Lowering speed limits among contingency plans to curb UK oil demand

Lowering speed limits to minimise fuel consumption is among potential contingency plans being drawn up by the UK government as the crisis in the Middle East threatens global oil supplies.Sources stressed that there is no shortage of fuel in the UK, but said that officials in the Department for Transport were working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on an analysis of what measures could be taken to curb oil demand.The world’s energy watchdog has advised its government member states, including the UK, to consider lowering road speeds and limiting when cars can drive.The International Energy Agency (IEA) recommended a raft of Covid-style emergency measures, including working from home, to cope with soaring oil prices and looming supply problems triggered by the US-Israel strikes on Iran.The agency said governments should encourage shared transport, whether public or car-pooling, and efficient driving, and tell citizens to avoid air travel where possible

FTSE 100 loses all its 2026 gains as Middle East conflict hits shares, and UK borrowing costs reach highest since 2008 – as it happened

Shares in London are suffering an end-of-week sell-off, following a report that the US is to send more troops to the Middle East.The blue-chip FTSE 100 share index is now down 90 points, or 0.9%, at 9970 points, back below the 10,000-point mark. That’s its lowest level since 5 January, as the Iran war wipes out almost all of its gains during 2026.Energy company BP (-3

Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

The publisher of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and the Irish Independent has suspended one of its senior journalists after he admitted using AI to “wrongly put words into people’s mouths”.Peter Vandermeersch, the former head of the Irish operations at Mediahuis, said he “fell into the trap of hallucinations” – the term for AI-generated errors – when using the technology.Vandermeersch, a fellow of “journalism and society” at the European publishing group, has been suspended from his role.The experienced journalist said he had summarised reports using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s NotebookLM, and not checked whether the quotes from those summaries were accurate. He subsequently published them in his Substack newsletter

First came the AI ‘teammates’, then the layoffs: the new reality for Atlassian staff now looking for work

Sacked from his “dream job” at software giant Atlassian, Rubio* wants just one thing – closure.“We were probably exceeding expectations and there’s no explanation from the company as a whole as to why any of this happened,” he says.“The only desire that I have, outside of receiving my severance package, is closure as to why I was selected.”On Thursday morning last week, Atlassian laid off 1,600 workers – about 10% of its total workforce. Nearly 500 Australian staff were among them

Wheatley leaves Audi and clears path to become Aston Martin team principal

Jonathan Wheatley has left his role as Audi team principal, the Formula One team have confirmed, paving the way for his anticipated switch to the same role at Aston Martin.Wheatley’s arrival would allow the current Aston Martin principal, Adrian Newey, to return his focus to the technical and design areas in which he excels after the team endured a disastrous start to the new season.Wheatley, who previously spent almost 20 years at Red Bull, had been team principal at Audi (in its former guise as Sauber last season) for just over a year. However, with Aston Martin in dire straits, the team are believed to have acted decisively to bring Wheatley aboard to take the helm.Aston Martin have opened the season without finishing a race

Carabao Cup final, WSL and more Premier League drama – follow with us

Normally the Premier League weekend starts here, but David Tindall will have the reaction to Friday night’s Bournemouth v Manchester United game as well as the buildup to the day’s action. He will be looking at the fallout from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad selection, as well as looking forward to the day’s four Premier League games. It’s a full-on day in the Championship, too, with Middlesbrough’s recent stumbles opening up third-placed Ipswich’s shot at automatic promotion – except they are at home to a fourth-placed Millwall side motivated by injustice, after losing against Blackburn in a game that turned on a red card that was subsequently annulled. Send your thoughts on anything to do with the day’s games to matchday.live@theguardian