The Guardian Nachrichten

 

As a historian, I've studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon ValleyOpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is on track to lose $14bn this year. Its market share is collapsing, and its own CEO, Sam Altman, has admitted it “screwed up” an element of the product. All it takes to accelerate that decline is 10 seconds of your time.A grassroots boycott called QuitGPT has been spreading across the US and beyond, asking people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions. More than a million people have answered the call. Mark Ruffalo and Katy Perry have thrown their weight behind it. It is one of the most significant consumer boycotts in recent memory, and I believe it's time for Europeans to join. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsReeves's spring statement? The economy is great, don't worry about the Middle EastGlobal stock markets tumble as Trump bid to avert oil crisis in strait of Hormuz fails to reassureWhile the near-term picture for UK living standards is positive, the picture for the remainder of the Parliament is far bleaker.The Resolution Foundation projects that after next year, the incomes of typical working-age families are projected to fall by 0.5 per cent, or £150, for the remaining two years of the Parliament.“With wage growth set to tail off, the living standards picture for the rest of the Parliament is bleak. This should remind policy makers of the need to both navigate near-term uncertainty and support productivity-based economic growth over the medium term. That is the only way to meaningfully lift living standards throughout Britain.” Continue reading......

The chancellor's statement offered little new on tax or spending, but readers voiced concerns about rising costsBusiness live – latest updatesAction to tackle student loan debt, clarity about what the Middle East crisis will mean for the UK economy, cheaper borrowing, more scrutiny of supermarket prices … Readers who took part in a Guardian callout before the spring forecast had plenty of things on their wishlists.In the event there were no major tax or spending measures announced, and some were concerned about whether the US-Israeli war on Iran will scupper Rachel Reeves's plan to put “more money in the pockets of working people”. Continue reading......

Travellers stuck at major transit airports are slowly being diverted and repatriated on new flights after days of turmoil, while uncertainty remainsIt will likely be a “messy” month for airlines operating throughout the Middle East as travellers stuck in major transit hubs are slowly rerouted and repatriated after days of turmoil due to the ongoing conflict in Iran.Experts say airlines are well-versed in disruptions, with entire teams dedicated to what is known as “irregular operations”. But while minor issues can be resolved in a matter of days, the sheer scale of the airline industry that operates in the region will be a complex puzzle that will take much longer to work through. Continue reading......

Removing the profit motive is the only answer, writes Georgina Ferry. Plus letters from Lyn Howard, Tony Chanter and Elizabeth HughesSince the 1989 privatisation of water in England and Wales we have treated water companies as cash machines, our rivers as sewers and our beaches as middens (Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal, 28 February). Water is a monopoly on an essential resource and it once generated all the income necessary to maintain and update the system. Instead, for more than three decades, the profits from our rising bills have gone into the pockets of venture capitalists.This is one of the biggest robberies perpetrated on an unsuspecting population in recent times. We have lost safe access to the rivers and coastal waters for swimming and other recreation. We are losing the abundant wildlife that used to call those waters home. Continue reading......

With no spending or fiscal commitments to offer, the chancellor kept it short, sweet and just a little tin-earedWhen your luck is out, your luck is out. Time to accept what the fates have to throw at you. It was always going to be a bit of a stretch for Rachel Reeves to maintain she had a brilliant plan and the economy had never been in better health when the figures show a fall in growth and a rise in unemployment. Unless you happen to think those things aren't so bad after all.To do so three days after the beginning of Donald Trump's Awfully Big Iranian Adventure when oil and gas prices are rising, the bond markets are in turmoil and stock markets around the world are falling, begins to look a bit previous. Almost tin-eared. Continue reading......

Entertainment giant keeps average of $7.58 of each ticket for events at major concert venues, court hearsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxTicketmaster keeps an average of $7.58 of the price of each ticket for events at major concert venues, an attorney for New York state told jurors at a trial on Tuesday in which dozens of states are seeking to recoup damages for fans.Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are accused of abusing their market power to prop up illegal monopolies in the concert industry. The trial in Manhattan could result in the US Department of Justice arguing for a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster or the companies paying compensation to ticket purchasers. Continue reading......

Chief executive Robert Thomson says he often speaks to both OpenAI's Sam Altman and Meta's Mark ZuckerbergNews Corp's global chief executive has described news organisations as a valuable “input” for artificial intelligence, as the media empire signs an AI content licensing deal with Meta worth up to US$50m (A$71m) a year.In an upbeat presentation, the chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's company, Robert Thomson, said the “reliable” breaking news and information in publications like the Australian, the Times of London and Dow Jones was “hard to beat” as an “input” for AI. Continue reading......

Foreign affairs committee report finds summit improved political relationship but efforts lack 'strategic priorities'Keir Starmer's efforts to reset the UK's relationship with the EU are lacking in “direction, definition and drive”, parliament's foreign affairs committee has said.A report based on months of expert witness testimony found the summit between the UK and the EU at Lancaster House last May had “substantially improved the overall political relationship” after years of Brussels-bashing by the Conservatives. Continue reading......

Company will halt production of controversial paraquat weed killer by end of June as it faces thousands of lawsuitsSyngenta, maker of a controversial pesticide linked to Parkinson's disease, said on Tuesday that it will stop making its paraquat weed killer by the end of June.The announcement comes as the company is facing several thousand lawsuits brought by people in the US who allege they developed Parkinson's disease due to their exposure to Syngenta's paraquat products. Continue reading......

Amid global volatility, Rachel Reeves tried to project calm with a low-key forecast. But business owners have their doubtsRachel Reeves gave a deliberately low-key spring forecast on Tuesday, in an attempt to project calm amid volatility abroad and after repeated tax rising budgets.But for some business owners struggling with rising costs, a lack of policy announcements this time around was a disappointment. Continue reading......

British outlet for the Hogwarts-adjacent 'interactive retail experience' will include recreated film locations, as well as 'photo moments' and merch Warner Bros has announced it is to open a 21,000 sq ft Harry Potter store on Oxford Street, one of London's busiest retail thoroughfares.The studio's Global Experiences wing says the two-floor shop will be an “interactive retail experience” including recreations of the franchise's most recognisable locations, as well as “photo moments” and exclusive merchandise. Continue reading......

South Korea's benchmark Kospi index leads Asian market sell-off, despite Donald Trump's suggestion that US Navy could protect vessels moving through vital waterwayGlobal markets tumbled further on Wednesday despite Donald Trump's offer to have the US navy escort tankers through the strait of Hormuz and the US military's claim that there is “not a single Iranian ship underway” in the crucial waterway.The Middle East conflict has crippled the strait which was in effect closed by Iran after strikes by the US and Israel this weekend, raising fears of a sustained energy supply crisis that reverberated around the world. Continue reading......

An energy shock from war in the Gulf will expose the limits of rigid fiscal rules. The real question is who absorbs the loss: the state, firms or households?The war in the Middle East has sent oil and gas prices soaring – and Britain remains deeply exposed to global energy markets. If the shocks persist they will feed directly into household bills, business costs and inflation. On Tuesday, the Office for Budget Responsibility released projections that were finalised before the US-Israeli strikes began. Rachel Reeves was right to warn that household bills might rise. But she gave no clue as to whether her policy would be flexible enough to respond if they did.In her spring statement the chancellor argued for fiscal discipline. That's understandable. The OBR says borrowing will fall and that the “headroom” against her self-imposed rules has increased. Her message was that Britain needed “stability”. The logic is that discipline reassures markets, and that keeps borrowing affor...

Extending settlement waits risks deepening labour shortages while misreading public concern about migration's economic and demographic realitiesThe home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is expected this week to press ahead with plans to make it harder for migrants to gain settled status, extending the wait from five to 10 years. She will not change tack despite Labour's crushing byelection defeat to the Greens. This is a mistake.Ms Mahmood argues that Denmark's Social Democrats curbed inflows to protect the welfare state and won at the ballot box. A general election in Denmark later this month will test whether that policy remains popular. Her recent visit to Copenhagen kept the spotlight on asylum, the most politically charged part of the UK system. Yet asylum flows are a small fraction of overall migration and largely disconnected from the labour shortages that undergird Britain's economic debate. Public concern about migration is real – shaped by pressures on housing, services and wages. But poll...

As government mulls doubling requirement to 10 years, the uncertainty is putting many who came to Britain to work under strainThey came to the UK to build better lives for their families and to work and contribute to British society. And they came with the promise that, after five years of playing by the rules, they would have the chance to get settled status.Now, many on the skilled worker visa – some of them only months from reaching that milestone – face having it snatched away from them under government plans to retroactively double the baseline period qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain to 10 years; plans they say amount to changing the rules of the game while the ball is in play. Continue reading......

Chair of merged production company says move creates a 'world class' offering across live events and programmingThe European maker of television shows ranging from Peaky Blinders to Big Brother is to merge with the UK super-indie behind hits including The Traitors to create a €4.4bn (£3.8bn) global TV production giant.Paris-headquartered Banijay Group, which last year considered making a takeover offer for ITV's studio operation, has struck a deal to merge with All3Media, which is owned by RedBird IMI. Continue reading......

The chancellor promised more money in people's pockets, but the Iran crisis makes steeper inflation a pressing worryRachel Reeves used her spring statement to insist her economic policies are working and things are looking up for household finances after the cost of living crisis.The chancellor trumpeted that by the next general election “people will be over £1,000 a year better off”. But against the backdrop of war in the Middle East, financial experts warned that the new economic forecasts published alongside her statement might have already been overtaken by events. Continue reading......

Unemployment is now predicted to reach 5.3% this year, up from the previous forecast of 4.9%Unemployment in the UK is set to peak this year at a higher rate than previously estimated, with a “worrying” increase in young people being out of work, the government's official forecaster has said.The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said unemployment will peak at 5.3% this year, up from its previous forecast in November of 4.9%. Continue reading......

The chancellor insists Labour has 'the right economic plan' for a world that has become 'yet more uncertain' Continue reading......