Marks and Spencer resumes online clothing orders after 46-day cyberattack disruption
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.
M&S had initially disclosed on April 22 that it was managing a 'cyber incident'.
Vivek Mishra works as an Assistant Editor with Eastern Eye and has over 13 years of experience in journalism. His areas of interest include politics, international affairs, current events, and sports. With a background in newsroom operations and editorial planning, he has reported and edited stories on major national and global developments.
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.
Google rolls out optional AI search tool in the UK using Gemini platform
‘AI Mode’ replaces link-heavy results with conversational summaries
Concerns raised by businesses and news outlets over declining referral traffic
AI Mode already live in the US and India; rollout in the UK underway
Google has yet to finalise how ads and revenue will work under the new model
AI Mode arrives in the UK: A shift in search experience
Google is rolling out a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search feature in the UK, offering users conversational-style responses instead of traditional lists of links. The optional tool, named “AI Mode”, is powered by Google’s Gemini platform and has already launched in the US and India.
Unlike Google’s standard search layout, AI Mode delivers summarised answers directly within the results page, with significantly fewer external links.
Conversational responses, fewer clicks
The tool is not intended to replace Google’s main search engine, which handles billions of queries daily. However, experts say the growing integration of AI into search is raising concerns, particularly among organisations that rely heavily on referral traffic from search results—such as retailers, advertisers, and news publishers.
According to the Daily Mail, traffic from Google to its website has reportedly dropped by around 50% across both desktop and mobile platforms since the AI Overview feature was introduced.
Google’s Hema Budaraju, product lead for search, acknowledged the uncertainty around how advertising and business visibility will function in AI Mode but suggested that the tool allows users to express more complex queries naturally.
“These kinds of questions didn’t happen before,” she said. “Now you made it really possible for people to express anything a lot more naturally.”
How AI Mode works
AI Mode appears as both a tab and an option within the search bar. Users who enable it will see AI-generated summaries based on their queries, with links appearing further down the results page. During a demonstration, Google used the example of someone looking for strawberry picking spots for a young family. The AI-generated response included a broad geographical range and only a few links, which were placed lower in the display compared to standard search results.
Though the BBC was unable to test the feature directly due to the UK rollout still being phased in, the tool is part of Google’s broader response to changes in how users phrase and interact with search queries.
Ms Budaraju cited a shift in search behaviour:
“About two years ago, if you spilled coffee on your carpet, you would have searched for ‘clean carpet stain’. Now, it’s more like, ‘I spilled coffee on my Berber carpet, I’m looking for a cleaner that is pet friendly’.”
Concerns from publishers and campaigners
The shift has prompted concern from publishers and advocacy groups. A study commissioned by Foxglove, a campaign organisation, found that users only clicked a link in one out of every 100 searches when an AI-generated summary appeared. Google disputes the study’s methodology.
Rosa Curling, director of Foxglove, argued the feature negatively impacts journalism:
“What the AI summary now does is makes sure that the readers' eyes stay on the Google web page. And the advertising revenue of those news outlets is being massively impacted.”
AI summaries are often derived from existing reporting, but critics say readers no longer click through to original articles—further undermining revenue streams.
Environmental and regulatory context
Google generates more than two billion AI Overview summaries daily in over 40 languages. However, the feature is not currently available in the European Union, where digital regulation restricts its deployment.
There are also concerns about the environmental cost of AI. Large-scale AI systems require significant energy and water resources to run vast data centres.
In response, Google reiterated its commitment to sustainability.
“We are constantly, as Google and as Search, evolving sustainable ways to serve technology,” Ms Budaraju said.
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Barclays' trading results followed those of Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs, which also reported strong earnings from volatile markets.
BARCLAYS reported a 23 per cent rise in first-half profit, exceeding expectations, as increased trading activity driven by US president Donald Trump's trade tariffs boosted its markets business.
The bank said on Tuesday that pretax profit for January to June reached 5.2 billion pounds, above the analysts' forecast of 4.96 billion pounds.
Barclays announced a share buyback of 1 billion pounds and a half-year dividend of 3 pence per share, amounting to 1.4 billion pounds in total capital distributions to shareholders. This marks a 21 per cent increase from the previous year.
The bank’s investment unit supported the results despite a shift in spending towards its domestic retail and corporate banking business. "We remain on track to achieve the objectives of our three-year plan, delivering structurally higher and more stable returns for our investors," CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said.
Jonathan Pierce, an analyst at Jefferies, noted that the results were ahead of expectations and indicated Barclays' 2026 target for a return on tangible equity of more than 12 per cent appears achievable.
The bank said the financial impact of Britain's investigation into banks' disclosure of motor finance commissions could differ significantly from the 90 million pounds it has already set aside. Lenders are awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on the case, expected on Friday.
Barclays' trading results followed those of Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs, which also reported strong earnings from volatile markets. The British bank’s equities income rose 25 per cent, compared with an average 18 per cent rise among the top five US banks, according to Reuters calculations based on company statements.
Revenue from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities increased 26 per cent for Barclays, compared to an average 14 per cent rise at its US rivals Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Investment banking fee income from advising on deals fell 16 per cent for Barclays, while its Wall Street peers recorded an average gain of 13 per cent.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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TCS said that it would provide benefits, outplacement, counselling, and support to the employees affected by the move. (Photo: Reuters)
INDIA's largest IT services firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), will lay off about 2 per cent, or 12,261 employees, of its global workforce this year. The majority of those affected will be from middle and senior levels.
As of 30 June 2025, TCS's total workforce was 6,13,069. The company added 5,000 employees during the April–June quarter.
The layoffs are part of TCS's strategy to transform into a "future-ready organisation", focusing on technology investments, AI deployment, market expansion, and workforce realignment, the company said in a statement.
"TCS is on a journey to become a Future-Ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure, and realigning our workforce model.
"Towards this, a number of reskilling and redeployment initiatives have been underway. As part of this journey, we will also be releasing associates from the organisation whose deployment may not be feasible. This will impact about 2 per cent of our global workforce, primarily in the middle and the senior grades, over the course of the year," it said.
The company added that it would provide benefits, outplacement, counselling, and support to the employees affected by the move.
The announcement comes as Indian IT services firms reported single-digit revenue growth in Q1FY26, with the June quarter affected by macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, which slowed global tech demand and client decision-making.
TCS reported revenue of ₹63,437 crore (approximately £5.47 billion) in Q1FY26, up 1.3 per cent year-on-year, while net profit rose 5.9 per cent to ₹12,760 crore (approximately £1.1 billion).
TCS MD and Chief Executive K Krithivasan said the company continues to face "demand contraction" due to ongoing uncertainties and does not expect double-digit revenue growth in FY26. He said delays in client decision-making have "intensified" and expressed hope that discretionary spending, a key driver of revenue for IT firms, would pick up once uncertainties ease.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has laid off over 15,000 employees in 2025, representing 7 per cent of its global workforce. In a memo to employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the job cuts have been "weighing heavily" on him.
"This is the enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value," Nadella said. He added: "Progress isn't linear. It's dynamic, sometimes dissonant, and always demanding. But it's also a new opportunity for us to shape, lead through, and have greater impact than ever before."
According to Layoffs.fyi, over 80,000 tech workers have been laid off by 169 tech companies in 2025 so far. In 2024, 1.5 lakh (150,000) tech workers lost their jobs across 551 companies, a trend driven by global economic challenges and debates on AI's impact on jobs and employability.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Reynolds said an effective wealth tax 'doesn’t exist anywhere in the world' and criticised it as a populist measure.
BUSINESS SECRETARY Jonathan Reynolds has ruled out introducing a wealth tax, describing it as a “daft” idea that would not work.
His comments came as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that Britain will need to raise other taxes or cut spending to meet fiscal targets, The Times reported.
Lord Kinnock has called for a 2 per cent annual levy on assets over £10 million, a proposal backed by several Labour MPs. However, Reynolds dismissed the suggestion, telling Labour backbenchers to “get serious”.
He told GB News: “The idea you can just levy everyone … What if your wealth was not in your bank account, what if it was in fine wine or art? How would we tax that? This is why this doesn’t exist.”
Reynolds said an effective wealth tax “doesn’t exist anywhere in the world” and criticised it as a populist measure. He added that the Labour government has already increased taxes on wealth, citing private jets, private schools, inheritance tax and capital gains tax.
Labour MP Richard Burgon argued that refusing to tax wealth while cutting benefits has harmed the government’s support.
Meanwhile, the IMF said chancellor Rachel Reeves would need to consider tax rises on middle earners, scrapping the pensions triple lock and introducing NHS charges to balance the budget.
The IMF praised Reeves for “growth-friendly” policies but warned that high debt and an ageing population mean tax rises or spending cuts are unavoidable.
Reeves said the report confirmed that her policies are supporting Britain’s economic recovery.
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The fall comes amid uncertainty over US tariffs, with some firms slowing or halting production earlier in the year. (Representational iamge)
UK VEHICLE production in the first half of this year has dropped to its lowest level since 1953, excluding the Covid shutdown period, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Car output declined by 7.3 per cent in the six months to June. Van production fell by 45 per cent, driven in part by the closure of Vauxhall’s Luton plant, the BBC reported.
The fall comes amid uncertainty over US tariffs, with some firms slowing or halting production earlier in the year.
A UK-US tariff deal, announced in May and effective from 30 June, reduced duties from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent, and a small increase in production was recorded in June.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said the figures were “depressing” and hoped the first half marked “the nadir” for the industry. He said the target of 1.3 million vehicles annually by 2035 was ambitious and would require at least one or two new manufacturers to set up in the UK.
Electrified vehicle production rose 1.8 per cent, making up over two in five vehicles. Last week, the government reinstated EV grants of up to £3,750 for models priced below £37,000, but the SMMT said the new scheme lacked clarity.
The government said it expects dozens of models to qualify for the grant and is working with manufacturers.
The £650 million fund will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.