European defence company shares fall amid Ukraine peace talk hopes; Novo Nordisk reports Ozempic fails to help with Alzheimer’s – business live

European defence company stocks have dropped at the start of trading, and wholesale gas price are down too, after officials from Washington and Kyiv held weekend talks in Geneva over how to end the Ukraine-Russia war.Last night, the US and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war with Russia, after a row over an original US-backed document that included many of Moscow’s demands.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he was “very optimistic” about the progress of the talks in Switzerland.Rubio told reporters:“I think we made a tremendous amount of progress.We’ve really moved forward, so I feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a very reasonable period of time, very soon

Labour will listen to bosses’ concerns on workers’ rights, says business secretary

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has opened the door to bosses to influence Labour’s landmark changes to workers’ rights, amid boardroom fears over jobs and growth.In a signal the government could consider watering down the overhaul of employment rights, Kyle told business leaders at the CBI conference in London that he would hold a series of 26 consultations with companies after the bill became law.“When we launch these consultations, please engage with it,” he said. “Make your voice heard and engage with me and my department to make sure we get it right.”With Labour under pressure to reboot the economy before the autumn budget on Wednesday, Kyle committed to ensure that businesses would not “lose” as a result of the changes, which include a ban on zero-hour contracts and day-one protections for workers against unfair dismissal

One in four unconcerned by sexual deepfakes created without consent, survey finds

One in four people think there is nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual deepfakes, or they feel neutral about it, even when the person depicted has not consented, according to a police-commissioned survey.The findings prompted a senior police officer to warn that the use of AI is accelerating an epidemic in violence against women and girls (VAWG), and that technology companies are complicit in this abuse.The survey of 1,700 people commissioned by the office of the police chief scientific adviser found 13% felt there was nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual or intimate deepfakes – digitally altered content made using AI without consent.A further 12% felt neutral about the moral and legal acceptability of making and sharing such deepfakes.Det Ch Supt Claire Hammond, from the national centre for VAWG and public protection, reminded the public that “sharing intimate images of someone without their consent, whether they are real images or not, is deeply violating”

Can’t tech a joke: AI does not understand puns, study finds

Comedians who rely on clever wordplay and writers of witty headlines can rest a little easier, for the moment at least, research on AI suggests.Experts from universities in the UK and Italy have been investigating whether large language models (LLMs) understand puns – and found them wanting.The team from Cardiff University, in south Wales, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice concluded that LLMs were able to spot the structure of a pun but did not really get the joke.An example they tested was: “I used to be a comedian, but my life became a joke.” If they replaced this with: “I used to be a comedian, but my life became chaotic,” LLMs still tended to perceive the presence of a pun

Argentina lodge complaint and urge investigation into Tom Curry over alleged tunnel scuffle

Argentina have lodged a complaint and called for an investigation into the alleged tunnel scuffle involving the England flanker Tom Curry and their head coach, Felipe Contepomi, after Sunday’s game at Twickenham.In an extraordinary press conference after England’s 27-23 victory, Contepomi described Curry as a “bully” and accused the flanker of shoving him in the tunnel and telling him to “fuck off”. Contepomi also claimed Curry had “broken” the knee of the Argentina full-back Juan Cruz Mallía with a “reckless” tackle – an incident that seemed to spark the bad blood after the final whistle.Argentina have confirmed that Mallía has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after Curry’s tackle. There is a 24-hour citing window for Six Nations Rugby – organiser of the Autumn Nations Series – to bring action against the England back-row for the tackle, while it can also begin disciplinary proceedings into the incident in the tunnel

How did McLaren get it so wrong with their cars in Las Vegas? | Giles Richards

As misjudgments go, McLaren’s error in calculations that led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday could barely have been more cataclysmic nor more poorly timed. Quite how they got it wrong just when they wanted to close out the drivers’ championship with as little fuss as possible will take no little explanation.Norris and Piastri, second and fourth respectively to Max Verstappen’s win in Nevada, had been solid enough results until the FIA discovered the skid blocks on their cars had been worn beyond the 9mm limit. In one fell swoop, Verstappen was right back in the fight, alongside Piastri, 24 points back from Norris.It is exactly the sort of proximity to set nerves jangling unnecessarily with two meetings remaining and 58 points up for grabs