EU looks at legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China

The EU is considering legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China to insulate Europe from future hostile acts, the industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, says.He made his remarks as the European Commission unveiled a €3bn (£2.63bn) strategy to reduce its dependency on China for critical raw materials amid a global scramble caused by Beijing’s “weaponisation” of supplies of everything from chips to rare earths.The ReSourceEU programme will seek to de-risk and diversify the bloc’s supply chains for key commodities with a funding initiative to support 25-30 strategic projects in the sector.It will include new rules to stop scrap aluminium leaving the bloc, recycling of magnets used in car batteries and a new €2bn a year fund backed by the European Investment Bank to support industries diversifying away from cheap Chinese supplies

Historic Smithfield and Billingsgate markets find new home in Docklands

After almost eight centuries at the heart of life in the capital and a period where their future lay in doubt, the historic Smithfield and Billingsgate markets are to get a new home on a former industrial site in east London.The proposal by the City of London Corporation – the governing body that runs both sites as well as the Square Mile financial district – would relocate the markets to Newham’s Royal Docks.The announcement comes just over a year after the corporation voted to permanently close Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish market when it pulled the plug on a planned £740m relocation to Dagenham, blaming rising costs.At the time, it said it was no longer planning to build a joint replacement location, a decision that would have spelled the end of centuries of meat and fish trading in the capital. Instead, it had offered financial support to the traders to help them find new premises

Anti-immigrant material among AI-generated content getting billions of views on TikTok

Hundreds of accounts on TikTok are garnering billions of views by pumping out AI-generated content, including anti-immigrant and sexualised material, according to a report.Researchers said they had uncovered 354 AI-focused accounts pushing 43,000 posts made with generative AI tools and accumulating 4.5bn views over a month-long period.According to AI Forensics, a Paris-based non-profit, some of these accounts attempt to game TikTok’s algorithm – which decides what content users see – by posting large amounts of content in the hope that it goes viral.One posted up to 70 times a day or at the same time of day, an indication of an automated account, and most of the accounts were launched at the beginning of the year

Tesla privately warned UK that weakening EV rules would hit sales

Tesla privately warned the UK government that weakening electric vehicle rules would hit battery car sales and risk the country missing its carbon dioxide targets, according to newly revealed documents.The US electric carmaker, run by Elon Musk, also called for “support for the used-car market”, according to submissions to a government consultation earlier this year obtained by the Fast Charge, a newsletter covering electric cars.The Labour government in April worried some electric carmakers by weakening rules, known as the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The mandate forces increased sales of EVs each year, but new loopholes allowed carmakers to sell more petrol and diesel cars.New taxes on electric cars in last week’s budget could further undermine demand, critics have said

Nicola Pietrangeli obituary

The Italian tennis player Nicola Pietrangeli, who has died aged 92, played more Davis Cup matches than anyone in the history of a competition that stretches back to 1900. In the days when the leading tennis nations played more Davis Cup ties each year than they do under the current system, Pietrangeli played 66 ties in 18 years, emerging with a proud record of having won 120 rubbers and lost only 44. Seventy-eight of those victories came in singles and he was assisted in his 42 doubles wins by his regular partner, Orlando Sirola.Even in the current era of exceptional Italian success in tennis, led by the reigning Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner, Pietrangeli will be remembered as one of his country’s most elegant and admired sportsmen.His game was based on court craft and one of the most beautiful and effective backhands the game has ever seen

Oval Invincibles will be renamed as MI London for the Hundred in 2026

Oval Invincibles, the Hundred’s most successful franchise, will be competing as MI London next year, the name favoured by their new Indian co-owners.The change of name brings the men’s and women’s teams, who between them have won Hundred titles in each of the past five years, in line with the rest of the Ambani family’s Mumbai Indians holdings which, in addition to its Indian Premier League team, includes MI Cape Town in the SA20, MI Emirates in the ILT20 and MI New York in Major League Cricket.The Ambanis, through their Reliance company, bought 49% of Oval Invincibles in an auction which valued the franchise at £123m. Surrey will retain a 51% share in the franchise and marks the completion of the final deal from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s sale of equity stakes in the Hundred this year.Surrey said on Wednesday in a statement: “Surrey county cricket club and Reliance today announced their partnership in the Oval Invincibles franchise in the Hundred