World News

The measure would ease inequality and bolster healthcare – without draining our coffers or triggering a billionaire exodus On Tuesday, California voters will decide whether to enact Proposition 40, a one-time, 5% tax on the net worth of about 250 California billionaires. In recent months, a number of California billionaires and their apologists in the media and in government have come out swinging against the ballot measure. I’m not a billionaire, but I’m a Californian wealthy enough to know tha

Ibstock, which has cut production by a fifth, criticises government for delay in help for housing sector Sales at the UK’s largest brickmaker plunged by more than a fifth over the summer, as it criticised the government for not introducing fresh help for the housing sector faster. Leicestershire-based Ibstock said on Monday that sales slumped by 22% below its expectations in the quarter to the end of September, prompting it to slash production levels by a fifth. Continue reading...

Airline also weighs up increasing use of AI as part of cost-cutting measures to offset impact of Iran war Ryanair is considering cost-cutting measures including implementing pay freezes, reducing crew on flights and increasing the use of AI to offset soaring fuel costs because of the Middle East conflict. Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier said it expects European airlines to raise their ticket prices by as much as 20%, as it anticipates its jet fuel costs will increase by about €2bn (£1.6bn) in

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news And in case you missed it: rival trading platform Chainalysis said on Friday it had also been the target of a cyber attack, although it found no evidence of unauthorised access to “investigation content, authentication credentials, or session tokens.” It said in a statement: Our team is working with leading cybersecurity experts to investigate this activity and harden our systems. We’ve proactively notified all of our customers and will

More than 2.3m households face jump in payments in 2027, after expected increase in Bank of England rate this week More than 2.3m UK households face a sharp rise in mortgage payments as they come off fixed-rate deals in 2027, with the Bank of England expected to begin raising interest rates this week. The Bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) is widely expected to increase the base rate from 3.75% to 4% on 5 November after UK inflation rose further to 3.5% in September. Continue rea

Peru’s anchoveta have made up about a 10th of the entire global commercial fishing catch since 1970, more than any other fish. A combination of warming seas and decades-long overfishing spells disaster By Geoff Mann. Read by Adam Sims Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Continue reading...

What happens when Elon Musk and a bunch of tech bros try to rip up the US government? Journalist Michael Lewis – the author of Moneyball and of The Big Short – talks to Nosheen Iqbal about his new book Blockers, which tracks the story of the civil servants who stood up to Elon Musk’s ‘department of government efficiency’ as it tried to dismantle the US government. Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency exchange has begun to allow withdrawals after $6.3bn theft believed to have come from North Korea Investors have pulled $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in funds from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, as it recovers from a record hack in which billions were stolen from customer accounts. The platform was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the biggest heist in history. Experts identified North Korea as the likely culprit. Continue reading...

Residents of Menomonie mounted a successful protest against a huge campus proposed by Meta – and community resistance to the AI boom is growing In the spring of 2025, Sydney Brennan was riding high. The 22-year-old was finishing college and was a newly elected councilwoman in Menomonie, a city of about 17,000 in the lush plains of north-western Wisconsin. Weeks into the new job, she was invited to a meeting with consultants pitching a $1.6bn AI hyperscale datacenter campus that an undisclosed bi

Using a fake DOB or leaving the field blank when making an online account can offer protection from identity theft You get a call from your bank saying there has been suspicious activity on your account. They read out your name, address and date of birth so you are happy it is a legitimate caller. But you are talking to criminals who have used your date of birth as part of a web of verifying information to convince you they are someone else. Continue reading...

Hundreds of adult gaming centres in England have bingo licences that still qualify them for discounted business rates Hundreds of high street “slot farms” could continue claiming a discount on their business rates, unless the government closes a loophole that allows them to pose as bingo halls. John Healey singled out adult gaming centres (AGCs) in his first budget this week, in which he increased duty on slot machine takings from 20% to 25%, claiming he was “raising taxes on gambling to support

Gap, M&S, Topshop and more are taking a leaf from luxury label playbooks to satisfy savvier generation of shoppers High street brands that boomed in the noughties before the squeeze of both sustainably minded consumers and the rise of ultra-cheap online labels are staging a comeback. This time, rather than focusing solely on trend-led affordable designs, the names familiar to any shopper are courting luxury fashion, A-list collaborations and enhanced services in an attempt to engage consumers. C

On the Bering Sea, Unalaska is the US’s most productive seafood port, employing thousands of workers. But Trump’s cuts, and his disastrous war with Iran, have caused chaos – and put Republican control of Congress at risk It was less than 17 hours until the start of Alaska’s lucrative Bering Sea crab season, and Oystein Lone was standing on a dock in the city of Unalaska, preparing to embark in rough conditions. The problem wasn’t the next day’s forecast of 60mph gusts, which would kick up white-

Environmental Defense Fund analysis shows administration handed out $950m and Clean Air Act exemptions It’s a good time to be a coal plant in the US. The Trump administration has given support to almost half of the nation’s coal plants, helping them to continue operating despite economic and regulatory headwinds, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund. The analysis, which looked at the 184 operating coal plants that are connected to the grid, found that 90 received support

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylviania, a post-industrial site gets a second life Continue reading...

Even modest overpayments can save you a fortune. We look at the best ways to pay off your biggest debt early When Adrian Massey was made redundant from his job as a food developer in 2010, the bill that worried him the most was the mortgage. Just over a decade later he and his wife, Tulay, had cleared their debt early, saving themselves £30,000 and freeing up some money to start their own business. The couple had bought their six-bedroom home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, for £280,000 two years befor