UK grocery watchdog investigating Amazon over alleged supplier payment delays; company insolvencies jump – as it happened

Despite UK government borrowing slightly undershooting forecasts so far this financial year, tax rises in the autumn are likely.That’s the view of City consultancy Capital Economics, who told clients this morning:Despite the overshoot in May, public borrowing was £2.9bn below the OBR’s forecast in the first two months of the fiscal year. That said, the OBR may still revise up its borrowing forecasts from March in the Autumn Budget.That and already-tight spending plans mean tax hikes later this year appear increasingly likely

Reeves may need to raise taxes by £20bn in autumn after UK borrowing rises

Rachel Reeves may need to raise taxes by more than £20bn in the autumn budget after figures showed the government’s spending deficit reached £17.7bn in May, the second highest on record for the month.Analysts said a sharp increase in tax receipts had still fallen short of forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and given an indication of the weakness underpinning the public finances.The chancellor’s plans are also likely to be upended in the autumn when the budget watchdog is expected to revise down economic growth, further limiting the rise in tax receipts, and include higher borrowing costs, which are already above £100bn a year.The combined effect would be to wipe out Reeves’s £10bn “rainy day” buffer in the public finances and create another large financial hole, possibly as large as £10bn to £20bn

Trump signs order granting TikTok a third reprieve from US ban

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to delay the ban or sale of TikTok for the third time. The order gives the Chinese-owned social media company another 90 days to find a buyer or be banned in the US.“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” the president said in a Truth Social post.Trump’s first executive order giving TikTok a reprieve came on his first day in office – just three days after the supreme court ruled to uphold the ban. Trump issued the second executive order in April

UK Uber drivers’ earnings cut after changes to secretive algorithm

Many Uber drivers are earning “substantially less” an hour since the ride hailing app introduced a “dynamic pricing” algorithm in 2023 that coincided with the company taking a significantly higher share of fares, research has revealed.The findings are in a study released on Thursday by academics at the University of Oxford. They analysed data provided by 258 UK Uber drivers responsible for 1.5m trips.Having initially taken a fixed 20% cut of the UK fares charged, which subsequently rose to 25%, Uber introduced dynamic pricing in 2023, an algorithm that variably sets pay for drivers and fares for passengers

Shubman Gill glides India into commanding position with regal coronation | Andy Bull

For a man who moves so slowly, Shubman Gill can fit a lot into a split second. Gill is one of those rare athletes who works in a different rhythm to the rest of us, so that even when a ball’s coming down at 90mph he seems to be able to take a beat to whistle a bar of Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle while he thinks about what he’s going to order for dinner that evening, finally decides how to meet this latest delivery and then, at the last possible moment, follows through. He is, as any number of players and coaches say, someone you only need to see hit one shot to know exactly how good he is.England, unfortunately for them, got to watch a lot more than one on the first day of the opening Test.In style, Gill is a throwback batter

England v India: first men’s cricket Test, day one – as it happened

I’ll leave you with Ali Martin’s report from Headingley. Thanks for your company, see you in the morning. Big first hour!Simon Burnton soaks up the Headingley atmosphereThough a pleasant breeze took the edge off it, at lunch the biggest queues were for the water refill stations, and by tea the bars were virtually deserted but heaven help anyone who wanted an ice cream. A previously rather flat atmosphere perked up soon afterwards, potentially assisted by copious quantities of soft serve. Flake? Not us, pal