Finance & Markets News

It is billing £32.99 a month but I have had no functioning phone line since it switched me to Digital Voice I’ve had no landline since May 2025 when BT switched it to Digital Voice. Weeks passed, and each call to BT involved at least an hour waiting on hold and answering security questions before being passed between departments. Eventually, last December, two engineers were sent and discovered that a wire had been severed during the upgrade. They said they needed a cherry picker to reconnect it

Some of Britain’s wealthiest financiers, including Sir Paul Marshall, have given a platform to critical coverage or are linked to its leading opponent “This is virtue signalling,” said Nigel Biggar. “These are elites who are trying to demonstrate that they are being progressive.” The target of his scorn was one that has obsessed him for years: the movement to pay reparations for the slave trade, and specifically the Church of England’s plan to spend £100m atoning for its involvement. Continue re

Let’s be clear: the risk to humanity is unprecedented. Without an urgent public debate and robust use of international law, we will lose control of the future In my two years as attorney general, I spent more time working on national security than any other issue. The range and gravity of the threats posed to our nation are multifold, from terrorism, armed conflicts and nuclear proliferation, to the impacts of financial insecurity and the climate crisis. All profound challenges, yet ones our sup

Donald Trump’s deal to buy Russian diesel has been met with fury from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said it was ‘a weak decision’ and would generate ‘billions’ in extra revenue for Putin’s war effort. The Ukrainian president has also rejected US calls for an ‘energy ceasefire’, which would require Kyiv to stop striking oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end its attacks on energy infrastructure. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding – watch on YouTu

Boaz Weinstein’s hedge fund is waging an aggressive campaign against the FTSE 250’s Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust Business live – latest updates Here we go again: another episode in the Saba saga, the story of a New York hedge fund causing havoc in the UK investment trust sector by taking big stakes in funds and then demanding change, often in only vague terms. The best that can be said about Saba Capital (and it’s not much) is that its belligerent boss, Boaz Weinstein, has disturbed the compl

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news The biggest prize in economics, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, will be awarded today. Known as the Nobel Prize in Economics (although it’s not one of the original Nobels), the winner(s) will be announced at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm from 10.45am UK time. “Businesses head into this Budget with one clear message: no surprises. Cost pressures continue to squeeze margins,

The latest attack by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia may prove to be more calamitous for the region than the world imagines On Saturday, Houthi rebels launched a shocking and deadly attack on Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh. At the time of writing, the missile strike on King Khalid international airport has killed at least 13 people and left 300 injured, marking a significant turn in a regional conflagration that is only getting more intense. It was the single most deadly attack on any Gulf co

New post-Brexit rules mean that dual nationals cannot enter the UK unless they have a British passport My teenage daughter is unable to see her grandparents because of the UK’s new requirement for dual nationals to hold a UK passport. I’m a UK citizen, married to a French national, and we live in France. Our two older children have both French and UK passports. Our third child was born while we were living in Zimbabwe and only has a French passport. Continue reading...

Accountancy firm Deloitte Cyprus among those that appear to have backdated records outlining the Russian billionaire’s assets Aides of Roman Abramovich – including staff at the global accountancy firm Deloitte – falsified paperwork mapping the oligarch’s sprawling offshore business empire, records suggest, helping his businesses dodge tax and disguise assets. New analysis of leaked corporate records uncovers what appears to have been a long-running and carefully orchestrated strategy of backdati

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In the Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium – so crucial to addressing the climate crisis – comes with escalating social and environmental costs A high-altitude desert plateau traverses Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. I am on the Chilean side, sitting in a Jeep along with two other researchers. The afternoon air is thin and brisk but the sun is piercing – a combination I am familiar with from years of living and travelling in South America’s Andean range. The landscape is a study in contrasts

‘Even if AI supercharged the economy, its impact on the government’s finances would be muted’ Back through political history to the age of Ronald Reagan, Republicans have repeatedly promised the US public that tax cuts would pay for themselves, firing up economic growth and filling the government’s coffers. The promise never really panned out. From the Gipper’s day on, the Republicans’ tax cuts inevitably increased the budget deficit. Despite its failure, though, the promise is back, coated in a

Food producers are adding their voices to the chorus of warnings about the vulnerability of British supply chains “There are so many decent, capable, productive, efficient arable farmers out there, asking how they are supposed to finance the crop they are meant to be putting in the ground,” Jamie Burrows says. Sitting in his tractor at his arable farm in Norfolk, Burrows is listing the multiple challenges facing him and other food producers. Continue reading...

Just as Brown and Blair did in 2005, Andy Burnham aims to champion debt relief to help developing countries Developing nations face triple shock, UN warns From Washington to Paris, London to Tokyo, policymakers in every large economy have been counting the costs of bond market turmoil in recent weeks. But the brunt of the pain is being borne by heavily indebted developing countries that have little hope of influencing the whims of global investors, but pay the price regardless. Markets have resp

Welcome to Halloweenmas, weeks of themed fun and gifts – from costume parties to decorating trees – without the stress, rules or cost of Christmas The tree is up, the wreath is hanging on the front door and you’ve just opened your advent calendar. All told, it’s beginning to feel a lot like … Halloween. If it sounds like the stuff of nightmares then that’s the point: Britons are increasingly decorating their homes with ghoulish versions of Christmas traditions. Think of it as Halloweenmas. Conti

Appointment or renewal reminder appears in victims’ calendar to lure them into logging in to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal page You’re preparing for the week ahead and take a look at your Google calendar. There’s an entry for a meeting that you must have completely forgotten. The note that pops up when you click on it says you’ll be reviewing a project and includes a link to more details. Confused, you follow it to find out more; the website you land on asks for logon details, and you provide