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Jaguar Land Rover's recovery from cyber-attack appears to have contributed to GDP growth• Growth figures give boost to Reeves – but it's too early to get carried away• Business live – latest updatesThe UK economy grew by a stronger-than-expected 0.3% in November despite uncertainty around Rachel Reeves's budget, official figures show.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday showed the improvement, up from a 0.1% fall in October. Continue reading......

Some brokers say monthly outgoings on drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro can knock thousands off the amount you can borrowRegularly spending large sums on weight loss drugs could reduce the amount people can borrow on a mortgage by thousands of pounds, some brokers are warning.When homebuyers apply for a mortgage, the lender carries out detailed affordability checks on their income and outgoings, which include regular payments such as subscriptions and memberships as well as amounts spent on things such as gambling. Continue reading......

Greensill Capital UK accused of breaking agreement with government over loans issued to businesses during pandemicA company linked to financier Lex Greensill “failed to act in good faith” by lending £250m more than it should have to businesses owned by steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta during the pandemic, the high court has been told.Greensill Bank AG (GBAG) is suing the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) for about £331m over claims it wrongly terminated guarantees it agreed with Greensill Capital UK (GCUK) on Covid loans given to businesses. Continue reading......

Newly-appointed Malcolm Offord, who became a Tory life peer in 2021, plans to stand for Holyrood in MayUK politics live – latest updatesThe multimillionaire financier who has been made leader of Reform UK in Scotland has refused to say how wealthy he is, claiming that is a private matter.Malcolm Offord, formerly a Conservative party life peer, was unveiled by Reform's leader, Nigel Farage, as the party's first Scottish leader, 10 weeks before a Scottish parliament election in which Reform is expected to win up to 18 seats. Continue reading......

UK users will no longer be able to create sexualised images of real people using @Grok X account, with Grok app also expected to be restrictedElon Musk's X has announced it will stop the Grok AI tool from allowing users to manipulate images of people to show them in revealing clothing such as bikinis.The furore over Grok, which is integrated with the X platform, has sparked a public and political backlash as well as a formal investigation by Ofcom, the UK's communications watchdog. Continue reading......

US transportation safety board releases initial report on November 2025 crash that killed 15 people in LouisvilleAn engine part suspected of causing the crash of a UPS cargo plane and loss of 15 lives in Louisville in November was the subject of at least four previous failures on three separate aircraft, investigators have found.A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released Wednesday determined that Boeing warned plane owners about the defect, but did not believe it was a flight safety issue and did not require immediate repairs. Continue reading......

The order follows a nine-month investigation and includes broad exemptions for data centers and consumersDonald Trump on Wednesday imposed a 25% tariff on certain AI chips, such as the Nvidia H200 AI processor ​and a similar semiconductor from AMD called the MI325X, under a new national security order released by the White House.The proclamation follows a nine-month investigation under ‌section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and targets a number of high-end semiconductors meeting certain performance benchmarks and devices containing them for import duties. The action is part of a broader effort to create incentives for chipmakers to produce more semiconductors in the US and decrease reliance on chip manufacturers in places like Taiwan. Continue reading......

US president's friend Ronald Lauder – who first proposed Arctic expansion – is now making deals in the islandOne day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea. “Trump called me down to the Oval Office,” John Bolton, national security adviser in 2018, told the Guardian. “He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland.”It was an extraordinary proposal. And it originated from a longtime friend of the president who would go on to acquire business interests in the Danish territory. Continue reading......

Long criticised as overcrowded and filthy, the city's Zando marketplace has had an elegant and sustainable redesignSelling vegetables was Dieudonné Bakarani's first job. He had a little stall at Kinshasa Central Market in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Decades later, the 57-year-old entrepreneur is redeveloping the historic marketplace that gave him his start in business to be an award-winning city landmark.Bakarani hopes to see the market, known as Zando, flourish again and reopen in February after a five-year hiatus. The design has already been recognised internationally; in December, the architects responsible for it won a Holcim Foundation award for sustainable design. Continue reading......

Exclusive: David Hinton, who faces calls to resign, will receive payout regardless of performance if he stays until July 2030• South East Water could lose operating licence after outages• Business live – latest updatesThe boss of the company that has left thousands of households in Kent and East Sussex without water for days is in line for a £400,000 long-term bonus regardless of his performance, if he resists calls for him to resign over the outages.David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, is to receive the payout if he stays on until July 2030. Continue reading......

In Mansion House speech, mayor will talk of opportunities technology offers but highlight mass unemployment riskSadiq Khan is to warn in a major speech that artificial intelligence (AI) could destroy swathes of jobs in London and “usher in a new era of mass unemployment” unless ministers act now.In his annual Mansion House speech, the London mayor will say the capital is “at the sharpest edge of change” because of its reliance on white-collar workers in the finance and creative industries, and professional services such as law, accounting, consulting and marketing. Continue reading......

'Godfather of AI' Yoshua Bengio says firms building powerful systems without appropriate guardrails • Musk's X to block Grok AI from creating sexualised images of real people The scandal over the flood of intimate images on Elon Musk's X created non-consensually by its Grok AI tool has underlined how the artificial intelligence industry is “too unconstrained”, according to a pioneer of the technology.Yoshua Bengio, a computer scientist described as one of the modern “godfathers of AI”, said tech companies were building systems without appropriate technical and societal guardrails. Continue reading......

It may well be safer, easier and cheaper for US companies to procure whatever oil the US economy needs at homeThere are a few reasons that Donald Trump – now self-anointed acting President of Venezuela, as well as the United States – might be so excited about appropriating Venezuela's oil.Trump may be counting on some boost from cheap oil to the US economy: he is obsessed with the price of gas. As the midterm elections approach, he has become concerned about unemployment. Deeply imprinted memories of scarcity during the oil crises of the 1970s may prime his belief that cheap oil cures it all. Continue reading......

While better than expected data for November offers hope for UK economy, clouds remain on the horizonAt the end of last year, Rachel Reeves was under fire for the impact of budget speculation on Britain's economy. All of the noise about fiscal holes, tax increases and spending cuts before her late November budget was having a real-world effect on the spending decisions of households and businesses.The latest official figures will therefore come as a boost for the chancellor. Britain's economy grew more strongly than expected in November, up 0.3%, despite the fog of uncertainty in the lead up to her critical tax and spending speech at the end of the month. Continue reading......

Company expects even lower margins in 2026 as it echoes cautious outlook from estate agents Foxtons and SavillsBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has warned of “muted” demand despite improving affordability, particularly among first-time buyers, echoing a cautious outlook from estate agents Foxtons and Savills.Jennie Daly, the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, said the government's recent planning changes had resulted in “increased momentum in our recent planning permissions”. Continue reading......

Unlicensed betting has surged over the last four yearsGambling Commission accused of underestimating issueThe number of illegal streams of sports events in Britain has more than doubled to 3.6bn in the past three years according to a new report, which provides a stark illustration of the challenge facing broadcasters and leagues in combating piracy.The Campaign for Fairer Gambling's national 2024-25 report also highlights that there is a symbiotic relationship between sports piracy and unlicensed gambling, with 89% of illegal streams in this country featuring adverts for black-market bookmakers. Continue reading......

The AI chatbot's torrent of nonconsensual deepfakes isn't its first scandal and won't be its last. Responsible governments should simply ban itGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBillionaire and career Bond-villain cosplayer Elon Musk has been forced by public backlash into a humiliating backdown over use of his AI chatbot, Grok. Watching the world's richest man eat a shit sandwich on a global stage represents a rare win for sovereign democracy.Because – unlike his company history of labour and safety abuses … his exploding rockets … his government interventions that deny aid to the starving … disabling Starlink internet systems in war zones … sharing “white solidarity” statements … or growing concern about overvaluations of his company's share price – the nature of Grok's latest scandal may finally be inspiring governments towards imposing some Musk-limiting red lines. Continue reading......

Ynyshir's Gareth Ward 'not embarrassed' by score and says it was due to concerns about the use of raw ingredientsThe chef behind a Welsh restaurant with two Michelin stars says it has “the highest standards in the world”, despite being given a one-star hygiene rating in a recent inspection.Ynyshir, a restaurant with rooms near Machynlleth on the southern edge of the Eryri national park, has been praised as one of the best in the world. Continue reading......

Amid global backlash, billionaire had only hours earlier said he was not aware of any 'naked underage images'Elon Musk's xAI has announced it will block the ability of its Grok AI tool to alter images of real people to put them in “revealing clothing such as bikinis”, amid a global backlash over the tool being used to generate explicit imagery.The move came just hours after the billionaire said he was was not aware of any “naked underage images” made by Grok. Continue reading......

Whether it's the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we've enteredIn late January 2025, 10 days after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, an economic conference in Brussels brought together several officials from the recently deposed Biden administration for a discussion about the global economy. In Washington, Trump and his wrecking crew were already busy razing every last brick of Joe Biden's legacy, but in Brussels, the Democratic exiles put on a brave face. They summoned the comforting ghosts of white papers past, intoning old spells like “worker-centered trade policy” and “middle-out bottom-up economics”. They touted their late-term achievements. They even quoted poetry: “We did not go gently into that good night,” Katherine Tai, who served as Biden's US trade representative, said from the stage. Tai proudly told the audien...