Thousands join anti-austerity march in London to protest against Labour’s cuts

Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday calling for an end to public service and welfare cuts, in the first big anti-austerity march under Keir Starmer’s Labour government.The campaign group People’s Assembly, which organised the demonstration, called on the government to “tax the rich and their hidden wealth to fund public services”.The People’s Assembly said it was bringing together trade unionists, health, disability, housing and welfare campaigners with community organisations under the slogan: No More Austerity 2.0.Speaking at the rally, the backbench Labour MP Diane Abbott criticised Starmer’s comments on immigration as “fundamentally racist”, suggesting the government was copying the rhetoric of Reform UK

Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes

Lenders vying to take over Thames Water have demanded that the struggling company and its management be granted immunity from prosecution for serious environmental crimes as a condition of acquiring it, the Guardian can reveal.Creditors want the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to grant the water company extraordinary clemency from a series of strict rules covering everything from sewage spills to failure to upgrade its water treatment works.The demands, if successful, would render the Environment Agency (EA) largely powerless to take enforcement action against Britain’s biggest water company for some of the most serious criminal breaches of its licences and permits.Thames Water has been a serial offender in recent years, paying tens of millions of pounds in fines and penalties, with multiple convictions for dumping raw sewage into rivers and streams and dozens more investigations under way.The fate of the heavily indebted utility was thrown into further doubt this week when the US private equity firm KKR quit an auction to buy it, citing concerns about politicisation and the poor state of its assets

UK ministers delay AI regulation amid plans for more ‘comprehensive’ bill

Proposals to regulate artificial intelligence have been delayed by at least a year as UK ministers plan a bumper bill to regulate the technology and its use of copyrighted material.Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, intends to introduce a “comprehensive” AI bill in the next parliamentary session to address concerns about issues including safety and copyright.This will not be ready before the next king’s speech, and is likely to trigger concerns about delays to regulating the technology. The date for the next king’s speech has not been set but several sources said it could take place in May 2026.Labour had originally planned to introduce a short, narrowly drafted AI bill within months of entering office that would have been focused on large language models, such as ChatGPT

The Trump-Musk feud shows danger of handing the keys of power to one person

After a year of effusive praise and expressions of love for each other, Elon Musk and Donald Trump exploded their political partnership in dramatic fashion this week. The highly public split included, among other highlights, the world’s richest person accusing the president of the United States of associating with a notorious sex offender. Trump said Musk had “lost his mind”.As Musk and Trump traded insults, each on his own social network, they also issued threats with tangible consequences. Trump suggested that he could cancel all of Musk’s government contracts and subsidies – “the best way to save money”, he posted – a move that would have devastating consequences not only on the tech billionaire’s companies but also on the federal agencies that have come to depend on them

Sciver-Brunt hits late flurry as England race to ODI series sweep of West Indies

England head coach Charlotte Edwards praised her players for being “ruthless and clinical” after they completed a 6-0 clean sweep against West Indies, winning Saturday’s rain-reduced third one-day international at Taunton by nine wickets.Chasing a DLS target of 106 in 21 overs, Nat Sciver-Brunt scored an unbeaten half-century to continue a successful start as captain, smashing back-to-back boundaries to seal the win with 61 balls remaining.After consecutive double-century partnerships between Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont in the first two matches of the series, England rejigged their batting order to enable the middle-order a chance to join the series run-fest. Opening up alongside her skipper, Sophia Dunkley contributed 26 before being trapped leg-before by Karishma Ramharack, while Alice Capsey struck a quick-fire 20 from 11 balls at No 3, as England stormed to victory.“We’ve taken a lot of confidence from this,” Edwards said of her side’s first outing since their 16-0 Ashes thrashing last winter

England beat West Indies by nine wickets in rain-hit third women’s ODI – as it happened

Righto, that was one of the stranger OBOs I’ve been involved in. Congratulations to England, they got the job done despite the apocalyptic weather in Taunton. Time for me to depart, thanks for sticking with us, goodnight!England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt:It has rained a few times in Taunton..