Rachel Reeves to try to reassure City investors after unexpected UK GDP fall

Rachel Reeves will attempt to shrug off the UK’s anaemic economic performance at her Mansion House speech next week, after the latest official figures showed the economy unexpectedly shrank in May.The chancellor is expected to say the City is at the heart of her vision for sparking economic growth, as she battles to seize back the narrative after worse than expected GDP figures, and a bleak warning from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) about the state of the public finances.The economy shrank by 0.1% in May, the Office for National Statistics said, fuelled by sharp declines in manufacturing and construction.It was the second month of contraction in a row after a 0

Rubio in bind as he seeks to reassure south-east Asia, even as it faces Trump tariffs

Even as they face among the most punitive tariffs globally, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has sought to reassure south-east Asian countries of Washington’s commitment to the region, saying they may get “better” trade deals than the rest of the world.In his first official visit to Asia, Rubio met the foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Malaysia on Thursday, telling his counterparts that the US had “no intention of abandoning” the region. His visit came days after Donald Trump renewed his threat to impose severe tariffson many south-east Asian countries if they did not strike deals by 1 August.The region, which includes countries that rely on exports and manufacturing, has been among the worst hit by Trump’s trade war.Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia were sent letters this week warning they would face tariffs ranging from 20-40% – levies that Rubio said were being discussed with Asean countries

AI-generated child sexual abuse videos surging online, watchdog says

The number of videos online of child sexual abuse generated by artificial intelligence has surged as paedophiles have pounced on developments in the technology.The Internet Watch Foundation said AI videos of abuse had “crossed the threshold” of being near-indistinguishable from “real imagery” and had sharply increased in prevalence online this year.In the first six months of 2025, the UK-based internet safety watchdog verified 1,286 AI-made videos with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that broke the law, compared with two in the same period last year.The IWF said just over 1,000 of the videos featured category A abuse, the classification for the most severe type of material.The organisation said the multibillion-dollar investment spree in AI was producing widely available video-generation models that were being manipulated by paedophiles

Children limiting own smartphone use to manage mental health, survey finds

Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and concentration spans, research has revealed.They are reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits, according to experts.The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries.Prof Sonia Livingstone, the director of the LSE’s Digital Futures for Children centre, said these findings were echoed in soon to be published research, which has found that children and young people are trying various options to manage how their online lives affect their wellbeing, including taking a break from social media, distracting themselves from negativity online, seeking more positive experiences on the internet and in some cases quitting social media altogether.Livingstone said: “Children have got the message – from their parents, the media, their own experiences – that too much social media isn’t always good for them

No one ever got rich writing off Novak Djokovic, but even he can’t stretch time for ever | Jonathan Liew

We can’t tell how much is left for tennis’s ultimate champion, but semi-final defeat by Sinner could be the moment Project 25 was buried for goodThe Moment comes at the start of the third set. Nobody in tennis can spot a Moment like Novak Djokovic. The Moment is where he lives, breathes, puts gluten-free food on his family’s table. What happened before was irrelevant. You can rattle and bully him

‘You can’t keep slowing the game down’: Root wants to limit number of ball changes

Joe Root has called on authorities to limit the number of times Test sides can ask umpires to check potentially misshapen balls, after the morning of the second day at Lord’s was characterised by complaints and exchanges, with the ball being changed twice, and a drinks break being extended while India’s captain, Shubman Gill, argued with the umpires about the quality of one of the replacements.Jasprit Bumrah refused to comment on the balls, saying: “I work very hard and bowl a lot of overs, so I don’t want to say any controversial statements and get my match fee deducted. We were bowling with the ball we were given and that’s how it is.”But Root sympathised with the task facing Dukes, who hand-produce the balls used in Test matches in England. “This summer has been a bit of an anomaly for us