8 h. ago Germany plans rapid bunker expansion amid fears of Russian attack

Civil protection agency chief says country is ill-prepared for conflict and calls for urgent upgrades to cold war sheltersGermany is drawing up plans to rapidly expand its network of bomb-proof bunkers and shelters, the government’s most senior civilian protection official has said, warning the state needs to be prepared for an attack from Russia within the next four years.Ralph Tiesler, the head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), said Europe’s largest economy needed to wake up to the reality of conflict, and that in its current state Germany was inadequately prepared. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago Pensions report cuts Reeves’ planned growth funds from £160bn to £11bn

Chancellor had anticipated surpluses from final salary schemes would boost investment in UK economyPlans to invest £160bn of surplus funds from final salary pension schemes to boost the UK economy over the next 10 years have been dealt a blow by a Whitehall assessment that found there was likely to be little more than £11bn available to spend.In a knock to Rachel Reeves’s growth agenda, a report by civil servants at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that the expected surpluses in occupational schemes would be used by businesses to offload their pension liabilities to insurance companies. Continue reading...

Economics

18 h. ago Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war

After a bruising war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s new leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the country’s devastated economy with help from its wealthy Gulf neighbors

Events

26 h. ago Transportation chief seeks to weaken fuel economy standards, calls Biden

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says Biden-era fuel economy standards for gas-guzzling cars and trucks were illegal and moved to reverse the rules

Politics

31 h. ago Death, violence and endless delay: Inside Africa’s most troubled energy project

Africa’s largest natural gas project was expected to drive Mozambique’s economy to new heights. The reality has been far different, writes Nick Ferris

Events

32 h. ago ‘I watched it and regret it’: Stephen King’s new show The Institute shares terrifying first episodes

Creepy kids, brutal experiments and ‘grown-up consequences’ - MGM+’s new King adaptation will have you sleeping with the light on

Events

33 h. ago Stephen Graham has emergency surgery on a plane after realising 'something didn't feel right'

The Adolescence star, 51, had the operation in the lounge area between the economy and first class sections

Politics

34 h. ago US economy added 139,000 jobs in May as labour market weakens

Revisions to previous months’ figures point to slowdown in employment growth

Economics

34 h. ago US jobs market slows down as businesses cope with Trump trade war uncertainty

May’s jobs report was dragged down by loss of 22,000 federal workers’ jobs as Doge cut positionsThe US economy added 139,000 jobs in May, a slowdown compared with recent months as American businesses cope with uncertainty around Donald Trump’s continuing trade war.After signs of a strong labor market in April – which was largely seen as resiliency against teetering trade policy from the White House – May saw a drop in new jobs added to the labor market, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%, unchanged from last month. Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago ‘I’ve been crucified!’ Sarah Jessica Parker on dating, delis – and surviving three decades of Carrie haters

From being attacked for gentrifying New York to gen Z calling her toxic, Sarah Jessica Parker’s most famous role isn’t shy of controversy. As Carrie Bradshaw returns, she talks about being an antihero – and the death of fashionCarrie Bradshaw was undoubtedly not intended as a hate figure when Sex and the City first aired. But in recent years, a curious cultural shift has occurred: newer fans have started to see Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, as the most toxic thing about the horny, headline-grabbing show. An entire website, Carrie Bradshaw Is the Worst, was devoted to explaining why Carrie sucked. (The most common complaints: she cheated on nice guy Aidan; talked about herself too much.) One viral essay posited that Carrie was TV’s first female antihero. Parker, 60 and still synonymous with pop culture’s most iconic single gal, has grown to love the term.“I prefer that to any other description of her, because it allows her to be as male as the men have been. ...

Events

45 h. ago I suspect there's something poisonous about money. That’s why I’m embracing a gift economy | Kelley Swain

A slow and gentle lifestyle is possible; it’s just not sold to us, so it is harder to listen out forGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI’ve heard from a very wise friend that something she hadn’t previously considered, which she read in my “tiny house” article, was that the housing market requires most people to be in debt. It’s been a strangely positive experience to come to the concept of “economics” through living my life as a poet, novelist and medical journalist, because it allows me to critique things that might otherwise go unnoticed. Another very wise friend told me that her husband went to university to study economics, was told on day one that the entire model is built on a concept of infinite growth, and he quit to become a gardener. No wonder we’re friends.The first book of economics I read was The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The point of this beautifully written, small book (a long essay, really) is that different concepts of “economies” exist – we need...

Economics

55 h. ago PETER HITCHENS: The police are revolting against the people of this country

Our police chiefs have now quite obviously grown too big for their helmets. Their heads have got too swollen, while their feet have gone soft from lack of contact with the pavement.

Events

56 h. ago Tories at war as 'Lettuce' Liz Truss tears into shadow chancellor and says 'leaf it out'

Liz reacted furiously after Mel Stride said the Tory Party has to “put our hands up” to past mistakes - and says she didn't make an error when he tanked the economy

Events

56 h. ago Labour is doing almost everything badly, say voters in poll showing huge public dissatisfaction with Starmer over immigration, the economy and the NHS

A survey of more than 8,000 Britons has shown that most think the Government is doing badly on all but two of 15 important policies.

Politics

57 h. ago Procter & Gamble to cut up to 7,000 jobs amid economic and tariff pressure

The Tide detergent and Pampers maker plans global restructuring as US consumers pull back and trade costs riseProcter & Gamble will cut up to 7,000 jobs, or approximately 6% of its global workforce, in the next two years as the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers wrestles with tariff-related costs and customers who have grown anxious about the economy. The job cuts, announced at the Deutsche Bank consumer conference in Paris on Thursday, make up about 15% of its current non-manufacturing workforce, said chief financial officer Andre Schulten. “This restructuring program is an important step toward ensuring our ability to deliver our long-term algorithm over the coming two to three years,” Schulten said. “It does not, however, remove the near-term challenges that we currently face.” Procter & Gamble, based in Cincinnati, had approximately 108,000 employees worldwide in June 2024. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring program. Procter & Gamble will also end ...

Economics

58 h. ago Takeaways from AP examination showing benefits, costs of rules Trump EPA wants to change

When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year announced a massive rollback of environmental regulations, he said it would spark a “Golden Age” for the American economy

Politics

58 h. ago The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits last week rises to highest level in eight months

Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in eight months last week but remain historically low despite growing uncertainty about how tariffs could impact the broader economy

Politics

60 h. ago Scotland makes 'revolutionary' underwater discovery that could change the world

A Scottish green energy company is "revolutionising" the future of shipping and economy

Politics

62 h. ago Tories will ‘never again’ put economy at risk like Liz Truss did, Mel Stride says

Shadow chancellor accepts Truss’s mini-budget badly damaged party in clearest repudiation yet of ex-PMUK politics live – latest updatesThe Conservatives will “never again” put the economy at risk with unfunded tax cuts like those in Liz Truss’s mini-budget, the shadow chancellor has said, in the party’s clearest repudiation yet of the former prime minister.In a speech on the economy, Mel Stride went beyond any comments made by the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, to accept that Truss’s September 2022 fiscal plans, which involved about £45bn in unfunded tax cuts and quickly unravelled, badly dented the party’s reputation. Continue reading...

Economics

63 h. ago Mel Stride to vow Tories will be party of 'stability and fiscal security' after Liz Truss meltdown as he hammers Reform's 'magic money tree' promises

He is expected to promise the Conservatives will 'never again' make offers they cannot afford as the party seeks to forge a 'credible' financial plan for the future.

Events