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In a more optimistic era, the overthrow by Sri Lankans of a feckless government they blamed for their country’s economic collapse might have been called a Velvet Revolution. It began last Saturday when tens of thousands descended on the largest city Colombo and poured into public buildings, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence, amid chants

Chinese regulators are trying to stamp out panic over rising home loan risks at banks as a wave of homeowners join a country-wide mortgage boycott of unfinished houses. Hundreds of thousands of buyers have halted mortgage payments on more than 200 unfinished property projects in China this week, aggravating a property sector crisis that has

Italy was plunged into political turmoil on Thursday when prime minister Mario Draghi offered to resign after a split in his national unity government. The former European Central Bank president said conditions were no longer in place for him to carry on after the populist Five Star Movement refused to support his government in a

You can enable subtitles (captions) in the video player This is a story of finance gone wrong. The Credit Suisse story is the story of one of Switzerland’s most important institutions, one of the most important banking institutions in Europe. The bank which ignored risks, ignored red flags. We are in a very challenging situation.

British manufacturers have warned that a proposal to lift anti-dumping measures on a type of Chinese steel risks a flood of cheap imports and threatens hundreds of jobs in the sector. The Trade Remedies Authority, an arms-length body set up last year to make recommendations to ministers, has advised revoking existing duties on Chinese high-fatigue

Britain’s leading role in providing weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion will endure, whoever replaces Boris Johnson as prime minister, the country’s ambassador to Nato has said, amid concerns in Kyiv that a successor could fail to match his focus on the war. Johnson’s enthusiastic support for Ukraine was one of the

EU-UK relations have become so gridlocked that the ministerial body that governs Britain’s trade deal with Brussels has not met for over 13 months, the Financial Times has learned. The stasis has frustrated companies battling post-Brexit bureaucracy on both sides of the English Channel, with business groups calling on London and Brussels not to leave

Two former health secretaries, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, on Sunday announced bids to stand as Conservative party leader with pledges to slash taxes in an effort to win support from MPs. A total of nine candidates have now announced they will stand to replace Boris Johnson as UK prime minister, with more expected to

The UK government has announced that it will not match new EU restrictions on a number of potentially hazardous chemicals, including on the “rubber crumbs” which are used to make artificial football pitches. Environmental groups and health experts said the decision opened up the prospect of a “chasm” emerging between Brussels and the UK, leaving

One of the leading contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister has said he will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest, as other Conservative MPs prepare to launch their campaigns. Defence secretary Ben Wallace was the favourite among the Tory grassroots, with a net approval rating of +86 among party members according to

Rishi Sunak, who quit as Boris Johnson’s chancellor this week, launched his bid to lead the Conservative party on Friday with a pledge that he will avoid “comforting fairy tales”. His video to launch his campaign appeared a coded attack on what many MPs have seen as the prime minister’s Panglossian approach to policy. “Someone

Boris Johnson has announced his “painful” resignation but defied pressure to step down immediately as prime minister, insisting he would remain in office until a new Conservative party leader is chosen. In an address in front of No 10 Downing Street, after days of turmoil and mass resignations from his government, he accused his party

Sajid Javid launched a devastating critique of Boris Johnson in the House of Commons as he told MPs why he quit as health secretary, warning that “the problem starts at the top” with the prime minister. Javid triggered an avalanche of ministerial resignations when he stepped down on Tuesday evening, including chancellor Rishi Sunak —

Norway’s Equinor is temporarily shutting down three oil and gasfields after workers went on strike, intensifying regional supply troubles and pushing European gas prices to a four-month high. The strikes that began on Monday evening will affect 89,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of production at fields on Norway’s continental shelf. The trade union

Some of Britain’s largest industrial users of energy will warn ministers on Wednesday that sections of industry are at risk of closure this winter if there is a severe gas shortage and emergency measures to curb usage are introduced. The Energy Intensive Users Group, which represents the UK’s heaviest industrial energy users such as glass

He allegedly had $4mn in banknotes stuffed down his couch. When the money was stolen, he did not properly inform the authorities. And this was meant to be the good guy. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, has been leading the charge against graft. Under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, the surrender of much of the state

The writer is a science commentator The lack of international solidarity exposed by the pandemic, particularly after rich countries hogged Covid-19 vaccines, led to cries of “never again”. Never again should vital data and samples be held back in an outbreak; never again should the global south be abandoned by the global north in the

On the final day of February, a group of European financiers and entrepreneurs gathered on a late-night online meeting to resolve a boardroom dispute. The Microsoft Teams meeting only lasted 35 minutes. But it was enough time for the board to wrest control of the rights to launch hundreds of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites from

Valuations for tech companies have begun to fall in the UK, according to the head of the state-backed British Business Bank, which is preparing to use its funds to help support start-ups in the face of economic headwinds. Equity investment into smaller UK businesses increased by 88 per cent to £18.1bn in 2021, according to

As he battled to save his job this month, Boris Johnson warned his MPs not to get into “some hellish, Groundhog Day debate about the merits of belonging to the single market”. Brexit, he warned his mutinous party in a sweaty House of Commons meeting room, was settled. Later that day, Johnson limped to victory