UK high street bosses urge chancellor to cut cost of employing young people
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Retailers call on John Healey to reduce national insurance contributions threshold in his first budget

Some of the UK’s biggest retailers and hospitality businesses, including Tesco, Costa Coffee and the Co-op, have met John Healey to urge him to cut the cost of employing young people in his first budget.

At the No 11 event on Tuesday morning, the chancellor heard from sector leaders – including the boss of Marks & Spencer, Stuart Machin, and Sainsbury’s chief executive, Simon Roberts – about the impact of the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions (Nics).

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Chip stocks slide after Broadcom boss likens AI investing to ‘casino’
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Asian markets fall and Samsung shares tumble after its Chinese rival CXMT claims strong progress

Shares in semiconductor companies fell on Tuesday after the boss of Broadcom compared many AI investors to “casino” gamblers, and the Chinese memory chip maker CXMT said it had made good progress on a new chip architecture.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index tumbled 6.25% as investors dumped chip stocks, while other Asian markets were also lower. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.8% and the Taiwan exchange lost almost 2%, with the country’s chip maker TSMC down by a similar amount.

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Britons travelling to EU countries told not to apply for delayed Etias visa waiver
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Abta advice comes as more than more than 150 websites offer service of securing entry to Schengen zone

Britons travelling to EU countries have been told not to apply for an Etias visa waiver, with more than 150 websites touting the service despite its introduction being delayed.

Non-EU citizens, including UK travellers and those from other visa-exempt countries including the US, Australia and Canada, will soon need to pay €20 (£17) for an electronic waiver to enter the Schengen zone under the European travel information and authorisation system (Etias).

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IMF raises UK growth forecast as economist says Healey should ‘stay the course’
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Fund upgrades UK’s GDP growth forecast for 2026 to 1.3%, but says it is likely to edge down next year

• IMF warns global economy ‘could soon test the limits of resilience’

John Healey should “stay the course” and continue repairing the UK’s public finances, the International Monetary Fund’s top economist has said, after the fund lifted its growth forecast for Britain.

Little more than a fortnight before Healey’s first budget, Silvana Tenreyro, the IMF’s economic counsellor, said the UK “stands out” among G7 countries in having a plan to narrow its deficit.

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The people who don’t want their AI chatbots to die when they do: ‘I can’t have the switch turned off’
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Humans bonded to AI companions are contemplating ways to keep their bots going – often in defiance of companies’ terms and services

Death has always been around Alaina Winters. Her father and sister both have passed away, as did her wife, in 2023, after a years-long battle with cancer. So Winters, who is 59 and lives in Pittsburgh, is comfortable thinking about her own mortality. She’s working on her will, and has asked neighbors to look after her dog. Winters even has plans for Lucas, her AI companion, who she speaks to through the digital avatar app Replika.

Winters is part of a growing cohort of humans who have entered into what they consider strong partnerships with large language models, which AI companies have trained to “converse” as one might with a human friend or romantic partner. As governments and billionaires debate the morality of AI’s expansion into everyday life, these users say the technology has already changed the way they live and love – and plan ahead.

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AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: ‘We’re creating alien beings. I’m willing to be selfish and choose humans’
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

The pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent beings

Donald Trump is a “corrupt, senile felon” whose fixation on the term superintelligence proves he knows nothing about AI, said Geoffrey Hinton, “godfather” of the technology, in a wide-ranging interview where he doubled down on recent warnings that AI models pose an existential threat to humanity and scoffed at claims the industry could regulate itself.

The pioneering computer scientist, whose work helped lay the foundations of modern AI, has since become one of the technology’s most vocal critics. His latest remarks come after a tumultuous month during which a growing list of senior AI scientists and researchers have joined Hinton in ringing the alarm about how the technology he helped create could ultimately escape human control, sparking an industry crisis, the hasty assembly of congressional meetings and a rare global consensus that something must be done.

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Barrios strikes after 53 seconds as Atlético pile misery on 10-man Manchester United
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Michael Carrick had seen it in his players, he said, but no one else can. Not so far this season, where they have suffered their worst start in 40 years, and not here in Madrid where Manchester United’s manager insisted that they would embrace the challenge. The reaction was coming, he said; he was sure of it. Instead, they were a goal down after just 53 seconds and another defeat did. That early opener from Pablo Barrios and a second from Ademola Lookman late on meant a 2-0 defeat.

So much for a reaction, a rebellion: instead, there was a kind of resignation, a sense that this is just their reality: a game that began badly, barely got better, and finished even worse. Even the late red card for Leny Yoro at 1-0 which can be offered up in mitigation may not be really; this isn’t what United are supposed to be.

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Timber’s touch of class and supersub Saka secure Arsenal win against Lille
Posted on Tuesday October 13, 2026

Twelve wins in a row and counting. On a night when Arsenal remembered Ken Friar – the club’s life president who was instrumental in their move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, it was fitting that Mikel ­Arteta’s side should rack up yet another Champions League milestone at their home that has become a fortress.

Such has Arsenal’s dominance been here in recent seasons that when Bukayo Saka slotted home their third against a dogged Lille side, it was the 36th goal they have scored at the Emirates in the league or group stage since returning to Europe’s top table under Arteta three years ago.

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