52 minutes ago Budget 2024 – latest: MPs plead with Starmer to intervene as fears arise over Reeves’ ‘£40bn target’

Value of pound has fallen after this morning’s announcement

Economics

67 minutes ago Meta slashes jobs at WhatsApp and Instagram in latest round of cuts on top of 21,000 axed since 2022 as tech bloodbath continues

Meta is laying off employees across units including Instagram, WhatsApp and Reality Labs, the Verge reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Events

73 minutes ago Alvin Ailey: new exhibition celebrates the life and legacy of a dance icon

At the Whitney in New York, an expansive exhibition six years in the making looks back at the visionary artist and choreographerAlvin Ailey was a momentous figure in American dance. One of his most substantial and lasting achievements was to transform ideas of what a modern dance company could be, collapsing distinctions between diverse worlds like concert dance, jazz and Hollywood entertainment. He was also a transformational figure for the Black community: the dance institutions that he built in his lifetime – the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center – have cultivated generations of Black dance talent while sharing the experience of Black people in America.Ailey’s creative roots go back to his childhood in rural Texas in the 1930s, where he face...

Culture

75 minutes ago The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel review – lessons in chemistry

An artful account of a scientific genius and her female disciples leaves Marie Curie’s inner life an enigmaTo write a biography of a figure as well known as Marie Curie and still offer something fresh or surprising is no easy undertaking. The double Nobel prizewinner is, as author Dava Sobel acknowledges, the only female scientist most people can name. She has inspired more biopics and biographies than I can count, including those written by her two daughters. Parents of young children will have encountered her story in almost every one of the worthy children’s anthologies that adorn school bookshelves: she features in Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, She Persisted Around the World and Little People, Big Dreams.To help shed new light on such an iconic figure, Sobel, a bestselling writ...

Politics

96 minutes ago Sadiq Khan and TfL vow to get tough with drivers evading ULEZ penalty charges by using bailiffs to chase non

TfL says a 'cohort of people' are refusing to pay penalty charge notices, which has resulted in 'significant' outstanding debt amounting to more than £370million.

Politics

97 minutes ago Best time to visit Canary Islands revealed – as travel expert says 'listen up'

Lots of people jet off to the Canary Islands for a bit of sun during the colder months of the year – but which month is the best to head to the popular destination? A travel expert has answers

Politics

1 hour ago 100 days of miserabilism: How can Labour get out of its Budget mess? asks SIMON LAMBERT

Mystifyingly, Starmer and Reeves decided their first 100 days and budget plan would ditch much-needed optimism and now they have painted themeselves further into a corner.

Politics

1 hour ago Trump – who is running for president at 78 – says ‘only stupid people’ put old people in top federal roles

Trump is currently the oldest nominee for president in US history and, if elected in November, will be 82 years old when he completes his term

Politics

1 hour ago Aquarium visitors complain after highly unusual quirk with ‘whale shark’ spotted

Xiaomeisha Sea World says Chinese law does not allow keeping real whale shark

Politics

1 hour ago Type 2 diabetes and weight loss jabs ‘could help people with alcohol addiction’

The research found that these commonly used drugs resulted in a 50% reduction in alcohol intoxication rates among those taking them, compared to those who weren't

Politics