36 m. ago Chinese economy slows as Trump tariffs bite; FTSE 100 on track to hit new record

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsThe owner of Kingsmill has agreed to buy its rival bakery business Hovis, in a deal that could make the biggest bread brand in the country if it gets the green light from regulators.Associated British Foods, a FTSE 100 company which also owns the retailer Primark, has agreed to buy Hovis from the private equity firm Endless.This transaction will create a UK bakeries business that is both profitable and sustainable over the long term. Supporting the Hovis and Kingsmill brands with well-invested and efficient operations will also enable innovation and growth. This solution will create value for shareholders, provide greater choice for consumers and increase efficiencies for customers.Firms may be running on existing capacity rather than building new plants The July industrial value-add breakdown tells a more nuanced story than the weak fixed asset investment headline. Continue reading...

Politics

44 m. ago Several Palestinian people reported injured in overnight attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank – Middle East crisis live

Settlers attacked Palestinian people in village of Susya, south of Hebron, while separately settlers reportedly attacked village of Atara and set fire to vehiclesHere is some more detail on the controversial plan to significantly expand a settlement near occupied East Jerusalem.The decision from the Supreme Planning Council, which meets next week, is expected to support the plan after rejecting objections by Israeli NGOs.The expected decision in favour will come after Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich – who backs both the plan and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty through the occupied West Bank – gloated that he believed construction on E1 would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”. Continue reading...

Events

56 m. ago This Morning star speaks out on Loose Women move ahead of major ITV change

EXCLUSIVE: The This Morning regular joined the panel on the ITV programme’s sister show Loose Women last week, and has now addressed her future on the show

Politics

1 hour ago Remember when having women in power was supposed to change everything? | Gaby Hinsliff

The careers of Sturgeon, Merkel and Ardern show how foolish it is to idealise leaders just for being womenNicola Sturgeon was always afraid of failure. But it was a very particular kind of failure she feared; one that follows a very particular kind of success. Living up to the fact of being Scotland’s first female first minister became, she writes in her new memoir, “almost an obsession”, which is arguably unhealthy but not unreasonable. To be the first woman (or indeed the first minority) in any field is to be uncomfortably aware of being on probation: the test case that sceptics will use to decide whether women in general can really hack it, but also the yardstick by which other women will judge whether representation actually makes a difference.You daren’t betray anything that looks like a sign of weakness, yet at the same time you’re endlessly under pressure to spill your guts on all the intimate stuff – miscarriage and menopause in Sturgeon’s case, pregnancy in high office for ...

Politics

2 h. ago Second person dies from 'toxic' poisoning from sandwich at tourist spot

Tamara D'Acunto, 45, had eaten a sandwich from a food truck in Calabria

Events

2 h. ago Afghanistan is starting its fifth year of Taliban rule. Here are 5 things to know

The Taliban are starting their fifth year of ruling Afghanistan

Politics

2 h. ago Market stall holder was a friendly regular at the café, then things turned 'weird'

Jitander Mistry has been jailed

Politics

2 h. ago He was a 'nice guy' and a café regular, then his true nature came out

Jitander Mistry has been jailed

Politics

5 h. ago ‘Historical amnesia’: Indonesia’s fight over plan to amend history books

Anger the controversial plan coincides with anime flag movement, seen as a critique on the decline of democratic freedoms under President PrabowoIndonesia has delayed plans to publish a set of controversial history books amid backlash from historians and activists who have accused the project of being an attempt to downplay past atrocities, and represents “historical amnesia”.In May Indonesia’s culture minister Fadli Zon announced the planned release of a 10-volume “official history” project. The set of new books would remove colonial bias, feature updated research, promote national pride and have a “positive” tone, he said. Continue reading...

Culture

6 h. ago Hundreds hit with food poisoning in Indonesia after eating free meals from president’s flagship program

Since its launch in January, Prabowo Subianto’s signature policy has been marred by mass food poisoning cases affecting over 1,000 peopleMore than 360 people fell ill in the Indonesian town of Sragen in Central Java after consuming school lunches, according to officials, in the largest food poisoning case to hit president Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme to date.Since its launch in January, the free school meals programme has been marred by mass food poisoning cases across the archipelago, affecting over 1,000 people. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago TOM UTLEY: I was once fiercely proud of being a Londoner born and bred. But as Sturgeon seeks greener pastures and after nine years of the Khan Terror, Mrs U and I are thinking the unthinkable...

Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland, who has spent her entire life fighting for Scottish independence and slagging off evil England, now says she's thinking of leaving her native land.

Events

7 h. ago IAN WILLIAMS: Ministers blinded by Beijing's cash cannot see their dangerous folly

The warning from America is stark: selling Thames Water, Britain's biggest water and sewage business, to a Chinese company would be a 'national security threat'.

Politics

8 h. ago ROBERT HARDMAN: On VJ Day how can we claim 'we will remember them' when the remains of UK war heroes are still in plastic boxes in Malaysia? 

Today's commemoration of Victory in Japan - VJ Day - at the National Memorial Arboretum, attended by the King and the Prime Minister, will be a poignant occasion, of course.

Events

8 h. ago Ukraine cause akin to Second World War Allies, Starmer says before Alaska talks

The Prime Minister told veterans Volodymyr Zelensky’s war against Russia has the same values as the fight against the Axis powers.

Events

10 h. ago Warren Buffett stuns Wall Street as he snaps up stake in struggling UnitedHealth

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway quietly built a stake in a struggling company over the past two quarters, a regulatory filing shows.

Events

10 h. ago Justin Trudeau spent $170k of taxpayer cash flying ISIS brides home to Canada in BUSINESS CLASS

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government spent the eyewatering sum bringing ISIS brides back from Syria, including footing the bill for their bar tabs and junk food.

Economics

11 h. ago History teacher struck off after telling pupils about his 'top five sh*g list'

Grant Nightingale told a female pupil at the Brunts Academy in Mansfield that 'everything doesn't have to be about sleeping with boys', a Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel found

Politics

11 h. ago History teacher struck off after telling pupils about his 'top five s*** list'

Grant Nightingale told a female pupil at the Brunts Academy in Mansfield that 'everything doesn't have to be about sleeping with boys', a Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel found

Politics

13 h. ago TV meteorologist details extraordinary sexualized pressure she was subjected to by boss who was regarded an industry legend in bombshell lawsuit

Minnesota meteorologist Wren Clair says she was subjected to years of sexual harassment including lewd remarks about her body while on the air with KSTP-TV in a blistering new lawsuit.

Events

13 h. ago John Boyne says LGBTQ+ fiction prize backlash brought him ‘close to the edge’

Gender-critical novelist urges writers to re-enter prize they boycotted and may ask judges not to shortlist his novellaThe gender-critical Irish novelist John Boyne has said he has been brought “very close to the edge” by the backlash to his inclusion on the longlist for a literary prize for LGBTQ+ authors.Ten authors and two judges withdrew from the Polari prize and more than 800 writers and publishing industry workers signed a petition calling on Polari to remove Boyne’s novella Earth from its longlist. Continue reading...

Politics