FTSE 100 share index hits 9,000 points for the first time; US inflation rate rises to 2.7% – as it happened

Newsflash: Britain’s blue-chip stock index has risen through the 9,000 point mark to hit a new record high.The FTSE 100 share index hit 9,016.98 points at the start of trading in London, up around 0.2% today, taking its gains during 2025 to over 10%.That’s a new intraday high for the “Footsie” (as it is known in City circles)

US inflation rose in June as Trump’s tariffs start to show in prices

Inflation shot up in June as the impacts of Donald Trump’s tariffs slowly started to show in US prices.Business leaders have said for months that the high, volatile rates of Trump’s tariffs will force companies to raise consumer prices. Prices remained stable in the spring, particularly as many of Trump’s highest tariffs were paused; however, they started increasing in May and have continued to rise in June.Annual inflation rose to 2.7% in June, up from 2

Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot melts down – and then wins a military contract

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, saw its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok go Nazi. Then its CEO resigned. In the past three years of Musk’s ownership of the social network, it feels like X has weathered at least one public crisis per week, more often multiple.Last week, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, saw its flagship chatbot Grok declare itself a super-Nazi, referring to itself as “MechaHitler”

AI chatbot ‘MechaHitler’ could be making content considered violent extremism, expert witness tells X v eSafety case

The chatbot embedded in Elon Musk’s X that referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and made antisemitic comments last week could be considered terrorism or violent extremism content, an Australian tribunal has heard.But an expert witness for X has argued a large language model cannot be ascribed intent, only the user.xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, last week apologised for the comments made by its Grok chatbot over a 16-hour period, which it attributed to “deprecated code” that made Grok susceptible to existing X user posts, “including when such posts contained extremist views”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe outburst came into focus at an administrative review tribunal hearing on Tuesday where X is challenging a notice issued by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in March last year asking the platform to explain how it is taking action against terrorism and violent extremism (TVE) material.X’s expert witness, RMIT economics professor Chris Berg, provided evidence to the case that it was an error to assume a large language model can produce such content, because it is the intent of the user prompting the large language model that is critical in defining what can be considered terrorism and violent extremism content

‘The bigger the better’: Wallabies’ hopes against Lions rest on broadest shoulders

The British & Irish Lions’ last three-nil series victory in Australia was in 1904, but the heavily fancied tourists already have one eye on replicating that feat. Lions back-rower Henry Pollock, in all the wisdom of his 20 years, boasted this week that a whitewash “is definitely on the table”.But in the coming feast of rugby, Australia’s forwards will have read the menu differently. They are led by Rob Valetini, perhaps Australia’s only truly world-class player. Last year he won a second successive John Eales Medal – Australian rugby’s most prestigious individual accolade – becoming the third player after Michael Hooper and Israel Folau to achieve the feat

‘What is the point?’ Scottie Scheffler questions golf and life before Open

Since the age of three, when he given a plastic set of clubs, Scottie Scheffler has wanted to be the best golfer in the world. He has won three majors, been ranked world No 1 since 2023, and is the favourite for the Open this week. But during an extraordinary press conference at Portrush on Tuesday, the American peered into an existential void as he asked himself: what is the point of it all?Scheffler was clearly happy, and his determination to win this week was clear. He also spoke eloquently on the challenges of links golf. But a hitherto unremarkable press conference suddenly veered into a deeper philosophical search for meaning when the 29-year-old was asked how long he had ever celebrated a victory