North Korean agents using AI to trick western firms into hiring them, Microsoft says

Fake IT workers deployed by North Korea are using AI technology, including voice-changing tools, to trick western companies into hiring them, Microsoft has said.The US tech firm said a signature Pyongyang money-raising ruse is being enhanced by AI, which is helping create fake names and alter stolen IDs to increase the credibility of false applicants for IT and software development jobs.The scam typically involves state-backed fraudsters applying for remote IT work in the west, using fake identities and the help of “facilitators” in the country where the company targeted is based. Once hired, they send their wages back to Kim Jong-un’s state and have even been known to threaten to release sensitive company data after being fired.According to a blogpost from Microsoft’s threat intelligence unit, Pyongyang is using AI to bolster the effectiveness of its ploy

Brent crude hits $90 as Kuwait ‘starts cutting oil production’; shock as US economy loses 92,000 jobs in February – as it happened

The UK stock market has recorded its biggest weekly fall in eleven months, as the Middle East crisis has hit shares.The FTSE 100 share index has closed 129 points lower today at 10,284, a drop of 1.24% during today’s session.That means it has lost 5.75% of its value since the start of this week, its worst performance since the week to 4 April 2025, when Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs rocked markets

Royal Mail criticised as first-class stamp price rises to £1.80 despite ‘failing service’

Royal Mail has been criticised for announcing another hike in the cost of first- and second-class stamps while providing what Citizens Advice described as a “failing service”.From 7 April, the price of a first-class stamp will increase by 10p, or 6%, to £1.80. The cost of the second-class service is going up by 4p, or 5%, to 91p. Royal Mail blamed the need for price increases on the “continued rise in the cost of delivery for every letter”

US lost 92,000 jobs in February just before Trump joined Iran conflict

The US lost 92,000 jobs in February, an unexpected major slackening in the labor market that came just before Donald Trump threw the global economy into upheaval with his conflict in Iran.The unemployment rate edged up to 4.4% in February. In comparison, the US added a revised 126,000 jobs in January, far surpassing expectations of 70,000 jobs but still less than January 2025. Economists predicted an increase of 60,000 jobs added in February and a steady unemployment rate of 4

BP’s new boss will take home at least £11.7m this year, more than double her predecessor

The incoming chief executive of BP will take home at least £11.7m this year after joining the embattled oil company from a rival, more than double the pay packet earned by her predecessor.Meg O’Neill will join BP from the Australian oil company Woodside Energy in April as the company’s first external hire to its top job, and the first woman to serve as chief executive at the 117-year-old oil major.The former ExxonMobil executive will earn a base salary of £1.6m, narrowly above the salary paid to her predecessor, Murray Auchincloss, but the bulk of her pay packet will be payments made by BP to compensate O’Neill for the share awards she was in line to receive over the next five years in her previous role

Rail passengers warned over six-day Easter shutdown on west coast mainline

Rail passengers planning to travel over the Easter break face disrupted journeys owing to a six-day shutdown on Britain’s biggest intercity line.Engineering work means there will be no west coast mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday (3 April) to Wednesday 8 April.There will also be no service between Preston and Lancaster on the line on 4-5 April.Network Rail said the work, which is part of a £400m project to increase the reliability of the line, was vital and that bank holidays were chosen for such works because they were among the least busy times to close.“The four-day period at Easter gives us a valuable opportunity to complete projects that simply can’t be delivered during a normal weekend,” said Jake Kelly, the body’s regional director for the north-west and central region