French billionaire becomes Vodafone’s largest shareholder with £4.4bn stake
The French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel has become Vodafone’s largest shareholder after buying a 16% stake for £4.4bn.
Economy
Apollo gatecrashes easyJet sale with surprise £5.7bn takeover offer - business live
European stock markets have opened broadly higher this morning – the UK’s blue chip FTSE 100 index is up 0.3%, led by a 11.7% rise in Vodafone after the news that the French billionaire Xavier Niel has bought a £4.4bn s…
‘I just want to know if it has caused my cancer’: life in the shadow of Lancashire Pfas factory
“Everything I wanted was finally coming to fruition. A house, a change of job and getting married,” says Liz Hurst, looking out to sea on a hot evening in Blackpool.
Oasis reunion helps draw record 25m ‘music tourists’ to UK concerts
Big name artists including Oasis with their highly anticipated reunion tour, Coldplay and Beyoncé helped to attract a record number of fans to travel to watch live music last year, helped by a surge in overseas visitors…
US private equity firm Apollo enters bidding war for easyJet with £5.7bn offer
The board of easyJet has given the green light to a possible £5.7bn offer from the US private equity firm Apollo, as the low-cost airline becomes the subject of a surprise bidding war.
Reeves to launch City ‘skills compact’ committing firms to retrain staff in AI
Exclusive: Plan to improve skills of thousands of financial sector workers to keep pace with tech revolution
SpaceX and AI startup wealth fuels demand for private jets
Aviation lawyer Amanda Applegate skipped her annual vacation last month as a surge of wealth from AI startups and SpaceX sent a wave of tech investors shopping for private jets, burying her in paperwork for aircraft-pu…
Vape packaging and flavouring face restrictions under UK plans to reduce appeal to children
Vapes could be sold in plain packaging as part of a range of proposals to stop them being marketed to children.
Federal Reserve announces the leadership and objectives of its task forces to advance the conduct of monetary policy
The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced the leadership and objectives of its task forces to advance the conduct of monetary policy.
Interest rates may need to rise this year, says Bank of England economist
Interest rates may need to increase this year to keep rising prices under control, according to the Bank of England's chief economist.
Police investigate £500,000 Reform donations from mother of fraudster who backed Farage
George Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, at centre of criminal inquiry over potential evasion of restrictions on donations
Costco accused in lawsuit of selling protein powder ‘tainted’ with toxic heavy metals
A group of consumers have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corporation, accusing the retailer of selling protein powder “tainted” with toxic heavy metals with no warning to consumers.
Capita expects to lose up to £40m over pension scheme fiasco
Capita has revealed that the bill for cleaning up its mess at the crisis-hit Civil Service Pension Scheme could wipe up to £40m off annual profits – a day after its chief executive apologised to MPs for a “very poor ser…
Germany set to make rental e-scooter operators liable for accidents
Measures aim to make it easier for victims to gain compensation, with firms such as Bolt and Lime held responsible for damage
MPs urge Labour to ditch £330m Palantir software contract with NHS
A second parliamentary committee has urged Labour to scrap Palantir’s £330m contract with the NHS, increasing pressure on the next prime minister over government deals with the US tech company.
Tesco’s overseas empire is in retreat – but shareholders have no complaints | Nils Pratley
A couple of decades ago, Tesco was going to bestride the globe. Little ol’ UK, plus Ireland, didn’t offer enough room for the country’s biggest supermarket chain to expand, ran a theory that was encouraged from outside …
Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with TS Banking Group, Inc. and TS Contrarian Bancshares, Inc.
The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the execution of the following enforcement action listed below:
Andy Burnham urged to scrap income tax and NI in radical fiscal overhaul
Prominent economists including Jim O’Neill, an ally of Andy Burnham, are urging the MP for Makerfield to pursue radical tax and spending reform to “unlock the gridlock that plagues the country” when he is confirmed as p…
LGBTQ+ cruise ship refused entry to Egypt days after Turkey turned it away
An LGBTQ+ cruise ship blocked from Turkish waters this week has been refused entry into Egypt.
Licensed to drill? How a Trump-linked Texas oil company is elbowing its way into Greenland
On 10 June, a snowy-haired American in his 60s addressed the residents of a remote Greenland hamlet. He was there to tell them about a business venture supported by figures linked to Donald Trump. “So,” Robert Price sai…
Five pressing questions for Reform UK about its finances
On Tuesday, amid an investigation by parliamentary standards into an undisclosed £5m gift, Nigel Farage announced he would resign and trigger a byelection in his constituency of Clacton-on-Sea.
Experimental bathtub: the remote lake island trying wave power to boost energy security
Researchers on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, are trying to find a more reliable form of power using local resources
VW faces protests in Germany over proposed job cuts and factory closures
Demonstrations at 18 sites set up as radical transformation plan put to board of Europe’s biggest carmaker
Great Britain’s grid operator issues fresh warning over power supplies in heatwave
Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday night