Eight firms under investigation in crackdown on additional online fees

Britain’s competition watchdog has begun investigations into eight companies about their online pricing practices, expressing concern over additional fees and sales tactics such as “drip pricing” and “pressure selling”.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was looking into the ticket sellers StubHub and Viagogo; AA Driving School and BSM Driving School; the US gym chain Gold’s Gym; and the retailers Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical.The investigations are the first launched by the CMA using its new consumer protection powers. The watchdog said it had concerns over practices including drip pricing – when consumers are shown an initial price and then face additional fees in the checkout process – and the use of misleading countdown timers, which are banned under the new regime.The investigations follow a cross-economy review by the CMA since April of more than 400 businesses in 19 sectors to assess their compliance with price transparency rules

Lawyers for Fed governor accuse Trump administration of ‘cherry-picking’ facts in fraud case

Lawyers for Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor, called Trump administration allegations of mortgage fraud against her “baseless” on Monday and accused the administration of “cherry-picking” discrepancies to bolster their claims.After accusing Cook of misrepresenting multiple residences as her primary residence to get a better mortgage rate, Donald Trump briefly fired Cook from her role as a Fed governor and as one of 12 voting members of the Federal Reserve board that sets interest rates. The supreme court reinstated her and will in January hear arguments over Cook’s removal.In the letter, addressed to Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, and Edward Martin, the deputy attorney general, Abbe Lowell, Cook’s lawyer, outlined for the first time Cook’s detailed defense against the accusations. Lowell said that the dispute involves three of Cook’s properties: a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a condo in Atlanta, Georgia, and a home in Cambridge, Massachusetts

UK consumers warned over AI chatbots giving inaccurate financial advice

Artificial intelligence chatbots are giving inaccurate money tips, offering British consumers misleading tax advice and suggesting they buy unnecessary travel insurance, research has revealed.Tests on the most popular chatbots found Microsoft’s Copilot and ChatGPT advised breaking HMRC investment limits on Isas; ChatGPT wrongly said it was mandatory to have travel insurance to visit most EU countries; and Meta’s AI gave incorrect information about how to claim compensation for delayed flights.Google’s Gemini advised withholding money from a builder if a job went wrong, a move that the consumer organisation Which? said risked exposing the consumer to a claim of breach of contract.Which? said its research, conducted by putting 40 questions to the rival AI tools, “uncovered far too many inaccuracies and misleading statements for comfort, especially when leaning on AI for important issues like financial or legal queries”.Meta’s AI received the worst score, followed by ChatGPT; Copilot and Gemini scored slightly higher

Jeff Bezos reportedly launches new AI startup with himself as CEO

After stepping down as Amazon’s CEO four years ago, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder and former chief executive of the online shopping company, is going to be a CEO again. This time, Bezos has appointed himself co-CEO of an AI startup called Project Prometheus, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources.The startup, which will focus on developing AI for engineering and manufacturing in various fields, has already received $6.2bn in funding – more than many companies are able to raise in their lifetimes. Leading the company alongside Bezos is his co-founder and co-CEO Vik Bajaj, a celebrity tech executive in his own right

The Luka Era begins: inside the transformation powering the post-LeBron Lakers

Shipped out of Dallas and dropped into Hollywood, Dončić has responded with a leaner body, a louder voice and a growing command of the Lakers’ post-LeBron futureIt’s been nine and a half months since the trade that rocked the sports world was broken via a Shams Charania tweet that prompted the majority of the basketball news-breaker’s followers to assume he’d been hacked. Fresh off of a trip to the NBA finals, the young Slovenian superstar Luka Dončić was shipped off in the middle of the night to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, and the NBA as we know it was changed forever. The fallout from one of the most shocking trades in sports history is still evolving in real-time: disgraced Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who spearheaded the transaction, was let go by the team last week, in a move Mavericks fans have been loudly clamoring for since news broke that their homegrown franchise player was being abruptly cast to sea. But on the other side of the coin was a mixed blessing and a new beginning. But on the other side of the coin was a mixed blessing and a new beginning: Dončić, who had imagined spending his entire career in Dallas like mentor Dirk Nowitzki, suddenly found himself recast as the face of the NBA’s most iconic franchise under the bright lights of Hollywood

‘A drug that’s very safe and healthy‘: what ultrarunners can teach us about life | Sean Ingle

Imagine being able to run a marathon in three hours and 17 minutes. That is certainly no mean feat. But now think about trying to sustain that same pace for another nine hours. To most of us, the idea veers somewhere between the fantastical and the insane. Yet that is what Caitriona Jennings, a 45-year-old ultrarunner from Donegal, did this month when breaking the women’s world record for 100 miles