SAJID Javid is the first Asian chancellor, one of the great offices of state.
The son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver moves to 11 Downing Street, a short distance from the Home Office, where he was the first BAME politician to head it.
The 49-year-old father of four, who represents Bromsgrove, left a lucrative career in banking to enter politics in 2010.
After studying economics and politics at Exeter University, Javid joined Chase Manhattan bank. During an almost 20-year career in banking, he also oversaw trading in debt instruments blamed for causing the global financial crisis.
Javid’s promotion signals new prime minister Boris Johnson's intent with the economy - he wants to see a more interventionist approach - but also underlines Johnson’s desire to have someone who will help, rather than hinder, his "do or die" pledge to leave the EU by October 31.
One of the new chancellor’s biggest challenges might be in balancing his free-market views with the high-spending pledges the prime minister made during his campaign – he also promised major tax cuts.
The prospect of a messy divorce after 46 years has unnerved the markets and seen the pound slump to a two-year low against both the dollar and the euro.
But Javid, who recalls with fondness his chance to shake the late Margaret Thatcher's hand as a young boy, has first-hand experience navigating financial turmoil. Her passion for free markets and low taxes seems to have rubbed off on a relatively shy man who, in contrast to his new boss, is not known for his oratory.
Javid made big bets - and big profits - as a risky derivatives trader for Deutsche Bank during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Economists view him as a liberal who knows banking and the drawbacks of bureaucracy and red tape.
"Javid will be a great choice as chancellor," said Iain Anderson, executive chairman of Cicero, a public affairs company that has represented many FTSE 100 firms. "He cares about business and wants to incentivise it."
Javid has also called for a big increase in public investment infrastructure projects, a policy more associated with the opposition Labour than his Conservative Party.
Asked by a Conservative what being a party member meant to him, Javid said: "Conservatism is how I got to where I am."
"It provides two essential things in life: a strong foundation of values and society and a springboard of freedom and opportunities."
Javid will have to manage the economy at a time when it could be abruptly wrenched out of the European Union, pick the next Bank of England Governor and protect London's position as one of the world's top two finance centres.
He will probably also to have to find a way to relax austerity with the economy facing a slowdown, and possibly a recession. Some investors are worried about Britain's large balance of payments deficit.
During his failed bid to lead the Conservative Party Javid said he would prepare for a no-deal Brexit with an emergency budget that would include tax cuts for businesses and individuals.
He also has proposed the creation of a £100 billion National Infrastructure Fund to take advantage of ultra-low borrowing costs and invest in projects that would rebalance the economy, taking a leaf out of the book of the Labour Party.
However, as a eurosceptic who voted to remain in the 2016 referendum, Javid must persuade the hardline Brexit supporters within his own party that he will now work to deliver Britain's departure from the EU.
"He's not got star quality. He's the kind of bloke you'd want to hire as your accountant," said one veteran Conservative and Brexit supporter on condition of anonymity.
"He's nerdy, a bit like Hammond, which isn't a compliment," he said of Javid’s predecessor Philip Hammond, who Brexit supporters felt talked Britain down by failing to promote the country's future outside the EU.
Being a "nerd", though, might just be what Johnson needs in his chancellor, a role just one step away from the pinnacle of British power which can make or break a prime minister's reign.
With Johnson banking on his optimism and "can do" spirit to break an impasse over Brexit, he will need someone who can ensure the economy weathers Britain's departure from the EU.
Javid's instincts saw his vote in 2016 to remain in the EU because of its economic benefits to trade.
But he has since rallied to the Brexit cause and Johnson's leadership challenge after himself bowing out early in the campaign.
Javid grew up in a tough area of Bristol, where he recalled being called the racist term "Paki" in school.
He also faced initial questions about his background in his early days in finance, but persevered and became the first from an ethnic minority to get a top government job.
He won promotions to business and then housing secretary before arriving in April 2018 at the Home Office.
Javid developed a reputation as a loyal minister who was tough on crime but also sensitive to the racial injustices of Britain's past immigration policies.
His predecessor Amber Rudd quit amid a scandal over the "Windrush" generation, Britons born in the Caribbean who migrated legally in the 1960s but were being deported because of a lack of papers.
Javid’s first pledge was to promote "decency and fairness". He has also apologised for the way in which Windrush migrants were treated.
However, Javid also faced criticism for stripping the UK citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old mother who as a teen to join the Islamic State Group in Syria and wanted to return to London.
Javid, who said he felt like an outsider at the age of six, may have to draw on some the resilience he described during his party leadership campaign.
He said: "I'm optimistic and determined about what we can do, together, as a party to break through the barriers that people say can't be broken, to heal the divisions that people say can't be healed, and to make post-Brexit Britain the success that so many naysayers insist it can never be."
His wife Laura is a church-going Christian and he is not a practising Muslim himself. Some of his four children are looking at future careers in finance.
ChatGPT has experienced a significant outage, with OpenAI confirming widespread service disruptions affecting users. The chatbot, known for generating human-like responses and assisting with various queries, has grown rapidly since its launch in November 2022, becoming a widely used AI tool with approximately 500 million users globally.
The issue was first investigated at 7:36 am on Tuesday, with OpenAI later acknowledging the problem on its website at 11:30 am, stating: "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue."
OpenAI addresses technical failure
Two hours after its initial statement, OpenAI reported that the root cause of the outage had been identified and that work was underway to implement a fix.
During the disruption, users encountered various error messages, including "Hmmm... something seems to have gone wrong," while others saw notifications stating "A network error occurred. Please check your connection and try again."
Many users also complained of longer response times, making interactions with the chatbot frustrating.
A growing AI powerhouse
OpenAI, currently valued at $300 billion, is among the world’s most valuable private companies. The firm reported in February 2025 that it had more than 400 million weekly active users, including 10 million paying subscribers on ChatGPT Plus.
Recently, OpenAI launched GPT-4o, an AI image-generation feature, which became available to free-tier users.
AI’s increasing role in society
The rise of AI has sparked ongoing debates about its impact on society. While some argue that it enhances efficiency by reducing time-consuming tasks, others worry that it could replace jobs and profit from human creativity.
There has also been concern over AI use in education, with reports of students using platforms like ChatGPT to assist with school and university work, raising academic integrity issues.
Preparing for an AI-driven future
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced new educational initiatives aimed at equipping secondary school students with AI-related skills to help them secure jobs in the evolving digital economy.
According to research by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), AI is projected to play a role in the jobs of around 10 million workers by 2035.
OpenAI continues to monitor the situation as it works on restoring ChatGPT's services for its global user base.
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At the heart of this redesign is a newly developed material called Liquid Glass
Apple has introduced a new software design across its platforms, aimed at making apps and system interactions more expressive, seamless, and engaging. The update brings a cohesive visual experience that spans across iOS 26 beta, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 261, providing users with a more fluid and immersive digital environment.
At the heart of this redesign is a newly developed material called Liquid Glass, which enhances the visual dynamism of apps, system elements, and user interfaces. This translucent material intelligently reflects and refracts surrounding content, creating a more vivid and intuitive experience while ensuring focus on essential elements.
Introducing Liquid Glass
Liquid Glass is inspired by Apple’s work on visionOS and incorporates advancements in hardware, silicon, and graphics technologies. The material is designed to mimic real-world glass, dynamically adapting to surrounding colours and transitioning seamlessly between light and dark environments.
Developed through collaboration between Apple’s design and engineering teams, Liquid Glass utilises real-time rendering, adjusting to movement with specular highlights that enhance visual depth. This results in a more immersive and responsive experience, whether using an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or Apple TV.
Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design
Apple previewed a new software design, crafted with Liquid Glass, that makes apps and system experiences more expressive and delightful.
- YouTubeYouTube/ Apple
The Liquid Glass aesthetic extends to small interactive elements, including buttons, sliders, switches, and text fields, as well as larger UI components, such as tab bars and sidebars. Users will notice these refinements in system experiences like the Lock Screen, Home Screen, notifications, and Control Centre.
Refinements to app design
Apple’s design update also brings a modernised approach to app layouts, ensuring greater harmony between hardware and software. The redesign eliminates rigid rectangular formatting in favour of soft, rounded edges, aligning app elements with the curved contours of modern Apple devices.
Navigation components, including toolbars, tab bars, and sidebars, have been refreshed using Liquid Glass, offering a layered visual effect that enhances interaction. When scrolling in iOS 26 beta, for example, tab bars seamlessly shrink to emphasise content, only expanding when users scroll back up.
In iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, sidebars now reflect and refract surrounding content, ensuring users maintain a sense of context while navigating apps. These refinements extend to core apps such as Camera, Photos, Safari, FaceTime, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Podcasts, making interactions more intuitive and visually appealing.
System-wide enhancements
The new software design is integrated into core system elements across iOS 26 beta and Apple’s wider ecosystem. Updates to the Lock Screen, Home Screen, Dock, and widgets improve personalisation and accessibility, with Liquid Glass introducing specular highlights and dynamic colour adaptation.
On iPhones and iPads, the Lock Screen’s time display is now crafted from Liquid Glass, allowing it to fluidly adapt and fit elegantly behind wallpaper subjects.
On Macs, macOS Tahoe 26 enhances personalisation with widgets and app icons that adjust to light and dark appearances, custom tints, and a clear, refined look. The menu bar is now completely transparent, increasing the sense of screen space and visual depth.
A new opportunity for developers
For developers working with SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit, Apple has introduced updated APIs to facilitate the integration of Liquid Glass into third-party apps.
These tools allow developers to leverage the new design elements, making interactions more fluid and engaging while preserving familiarity for users. With this update, Apple is encouraging developers to refresh their app designs, ensuring consistency with the next-generation interface introduced in iOS 26 beta.
The latest
Apple’s latest design update represents a significant leap forward in user interface aesthetics and functionality. With Liquid Glass at the core of iOS 26 beta and its companion platforms, the visual experience is more immersive, adaptive, and dynamic than ever before.
By combining seamless transitions, refined navigation, and optimised system elements, Apple has crafted a modern and visually engaging software design, reinforcing its commitment to delivering elegant and intuitive digital experiences.
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The Canary Wharf business district including global financial institutions in London.
THE UK’s unemployment rate has increased to its highest level since July 2021, according to official data released on Tuesday, following the impact of a business tax rise and the introduction of US tariffs.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in the three months to the end of April. This was up from 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
The figures reflect the early effects of a business tax increase announced in the Labour government’s first budget in October. April also marked the beginning of a baseline 10 per cent tariff on the UK and other countries introduced by US president Donald Trump.
“There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably,” said Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS.
“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on,” she added.
The data also showed a slowdown in wage growth. Analysts said the overall picture could encourage the Bank of England to continue cutting interest rates into 2026. The trend pushed the pound lower but supported gains in London’s stock market during early trade on Tuesday.
“With payrolls falling, the unemployment rate climbing and wage growth easing, today’s labour market release leaves us more confident in our view that the Bank of England will cut interest rates further than investors expect, to 3.50 per cent next year,” said Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics.
The Bank of England last reduced interest rates in May, cutting them by 0.25 points to 4.25 per cent.
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M&S had initially disclosed on April 22 that it was managing a 'cyber incident'.
MARKS AND SPENCER (M&S) resumed online clothing orders on Tuesday, 46 days after suspending services due to a cyberattack.
Shares in the British retailer rose 3 per cent after it restarted standard home delivery in England, Scotland and Wales for most of its clothing range.
"It's not the full range at the moment, we've focused on best sellers and newness," an M&S spokesperson said. "We'll be bringing product online everyday so customers will see that grow over the coming days."
M&S said delivery to Northern Ireland will resume in the "coming weeks", along with click and collect, next-day delivery, nominated-day delivery and international ordering.
The company had stopped taking clothing and home orders on April 25 through its website and app after technical issues affected contactless payments and click and collect services during the Easter holiday weekend.
M&S had initially disclosed on April 22 that it was managing a "cyber incident".
Last month, the retailer said it expected online disruptions to continue into July and projected the cyberattack would lead to a loss of around 300 million pounds in operating profit in its 2025/26 financial year. It said it hopes to reduce the impact by half through insurance claims and cost controls.
The company said hackers accessed its systems by deceiving employees at a third-party contractor, bypassing its digital defences to carry out the attack.
(With inputs from agencies)
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From surprise drops to stunning trailers, Summer Game Fest 2025 lit up screens worldwide with unforgettable gaming moments
Forget just watching trailers because Summer Game Fest 2025 felt like getting sucker-punched by pure gaming hype. Midnight drops, world premieres that actually stunned us, moments that genuinely shook the community, this year’s show proved why gaming is still one of the most exciting places to be. Let’s dive into the ten moments that had everyone talking, sharing clips, and questioning what’s possible next.
1. Resident Evil: Requiem stole the show
Capcom closed the show with Resident Evil: Requiem (27 February 2026), a franchise reboot returning to Raccoon City with chilling realism. First came whispers of a “30th-anniversary project,” then, boom: Requiem. Returning Raccoon City to its rotted roots, this 27 February 2026 release promises sweat-beaded character models and a terror so vivid you’ll feel it in your bones. That fake-out tease from Jun Takeuchi? Pure genius, and fans are still reeling.
Even though it launched just days before (3 June), Nintendo’s Switch 2 was the talk of SGF. Seeing Cyberpunk 2077 running smoothly silenced doubters. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds showed off cross-platform play, something Mario Kart still lacks. Plus, leaks about Mortal Shell 2 and Code Vein 2 coming to Switch 2 just fuelled the fire. Everyone was talking about it, stage or no stage.
Hideo Kojima’s sequel looks like another emotional powerhouse. Elle Fanning’s voiceover, stunning visuals, and Woodkid’s score made the trailer feel like a mini-movie. Mark your calendars: Death Stranding 2 hits PS5 on 26 June. Get your tissues and DualSense ready.
SGF changed the game with instant drops. Lies of P: Overture announced its DLC and released it right then. Hitman dropped a new Casino Royale-inspired mission featuring Mads Mikkelsen as LeChiffre, sparking a month-long chase. Wildgate opened its beta minutes after reveal. Announce a game, play it instantly? Brilliant.
Day of the Devs (6 June) was a welcome dose of creativity amidst the AAA giants. Possessors mixes Metroidvania exploration with seriously creepy body horror. Big Walk from the Untitled Goose Game team turns voice chat into a brilliant puzzle tool. Ambrosia Sky (imagine Metroid Prime meets cosmic exploration) proved indie games crackle with fresh ideas.
SGF 2025 was full of "Wait, what?!" sequels. Atomic Heart 2 cranked its bizarre retro-future chaos way up. Scott Pilgrim EX brought the original devs and Anamanaguchi back for a time-bending brawler. And the whispers about Mortal Shell 2 and Code Vein 2 confirmed the souls-like scene is getting even hotter.
The Xbox Showcase revealed the slick ROG Xbox Ally handheld (a Microsoft/Asus collab). But the real buzz came from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds adding wild guest characters: Minecraft’s Steve, Persona 5’s Joker, and Yakuza’s Ichiban. Lego Voyagers also looked fun, offering split-screen chaos with a friend pass.
Sega didn’t stop at those crazy kart racer cameos. CrossWorlds getting full cross-platform play was a direct shot at Mario Kart. And they teased even more unexpected crossovers, leaving fans speculating wildly. It felt like a new era of open, chaotic fun.
SGF teased some truly unique upcoming games. Stranger Than Heaven is a noir detective story in 1940s Japan where basic needs like hunger are deadly. Killer Inn pits 24 players against each other in social deduction within a haunted mansion. The Cube hinted at a massive, ever-changing MMO set in the Atomic Heart universe. Absolute mind-bending stuff.
Beyond the main show, SGF amplified crucial voices: Day of the Devs, Women-Led Games, Black Voices in Gaming, and spotlights from Japan, Latin America, and more. These stages delivered vital perspectives, proving gaming’s future is richer and more varied than ever.
Summer Game Fest 2025 proved you don’t need a massive convention hall to make waves. It filled the void E3 left behind, sure, but more importantly, it captured the raw excitement of gaming right now. From surprise drops to wild crossover moments, it proved that the next big thing might be a studio you’ve never heard of or a feature that’s available to play right now. It was a wild week that reminded us: the future of gaming is wide open, unpredictable, and packed with potential and that’s exactly why we love it.