Thursday newspaper round-up: Self-driving taxis, ENRC, Barclays

(Sharecast News) - Andy Burnham moved to calm volatile bond markets on Wednesday as surging borrowing costs threatened to wreck plans for his government's crucial first budget next month. After a days-long sell-off of government bonds - and with the chancellor, John Healey, facing the prospect of sharply reduced spending power, Burnham used his first appearance at prime minister's questions to promise decisions would be "grounded in fiscal responsibility". - Guardian

Londoners are now able to hire self-driving taxis for the first time, after rides in Wayve's autonomous vehicles were added to the Uber app on Thursday. The chances of landing a robotaxi on request immediately are slim, with only 15 vehicles so far licensed. That contrasts with the more than 100,000 private hire vehicles in the capital - roughly the same number of Uber customers who have registered to take autonomous rides. - Guardian

The Trump administration has thrown its weight behind OpenAI in the ChatGPT maker's copyright battle with The New York Times (NYT). Lawyers for the US government have submitted a "statement of interest" intervening in the newspaper's lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. NYT claims OpenAI and Microsoft used its articles to train AI bots without permission, claiming the tech companies were seeking to "free ride" on its journalism. - Telegraph

The UK's fraud squad is thought to have paid millions to settle a legal battle with a Kazakh mining company regarding a botched investigation. A £125m claim against the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been dropped by Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) after a seven-year fight, the parties have confirmed. The terms of the settlement are confidential. However, the SFO set aside £15.4m to cover costs from ENRC's lawsuit in March this year, its accounts for the financial year 2025-26 show. - Telegraph

The City regulator has been urged to investigate Barclays over its relationship with a collapsed mortgage lender at the centre of an alleged £1.3 billion fraud. Investors in Market Financial Solutions have written to the Financial Conduct Authority to request a formal investigation into the bank's conduct as "both MFS's corporate bank and one of its largest institutional lenders". MFS Creditors Action Group, which represents some of the private individuals owed an estimated £200 million by MFS, called for the authority to examine whether the bank missed red flags, or failed to share concerns, which may have reduced the damage caused by the group's failure. - The Times

Five Guys and B&Q are among more than 650 businesses that have been "named and shamed" by the government for failing to pay some of their employees the minimum wage. The Department for Business & Trade has released a list of 658 employers who have now paid a total of £4 million to more than 27,000 workers following "robust" enforcement action. - The Times