UK income growth revised upwards as markets hail ‘resilient’ economy
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

Boost for John Healey before budget as GDP figure shows UK economy grew faster than first estimated in second quarter

• Business live – latest updates

UK household income grew at a stronger pace than previously estimated during the first six months of the year, according to revisions of official data.

The rise in income per head to 1.1% between January and June followed an increase in the level of economic growth that illustrated the resilience of the UK economy since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East more than seven months ago.

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Federal Reserve watchdog finds no criminal violations for building renovation cost overruns
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

Trump criticized $2.4bn rehab amid attempts to pressure then Fed chair Jerome Powell into lowering interest rates

An internal watchdog said the Federal Reserve mismanaged costs associated with a $2.4bn renovation of its Washington DC headquarters, but noted that no criminal violations occurred, according to a report released on Wednesday.

For over a year, Donald Trump has centered his attacks against the Fed and former chair Jerome Powell around the renovations, including a months-long Department of Justice criminal investigation that was dropped in April.

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New UK gas and oil projects are a ‘no-brainer’, says EDF boss
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

Developing North Sea fields does not contradict net zero goals, according to Simone Rossi

New oil and gas projects are a “no-brainer” that pose “no contradiction” to the net zero agenda, according to the head of EDF Energy.

Simone Rossi has joined a string of renewables leaders in making the case for more North Sea production as the government prepares to decide on two projects there.

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Energy bills: what to do as prices head for £2,000 a year, from switching deals to insulating
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

The price cap is to soar for about 20 million households in Great Britain from January, but there are ways to save

• Energy bills in Great Britain forecast to jump by £276 a year from January

Household energy prices are set to soar in January, with a typical bill forecast to jump by £276 to the equivalent of nearly £2,000 year.

It is a worrying outlook but there are practical steps you can take to mitigate the predicted price shock.

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We need ‘right to intervene’ in AI amid growing threat, says Bank of England boss
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

Andrew Bailey’s comments come as fears grow that rogue models could take financial system hostage

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The governor of the Bank of England has called for the “right to intervene” in the AI industry amid growing fears that rogue models could take the financial system hostage.

Andrew Bailey said the risks posed by frontier AI models – a number of which have gone rogue in recent months – were “real and increasingly significant”. Meanwhile, it was becoming harder for the public to have proper oversight of powerful AI models that were “functioning within a self-reinforcing loop”.

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Reanimated AI Greta Garbo stars again … in a ball-bearing advert
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

Relatives of Hollywood legend say her doppelganger could now be used for more glamorous roles

She shimmered in Hollywood’s silent movie era and lit up the first talkies – now Greta Garbo may be about to star in cinema’s new AI age.

More than a century after her screen debut and decades after her ashes were laid to rest in a Swedish woodland cemetery, the Hollywood superstar’s descendants are ready to consider an AI version of her taking a 21st-century film role.

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Building of the Pep supremacy is an era that will be defined by sham-ball
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

What Guardiola knew at City relates to the true nature of the club and more basic things like spectacle and human nature

“Do you know the question that you are asking me? Today, do you honestly think it is my job to make this kind of question happen …” Cut to the long, painful pause. Chuck in a deep, shaming stare, eyes that have suddenly become death rays of betrayal and disgust and Pep Guardiola himself transformed from a man cheerfully toasting his own FA Cup final victory to a grizzled chief detective addressing a room full of convicted perverts.

Guardiola had the wind entirely at his back at this point, sitting in the Wembley press room an hour after Manchester City’s 6-0 defeat of Watford in May 2019. Success drowns out every other noise in football. To be good is also to be good, noble, virtuous. History is written by the domestic treble winners. Right up until the moment it isn’t.

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Rival clubs feel relegating Manchester City to Championship would not be enough
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2026

• Premier League executives pushing for severe punishment

• City maintain they are ‘innocent of the accusations’

The Premier League will face pressure from Manchester City’s rivals to push for a sanction that will result in a prolonged absence from the top flight after the club were found guilty of more than 100 charges of financial rule-breaking.

Executives at a number of Premier League clubs have told the Guardian that a points deduction that would relegate City to the Championship for a single season would be insufficient given the scale of what an independent commission described as the club’s “disguised funding scheme” and “sham commercial deals”, which enabled them to artificially inflate their income by £900m between 2009 and 2018.

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