Woolworths is cutting prices from today. Expect more supermarket competition – but not an all-out price war

Woolworths is cutting prices on hundreds of products from Wednesday, raising hopes the supermarket sector is entering a new period of intensifying competition, colloquially known as a price war.But after a bruising period for the supermarket sector, marked by allegations of price-gouging during a cost-of-living crisis, shoppers may be sceptical of seeing any relief.Is the era of fast-rising grocery prices and supercharged supermarket profits really coming to an end?Australia’s major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, suffered dramatic hits to their reputation over the past 18 months, as public anger over grocery prices and concerns over the treatment of agricultural suppliers sparked government and regulatory inquiries.Research house Roy Morgan noted earlier this year that the supermarket giants had become some of the most distrusted brands in Australia amid “allegations of price hikes and profit-driven strategies”.Woolworths, the country’s biggest chain, fared worse than Coles – in public perception and then sales – due to a particularly combative appearance before a parliamentary inquiry and a high-profile industrial strike at some of its warehouses that left shelves empty in the lead-up to Christmas

Thames Water CEO says crisis ‘decades in the making’; US inflation hits four-year low – as it happened

MPs then turn to the BBC’s recent (revealing) documentary into the Thames Water crisis.Q: Why did CEO Chris Weston tell the BBC that “I won’t know how it got this way”, after 10 months at the company? What’s his analysis today?Weston replies that he has a pretty clear idea now, and was also pretty clear then, but questions the value of “talking about it publicly and pointing the finger” [in which case, why allow TV cameras into the company?!].Weston tells the EFRA committee there are “many authors” responsible.He says:I’m clear how we got here. This has been decades in the making, the crisis we face at Thames

Trump strikes a blow for AI – by firing the US copyright supremo

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Sometimes it helps me to write by thinking about how a radio broadcaster or television presenter would deliver the information, so I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. Today in tech news: questions hover over the automation of labor in the worker-strapped US healthcare system; and drones proliferate in a new conflict: India v Pakistan, both armed with nuclear weapons. But first, how fights over AI and copyright take very different shapes in the UK and US.The United Kingdom is in the throes of a debate over whether to compensate artists’ for the use of their copyrighted work in the creation of generative artificial intelligence technology

House of Lords pushes back against government’s AI plans

The government has suffered another setback in the House of Lords over its plans to let artificial intelligence firms use copyright-protected work without permission.An amendment to the data bill requiring AI companies to reveal which copyrighted material is used in their models was backed by peers, despite government opposition.It is the second time parliament’s upper house has demanded tech companies make clear whether they have used copyright-protected content.The vote came days after hundreds of artists and organisations including Paul McCartney, Jeanette Winterson, Dua Lipa and the Royal Shakespeare Company urged the prime minister not to “give our work away at the behest of a handful of powerful overseas tech companies”.The amendment was tabled by crossbench peer Beeban Kidron and was passed by 272 votes to 125

Court urged to jail Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s father for ‘regime of repeated abuse’

The father of the Norwegian track and field superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen should go to prison for two and a half years for “a regime of repeated abuse” that spanned a decade, prosecutors have told a court in Norway.Summing up the state’s case, the prosecutor Angjerd Kvernenes said that Jakob and his sister, Ingrid, had suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of their father and former coach, Gjert, which began when Jakob was seven years old.In her closing arguments, Kvernenes reminded the court that Jakob, who won the Olympic 1500m title in Tokyo before winning 5,000 gold in Paris, had described how he had been punched and kicked by his father when he was still at primary school.“Jakob has explained about fear, about unpredictability, and about how the repeated blows to his head when he was seven and a half years old have affected him further in his upbringing,” she said. “The extent has been so great that Jakob has lived under a regime of repeated abuse over time

Olympic wrestling champion Kyle Snyder arrested in Ohio prostitution sting

Olympic wrestling champion Kyle Snyder was one of more than a dozen people arrested as part of a prostitution sting in Ohio.Police in Columbus conducted an operation aimed at reducing prostitution in the city on Friday, and the 29-year-old Snyder was arrested in a hotel room for engaging in prostitution. He was released from custody at the scene.Columbus police spokesperson Caitlyn McIntosh said officers had posted online ads last week to “solicit others to engage in sexual activity for hire”. Police said a man later identified as Snyder had replied to one of the postings and arranged to meet at a local hotel