The agreement builds on the firm’s £15m investment in the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre

Lockheed Martin Space UK has reinforced its commitment to the North East following the signing of a Master Research Agreement with Northumbria University. The agreement creates a framework for long-term collaboration on space research and innovation, building on the manufacturer’s previously announced £15m investment in the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST),.

The Master Research Agreement – the latest milestone in a growing strategic partnership between the two organisations – is designed to create a flexible structure through which Lockheed Martin Space UK and Northumbria University will collaborate on an evolving portfolio of research projects, while ensuring appropriate intellectual property protections.

Through its £15m investment, Lockheed Martin is helping to establish NESST as a centre for space innovation, skills development and technology advancement in the North East. It includes a £7.5m research and development programme which forms a key part of the commitment, supporting research that will accelerate innovation, strengthen regional capabilities, while helping to develop the next generation of space talent.

NESST is expected to open later this year and achieve full operating capability in early 2027.

Robert Lightfoot, President of Lockheed Martin Space, said: “This agreement is another example of Lockheed Martin delivering on its long-term commitment to the North East and to the future of the UK’s space sector. By combining Northumbria University’s outstanding research expertise with Lockheed Martin’s global experience and technology leadership, we can accelerate innovation in critical space capabilities while creating opportunities for skills development, collaboration and economic growth.

“From our investment in NESST and collaborative research programmes to our Space Camp initiative, which has inspired young people across the region for the past four years to pursue technical paths, we are proud to be helping establish the North East as a centre of excellence for space research, technology and talent development.”

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed earlier this year between North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Lockheed Martin UK to align investment, skills development and supply chain growth, bringing a more coordinated public-private approach to regional economic development across the region.

Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, said: “This agreement represents a significant step forward in our partnership with Lockheed Martin and reflects Northumbria’s growing reputation as a leading university for research, innovation and enterprise.

“Through NESST and our wider collaboration, we are creating opportunities for researchers, students and industry to work together on technologies that will help shape the future of space exploration, communications and resilience.”

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Foofall levels in August were down on a year earlier shows new research from the Welsh Retail Consortium

Retailers in Wales experienced a fall in shoppers in August with the Welsh Government being urged to provide targeted support for the hard-pressed sector.

Latest research from the Welsh Retail Consortium show that footfall on the high street, shopping centres and retail parks, was down 1.3% compare to August 2025. In July it was flat on a year earlier.

In England there was a year-on-year fall of 2.1% and in Scotland a decline of 0.1%. Northern Ireland experienced a 2.8% rise. The only other rises in the nations and regions of the UK were in the east of England, up 1.9%, and the west Midlands, 0.7% The biggest decline, 4.9%, was seen in London.

In August footfall, defined as someone entering a shop, at Welsh shopping centres decreased by 1.7% and in retail parks by 0.3%.

Footfall in Cardiff decreased by 1.9%.

Head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, Sara Jones, said: “The heat may have stayed, but Welsh footfall cooled. August’s 1.3% fall shows that good weather alone is not enough to bring shoppers back when confidence remains under pressure. While this is a much softer decline than some of the sharper drops seen earlier in 2026, it shows that consumer confidence remains fragile.

“After a flat July, August’s return to negative territory is a reminder that good weather alone is not enough to bring people back into our town and city centres – retailers still need sustained support to drive footfall, boost spending and help Welsh high streets thrive.

“With members returning to the Senedd this month and the new town centres task force (set up by the Welsh Government and chaired by Simon Gibson) now in place, this must be a moment for action, not delay.

“Welsh high streets need practical support that tackles the pressures retailers face every day – from business rates and parking to public transport, safety, vacant units and investment in town centre regeneration. The task force must listen to businesses and deliver at pace, with clear commitments that help rebuild confidence, boost footfall and give retailers the conditions to invest and grow.”

Andy Sumpter, head of consulting and analytics for Europe at Sensormatic, which carried out the research for the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “August saw Welsh retail footfall remain under pressure, with total visits down -1.3% year-on-year. While still in negative territory, this was a stronger performance than the wider UK, highlighting a degree of resilience despite the challenges facing retail.

“Above-average temperatures may have continued to influence shopper behaviour, although conditions were less extreme than July’s record-breaking heat. While all retail destinations remained negative, Retail parks proved the most resilient at -0.3%, while retailers within Shopping Centres fell -1.7%, suggesting consumers remained selective about where and how they shopped.

“With the crucial golden quarter fast approaching, retailers will take some encouragement from Wales’ performance. However, with inflation now at a two-year high and household budgets remaining under pressure, the focus remains on converting footfall into meaningful spend during the industry’s most important trading period.”

Music producer Benny Blanco has revealed he worked with a therapist to draw up a detailed checklist describing his “ideal partner” before eventually finding love with pop star Selena Gomez, with being “age-appropriate” topping the list of qualities he sought.

Blanco, 38, discussed the process during an appearance on “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” which aired Thursday, offering new detail on how a period of intentional self-reflection ultimately led him to Gomez, 34, whom he married in California in September 2025. The couple first went public with their relationship in December 2023 and announced their engagement roughly a year later.

Blanco told Robbins he had approached his therapist directly out of frustration with his previous romantic history, expressing a clear desire to understand what had prevented him from finding a lasting relationship.

“I really wanna find the right partner, and I’m doing something wrong. I can’t find the person that I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with, and I want to do that,” Blanco recalled telling his therapist.

In response, his therapist encouraged him to write out a specific list of qualities he wanted in a future partner. According to Blanco, the first item on that list was being “age-appropriate,” a quality he said he now views as essential compatibility.

“Then the second thing on my list was, someone who’s nice,” Blanco said. “Nice, caring, compassionate, like someone who’s a nice person.”

Blanco said he also prioritized finding someone with a generally positive outlook, along with the willingness to actively address personal struggles rather than simply enduring them.

“I wanted someone who woke up generally happy,” Blanco said. “And if they were sad, they were doing something about it. Like they were going to therapy, they were taking medicine if they need to, they were doing yoga. They were actively trying to change things.”

Blanco offered a lighter moment during the discussion, joking that his list avoided overly specific physical criteria.

“I want their like left toe longer than their right,” Blanco said, mocking the kind of narrow physical preference his checklist deliberately excluded. Instead, he emphasized that the list focused on broader personal qualities that served as a filtering mechanism for potential partners.

“These were like broad things, and if it didn’t meet those first five or six things, I couldn’t even pursue,” Blanco said.

Blanco also detailed the long and unusual timeline of his relationship with Gomez, noting that the two had known each other for years, through periods of professional collaboration, before their romance eventually developed.

“We first met about 15 years ago. We worked together five or six years after that, and then again five or six years after that, and had a casual friendship during the time. Then we started dating a few years after that,” Blanco said.

Blanco’s account builds on similar comments he and Gomez have made in past interviews about the deliberate, reflective approach he took toward dating before their relationship began. In an earlier joint appearance on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast, Blanco described feeling that he had been searching for a partner in the wrong ways before ultimately deciding to get intentional about what he wanted.

“Before I met her, I was just another guy in L.A. trying to find the right person,” Blanco said during that earlier appearance. “I think I was maybe looking in all the wrong places.”

Blanco added during that same conversation that his broader goal extended beyond simply finding a romantic partner, describing a desire to build a family and a genuinely reciprocal relationship.

“I want to start a life, I want to have a family, I want someone who feels like my other half. I want it to be a real give-and-take, that perfect yin and yang,” Blanco said.

Gomez has echoed similar sentiments about the relationship in her own separate interviews. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, she described her relationship with Blanco as the “safest I’ve ever felt” in a romantic partnership. In a separate interview with Interview magazine, Gomez explained how a five-year period of being single before meeting Blanco helped prepare her for a healthier relationship dynamic.

“That time alone helped me appreciate someone like Ben,” Gomez said. “He gets so weirded out when I say this, but honestly, 10 years ago I couldn’t have accepted the kind of unconditional love and patience he gives me now.”

Blanco and Gomez, whose relationship became public in December 2023 following years of professional collaboration in the music industry, have continued to speak openly about their partnership across multiple public appearances since their engagement was announced. The couple collaborated on a joint album, “I Said I Love You First,” which they announced together in a press release after previously discussing their engagement publicly.

Blanco has also spoken separately about his desire to become a father, telling InStyle in an earlier interview that he hopes to have children with Gomez.

“I love kids; I love being an uncle,” Blanco told the outlet at the time. “I want to be a dad, though, God willing. I’m just dreaming and praying every day.”

Blanco’s latest comments on “The Mel Robbins Podcast” add further public detail to a relationship that has drawn significant media attention given both partners’ prominence in the entertainment industry, with Blanco’s Grammy-nominated production career spanning collaborations with numerous major recording artists, and Gomez’s decades-long career spanning music, television and film.

The therapist-guided checklist Blanco described reflects a broader cultural trend toward more deliberate, self-aware approaches to dating and relationship formation, one that has gained increasing visibility in recent years as public figures have grown more open about discussing therapy and personal growth work as part of their romantic journeys. Blanco’s willingness to detail the specific process that led him to Gomez offers fans additional insight into a relationship that، since becoming public in 2023, has evolved from a long-standing professional friendship into marriage, following what both partners have described as years of mutual respect and collaboration that ultimately deepened into romance at what they’ve each characterized as the right moment in both of their lives.

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh visited the Siemens Energy plant in Byker on Thursday to announce the deal to manufacture steam turbines for Rolls-Royce’s small modular reactors planned for Anglesey

Critical components for a new UK nuclear power station will be manufactured in Newcastle. The Siemens Energy facility in Byker will produce steam turbines for Rolls-Royce’s flagship small modular reactors (SMRs) under construction on Anglesey in North Wales.

It marks the first occasion that such equipment will be built for a small modular reactor anywhere across Europe. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh toured Siemens Energy’s Shields Road site last Thursday morning and stated that the agreement demonstrated “what our golden age of nuclear looks like in practice”.

The Labour minister told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This part of the world has a huge history in engineering. We have good, high-skilled workers, and a history of training people up. The opportunity, for me, with reindustrialisation is this – it is using clean energy, which we know we need more of, building out a supply chain here in Newcastle. We want to see this and we need to see far more of it.”

Siemens Energy occupies the site of the historic works established by engineer Charles Parsons in the 1800s and currently employs approximately 600 people on Tyneside, with dozens of new apprentices set to join next week. The works was also where the steam turbine was constructed for the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant, Calder Hall in West Cumbria, which commenced generating in 1956.

Ms Fahnbulleh said the SMR station, scheduled to become operational in the mid-2030s, would contribute to delivering sustained energy bill reductions for households. She added: “My number one job is getting bills down. That is the thing the Prime Minister has asked me to do and every time we see the price cap increase it is tough for families and hugely frustrating for me. Part of the way we are going to bring bills down for good is, firstly, we need to diversify the energy mix.”, reports Chronicle Live.

“When we talk about clean power it is because one of the things that is driving up bills is our reliance on global fossil fuel markets. The more we have nuclear, the more we have wind, the more we are relying on homegrown energy, the more we can break that link. But at the same time, we also have to do things to make sure the market is working for consumers. A big part of what we need to do is look across the piece and say ‘how are we doing everything we can to push coats down so it impacts on people’s pockets and the cost of business’.”

Rolls-Royce SMR appointed Siemens Energy as its international turbine supplier in 2025 and has also secured deals for comparable nuclear power facilities in Sweden and Czechia. Darren Davidson, UK Vice President for Siemens Energy, said he was optimistic the partnership would trigger further investment into the firm’s Newcastle facility.

He added: “We have 600 jobs here and we have seen significant growth over the last two years. We have seen the creation of more than 100 jobs in the last two years on this site and the collaboration with Rolls-Royce will allow us to grow further and provide further investment.”

Rolls-Royce SMR chief executive Chris Cholerton described Siemens Energy as a “world class” supplier, stating: “This is a perfect example of reindustrialisation and the golden age of nuclear bringing that to life.”

Labour’s Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “When the Prime Minister promised growth in every postcode, this is what he meant. This investment will support more than 550 good jobs for people in Newcastle and delivers on our pledge to reindustrialise Britain. Building small modular reactors here in the UK presents huge benefits for us, from more export opportunities to more jobs on the ground at home.

“Through our Modern Industrial Strategy, we are creating the conditions for businesses to invest in high-skilled jobs, strengthen supply chains and back the industries that can put more money in people’s pockets.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Shares of Nvidia Corp. climbed $5.91, or 2.59%, to $234.36 as of 9:55 a.m. ET Friday, extending a week of strong gains for the chipmaker following its confirmed acquisition of AI platform Hugging Face and continued momentum from a blowout quarterly earnings report last week.

Nvidia officially confirmed Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, one of the world’s most widely used platforms for sharing and deploying open-source artificial intelligence models, in a deal valued at $12.93 billion. CEO Jensen Huang and Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss the transaction, emphasizing the strategic importance of keeping AI development open rather than centralized around a small number of proprietary providers.

Huang told CNBC that open models “matter greatly to our company,” reinforcing comments he made in the deal’s official announcement, in which he pledged that Hugging Face would remain a neutral platform available to developers regardless of which computing hardware or cloud provider they choose to use.

Patrick Moorhead, an industry analyst who covers the semiconductor sector, offered his own assessment of the strategic logic behind the acquisition in remarks to CNBC.

“It’s about accelerating open source growth,” Moorhead said of Nvidia’s rationale for acquiring Hugging Face.

Rosenblatt analysts weighed in on the deal as well, framing it within the broader context of Nvidia’s expanding role across the AI industry’s financial ecosystem. According to Rosenblatt, Nvidia is increasingly using its balance sheet to help maintain the overall health of the broader AI ecosystem, extending its influence beyond simply selling computing hardware to actively investing in and acquiring key pieces of AI infrastructure and software.

Friday’s gains build on Nvidia’s continued momentum following its fiscal second-quarter earnings report released in late August, which significantly exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. The company reported revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year, with its data center segment alone contributing $89 billion of that total. Non-GAAP earnings per share rose 120% to $2.22, comfortably beating analyst estimates of $2.09 on revenue of $92.3 billion. Diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis soared 128% to $2.46.

For the current quarter, Nvidia guided for revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, implying year-over-year growth of roughly 89%, with non-GAAP gross margin expected to hold around 75%. Huang described the company’s outlook in terms of continued supply constraints rather than any weakening in underlying demand.

“A supply-constrained outlook,” Huang said of the company’s near-term production capacity, adding that Nvidia expects “supply to remain a bottleneck at least through the end of fiscal year 28.”

Supporting that assessment, industry data cited by analysts shows the cloud computing industry’s backlog of orders now exceeds $2 trillion, with capital expenditures among the top five hyperscale cloud providers tracking toward nearly $800 billion in 2026 and an estimated $1.3 trillion in 2027. Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin computing platform is expected to generate approximately $40 billion in revenue per gigawatt of deployed capacity, a significant step up from the $25 billion figure associated with the company’s current Blackwell architecture.

Wall Street analyst sentiment toward Nvidia has remained overwhelmingly positive following the earnings report and the Hugging Face deal. According to compiled analyst ratings, Nvidia currently holds 48 “buy” ratings and 10 “strong buy” ratings, with a consensus price target of $305.79, implying meaningful upside from current trading levels. The stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of 24 remains below the average multiple of the broader Nasdaq-100 index, which some analysts argue makes the stock reasonably valued given its projected growth trajectory and 65.6% operating margins.

Despite the bullish near-term outlook, some risks remain on the horizon. Analysts have noted that Nvidia’s third-quarter guidance does not include any revenue contribution from China data center compute sales, a market that has faced ongoing export restrictions and regulatory uncertainty. Gross margins are also expected to bottom out in the fourth quarter, in a range of 71% to 72%, as the company ramps up production of its newer Vera Rubin platform, a transition that historically introduces temporary cost pressures before yields improve.

Insider trading activity at Nvidia has also drawn some investor attention this week. Nvidia board member Mark Stevens filed a Form 144 notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 2, signaling intent to sell shares totaling approximately $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by financial trackers. Such filings are a routine disclosure requirement for insider stock sales and do not necessarily indicate any change in a company’s underlying business outlook, though large insider sales are often closely watched by investors regardless of the specific circumstances.

Nvidia’s stock has now climbed 901% over the trailing five years, according to Motley Fool analysis, transforming the company into a $5.4 trillion market capitalization giant and one of the most closely watched stocks in global markets. Sell-side analysts project the company’s revenue will continue expanding at a roughly 58% annual rate between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2029, supported by sustained pricing power tied to persistent supply constraints across the broader AI computing hardware market.

Some market commentators have flagged September’s historically weak seasonal performance for equities broadly, noting that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have both typically posted negative average returns during the month. Despite that historical pattern, several analysts have argued that Nvidia’s current fundamental momentum, bolstered by the Hugging Face acquisition and continued strong demand signals from hyperscale cloud customers, could allow the stock to buck the broader seasonal trend this year.

With Nvidia’s next major earnings report not expected until November, investors are likely to continue focusing in the near term on integration details surrounding the Hugging Face acquisition, along with broader industry data points from other major semiconductor companies reporting quarterly results this month, including Broadcom, which reported its fiscal third-quarter results Sept. 2, and Micron Technology, which is scheduled to report on Sept. 30. Both companies’ results are expected to offer additional insight into the broader health of the AI hardware supply chain heading into the final months of 2026.

Firmus Energy has announced an 8.98% price increase for customers in the Ten Towns area and 12.5% for Greater Belfast.

The Ten Towns new tariff will be effective from 1 October and equates to an extra £7 per month on the average bill for customers.

In greater Belfast, around 54,000 customers’ new tariffs will be effective from 8 October and equates to an extra £12 per month.

They said the increase was “due to the increased cost of gas on the global energy markets caused by the prolonged conflict in the Middle East”.

About 77,000 households and small businesses are in the Ten Towns area which includes Antrim, Armagh, Banbridge, Ballymena, Coleraine, Craigavon, Newry, Londonderry and more than 25 other towns and villages in the surrounding area,

Announcing the tariff change, Sharleen Winning, head of regulation at Firmus Energy, said they “cannot ignore the impact the situation in the Middle East is having on the cost of energy”.

“Unfortunately this has left us with no option other than to increase our tariffs.”

Winning said Firmus Energy have “held off for as long as we could in the hope of a resolution that would lead to a reduction in the global wholesale prices”.

“We have demonstrated that when we are in a position to reduce tariffs, we do so without delay, and we hope to be able to do so again, once the global markets allow this.”

It comes after last week, Northern Ireland’s largest provider of natural gas, SSE Airtricity, announced it is increasing prices by almost 19% from 1 October for its 200,000 customers.

Leigh Greer from the the Utility Regulator said if customers are worried about paying for gas or electricity they should contact their supplier as soon as possible.

“Suppliers will work with customers to discuss payment options and the support available.

“We recognise that another increase in energy bills will be deeply concerning for households and small businesses, particularly for those already under pressure from the wider cost of living.”

Raymond Gormley, from the Consumer Council, said the increase hadn’t come as a shock to him, but acknowledged it “could be a really tough winter for consumers”.

“We consume about two-thirds of our energy in the winter months, so this is the time we’re going to be using the energy and paying that bit more for it.

“Think about ways of saving money, think about the way you pay for your energy and the supplier you’re with. Every little bit will help at this stage.”