PM Boris Johnson referred to police watchdog over Jennifer Arcuri allegations

Case involves possible conflict of interest when Boris Johnson was mayor of London

Boris Johnson has been formally referred for potential investigation into whether he committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office, over allegations about a conflict of interest with a US businesswoman while he was mayor of London.

An official from the Greater London Authority, the city’s devolved government, has written to the prime minister noting claims he had “on more than one occasion” used his position as mayor to “benefit and reward” Jennifer Arcuri, a tech entrepreneur.

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Maths and tech specialists need Hippocratic oath, says academic

Exclusive: Hannah Fry says ethical pledge needed in tech fields that will shape future

Mathematicians, computer engineers and scientists in related fields should take a Hippocratic oath to protect the public from powerful new technologies under development in laboratories and tech firms, a leading researcher has said.

The ethical pledge would commit scientists to think deeply about the possible applications of their work and compel them to pursue only those that, at the least, do no harm to society.

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Chinese tech shares leap up to 500% as Nasdaq-style market launches

Star listing of domestic tech firms is seen as an attempt to bypass US markets in trade war

China’s tech scene was handed a fresh vote of confidence as investors piled into Shanghai’s new Nasdaq-style stock exchange and sent shares skyrocketing up to 500%.

The launch of the Star listing of domestic tech firms is seen as China’s answer to the US’s Nasdaq, and an attempt to sidestep American markets in its long-running trade war with Washington.

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‘There’s no way to stop this’: Oakland braces for the arrival of tech firm Square

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has signed a deal to move his payments company to Oakland – which activists say will only exacerbate an already brutal housing crisis

Photographs by Jason Henry

The knocks on Maria Espinoza’s front door became a nightly occurrence.

If the 60-year-old Oakland woman wasn’t home, her frightened partner would turn off the lights and TV and remain silent. On evenings Espinoza did answer the door, her new landlord would be outside with the same question: When are you moving out?

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Tech firms to check suppliers after mining revelations in Tanzania

Apple says it is ‘deeply committed to responsible sourcing of materials’

Electronics companies, including Canon, Apple and Nokia, are re-evaluating their supply chains following reports they may be using gold extracted from a Tanzanian mine that has been criticised for environmental failures.

Over the past 10 years, at the North Mara goldmine – which is operated by London-listed Acacia Mining – there have been more than a dozen killings of intruding locals by security personnel.

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UK rights advocate co-owns firm whose spyware is ‘used to target dissidents’

Exclusive: Yana Peel co-owns NSO Group that licensed Pegasus software to authoritarian regimes

A leading human rights campaigner and head of a prestigious London art gallery is the co-owner of an Israeli cyberweapons company whose software has allegedly been used by authoritarian regimes to spy on dissidents, the Guardian can reveal.

Yana Peel, the chief executive of the Serpentine Galleries and a self-proclaimed champion of free speech, co-owns NSO Group, a $1bn (£790m) Israeli tech firm, according to corporate records in the US and Luxembourg.

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Microsoft becomes third listed US firm to be valued at $1tn

Company beat sales and profit expectations to join Apple and Amazon in prestigious club

Microsoft has become the third publicly listed US company, after Apple and Amazon, to boast a market value of more than $1tn after bumper quarterly results boosted its share price.

The company beat sales and profits expectations in the three months to 31 March, thanks in part to its cloud computing business, which signed up major corporate clients over the period.

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Facebook needs regulation to combat fake news, say MPs

Damian Collins warns of ‘deepfake films’ showing doctored footage of politicians

Online disinformation is only going to get more sophisticated, the chair of the committee investigating disinformation and fake news, Damian Collins, has warned.

Related: Facebook labelled 'digital gangsters' by report on fake news

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