UK motorists still being overcharged for fuel, says watchdog

UK motorists are still being overcharged for fuel, according to the competition watchdog, which said they paid £1.6bn more than they should have last year alone.In its cost of living report, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that prices at the pump were still too high, and that the lack of proper competition among fuel retailers was “failing consumers”.Retailers’ fuel margins, which are the difference between what a retailer pays for fuel compared with what is charged to drivers, are “still significantly above historic levels”, the report said, with margins at supermarkets roughly double what they were in 2019.That meant motorists were paying £1

Eurostar cancels one in four trains after France arson attacks

Eurostar passengers travelling from London to Paris on Friday were asked to postpone trips if possible as the rail operator cancelled one in four trains over the weekend after arson attacks caused widespread disruption to France’s high-speed rail network hours before the start of the Olympics.Most cross-Channel services were leaving St Pancras International station on time but journeys were expected to be prolonged by at least an hour in France.After initially cancelling two Friday afternoon departures from London, the operator warned that it would have to cancel 25% of its scheduled trains across its European network throughout the weekend.The disruption, caused by what French authorities described as coordinated and malicious attacks on rail infrastructure between Paris and Lille, came hours before the Games’ opening ceremony, potentially stranding some passengers hoping to attend.Among those affected was the prime minister

Google DeepMind takes step closer to cracking top-level maths

Even though computers were made to do maths faster than any human could manage, the top level of formal mathematics remains an exclusively human domain. But a breakthrough by researchers at Google DeepMind has brought AI systems closer than ever to beating the best human mathematicians at their own game.A pair of new systems, called AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry 2, worked together to tackle questions from the International Mathematical Olympiad, a global maths competition for secondary-school students that has been running since 1959. The Olympiad takes the form of six mind-bogglingly hard questions each year, covering fields including algebra, geometry and number theory. Winning a gold medal places you among the best handful of young mathematicians in the world

CrowdStrike faces backlash as ‘thank you’ gift cards are blocked

An attempt by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to thank workers who tackled the recent global IT outage with a $10 UberEats voucher hit a stumbling block after Uber flagged the gesture as potential fraud.CrowdStrike confirmed that it sent the $10 voucher to “teammates and partners” who helped customers affected by a faulty software update it issued.The failure paralysed 8.5m devices around the world and led to chaos at airports, hospital appointment cancellations and TV channel blackouts.The tech news website TechCrunch reported that some recipients encountered an error message when trying to make use of their voucher, which said they had been cancelled by the issuing party and were no longer valid

Chase Budinger made $18m in the NBA. But Olympic beach volleyball called him

The Californian made enough money from his basketball career to retire in comfort. But he was called back to the sport he loved as a high schoolerWhen Chase Budinger was named to the US men’s beach volleyball team for the Paris Olympics, it seemed as if the selection panel had gotten its wires crossed.Budinger – a tall, blond, California cliche (and in case unclear, his is a hard g) – isn’t just any sand-sprinkled leviathan. He’s a 36-year-old NBA retiree. Really, the 6ft 7in swingman wouldn’t look out of place among the motley crew of journeymen who carry the US men’s basketball team through the Olympic qualifiers while the likes of LeBron James and Steph Curry are otherwise occupied

Olympic Games: Australians in action on day one in Paris

The Paris Olympics are under way and Australia will be out to start with a bang as Ariarne Titmus, Sam Short and Elijah Winnington are among those to chase swimming medals. The Dolphins’ men and women will also renew each of their rivalries in the 4x100m freestyle relay events.Grace Brown will hope to go at least one better after finishing fourth in the women’s individual time trial in Tokyo, while the Boomers face familiar foes Spain in their men’s basketball campaign and the Kookaburras kickstart their men’s hockey campaign.Here are the Australians to watch on day one at Paris 2024 – all times AEST:11.30pm: Men’s qualification: Jesse Moore3