US dollar has worst first half in more than 50 years amid Trump tariffs

The US dollar has had its worst first half-year in more than 50 years, as the financial markets over the last six months were dominated by geopolitical crises and Donald Trump’s trade war.The dollar has fallen by 10.8% against a basket of currencies since the start of 2025. That is its worst performance over the first six months of any year since 1973, and the worst half-year since the second half of 1991.This sell-off has pulled the dollar index down to its lowest level since March 2022 and lifted the pound to a three-year high of $1

UK economic growth confirmed at 0.7% in first quarter; Lincolnshire oil refinery calls in administrators –as it happened

Here’s our full story on the UK GDP data:UK households faced a renewed cost of living squeeze in the first three months of 2025 amid increases in taxes and inflation, official figures show, despite the economy growing at the fastest rate in the G7.The Office for National Statistics said an important measure of living standards – real household disposable income per head – fell by 1% in the first quarter after growth of 1.8% in the final three months of 2024, in the first quarterly decline for almost two years.The households’ saving ratio – which estimates the percentage of disposable income Britons save rather than spend – slumped by 1.1 percentage points to 10

Microsoft says AI system better than doctors at diagnosing complex health conditions

Microsoft has revealed details of an artificial intelligence system that performs better than human doctors at complex health diagnoses, creating a “path to medical superintelligence”.The company’s AI unit, which is led by the British tech pioneer Mustafa Suleyman, has developed a system that imitates a panel of expert physicians tackling “diagnostically complex and intellectually demanding” cases.Microsoft said that when paired with OpenAI’s advanced o3 AI model, its approach “solved” more than eight of 10 case studies specially chosen for the diagnostic challenge. When those case studies were tried on practising physicians – who had no access to colleagues, textbooks or chatbots – the accuracy rate was two out of 10.Microsoft said it was also a cheaper option than using human doctors because it was more efficient at ordering tests

‘Lidar is lame’: why Elon Musk’s vision for a self-driving Tesla taxi faltered

After years of promising investors that millions of Tesla robotaxis would soon fill the streets, Elon Musk debuted his driverless car service in a limited public rollout in Austin, Texas. It did not go smoothly.The 22 June launch initially appeared successful enough, with a flood of videos from pro-Tesla social media influencers praising the service and sharing footage of their rides. Musk celebrated it as a triumph, and the following day, Tesla’s stock rose nearly 10%.What quickly became apparent, however, was that the same influencer videos Musk promoted also depicted the self-driving cars appearing to break traffic laws or struggle to properly function

Queues and winning Raducanu make Wimbledon feel even more British than usual

It might sound implausible, but this was a day where Wimbledon, that most quintessential of British sporting institutions, felt even more British than usual. The queues were lengthy, the weather hitting record-breaking heights. And over a glorious day of action, the All England Club reverberated to the rare sound of unheralded British players shattering expectations – and ripping up the record books.By the time Katie Boulter left Centre Court with the cheers still ringing in her ears after defeating the No 9 seed Paula Badosa, there had been a magnificent seven British victories on day one – the most in a single day in the open era.On Centre Court David Beckham and Princess Beatrice, sporting and actual royalty respectively, watched on

Katie Boulter fights back from the brink to topple ninth seed Paula Badosa

At the start of a tension-filled final set on Centre Court, when she desperately needed to showcase the best of her abilities, Katie Boulter’s game was in freefall. Her rapid‑fire start had given way to painful service issues and her unforced error count was growing with every point.The 28-year-old Briton responded to those difficulties, however, with a demonstration of her resilience, digging deep at the end of three testing sets to produce one of the best wins of her career by toppling the ninth seed, Paula Badosa, to reach the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory.The win marks the fourth top-10 victory of Boulter’s career and her second at a grand slam tournament following her dramatic three-set win against the then No 7, Karolina Pliskova, on the same court in 2022.“I think I got one of my first against Pliskova on this court,” Boulter said of her top-10 wins