Category: News

Octopus Energy has made a last-minute entry in a three-way race to buy collapsed electricity and gas supplier Bulb, according to two people close to the deal. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, and Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based energy company, are also in talks with the UK government as it tries to secure bids ahead…

The European Central Bank has paved the way for a series of rate rises, starting with a quarter-percentage point move in July and raising the prospect of a bigger half-point shift in September. The ECB said in a statement on Thursday that its governing council “intends to raise the key ECB interest rates by 25 basis…

Economic growth in the UK will grind to a halt next year with only Russia, hobbled by western sanctions, performing worse among the G20 leading economies, the OECD forecast on Wednesday. The Paris-based organisation’s forecast highlighted the effects of high UK inflation still squeezing household and corporate incomes in 2023 alongside a further round of…

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a stalemate in the war with Russia was “not an option for us” as he once more appealed for western military support to restore his country’s territorial integrity. “We are inferior in terms of equipment and therefore we are not capable of advancing,” he said. “We are going to suffer…

Boris Johnson is facing a vote of no confidence in his leadership on Monday evening in a dramatic escalation of tension between the prime minister and his own MPs. Conservative MPs will vote in a secret ballot from 6pm to 8pm on whether they want Johnson to carry on as prime minister. Downing Street said…

Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff on Sunday hit back at remarks by Emmanuel Macron in which the French president said it was important not to “humiliate” Russia over the war in Ukraine. In an interview with French regional newspapers on Saturday, Macron said maintaining dialogue with Vladimr Putin was crucial “so that the day when…

Ukraine has warned that the world faces a critical food shortage unless Russia lifts its Black Sea port blockade, as improvements to other transport options would only enable it to deliver a fraction of its total grain stockpile. Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, told the Financial Times that “all of our activity won’t cover even…

The US economy registered another month of solid jobs growth in May, despite employers grappling with a historically tight labour market. Employers in the world’s largest economy added 390,000 jobs during the month, less than the upwardly revised 436,000 positions created during the previous period but more than economists had expected. The jobless rate steadied…

Opec and its allies on Thursday agreed to accelerate oil production in July and August, as the cartel’s linchpin Saudi Arabia bowed to US pressure to cool a crude price rally that has threatened to stall the global economy. The cartel said it would increase output by almost 650,000 barrels a day in both months,…

The chief executive of Germany’s top asset management firm DWS Group has resigned after the company’s offices were raided by police over allegations of greenwashing. DWS said in a statement on Wednesday morning that Asoka Wöhrmann, chief executive since late 2018, had resigned with effect from June 10, the day after the group’s annual meeting.…

Eurozone inflation rose faster than expected in the year to May, setting a new record for the single currency bloc of 8.1 per cent and piling pressure on the European Central Bank to speed up the withdrawal of its ultra-loose monetary policy. The surge in eurozone price growth, from 7.4 per cent the previous month,…

Oil rose higher than $120 a barrel on Monday as tightness in refined fuel markets and concern over supplies from Russia propelled prices to the highest level in two months. Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit a two-month high of $120.50 a barrel in early trading, up 1 per cent ahead of the July contract’s…

The UK tax authority has admitted it has no idea how much tax is being evaded by UK residents holding money offshore, after new figures revealed hundreds of billions of pounds was held in tax havens. HM Revenue & Customs disclosed in freedom of information requests that UK residents had £850bn in financial accounts overseas…

EY is exploring a public listing or partial sale of its global advisory business as part of the most radical transformation of a Big Four accountancy firm in two decades, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. A stake sale or listing would raise the prospect of a massive windfall for EY’s existing…

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak said his latest package of support for UK households will have a “minimal impact” on inflation after the government announced a windfall tax on energy companies to fund lower fuel bills. “Our estimate and my view is that it will have a minimal impact on inflation,” Sunak told Sky News on…

Starliner is built to transport up to seven passengers © Nasa/Ingalls via Boeing Boeing’s Starliner space capsule returned to Earth on Wednesday after docking successfully at the International Space Station in a much-needed victory for the aerospace group as it contends with an array of production delays. Starliner was launched last Thursday atop a United…

Boris Johnson must “bear responsibility” for the culture in Downing Street during the pandemic that allowed repeated breaking of Covid rules, senior civil servant Sue Gray concluded in her long-awaited verdict on the partygate scandal. Gray’s 37-page report — plus photographs — is an indictment of lawbreaking and drinking in 10 Downing Street in the…

Auditors and tax advisers in the UK are lobbying the government for exemptions from a ban on working for businesses in Russia imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. Foreign secretary Liz Truss this month announced plans to force British accounting, management consulting and public relations firms to cut ties with Russian clients as part of…

US president Joe Biden has pledged to defend Taiwan militarily if China were to invade in remarks made during his first visit to Japan. “Yes. That is the commitment we made,” Biden said at a joint news conference in Tokyo when asked whether he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan. Speaking alongside…

The EU’s decision to suspend its deficit and debt rules for an extra year is not an excuse for member states to persist with loose spending policies, Germany’s finance minister Christian Lindner has said, in a call for more fiscal discipline. “The fact that member states are now able to deviate from the Stability and…