25 m. ago China bans banks from luring customers with popular Labubu dolls

Regulator asks local banks not to give non-compliant perks amid fierce competition as interest rates fallBusiness live – latest updatesChinese authorities have banned domestic banks from luring customers with gifts including the hugely popular Labubu dolls, amid fierce competition among lenders as interest rates and profit margins decline.The Zhejiang branch of China’s financial regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, has asked local banks to refrain from offering non-compliant perks to attract deposits, Bloomberg News reported. Continue reading...

Economics

35 m. ago LA protests live: Newsom to deploy 800 more police to ‘clean up Trump’s mess’ after president mobilizes 700 Marines

A battalion of 700 U.S. Marines and 4,000 National Guardsmen are set to be deployed as demonstrations against ICE raids continued into Monday evening

Politics

39 m. ago The Ritz, review: Trust me, this is London's best restaurant. Of course it won the National Restaurant awards

Amost everything offers a convincer that Michelin is getting this place wrong, says David Ellis. One star? Triple it, pronto

Events

65 m. ago Katie Price sparks concern among fans as she struts on stage with tiny frame and inflated bum

Katie Price has left fans concerned after she appeared on stage wearing next-to-nothing while performing at a Pride event in Portsmouth

Politics

73 m. ago RHS senior plant health scientist explains whether you should deter invasion of plant

You may have noticed thousands of tiny flies covering your plants in recent weeks

Events

82 m. ago June's rare Strawberry Moon will meet a cosmic companion in sky tonight

The Strawberry Moon – the lowest full Moon in decades – will soon glow in UK skies

Politics

89 m. ago EuroMillions jackpot drawn tonight: Wowcher deal offers 500 lines for £9

A Wowcher EuroMillions deal offering 500 National Lottery lines for £9 is trending fast as tonight’s £208 million jackpot draw becomes one of the UK’s biggest ever.

Economics

1 hour ago London weather: Capital to bask in 27C this week but thunderstorms 'possible'

While there may be more rainfall this week, temperatures could reach 29C outside of London

Events

1 hour ago Against Identity by Alexander Douglas review – a superb critique of contemporary self

A philosopher challenges us to forget about ourselves in this powerfully strange counterblast to identity fetishismIdentity is something socially negotiated, both claimed and given. I cannot be French if that nation does not exist; I can’t be a doctor if no one will grant me a medical degree. Social media, however, promises that we can don or doff identities like so many digital masks. We may become persuaded that identities are private goods over which we have rights of ownership and choice, that we can freely select what we “identify as”. The heightened salience of identity in modern political discourse thus represents an unwitting internalisation of the neoliberal view of humans as atomised individuals who navigate life purely by expressing consumer preferences.The idea that the identity of the speaker should count when assessing his or her argument is what the right used to denounce as “identity politics” (now subsumed under the general concept of “wokeness”), tho...

Politics

1 hour ago Zelenskyy calls for ‘concrete actions’ as Russian strikes hit seven of Kyiv’s 10 districts

Ukraine president criticises lack of response from allies as Moscow launches one of its largest attacks of war on KyivEurope live – latest updatesVolodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced his frustration with Donald Trump by calling for “concrete actions” rather than “silence” after Russia launched one of its largest attacks on Kyiv of the war, with seven of the Ukrainian capital’s 10 districts hit overnight.A total of 316 drones and seven missiles were launched at Ukrainian targets across the country in the early hours of Tuesday, including at Odesa in the south-east, where two people were killed. But it was the capital that was the focus of Russia’s ferocious barrage. Continue reading...

Events

1 hour ago TikTok grandmother Norma, 91, dies as legion of fans pay tribute to 'nation's Nana'

Norma’s family said they had lost “our rock” in a joint statement published on their TikTok page last night

Events

1 hour ago Despairing adult daughters of Thailand's dirty old men tell AMANDA GOFF how sex tourism shattered their lives

When I heard about the Losers Back Home - the dirty old men who move to Pattaya, the sex capital of Thailand - and what they get up to there, I was shocked to my core.

Society

2 h. ago Rangers announce pre season friendly against English National League side

The match will see a Light Blues XI head to the north east in July

Politics

2 h. ago 10,000 nuclear power jobs joy in "golden age" for sector but unemployment rates hit highest level in four years

From rising unemployment and major nuclear investment, to strong results at FirstGroup and Bellway, and Frasers circling Revolution Beauty – here are today’s top UK business stories.

Events

2 h. ago Jobless rate surges to highest since 2021 while pay growth eases sharply – ONS

The Office for National Statistics said average regular earnings, excluding bonuses, fell sharply to 5.2% in the three months to April.

Politics

2 h. ago Revealed: More than 700 children as young as 10 caught with knives and firearms in London schools

As 371 safer schools officers withdrawn across capital, Ben Kinsella Trust says young people may be ‘put at risk to save money’

Events

2 h. ago I'm a Canadian living in London and these are all the things I dislike about the UK

Matt Giffen, 29, moved to the UK capital last year after relocating from Canada with his girlfriend, influencer Summer Fox.

Politics

2 h. ago Dead elephants and feral sea lions: how poisonous algal blooms harm the planet

As the Earth heats up, the amount of algae in our waterways is rapidly increasing, transforming the colour of lakes and killing entire ecosystemsBefore the elephants collapsed, they walked in aimless circles. Some fell head first, dying where they stood moments earlier; their carcasses scattered near watering holes across the Okavango delta. The unexplained deaths in May 2020 alarmed conservationists. By July, at least 350 elephants had died and nobody knew why.“The animals all had their tusks, so poaching was unlikely. A lot of them had obviously died relatively suddenly: they had dropped on to their sternums, which was indicating a sudden loss of muscle function or neural capacity,” says Niall McCann, director of the conservation group National Park Rescue. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago Unemployment rate surges to highest since 2021 as wage growth eases sharply

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show average regular earnings fell to 5.2 per cent in the three months to April

Politics

2 h. ago Londoners net Treasury £5,000 per head, new report reveals as Reeves and Khan in Spending Review clash

Analysis by the House of Commons Library lays bare how dependent the UK is on the capital as its economic engine

Economics