Trump’s economic shocks are derailing Britain’s building plans

Donald Trump has done his best to crush the green shoots of the global, post-pandemic economic recovery – nowhere more so than in the UK.The US president’s vandalism can be seen across the economic landscape, especially in the property sector, which has become more sensitive to international events since the spread of Covid-19 disrupted long-established supply chains and sent the cost of raw materials soaring.What should be a strictly domestic consideration – what to build and where – has been shaped by the backwash from one geopolitical crisis after another, inducing a long period of stasis.The latest UK industry statistics come hot on the heels of Trump’s attack on Iran.The data provider Glenigan said last week the value of new projects had dropped by more than a third in the three months to the end of February

‘It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance

Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts sayBy the 1980s, Detroit’s once titanic carmakers were being upended by rivals from Japan. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had grown rich selling gas guzzlers, but when oil prices rose and suddenly cheap, fuel-efficient Japanese models looked attractive, they were unprepared. The collapse in sales led to hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive heartland of the US.Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line

Musk responsible for Twitter investors’ stock dropping when he bought company, jury rules

A California jury has ruled that Elon Musk is responsible for Twitter investors’ stock plummeting when he sought to buy the social media platform for $44bn in 2022. Jurors handed the win to a group of investors who sued the billionaire saying he publicly disparaged the company with the aim of bringing down Twitter’s stock price to get a better bargain.The trial, which began earlier this month in federal court in San Francisco, focused on whether Musk intended to move the market with his comments. During a six-month period in 2022, after his offer to buy Twitter, he posted constantly to his millions of followers that the social network was rife with bots that produced spam and created fake accounts.Musk did eventually buy Twitter for $54

Senior European journalist suspended over AI-generated quotes

The publisher of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and the Irish Independent has suspended one of its senior journalists after he admitted using AI to “wrongly put words into people’s mouths”.Peter Vandermeersch, the former head of the Irish operations at Mediahuis, said he “fell into the trap of hallucinations” – the term for AI-generated errors – when using the technology.Vandermeersch, a fellow of “journalism and society” at the European publishing group, has been suspended from his role.The experienced journalist said he had summarised reports using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s NotebookLM, and not checked whether the quotes from those summaries were accurate. He subsequently published them in his Substack newsletter

Naomi Osaka casts doubt on tennis future after first-round defeat in Miami

Naomi Osaka has said she does not intend to continue competing if she frequently loses in first round matches after suffering a disappointing 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Australia’s Talia Gibson in her opening match of the Miami Open.Osaka, who received a first-round bye as the 16th seed in Miami, moved sluggishly in an error-strewn performance and was outplayed by the talented 21-year-old Gibson, who will play Iva Jovic in the next round.A question on Osaka’s plans for the upcoming clay court season prompted the 28-year-old to reflect on the difficulties of juggling motherhood with her goals as a professional tennis player. Osaka, who said she would play an abbreviated clay season starting at the Madrid Open, is not sure if she can be the best mother possible while pursuing those goals.“I feel like this also is a dilemma for me,” Osaka told reporters

Josh Kerr surges to world indoor gold and makes ‘night night’ gesture at rival

Brilliance and controversy are never far apart when it comes to Josh Kerr. It is what makes him such a compelling athlete. And after storming to a thrilling world indoor 3,000m title here in Torun, the Briton was quick to apply a sharp twist of the knife.As he crossed the line, Kerr made NBA star Steph Curry’s famous ‘night night’ celebration, putting both hands against his cheek to signify that he had put his opponent – in this case the Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker – to sleep.In fairness to Kerr, his American rival had made the same gesture after beating him last month at the Millrose Games – which made revenge when it mattered all the sweeter