, the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Virginia, bought more than a million shares worth almost $12m each in March. The trades took place just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued a key regulatory permit that helped expand the company’s business in Europe.

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© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Drivers also told to take caution after complaints rise about long-stay meet-and-greet services

Terence Baxter* had booked a meet-and-greet service to park his Volkswagen at Heathrow airport while he and his wife went on holiday. The couple handed over the keys at the drop-off site and were driven to the terminal – and that was the last they saw of their car. On their return they were informed by the company it had been stolen.

Their case comes as airports and police forces are warning travellers to be wary of “unofficial” operators advertising cheap long-stay parking after a rise in complaints.

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© Photograph: Britpix/Alamy

© Photograph: Britpix/Alamy

© Photograph: Britpix/Alamy

Free2Move, Enterprise Car Club and Co Wheels among those eyeing growth, as well as peer-to-peer firm Hiyacar

• Business live – latest updates

Several car-sharing companies are considering launching or expanding in London, with the imminent closure of Zipcar’s UK operation leaving a large gap in the market in one of Europe’s biggest cities.

Free2Move, owned by the carmaker Stellantis, said it was “closely monitoring the London market”, and “actively assessing” options for its services. It already operates fleets in cities including Berlin, Paris, Rome and Washington DC.

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© Photograph: Andrew McCarthy/Alamy

© Photograph: Andrew McCarthy/Alamy

© Photograph: Andrew McCarthy/Alamy

California jury finds company knew its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers

A California jury on Friday awarded $40m to two women who said Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder was to blame for their ovarian cancer.

The jury in Los Angeles superior court awarded $18m to Monica Kent and $22m to Deborah Schultz and her husband after finding that Johnson & Johnson knew for years its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers.

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© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

id Software employees voted to form a wall-to-wall union with the CWA, covering all roles at the Doom studio. "The vote wasn't unanimous, though a majority did vote in favor of the union," notes Engadget. From the report: The union will work in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is the same organization involved with parent company ZeniMax's recent unionization efforts. Microsoft, who owns ZeniMax, has already recognized this new effort, according to a statement by the CWA. It agreed to a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA and ZeniMax workers last year, paving the way for this sort of thing. From the onset, this union will look to protect remote work for id Software employees. "Remote work isn't a perk. It's a necessity for our health, our families, and our access needs. RTO policies should not be handed down from executives with no consideration for accessibility or our well-being," said id Software Lead Services Programmer Chris Hays. He also said he looks forward to getting worker protections regarding the "responsible use of AI."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

John Vincent on bouncing back after cutting branches, refreshing the menu, and staff learning from martial arts

John Vincent is going back to the future. Four years after selling Leon, the fast food chain named after his father and founded in 2004 with two friends, he has bought it back with hopes of reviving its fortunes.

“In a crisis you need a pilot in full control,” the martial arts fan says, speaking to the Guardian from Leon’s headquarters near London Bridge.

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© Photograph: Leon in Carnaby Street, central London/Leon

© Photograph: Leon in Carnaby Street, central London/Leon

© Photograph: Leon in Carnaby Street, central London/Leon

Women are trailblazing efforts in the UK and US to improve sustainability on film and TV sets, from donating catering and rehoming props to reducing emissions

It’s two days before Thanksgiving and Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu are trying to figure out how they’re going to cook 120 turkeys with limited oven space in their food warehouse in downtown LA. “We’re going to have to do a bit of spatchcocking. It’s not very showbiz,” Cohen says.

It’s the busiest time of year for Cohen and Luu, assistant directors who founded not-for-profit organisation Every Day Action during the Covid pandemic. Designed to help unhoused people and those facing food insecurity across the city, the idea was born when Cohen noticed the amount of food waste on film and TV sets, and looked into redistributing it to those in need. “I remember asking, ‘Why can’t we donate this food?’ I kept being told it was illegal and that people could sue us if they got sick.” It didn’t take Luu, who grew up working in a soup kitchen her father founded, long to establish this was not the case. “In the US, there’s the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act that’s been around since 1996,” she says. “It protects food donors from liability issues.”

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© Photograph: Kathy Schuh Photography

© Photograph: Kathy Schuh Photography

© Photograph: Kathy Schuh Photography

GDP fell by 0.1% in October as activity failed to regain momentum after cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover

• Business live – latest updates

Britain’s economy shrank unexpectedly in October as consumers held back on spending before Rachel Reeves’s budget, and car manufacturing struggled to recover from the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed gross domestic product fell by 0.1%, after a 0.1% drop in output in September. City economists had predicted a 0.1% rise in October.

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© Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs/Getty Images

Mark Rowley says capital is a safe city, and claims of no-go areas are ‘completely false’

Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in a bid to scupper it, Kim Leadbeater, the MP leading the campaign for the legislation, has said. Kiran Stacey has the story.

I have beefed up the post at 9.08am to include the direct quote from Wes Streeting about not being able to guarantee patient safety in the NHS if the strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.

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© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Decision would anger environmental campaigners, who say it would amount to ‘gutting’ of green deal

• Business live – latest updates

The EU’s outright ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 is poised to be watered down, a senior European parliament politician has said.

The decision, expected to be announced by the European Commission on Tuesday in Strasbourg, would be a divisive move, angering environmental campaigners who argue it would amount to the “gutting” of the EU’s flagship green deal.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Retailer, which also owns Funky Pigeon, says economic pressure has hit shoppers’ confidence

Card Factory has delivered an unwelcome early Christmas surprise for investors by issuing a shock profit warning during the greetings card retailer’s peak trading period, which sent shares plunging by more than a fifth.

The retailer, which also owns the online card and gift brand Funky Pigeon, said economic pressure on shoppers has hit confidence in its most important trading period of the year.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Ineffective systems culminated in serious case of Covid fraud that cost UK taxpayers £800,000

Nationwide has been fined £44m by the City watchdog over “weak” financial crime controls that culminated in a serious case of Covid fraud that cost UK taxpayers £800,000.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined the building society for failures stretching over nearly five years. It said the lender had been aware that some customers were using personal accounts for business activity, in a breach of its own terms.

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© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Co-founder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs given more jail time by US judge than prosecutors sought

Do Kwon, the entrepreneur behind two cryptocurrencies that lost $40bn (£29.8bn) three years ago and caused the sector to crash, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud.

The South Korean, 34, had pleaded guilty to two counts of US charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.

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© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

Concerns about power imbalance in franchise agreements amid claims over firm’s treatment of small-business owners

The government will consider new laws to correct the power imbalance in franchise agreements in response to the “harrowing stories” of small business people running Vodafone stores.

The move follows allegations of suicide and attempted suicide among shopkeepers who had agreed to deals to run retail outlets for the £18bn telecoms company, which were revealed by the Guardian on Monday.

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© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Disappointing UK GDP report shows economy contracted by 0.1% in both September and October

Today’s GDP report also shows the economy only grew by 1.1% over the last year – a weak performance.

The ONS says:

GDP is estimated to have grown by 1.1% in the three months to October 2025, compared with the same three months a year ago. Over this period services grew by 1.5% and construction grew by 1.1%, whereas production fell by 1.3%.

GDP is estimated to be 1.1% higher in October 2025, compared with October 2024.

“The economy contracted slightly in the latest three months, as production fell again and services growth stalled.

“Within production, there was continued weakness in car manufacturing, with the industry only making a slight recovery in October from the substantial fall in output seen in the previous month.

“Overall services showed no growth in the latest three months, continuing the recent trend of slowing in this sector. There were falls in wholesale and scientific research, offset by growth in rental and leasing and retail.”

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© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

More trains, faster journeys and better reliability promised – but spectre of great timetable fiasco of 2018 looms large

Billions of pounds of investment, years of engineering works – and now, the moment of truth. On 14 December a revamped railway timetable goes live across Great Britain, with the biggest fanfare and radical changes for the east coast mainline, where passengers are promised more train services, faster journeys and a new era of reliability.

But the spectre of a previous, disastrous timetable change from May 2018 still looms over the railway. So will Sunday’s revamp be a great gift for passengers that the industry expects – or usher in a bleak midwinter ahead?

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Treasury committee will examine agency’s forecasting record and discover where it ‘needs to do better’

MPs have launched an inquiry into the role and performance of the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The all-party Commons Treasury committee will spend until the end of next month investigating the independent agency’s forecasting performance and impartiality. The panel will consider whether reforms are needed 15 years after the OBR was set up by George Osborne when he was Tory chancellor.

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© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Cisco's stock price touched $80.25 on Wednesday, finally eclipsing its dotcom-era peak of $80.06 set on March 27, 2000 -- when the networking giant briefly surpassed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company. The journey back took 25 years, eight months and 13 days. The company's fundamentals improved dramatically over that period, of course. Revenues have nearly quintupled since 1999, profits have quadrupled, earnings per share have grown eightfold, and margins have remained healthy throughout. Investors who bought at the peak still lost money to inflation for a generation. Cisco's trajectory draws obvious comparisons to Nvidia, today's dominant "picks and shovels" supplier for the AI boom. Nvidia trades at a price-to-earnings ratio above 45 and an enterprise value-to-sales ratio near 24. At its 2000 peak, Cisco traded at a P/E above 200 and EV/sales of 31.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Plans are response to surge in demand for AI capability and come after government signalled it would curb subsidies

Drax has revealed plans to convert part of its power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre as soon as 2027 in response to the increase in demand for AI capability.

The FTSE 250 company behind Britain’s biggest power plant told investors on Thursday that it had applied for planning permission to build a 100-megawatt datacentre at its site near Selby.

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© Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

© Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

© Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

It would be absurd to claim the UK has suddenly become a life-sciences leader thanks to the new pricing and tariffs pact

That’s gratitude, eh? It’s not even a fortnight since the government agreed to raise the prices the NHS pays for new medicines and here comes the boss of GSK, Britain’s second largest pharma firm, to extol the virtues of doing business in the US.

The US is “still the leading market in the world in terms of the launches of new drugs and vaccines”, said the chief executive, Emma Walmsley, in a BBC interview, explaining why GSK invests about three times as much over there as it does at home. Alongside China, the US is also “the best market in the world to do business development”.

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© Photograph: Justin Setterfield/CAMERA PRESS

© Photograph: Justin Setterfield/CAMERA PRESS

© Photograph: Justin Setterfield/CAMERA PRESS

Weaker-than-forecast quarterly data for Larry Ellison’s tech company shows slowdown in revenue growth and big rise in spending

• Business live – latest updates

Oracle’s shares tumbled 15% on Thursday in response to the company’s quarterly financial results, disclosed the day before.

Roughly $80bn vanish from the value of the business software company co-founded by Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison, falling from $630bn (£470bn) to $550bn and fuelling fears of a bubble in artificial intelligence-related stocks. Shares in the chipmaker Nvidia, seen as a bellwether for the AI boom, fell after Oracle’s.

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© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

• Operating profit up after £7m loss a year earlier

• United’s revolving credit up from £35.7m to £268m

Manchester United’s operating profit rose to £13m in the financial year’s first quarter, compared with an equivalent £7m loss 12 months earlier, and the chief executive, Omar Berrada, said this was down to “the difficult decisions made in the past year” by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

However, United’s total debt has now risen to a record high of £1.29bn. United’s revenue was £140.3m, down from £143.1m 12 months previously, and the club’s revolving credit rose £35.7m to £268m, with noncurrent borrowings remaining at £650m.

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© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

Agreement comes amid anxiety in Hollywood over impact of AI on the industry, expression and rights of creators

Walt Disney has announced a $1bn equity investment in OpenAI, enabling the AI startup’s Sora video generation tool to use its characters.

Users of Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that draw on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters as part of a three-year licensing agreement between OpenAI and the entertainment giant.

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© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Emma Walmsley’s praise for US pharmaceutical market piles pressure on UK government

• Business live – live updates

The chief executive of GSK has declared that the US is the best place for pharmaceutical companies to invest.

Emma Walmsley said the US led the world in launches of drugs and vaccines and, alongside China, was the best market for business development.

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© Photograph: GSK/PA

© Photograph: GSK/PA

© Photograph: GSK/PA

No more concessions, says minister after legislation was thwarted in upper house despite manifesto climbdown

• UK politics live – latest updates

The government has vowed that there will be no more concessions on the employment rights bill and that it will force the Lords to vote on it again next week, after Conservative and cross-bench peers blocked it on Wednesday night.

Ministers and trade unions expressed fury that the bill was voted down again in the House of Lords by peers protesting against the lifting of the compensation cap for unfair dismissal, calling it “cynical wrecking tactics that risk a constitutional crisis”.

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© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Chinese online retailer targeted under rules limiting state help to companies

• Business live – latest updates

Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin have been raided by EU regulators investigating a potential breach of foreign subsidy regulations.

The Chinese online retailer, which is already in the European Commission’s spotlight over alleged failures to prevent illegal content being sold on its app and website, was raided last week without warning or any subsequent publicity.

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© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Commercial in Netherlands depicting festival-season chaos at ‘most terrible time of year’ prompted flurry of criticism online

McDonald’s says it has removed an AI-generated Christmas advertisement in the Netherlands after it was criticised online.

The ad, titled “the most terrible time of the year”, depicts scenes of Christmas chaos, with Santa caught in a traffic jam and a gift-laden Dutch cyclist slipping in the snow. And the message? Retreat to a McDonald’s restaurant until January and ride out the festive season.

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© Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

In the energy sector, Russia’s revenues from exports of crude oil and refined products has fallen to its lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The International Energy Agency has reported this morning that Moscow’s sales of fossil fuels fell again in November due to lower export volumes and weaker prices.

These brighter prospects extend to our 2026 forecast, which we have upgraded by 90 kb/d, to 860 kb/d y-o-y.

“We need to ask who is setting the agenda for the UK’s future with AI.”

“In the absence of independent regulation or scrutiny, we’re at the mercy of technology companies’ commercial interests aligning with what the public want.”

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

PwC warns that future of a generation is at risk and that jobs crisis is costing UK economy up to £26bn a year

Britain is slipping down the global league table for youth employment amid a dramatic rise in worklessness that is putting a generation’s future at risk, research has warned.

Sounding the alarm over a worsening youth jobs crisis, the report from the accountancy firm PwC said Britain’s economy was missing out on £26bn a year because of sharp regional divisions in youth joblessness.

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© Photograph: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

The short answer is yes, but if you don’t want big brands or to use Amazon then more time and a lot more prompts are needed

• ‘Is retail ready for the AI shopping shift?

The question “what present do you recommend for …” will be tapped into phones and computers countless times over this festive period, as more people turn to AI platforms to help choose gifts for loved ones.

With a quarter of Britons using AI to find products, brands are increasingly adapting their strategies to ensure their products are the ones recommended, especially those trying to reach younger audiences.

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© Photograph: Peter Morgan/AP

© Photograph: Peter Morgan/AP

© Photograph: Peter Morgan/AP

Qualcomm has acquired RISC-V startup Ventana to strengthen its CPU ambitions beyond mobile, "reinforcing its commitment and leadership in the development of the RISC-V standard and ecosystem," the company said in a press release. CRN Magazine reports: The San Diego-based company said Ventana's expertise in RISC-V, a free and open alternative to the Arm and x86 instruction set architectures, will enhance its CPU engineering capabilities and complement "existing efforts to develop custom Oryon CPU technology." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Qualcomm, which has already been using RISC-V for some products outside the PC and server markets, said Ventana's contributions will boost its "technology leadership in the AI era across all businesses," indicating the broad impact expected by this acquisition. "We believe the RISC-V instruction set architecture has the potential to advance the frontier on CPU technology, enabling innovation across products," Durga Malladi, executive vice president and general manager of technology planning, edge solutions and data center for Qualcomm, said in a statement. "The acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems marks a pivotal step in our journey to deliver industry-leading RISC-V-based CPU technology across products." Further reading: Qualcomm Is Buying Arduino, Releases New Raspberry Pi-Esque Arduino Board

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nestlé confectionery treats now described as being ‘encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavour coating’

Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after Nestlé reformulated their recipes due to the increasing cost of ingredients.

The Swiss conglomerate now describes the treats as being “encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavour coating”, rather than being covered in milk chocolate.

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© Photograph: Alamy

© Photograph: Alamy

© Photograph: Alamy

Divisive vote to lower rates highlights uncertainty in the Fed as economy absorbs major shakeups, including tariffs

The US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it was cutting interest rates by a quarter point for the third time this year, as the embattled central bank appeared split over how best to manage the US economy.

The Fed chair, Jerome Powell, has emphasized unity within the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the board of Fed leaders that sets interest rates. But the nine-to-three vote to lower rates to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% was divisive among the committee that tends to vote in unanimity.

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© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

The 54-outlet chain was recently bought back by its co-founder, who says Leon must downsize as more customers work from home

Fast food chain Leon is planning to close restaurants and cut jobs, less than two months after it was bought back from Asda by its co-founder John Vincent.

The chain said on Wednesday that it had appointed administrators to lead a restructuring programme, and it was considering how many of its 54 restaurants would need to shut. It did not say how many roles could be affected.

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© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Former deputy prime minister, who left Meta this year, to be joined by Facebook-owner’s chief AI scientist

Nick Clegg is to add venture capitalist to his list of post-politics jobs, with the former British deputy prime minister and ex-senior executive at Meta taking on a new role at London-based Hiro Capital.

Clegg, who left his role as the Facebook-owner’s head of global affairs this year, is joining the European tech investment firm as a general partner.

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© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

Wells Fargo expects more job cuts and higher severance costs in this quarter that ends in three weeks, bank CEO and President Charlie Scharf said Tuesday at an investors conference in New York. He's also betting on AI to drive efficiency and, eventually, further workforce reduction.From a report: "As we've gone through the budgeting process, and even pre AI, we do expect to have less people as we go into next year," Scharf said at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference in New York City. "We'll likely have more severance in the fourth quarter." The fourth quarter runs Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 for the San Francisco-basaed bank. Wells Fargo already has shrunk from 275,000 employees to about 210,000 since Scharf joined the bank in 2019 -- about a 24% decrease. Its largest employee base remains in Charlotte, with about 27,000 workers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A study this week has found that shoppers using Instacart are often charged different prices for identical products at the same store at the same time, even when selecting in-store pickup rather than delivery. The Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive policy group, and Consumer Reports organized nearly 200 volunteers across four cities to simultaneously check prices on 20 grocery items. Price differences appeared on nearly three-quarters of the items tested. In one test, more than 40 participants selected the same Safeway in Washington, D.C. and the same brand of eggs. Prices ranged from $3.99 to $4.79 -- a 20% spread. At a Target in North Canton, Ohio, Skippy peanut butter was $2.99 for some shoppers and $3.59 for others. The full 20-item basket varied by about 7% within each store. An Instacart spokeswoman said retailers on its platform set their own prices and that some run short-term, randomized pricing tests. The company said tests were "never based on personal or behavioral characteristics." Instacart acquired Eversight, an AI-driven pricing optimization company, in 2022. A Target spokesman said the company is not affiliated with Instacart and bears no responsibility for prices on the platform. Safeway and parent company Albertson's declined to comment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nvidia has developed location verification technology that could determine which country its AI chips are operating in, Reuters reports, citing a source, a capability that may help address ongoing concerns about the smuggling of advanced semiconductors to restricted markets like China. The feature, which Nvidia has demonstrated privately in recent months but has not released, would be an optional software tool that customers install. It taps into the confidential computing capabilities of Nvidia's GPUs and uses the time delay in communicating with Nvidia-run servers to approximate a chip's location. The technology will first be available on Nvidia's newest Blackwell chips, though the company is examining options for its older Hopper and Ampere generations. U.S. lawmakers and the White House have pushed for location verification measures as the Department of Justice has brought criminal cases against smuggling rings allegedly attempting to move more than $160 million worth of Nvidia chips to China.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Chancellor defends budget but tells MPs there were ‘too many leaks’ and that and much of them were inaccurate

• UK politics live – latest updates

Rachel Reeves has condemned leaks before her make-or-break budget as “unacceptable” as she revealed her income tax U-turn was agreed in partnership with Keir Starmer.

Defending her tax and spending plans before MPs on the Commons Treasury committee, the chancellor said she had been frustrated by “leaks that were clearly not authorised” before her November speech.

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© Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty Images

As shoppers ask ChatGPT for inspiration, brands scramble to ensure their products appeal to the bots calling the shots

• Consumer test drive: can AI do your Xmas gift shopping for you?

Christmas shopping – some love it, to others it’s a chore, and this year for the first time many of us will outsource the annual task of coming up with gift ideas to artificial intelligence.

While traditional internet search, social media – especially TikTok and Instagram – and simply wandering a local high street will still be the main routes to presents for most this year, about a quarter of people in the UK are already using AI to find the right products, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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© Photograph: Marco Marca/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Marca/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Marca/Getty Images

Boss says German firm also investing in generative engine optimisation to help push it to top of chatbot responses

• Business live – latest updates

Tui, Europe’s biggest travel operator, has said it is investing heavily in AI as more people turn to ChatGPT to help book their holidays, including using the technology to create “inspirational” videos and content.

The chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said the company was investing in generative engine optimisation (GEO), the latest incarnation of search engine optimisation (SEO), to help push Tui to the top of results from AI chatbots including ChatGPT and Gemini.

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© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

Value of heavily indebted company has plummeted more than 90% since it bought chain of 1,400 bookmakers

• Business live – latest updates

Evoke, the London-listed gambling company that owns William Hill and the 888 online casino brand, has said it is considering a sale or breakup of the group, after warning of a £135m hit from tax increases announced in last month’s budget.

In a statement to the stock market, the heavily indebted company said it had appointed bankers at Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to explore potential options to secure its future.

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© Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Evoke decides to undertake a review of the Company’s strategic options

European stock markets are mostly in the red this morning, as defence company stocks fall.

Shares in German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall are down 3.3%, UK weapons maker BAE System has dropped by 1.27%, and Italian defence firm Leonardo has lost 2.2%.

Mainland European equity markets are heading lower in a day that will be dominated by monetary policy out of the Americas.

Notably, the defence sector has particularly suffered this morning, with the likes of BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, and Thales lose traction as the end of the Russia-Ukraine war comes into sight. Unfortunately for Europe, the peace agreement appears to be a deal Trump has formed with Russia behind the back of European leaders whom the President has labelled “weak”.

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© Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Head of advertising and data at Sky will lead C4’s response to threatened Comcast takeover of ITV

Channel 4 has raided Sky for its new chief executive as the broadcaster faces the prospect of a takeover of ITV by Comcast that would pose the biggest threat in its four-decade history.

Its board is understood to have agreed the appointment of Priya Dogra, the head of Sky’s advertising, data and new revenue, as its new chief executive.

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© Photograph: Royal Television Society/Youtube

© Photograph: Royal Television Society/Youtube

© Photograph: Royal Television Society/Youtube

Thinktank says Rachel Reeves’s budget had started to assure bond markets about fiscal approach

• Rachel Reeves’s test from the bond markets starts now

The “premium” that the UK pays to borrow money compared with its international peers may be coming to an end as markets grow more confident about the government’s plans, a thinktank has suggested.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcement in the autumn budget that she would be more than doubling the UK’s financial headroom by 2030 from £9.9bn to £22bn had begun to assure bond markets about Labour’s fiscal approach.

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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

UK gilt yields may have dropped a bit relative to other major countries, but it’s not at all clear that the fall with continue

• UK’s higher borrowing costs compared with major countries ‘may be coming to an end’

Good news for Rachel Reeves: the cost of government borrowing has fallen a bit relative to the US and eurozone countries. Better news: the chancellor may have something to do with it. Better still: some economists think there’s more to come.

Let’s not get carried away, though. The UK is still paying a painful premium on its borrowing costs, as the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank illustrates. Since last year’s general election the yield on 10-year government gilts is up almost 70 basis points – or seven-tenths of 1% – compared with US Treasury bonds, and the increase versus the eurozone is almost 25 basis points. The gaps are wider for 30-year bonds and the consequences are real. IPPR calculates that if the premium could be reduced to zero, the Treasury would save as much as £7bn a year until 2029-30.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Lawsuit argues that proposed deal threatens to reduce competition in US subscription video-on-demand market

Netflix has been hit with a consumer lawsuit seeking to block the online video giant’s planned $72bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses.

The proposed class action was filed on Monday by a subscriber to Warner Bros-owned HBO Max who said the proposed deal threatened to reduce competition in the US subscription video-on-demand market.

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© Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

In a boost for Rachel Reeves, deputy governor says analysis shows chancellor’s policies will lower annual rate next year

The Bank of England expects Rachel Reeves’s budget will reduce the UK’s headline inflation rate by as much as half a percentage point next year.

In a boost for the chancellor after last month’s high-stakes tax and spending statement, Clare Lombardelli, a deputy governor at the central bank, said its early analysis showed the policies would lower the annual inflation rate by 0.4 to 0.5 percentage points for a year from mid-2026.

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© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

© Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Green light intended to limit amount consumers pay for windfarms to turn off during periods of high generation

Three major UK electricity “superhighways” could move ahead sooner than expected to help limit the amount that households pay for windfarms to turn off during periods of high power generation.

Current grid bottlenecks mean there is not enough capacity to transport the abundance of electricity generated in periods of strong winds to areas where energy demand is highest.

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© Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images