UK petrol prices poised to fall further as oil prices tumble
Global oil prices have tumbled by more than $1 a barrel in a sign that pressure on households at the petrol pumps could ease further.The price of Brent crude fell to $63.86 a barrel on Thursday following reports that the Opec oil cartel and its allies may increase their production for July, despite weaker global demand for fossil fuels.The price of crude is now well below the $80.53 a barrel average recorded last year, a fall that has helped to put pump prices at their lowest level in almost four years.
The RAC motoring group said petrol prices in the UK fell by 2p a litre in April, the second consecutive monthly fall, to an average of 134.1p a litre, while diesel prices fell from 142.6p to 140.6p.The latest data showed that pump prices have now fallen further, to 132.
50p a litre for petrol and 138.80p a litre averaged across the UK.The RAC forecasts that fuel prices will continue to fall.Forecourt prices are some of the lowest paid by UK motorists since July 2021, and compare with the peak petrol price of £1.92 in July 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a surge in energy markets.
The oil market has tumbled from highs of almost $128 a barrel in early 2022, despite the conflict in Ukraine and the war in Gaza.The price fall has accelerated since the US president, Donald Trump, triggered fears of a global economic recession last month by setting a number of tariffs on imported goods.Despite concerns about the health of the global economy, which has a direct impact on the demand for oil, the Opec cartel and its allies, known as Opec+, are reportedly poised to increase their exports by 411,000 barrels a day for July.Although no final agreement has been made, the RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said in an investor note on Thursday that the reported rise in output was the “most likely outcome” from the meeting.Opec+ and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, cut their production last year to help shore up the global oil price, which has weakened because of shaky demand forecasts and an abundance of supply.
It is now in the process of allowing members of the cartel to produce more oil,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionCroft said: “A key question will be whether the voluntary cut will be fully drawn down before the leaves turn brown in many parts of the world, in line with the original taper schedule,”
Ministers said to be considering bill to wipe out British Steel’s debts
Ministers are reportedly considering legislation to relieve British Steel of debts that have risen to nearly £1bn, as the government considers how best to prepare the Scunthorpe steelworks for sale.The government took control of the business last month after it said its Chinese owner, Jingye Steel, planned to close the plant within days. The move required emergency legislation that was passed in a historic recall of parliament.Jingye remains the legal owner of British Steel, despite the takeover, and is owed money by the company. Those debts would probably have been wiped out in a liquidation
Government considers sale of Brexit border checkpoint in Kent – reports
The UK government is reportedly considering selling a post-Brexit border check facility in Kent that could fall out of use as a result of this week’s trade pact with the EU.The site, based in Sevington, Ashford, was erected in 2021 with capacity for 1,300 lorries that were expected to face extra checks on plants and animal goods, including dairy and meat, entering and leaving Britain after Brexit.However, the deal between the UK and EU struck earlier this week is expected to remove the need for routine health and veterinary certification on the import and export of farm products ranging from fresh meat and dairy products to vegetables, timber, wool and leather.The government is now looking for a company willing to buy or repurpose the Sevington border control point.Ministers are said to have approached Eurotunnel directly, according to the Financial Times
Most AI chatbots easily tricked into giving dangerous responses, study finds
Hacked AI-powered chatbots threaten to make dangerous knowledge readily available by churning out illicit information the programs absorb during training, researchers say.The warning comes amid a disturbing trend for chatbots that have been “jailbroken” to circumvent their built-in safety controls. The restrictions are supposed to prevent the programs from providing harmful, biased or inappropriate responses to users’ questions.The engines that power chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude – large language models (LLMs) – are fed vast amounts of material from the internet.Despite efforts to strip harmful text from the training data, LLMs can still absorb information about illegal activities such as hacking, money laundering, insider trading and bomb-making
‘Every person that clashed with him has left’: the rise, fall and spectacular comeback of Sam Altman
From Elon Musk to his own board, anyone who has come up against the OpenAI CEO has lost. In a gripping new account of the battle for AI supremacy, writer Karen Hao says we should all be wary of the power he now wieldsThe short-lived firing of Sam Altman, the CEO of possibly the world’s most important AI company, was sensational. When he was sacked by OpenAI’s board members, some of them believed the stakes could not have been higher – the future of humanity – if the organisation continued under Altman. Imagine Succession, with added apocalypse vibes. In early November 2023, after three weeks of secret calls and varying degrees of paranoia, the OpenAI board agreed: Altman had to go
AFL urged to go beyond mental health round with player voices to tackle stigma
From sharing more first-person stories to using destigmatising language in community football, the AFL can do more to improve mental health outcomes according to experts, whether or not the league pursues a themed round explicitly dedicated to the cause.The footy community has been beset by grief this week following the death of West Coast premiership player Adam Selwood at age 41, three months after his twin brother Troy – a former Brisbane player – died by suicide.Former Kangaroos and Swans player Wayne Schwass, Cats great Jimmy Bartel and Swans’ premiership-winning coach Paul Roos have been leading voices in the call for the establishment of a mental health round, but others including former Hawthorn president and Beyond Blue founder Jeff Kennett are opposed to the idea.As many as 43% of people aged 16–85 experience a mental disorder at some time in their life according to the ABS, and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 15-44.The AFL developed its first mental health strategy in 2020 and updated it last year, outlining a vision that employees of the AFL and its clubs are “supported to thrive in football, work and life”
All aboard for glory? Bath hope their trophy buses are finally on schedule
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