Iran deal optimism pushes oil price down; UK builders hit by surge in costs – business live
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Climate campaigners attack Shell over ‘windfall’ profits from Iran war

The Danish shipping giant Maersk has maintained its profit guidance for the year, even as it reported a spike in fuel costs and warned that traffic through the strait of Hormuz “remains at a near standstill”.

The company, which transports goods around the world via sea, road, rail and air, said demand for shipping containers remained strong, but that war in the Middle East was ramping up costs.

“The reopening of the strait of Hormuz, whether it happens in the days to come or the months to come, will have limited impact on cargo flows.

What really are the most important factors to consider: first is our ability to mitigate the cost increases we have been suddenly faced with. And I would say so far we have been successful with both our cost measures and the revenue, the commercial measures that we have put in place to mitigate the impact of these increases to our financials.”

“The secondary effect from this is actually whether these increased costs are eventually going to lead to inflation and demand destruction as a result, which could create a softened market environment in the second half of the year.”

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Climate campaigners attack Shell over ‘windfall’ profits from Iran war
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

Firm benefits from conflict to rake in $6.9bn as higher energy prices turbocharge profits

• Business live – latest updates

Shell has reported better than expected profits of $6.9bn (£5bn) after its oil traders reaped the benefits of soaring energy prices during the war in Iran, angering climate campaigners.

Europe’s biggest oil and gas company posted a 115% jump in first-quarter profits from the $3.2bn reported in the last three months of 2025.

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JD Sports says Iran war could hit consumer spending and raise prices
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

Retail group with 4,800 stores worldwide expects drop in profits this year amid ‘muted market’

• Business live – latest updates

The sports fashion retailer JD has warned that profits will fall this year amid a “muted market” hit by weaker spending by young people and concerns about the Middle East conflict.

The company, which runs 4,800 stores worldwide including the JD, Blacks and Millets chains in the UK, said it expected profits of between £750m and £850m in the year ahead, after reporting £852m in the year to the end of January.

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‘Restaurants won’t survive’: Michelin chef opens venues abroad to withstand UK taxes
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

Jason Atherton, who has restaurants in Dubai, St Moritz and now Tuscany, says it’s tough to stay afloat in UK hospitality industry

A British Michelin-starred chef says he is opening restaurants abroad to subsidise his UK venues against a backdrop of high taxes and a struggling hospitality sector.

Jason Atherton is now in Forte dei Marmi, on the Tuscan coast in Italy, where he is preparing his newest opening, Maria’s, which will be in the Principessa hotel. The Sheffield-born chef now has restaurants all over the world, including in Dubai and St Moritz.

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Europe’s AI translation industry told it risks reputation by partnering with US firms
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

Partnership between top startup DeepL and Amazon comes amid concern about Silicon Valley’s monopoly over digital infrastructure

AI companies in Europe risk losing their world-leading status in the field of machine translation, industry figures have said, after the decision by one of the continent’s leading startups to partner with Amazon’s cloud computing division provoked alarm.

While businesses in the EU have generally lagged behind the US and China in AI adoption, a small group of European companies have cornered the global market for high-quality machine translations for professional use.

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Shivon Zilis, mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, testifies in OpenAI trial
Posted on Wednesday May 06, 2026

Zilis, an executive at Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023

Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and the mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, took the stand on Wednesday as one of the most highly anticipated witnesses in Musk’s case against OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker has argued that, while Zilis worked with OpenAI from 2016 to 2023, she was also involved in a secret relationship with Musk, acting as an informant for him.

Musk’s case against OpenAI alleges that the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, and president, Greg Brockman, co-founders of the company with Musk, broke a founding agreement when they restructured it from a non-profit to a for-profit enterprise. The Tesla CEO accuses Altman and Brockman of unjustly enriching themselves and wants both removed from their positions at the startup, one of the most valuable in the world. He is also seeking the undoing of the for-profit restructuring and $134bn in damages to be redistributed to OpenAI’s non-profit arm.

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Virtual cyclists face random drug tests to compete on MyWhoosh app
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

• 700 riders will be in initial testing pool for weekly race

• Testing is part of wider programme of integrity measures

First came the boom in virtual cycling, with thousands of people from across the globe competing against each other. Then came cash prizes. Now one major online platform has taken the next logical step by launching anti-doping testing for e-racers.

MyWhoosh, which hosts the UCI Esports World Championships, has told the Guardian that the top riders in its weekly Sunday Race Club competition will now face random drug tests after they compete.

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Knaak’s tears, Jeglertz’s calm, Shaw’s goals: the story of Manchester City’s WSL title triumph
Posted on Thursday May 07, 2026

After 10 years without a Women’s Super League title, City are champions once more – here’s how they did it

The sight of Rebecca Knaak fighting back tears on hearing the full-time whistle last Sunday summed up what this means. The Manchester City defender had sustained a painful shoulder injury during a victory over Liverpool snatched by her late header so probably had her own reasons for finding the combination of relief, soreness and joy a little overwhelming. But her emotions could have been felt by any of the longer-serving season-ticket holders in the stands after a decade-long wait for a Women’s Super League title.

When City lifted this trophy in 2016, the landscape of the English women’s game was wholly different. The club, then managed by Nick Cushing, completed the 16-game campaign unbeaten and clinched the title on a day when they deployed a starting XI featuring nine English and two Scottish players from a squad that included only six non-English players. It was a time before the wider, full-time professionalism of the league and the influx of overseas talent.

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