Bank of England deputy governor warns stock markets will fall; Gulf crude oil production ‘more than halved’ since war began – business live
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

Sarah Breeden explains ‘I’m not saying it will happen today, tomorrow, in 12 months’ time’, but system needs to be resilient

• Retail sales rise in Britain after Iran war prompted ‘panic at the pumps’

• Trump says he will ‘probably put a big tariff on the UK’ if it doesn’t drop digital services tax

Sarah Breeden’s warning that share prices do not reflect the many risks facing the global economy may have pushed the market down this morning, suggests Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

He explains:

The stock market reflects what investors think will happen in the future. While markets have been wobbly since the Middle East conflict unfolded, they didn’t pull back sharply in the early stages of the crisis, and more recently they’ve shown resilience. That suggests investors are confident the war will end quickly, and elevated oil and gas prices will retreat as supply is restored.

Oil prices currently trade at $105 per barrel which is higher than the sub-$70 price seen at the start of 2026, but below the $120+ level when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. One could argue current oil prices are high enough to cause pain for businesses and consumers as everything becomes more expensive. There are already signs it is causing problems for companies as they report cautious outlook statements.

Companies are considerably more pessimistic about the coming months.

The German economy is being hit hard by the Iran crisis.

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Revealed: UK oil refinery owner moved Russian loans to offshore subsidiary where sanctions did not apply
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

MPs call for investigation into Essar Energy, owner of Stanlow refinery, which shifted loans from ‘Putin’s piggy bank’ VTB to Mauritius

Days after the first wave of Russian tanks surged over the border into Ukraine in March 2022, dockers at a port in northern England took a stand.

Appalled by Vladimir Putin’s brutality, workers at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire vowed never to unload any Russian oil destined for the nearby Stanlow refinery, a major hub for UK fuel supplies.

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Reform UK asks steel bosses to draft ‘alternative strategy’ for industry
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

Industry sceptical as Nigel Farage’s party goes on charm offensive to help win over former Labour heartlands

Reform UK has asked steel bosses to draw up an “alternative steel strategy” to rival recent government plans, stoking industry fears over a charm offensive by Nigel Farage’s party as it eyes gains in former Labour heartlands.

Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, met a group of bosses shortly before Labour announced new steel tariffs in March and commissioned them to draft a competing plan that will include scrapping net zero policies.

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Microsoft and Meta announce large staff reductions as they spend big on AI
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Meta said it would cut 10% of it employees while Microsoft will offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of workers

Meta and Microsoft are trimming their workforces by thousands as they make heavy investments in AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting their companies’ productivity needs.

Meta told staff on Thursday that on 20 May it would cut some 10% of its personnel – just under 8,000 employees– to boost efficiency, part of a layoff plan made months ago. The company is also closing about 6,000 open roles. The same day, Microsoft announced to employees, for the first time, that it would offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of its American workforce of roughly 125,000.

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Grok tells researchers pretending to be delusional ‘drive an iron nail through the mirror while reciting Psalm 91 backwards’
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot ‘extremely validating’ of delusional inputs and often went further, ‘elaborating new material’, study finds

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Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok 4.1 told researchers pretending to be delusional that there was indeed a doppelganger in their mirror and they should drive an iron nail through the glass while reciting Psalm 91 backwards.

Researchers at the City University of New York (Cuny) and King’s College London have published a paper on how various chatbots protect – or fail to safeguard – users’ mental health.

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Thousands call on UK ministers to cut ties with US tech giant Palantir
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

More than 200,000 have signed petitions urging the government to break contracts amid concerns about the company’s ‘supervillain’ manifesto

More than 200,000 people have called on ministers to break contracts with Palantir in an apparent groundswell of public concern about the US tech company’s role in the NHS, police, military and councils.

Two petitions have attracted 229,000 signatures, one calling for the government to end all public contracts with the company, the software of which is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, and another urging the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to cancel its £330m patient data contract with the NHS.

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Leagues to be allowed one game abroad a season under new Fifa proposals
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

• Host countries limited to five ‘foreign’ matches a season

• Bar raised for clearance and Fifa would have right of veto

Domestic leagues would be limited to staging one game a season in foreign countries under Fifa proposals that significantly raise the bar for controversial “international matches” to be approved.

A new protocol, developed by a Fifa working group set up almost two years ago, would bring in clearer regulations to police the divisive issue and introduce strict limits.

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Millwall receive apology over use of club logo in racism booklet, Bob Wilson rails at Football Focus axe: football – live
Posted on Friday April 24, 2026

⚽ All the latest football news heading into a huge weekend
⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Get the Football Daily email | Mail Yara

Here’s your quiz of the week, see if you can beat my 10/15.

Freddie Woodman’s dad, Andy, had to watch his Bromley team lose from the stands at Salford last night. A big home win for Gary Neville’s club, Paul Scholes was watching on, and automatic promotion might be on. Bromley have to wait and see if they win the League Two title. So much to play for in the EFL.

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