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The US and EU have criticised Russia’s decision to pull the plug on the wartime deal that unblocked the passage of millions of tonnes of grain via southern Ukraine, with traders and food security experts saying Moscow’s move would fuel a fresh spike in prices and increase hunger levels among poorer countries. Washington called Moscow’s

Elon Musk has joined the elite club of social media barons after clinching a $44bn takeover of Twitter in the same week that investors wiped hundreds of billions of dollars from Big Tech valuations. Musk’s drawn-out acquisition of Twitter, which he launched in April but attempted to abort in July, has closed just as a

Elon Musk has closed his $44bn deal to take Twitter private, bringing an end to one of the most high-profile and dramatic buyout sagas in recent memory after months of legal wrangling between the world’s richest man and the social media platform. As the billionaire entrepreneur took over on Thursday night, he fired Twitter’s chief

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden signalled the oil and gas group was ready to pay higher taxes as its announcement of $9.5bn in third-quarter profits prompted renewed calls for additional levies on energy companies. The second-highest quarterly profits in the company’s history followed the record $11.5bn reported in the three months to the end

UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delayed the date for his long-awaited medium-term fiscal plan from October 31 to November 17, as calmer markets give the government some economic breathing space. Hunt made the announcement on Wednesday morning after talks with new prime minister Rishi Sunak, who wanted more time to go through the details of

Rishi Sunak on Tuesday became Britain’s third prime minister in the space of two months and issued a bleak warning on the steps of Downing Street: “Our country is facing a profound economic crisis.” Sunak, who was invited to form a government by King Charles on Tuesday morning, said he would prioritise “economic stability and

Rishi Sunak, former chancellor, was on Monday on course to become Britain’s new prime minister, after Boris Johnson quit the contest on Sunday night and markets heaved a sigh of relief. Sterling rose on Monday after the risks of further immediate political and economic upheaval receded. Johnson, who was struggling to win support, admitted that

Boris Johnson was on Sunday desperately seeking more Conservative MPs to support his comeback bid, as he tried to secure the 100 nominations needed to enter the ballot to become Britain’s next prime minister. Talks on Saturday night between Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor and frontrunner in the contest, did not result in

Penny Mordaunt has held nine ministerial positions in eight government departments, including three cabinet posts. Yet until this summer’s Conservative leadership contest, when she came third, she was an unfamiliar figure to most of the British public. Now she is making another bid to become prime minister, touting her “fresh face” as a virtue that

Conservative MPs were on Friday deeply divided by the prospect of Boris Johnson returning as party leader and UK prime minister — just three months after he quit following a string of scandals. On Friday morning contenders to replace Liz Truss — who dramatically resigned on Thursday after only six weeks in power — were

A UK minister has warned that “appropriate discipline” will be imposed on Tory MPs who voted against the government without “specific constituency reasons” in last night’s chaotic vote on fracking. “The parliamentary managers will discuss with colleagues who didn’t vote with the three line whip why that was. Sometimes there are very specific constituency reasons

Jeremy Hunt declined to confirm that the UK government would increase pensions and benefits in line with inflation on Wednesday as the crucial September figure rose back to its 40-year high of 10.1 per cent. The rate of CPI inflation rose from 9.9 per cent in August, driven by the highest food price increases in

The Bank of England is set to delay the sale of billions of pounds of government bonds in a bid to foster greater stability in gilt markets following the UK’s failed “mini” Budget. The BoE had already delayed the start of its sale of £838bn of gilts bought under its quantitative easing programme from October

Jeremy Hunt, the new UK chancellor, on Monday scrapped the bulk of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax cuts in a desperate effort to calm markets, while slashing the government’s energy support package. In an emergency move to rebuild the government’s fiscal credibility, Hunt rewrote the government’s tax and spending plans, putting a wrecking ball through

US president Joe Biden has said Liz Truss’s original tax proposal was a “mistake”, in his most critical comments about the UK prime minister’s fiscal policy. Biden made the remarks during a visit to an ice cream shop in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, adding that Truss’s decision to reverse some of the sweeping tax cuts

Jeremy Hunt, the new UK chancellor, has admitted taxes will have to rise and spending will have to be cut after prime minister Liz Truss failed to reassure markets with a U-turn on cutting corporation tax. In his first interviews since replacing Kwasi Kwarteng, who was sacked by the prime minister on Friday, Hunt buried

Liz Truss, UK prime minister, is to hold a press conference on Friday to confirm a humiliating U-turn on her mini-Budget, as she prepares to axe large parts of the £43bn package of unfunded tax cuts. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng arrived back in London from IMF talks in Washington on Friday meeting and headed straight to

GlaxoSmithKline said its potential new blockbuster shot for respiratory syncytial virus appears to be more effective than rival Pfizer’s vaccine candidate, as the pair compete for a new market protecting older adults against the common lung infection. In data released on Thursday, GSK said its vaccine showed overall efficacy of 82.6 per cent in a

A sell-off in UK government bonds accelerated on Wednesday, sending long-term borrowing costs higher after the Bank of England reiterated that it will halt its emergency gilt buying scheme as planned on Friday. The central bank said on Wednesday morning that it “has made clear from the outset, its temporary and targeted purchases of gilts

The Bank of England has widened its emergency bond-buying programme to include inflation-linked gilts in its latest attempt to stem “fire sales” by pension funds that have created a “material risk to UK financial stability”. The central bank said on Tuesday it was prepared to buy up to £5bn a day in index-linked UK government