Trump celebrates tax bill passing, Reeves must boost headroom to £30bn, says ex-Bank of England deputy – as it happened

Time to recap…Donald Trump is preparing to send letters to trading partners, setting out tariff rates that countries will have to pay from the beginning of next month.The US president has said he will send out about “10 or 12” letters on Friday, with further letters over the next few days, as the 90-day pause on his “reciprocal tariffs” comes to an end.Trade tensions are bubbling at the second biggest economy in the world too. China announced new tariffs of up to 35% on brandy from the European Union, condemned as ‘unfair’ by an EU spokesperson.The Chinese tariffs will range from 27

Songwriters ‘missing millions in royalties from more than 100,000 UK gigs’

Songwriters are missing out on millions of pounds a year in royalties because the agency responsible for collecting and distributing payments cannot identify when their songs have been performed at more than 100,000 gigs and performances across the UK.PRS for Music is responsible for collecting royalties for writers when music is played, including on the radio, streaming services, in shops and at live events from pubs to stadiums and festivals.In the case of live music, PRS takes a small percentage cut of gross ticket sales from every performance, and after taking a cut for administration redistributes the royalties after successfully matching the setlist performed with the relevant songwriters.However, at a ballooning number of gigs, classical performances and theatre and variety shows, the collection agency has taken a cut of ticket sales but not been able to allocate it to songwriters because of a lack of information about songs played.In the music industry this growing pot of income at PRS is referred to as the “black box” and the agency is facing legal action about how it ultimately ends out distributing this money

Fears AI factcheckers on X could increase promotion of conspiracy theories

A decision by Elon Musk’s X social media platform to enlist artificial intelligence chatbots to draft factchecks risks increasing the promotion of “lies and conspiracy theories”, a former UK technology minister has warned.Damian Collins accused Musk’s firm of “leaving it to bots to edit the news” after X announced on Tuesday that it would allow large language models to write community notes to clarify or correct contentious posts, before users approve them for publication. The notes have previously been written by humans.X said using AI to write factchecking notes – which sit beneath some X posts – “advances the state of the art in improving information quality on the internet”.Keith Coleman, the vice-president of product at X, said humans would review AI-generated notes and the note would appear only if people with a variety of viewpoints found it useful

AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler

AI-engineered paint could reduce the sweltering urban heat island effect in cities and cut air-conditioning bills, scientists have claimed, as machine learning accelerates the creation of new materials for everything from electric motors to carbon capture.Materials experts have used artificial intelligence to formulate new coatings that can keep buildings between 5C and 20C cooler than normal paint after exposure to midday sun. They could also be applied to cars, trains, electrical equipment and other objects that will require more cooling in a world that is heating up.Using machine learning, researchers at universities in the US, China, Singapore and Sweden designed new paint formulas tuned to best reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the science journal Nature.It is the latest example of AI being used to leapfrog traditional trial-and-error approaches to scientific advances

‘I was knackered’: Brook’s England heroics take their toll as India seize advantage

England face a battle against both India’s batters and their own bodies as they attempt to keep their opponents’ lead under control on the fourth day at Edgbaston, with Harry Brook – who has spent fewer than 15 of the 253.3 overs so far bowled off the field – describing fatigue unlike any he has experienced in his career as he put together the 303-run partnership with Jamie Smith that rescued the team’s first innings.Brook had scored 157 when he was struck by cramp that ran down “the whole right side” of his body, and added only one more run before he was dismissed by Akash Deep soon after the second new ball had been taken. That precipitated a collapse as England slumped from 387 for five to 407 all out.“I’ve never had it before,” Brook said of the cramping

Hothouse kid Jamie Smith starts as he goes on and changes Test in 20 minutes | Andy Bull

It started in the worst possible way. By the second over of the day England were 84 for five, five hundred runs and a thousand miles behind. Their best batter, Joe Root had just been caught off the ninth ball of the morning, and their captain, Ben Stokes, who has worked so many miracles for them before, had been caught off the 10th, done by a wicked, lifting delivery, nasty, brutish, and short, which brushed off his glove on its way through to the keeper.The bowler, Mohammad Siraj, was on a hat-trick, and here comes England’s No 7, Jamie Smith, 24 years old, playing his 19th Test innings.The field was set, the slips were waiting, the crowd was up