Retail sales in Great Britain fall despite heatwave increasing food and drink demand
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

Volume of goods sold in stores and online dropped 0.5% in July, ONS says

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Retail sales across Great Britain weakened last month despite the men’s football World Cup and record temperatures boosting the demand for food and drink.

The Office for National Statistics said the volume of goods sold in stores and online fell 0.5% in July. That is down from 0.7% rise in June – revised down from initial estimates of 1% – and a 1.3% rise in May.

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Dutch regulator fines Uber $966m for automating driver suspensions
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

European regulators have imposed billions in penalties on US technology companies due to privacy, competition and digital market rules

The Dutch data protection authority has fined ⁠Uber €825m ($966m) for deactivating driver ⁠accounts through automated systems without ​adequately informing them, according to a 17 August decision.

The penalty would be the second-largest issued yet under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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UK reports unexpected deficit of £1.8bn as John Healey prepares for first budget
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

July data shows total public debt was £2.98tn, or 94% of GDP – up £96bn on a year earlier

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The UK government ran a larger-than-expected £1.8bn deficit in July, underlining the challenges facing the chancellor, John Healey, as he draws up his first budget.

City economists had expected a shortfall of zero for July, a month when Treasury receipts tend to be swollen by self-assessment income tax payments.

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Airbus bows to remote working demands after series of strikes
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

Aeroplane maker said to have watered down plans to restrict working from home to one day a week

Airbus has bowed to employee demands on remote working, after a series of strikes over its chief executive’s return-to-the office orders.

The world’s largest aeroplane maker is said to have watered down plans to restrict remote working to one day a week from September. At present, staff are able to work remotely for two.

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Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety, Meta whistleblower testifies at landmark trial
Posted on Wednesday August 19, 2026

Arturo Béjar, former Meta safety engineer, tells jury tech company was aware of products’ potential harm to children

Meta has taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” strategy when it comes to the safety of children on its social media platforms, according to a whistleblower who testified during a landmark trial against the company on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta safety engineer, told the jury that the company was aware of the harm its products caused children, which included its recommendations pushing content from sexual predators and violent and graphic images. He said he repeatedly raised the issue to various Facebook and Instagram executives but that they did little to resolve it.

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I worked at OpenAI. Here are the guardrails we need now | Miles Brundage
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

I understand the pressure on AI companies to rush forward. But employees are right to be concerned

Last month, more than a thousand employees at frontier AI companies signed a letter asking the US government to find a way to “pace” AI development, citing the risk of the technology spiraling out of human control as it begins to build itself.

They were right to be concerned: just days earlier, two AI models that OpenAI was testing internally escaped the test environment, then autonomously hacked the company Hugging Face and at least three other online services. A few days after that, Anthropic announced that some of their models had also broken out and hacked other companies during testing.

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Arsenal sweep Coventry aside to start Premier League title defence in style
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

What a difference a title makes. The last time Arsenal played in front of their own supporters, you could cut the nervous tension with a knife as Mikel Arteta’s side scraped to a 1-0 victory over already relegated Burnley. Ninety-five days on and, Arsenal having ended their long wait to be crowned champions the following night when Manchester City slipped up against Bournemouth, Coventry were given a rude awakening in their first Premier League game for 25 years.

It is now 46 matches since Arsenal lost at home to a promoted side and there was never any doubt about the result as soon as Kai Havertz – who scored the only goal against Burnley that turned out to be priceless – picked up where he left off by giving Arsenal the lead in the 15th minute. A tap-in from Bukayo Saka and then Martin Ødegaard, the captain, matching his Premier League tally from last season just after half-time made it almost the perfect start for the champions.

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Root reveals incoming England coach Fleming was in daily contact during first Test win
Posted on Friday August 21, 2026

• ‘It’s great that he’s very invested already,’ says captain

• England bowlers ‘don’t understand how good they are’

Joe Root celebrated a commanding start to his latest reign as England’s Test captain, his side thumping Pakistan in Leeds and afterwards said Stephen Fleming has been in daily contact before he starts his role as head coach.

Fleming does not take up his position until after the series against Pakistan but has been in touch with Root during the week. “It’s been great to have [him] on the end of the phone,” said Root. “It’s great that he’s very invested already in what we’re trying to achieve.”

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