US unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July as slump in growth continues
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

Estimates for previous two months were revised down sharply but unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%

• Business live – latest updates

US employers unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July and gains for the previous two months were revised down sharply by a combined 103,000 jobs, painting a weaker picture of the labor market than past data indicated.

The unemployment rate, however, held steady at 4.1%. Economists had projected an unchanged unemployment rate and 83,000 new jobs for the month.

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US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July in surprise blow to Trump – as it happened
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as US job report dramatically misses expectations

Newsflash: Global food commodity prics have hit a three-year high, as the Ukraine war, conflict in the Middle East and extremely hot weather push up crop prices.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index, which tracks key food prices, has just risen to its highest since January 2023.

International sorghum prices edged higher in line with the increases in maize prices in the United States of America. By contrast, barley prices fell by 1.9 percent, as favourable crop prospects in Australia and the Black Sea region more than offset heat-related yield losses in the European Union.

On the other hand, the FAO All Rice Price Index held broadly steady in July 2026, as a mild increase in Indica quotations was offset by demand-driven price declines for all other major traded rice varieties.

“More broadly, average house prices have remained relatively stable for almost two years, moving within a narrow range over that period and sitting just +0.5% higher than they were in November 2024.

That trend has persisted even as buyers and sellers have faced a more uncertain economic backdrop this year. “Affordability remains a challenge for many would -be buyers and, following recent events in the Middle East, mortgage rates have edged higher again after easing earlier in the summer".”

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Boeing 737 Max operators told to check fuselages for cracks
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

Inspections ordered by US regulator will affect about 470 aircraft, after reported problems in earlier models

• Business live – latest updates

The US aviation regulator has ordered inspections of the fuselages of Boeing 737 Max planes for possible cracks in a component.

The Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive will affect an estimated 471 aircraft and follows reports of cracks in earlier Boeing models.

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What can Dublin teach us? Milburn goes on a quest to solve youth jobs crisis
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

The former UK minister discovers how apprenticeships and support networks helped slash Ireland’s Neet rate

• English primary schools to be told to identify children at risk of future unemployment

Alan Milburn is guiding a metal loop along the serpentine wire of an electrical buzzer game as he explains the challenge of Britain’s youth jobs crisis. “We have got more than a million young people not in education, employment or training (Neet). Crisis is an over-used word – but this is a crisis.”

On a fact-finding trip to Dublin, the former UK cabinet minister is being shown around an Irish Rail training facility. He tells the apprentices who rigged up the game that, while things are bad in Britain, Ireland is on the right track.

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The White House’s plan to vet potentially dangerous AI is cloaked in secrecy
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

A Trump administration framework on AI testing leaves a lack of transparency – and plenty of open questions

After months of talking with tech industry leaders, the Trump administration finalized a framework this week for how it will test new artificial intelligence models for safety and cybersecurity risks. So far, the White House is keeping details of the framework private, in a blow to transparency and potential boon for secretive AI companies.

On Tuesday, staff from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Nvidia and Microsoft attended a private meeting with White House officials to review the AI framework. Multiple outlets have since reported that although the volunteer vetting process for new AI models has been settled, the White House does not plan to release its policy publicly and will only share testing criteria with a select few tech companies.

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New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harms to children’s mental health
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

Ruling comes as part of second phase of landmark trial that found social media company enabled harm against users

A New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m into a fund aimed at redressing adverse mental health impacts from the social media giant’s platforms.

The Thursday ruling comes as a part of the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. At the time, a jury found that the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and imposed the maximum penalty: a $375m fine.

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Infantino’s World Cup sell-off debacle has rocked football but Fifa’s crisis has deep and rotten roots
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

It has been a remarkable few days for an institution that may be irredeemable but this is a story that stretches back to a decision in 2010

There are decades in which nothing happens, and weeks in which decades happen, and those weeks tend to result in leaders being toppled. Not even a fortnight ago, Gianni Infantino was taking his victory lap on Instagram, attacking “those behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading hate and false rumours” who had dared to question elements of his World Cup, which had generated a record $15bn in revenues. But the next day came the revelation of his plan to sell the World Cup to outside investors and a backlash that has him scrabbling to save his presidency.

It has been a remarkable few days, but this is a story whose roots stretch way back, to the decision in Zurich in 2010 to award the 2022 World Cup not to the US but to Qatar, to a furious Bill Clinton hurling an ashtray across the room and demanding action, to an FBI inquiry into corruption, and to the flipping of the larger-than-life Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer, who had two apartments in Trump Tower, one for himself and one for his cats.

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Niewiadoma crushes Tour de France Femmes rivals on Mont Ventoux and takes overall lead
Posted on Friday August 07, 2026

• Pole leaves fellow contenders behind on iconic climb

• Demi Vollering trails by 15sec, Marlen Reusser by 39sec

Kasia Niewiadoma took a spectacular solo victory on the legendary Mont Ventoux, securing a slim overall lead in the Tour de France Femmes after leaving behind her fellow race favourites Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering.

“It’s hard to describe my feelings because I’m still blown away by what just happened,” Niewiadoma, who won the yellow jersey in 2024, said of the first Tour stage victory of her career.

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