Business
Aramco warns of oil market ‘catastrophe’ unless strait of Hormuz reopens soon
Posted on Tuesday March 10, 2026
Saudi Arabian state oil firm calls crisis by far the biggest the region has seen but firm can reroute 70% of exports and tap crude held in storageBusiness live – latest updatesHow the Iran conflict could affect energy prices – video explainerSaudi Arabia’s state oil company has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the world’s oil markets if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to block shipping in the strait of Hormuz.The world’s biggest oil exporter expects to be able to supply the market with about 70% of its usual crude output despite the stranglehold on the vital trade artery, but its chief executive warned that there would still be “drastic” consequences for the world economy if the disruption continues. Continue reading...
Middle East crisis could push UK inflation back up to 3%, warns OBR
Posted on Tuesday March 10, 2026
Government economic watchdog believes pressure on energy prices could push rate close to 3% by end of 2026UK inflation could end the year higher than previously expected at 3% because of the US-Israel war in Iran, the government’s economics watchdog has warned.David Miles, a senior figure at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said inflation could end the year close to 3% – a percentage point higher than expected before the war – because of the energy price shock triggered by the crisis in the Middle East. The UK’s official inflation target is 2%. Continue reading...
Millions in England to pay higher water bills after suppliers appeal
Posted on Tuesday March 10, 2026
Anglian, Southern, Wessex and South East allowed to raise charges more than originally permitted by watchdogBusiness live – latest updatesMillions of households in England will pay even higher water bills than previously expected, after the competition regulator gave its final verdict on industry spending plans for the coming years.Five water companies had appealed to the Competition and Markets Authority to let them raise bills higher than was initially allowed by Ofwat, the industry watchdog. On Tuesday, the CMA said it would let four of them raise annual bills by an extra 2.65% on average. Continue reading...
Opinion
Technology
Fifty years of sexing up tech: Apple’s epic hits – and misses
Posted on Tuesday March 10, 2026
Remember the iPod? How about the Pippin? In the half-century since it launched its first PC, Apple has given us some amazing innovations. We round up its biggest triumphs and flopsFifty years after Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded the company in Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California, Apple has become a behemoth, and billions of us use its products every day. From the first successful home computers with colour screens, to the iPod, to the smartphone that set the template for the modern mobile era, the company has repeatedly reset consumer expectations.As a result, the firm occupies a central position in the tech world, initiating trends and popularising products. Here are five of its most influential products from the past half-century – alongside some unusually big misses. Continue reading...
‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI
Posted on Tuesday March 10, 2026
As AI has upended the way students learn, academics worry about the future of the humanities - and society at largeLea Pao, a professor of literature at Stanford University, has been experimenting with ways to get her students to learn offline. She has them memorize poems, perform at recitation events, look at art in the real world.It’s an effort to reconnect them to the bodily experience of learning, she said, and to keep them from turning to artificial intelligence to do the work for them. “There’s no AI-proof anything,” Pao said. “Rather than policing it, I hope that their overall experiences in this class will show them that there’s a way out.” Continue reading...