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President reportedly hopes falling price will cut domestic consumer energy billsBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump plans to use Venezuela's vast crude reserves to establish control of most of the western hemisphere's oil in an attempt to drive the market price down to about $50 a barrel, according to reports.The US president has repeatedly raised the prospect of producing enough crude from Venezuela's oilfields to drive down the US oil price from more than $56 a barrel today to about $50 to cut energy costs for consumers, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited senior Trump administration officials. Continue reading......

State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcareA battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires – with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state. Continue reading......

South East Water says 6,500 households have no water due to burst mains, a month after drinking water outageResidents of Tunbridge Wells have been left without water again, just a month after a major outage.South East Water said 6,500 households have no water at all, while thousands more have “intermittent supplies”. Continue reading......

Study of 1,000 products finds wet, raw and meat-rich products have higher climate impact than dry kibbleDog food accounts for 1% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to research that found wet, raw and meat-rich products were associated with substantially higher emissions than dry kibble.The analysis revealed striking differences in the environmental impact of commercial dog foods, with the highest-impact foods being responsible for up to 65 times more emissions than the lowest-rated options. Continue reading......

Median sale price was at $410,800 last year, according to the Census Bureau, even as Trump campaigned on affordabilityDonald Trump said his administration was moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in a bid to reduce home prices.In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president said he will be asking Congress to codify the measure and will be discussing additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech at the Davos World Economic Forum. Continue reading......

The Trump administration is asserting control over Venezuelan oil, after seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers on WednesdayVenezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended plans to open up her country's oil market to Washington, as Donald Trump's vice-president JD Vance reiterated that the US would have complete control of the country's supplies.Rodríguez said on Wednesday that America's attack to remove her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, put a “stain” on the countries' relations, but added it was “not unusual or irregular” to trade with the US, adding that Venezuela was “open to energy relations where all parties benefit.” Continue reading......

Startup founded by former OpenAI staff is aiming to more than double its annualized revenue run rate this yearAnthropic is planning a $10bn fundraise that would value the Claude chatbot maker at $350bn, according to multiple reports published on Wednesday.The new valuation represents an increase of nearly double from about four months ago, per CNBC, which reported that the company had signed a term sheet that stipulated the $350bn figure. The round could close within weeks, although the size and terms could change. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management are planning to lead the financing, the Wall Street Journal reported. Continue reading......

President says he wants to raise military budget to $1.5tn and accuses US defense companies of delivery failures Donald Trump has claimed he plans to crack down on executive compensation and shareholder payouts at military defense contractors, as his administration looks to dramatically ramp up spending on the armed forces.In a series of posts on social media, the US president said he wants to increase the military budget to $1.5tn – and complained that defense giants had been failing to swiftly deliver “vital” equipment to the US and its allies across the world. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsRetail tech firm MRI Software has reported that UK retail ended 2025 on a far stronger note than expected.MRI's data shows that footfall at retail sites in December rose by 1.3% year on year, the biggest annual uplift for the month since 2011.The festive boost was driven by a sharp rise in evening and night-time visits, up +5.3% after 5pm, as shoppers increasingly combined retail with dining, leisure, and socialising. High streets led annual growth (+2.0%), followed by retail parks (+1.2%) and shopping centres (+0.1%), reinforcing the role of experience-led trips in driving footfall.Boxing Day was the standout trading day, recording its strongest performance in a decade. Footfall rose +4.4% year on year across all retail destinations, with evening visits up almost +10%, underlining how post-Christmas trading is shifting away from purely transactional shopping towards social and experiential activity. Continue reading......

The chaos that Donald Trump is causing in the world makes the case for continental solidarity and explicit repudiation of Brexit divisions Sir Keir Starmer's plan for 2026 was to talk more about the domestic issues that concern British voters. Donald Trump knocked that plan off course. US intervention in Venezuela inevitably demanded the prime minister's attention, as did this week's summit of Ukraine's allies, the “coalition of the willing”, in Paris. Progress towards agreeing security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal with Russia was overshadowed by Mr Trump restating his ambition to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark. The dust had not settled when American special forces boarded a Russian-flagged oil tanker in European waters, ostensibly to enforce a blockade against Venezuela.Prime ministers have to multitask, but under these circumstances it is understandable if Sir Keir's mind has been filled with foreign affairs. He should be used to this by now. Mr Trump's return to t...

Prime minister to 'look closely' at legal claims against FTSE 100 telecoms groupThe prime minister has promised to review laws governing franchising agreements, in response to the case of a former Vodafone store manager whose family alleges took his own life following pressure from the FTSE 100 telecoms group.Keir Starmer said in the Commons on Wednesday that he would “look closely” at the outcome of a high-profile legal claim against Vodafone. Continue reading......

Output shrank for 12th month in a row in December, while housebuilding in deepest slump since 2020Business live – latest updatesBritain's construction sector has recorded its worst run since the financial crisis almost two decades ago, with housebuilding mired in the deepest slump since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.UK construction output shrank for the 12th month in a row in December, the longest unbroken run of declines since the global financial crash of 2007-09, although there were signs of optimism among companies, according to a monthly industry survey. Continue reading......

Board unwilling to accept hostile takeover despite $40bn guarantee from billionaire Larry EllisonWarner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate.Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, had sought to combat WBD's criticism of its offer and claims it had “consistently misled” investors by saying it had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons. Continue reading......

Ship has long been part of shadow fleet used to dodge western sanctions. It had no oil onboard – but was it carrying Russian weapons?A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia's military rushed towards it.Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Russian weapons are hidden in the hull, to the ship's potential to become a symbolic trophy in a transatlantic power struggle between Washington and Moscow. Continue reading......

Arson attack that left parts of German capital in darkness for days stirs outrage over infrastructure insecurityEurope live – latest updatesWhen Silke Peters bought a crank radio and a camping stove just after the start of Russia's full invasion of Ukraine, her husband thought she was “a little crazy”. “He put me down, only half-jokingly, as a prepper,” she said, referring to the kind of person who stockpiles in case of catastrophe.For almost four years, the items gathered dust in the cellar of the Peters' two-room flat in Zehlendorf, a well-to-do district of Berlin. But in recent days the windup radio – with its inbuilt torch and charge point – has come into its own during Germany's longest power cut since the second world war. Continue reading......

Video game spinoff was the highest-grossing film of the year at £56.88m as the sector continued its recovery after CovidThe UK and Irish box office has recorded its best annual performance since the Covid pandemic, with A Minecraft Movie ending 2025 as the highest-grossing film of the year.Figures released by box-office analysts Comscore show that box office revenue in the UK and Ireland totalled £1.07bn, an increase of 1% on 2024's total of £1.06bn. At the same time there was a slight decrease in the amount of films released: 1,092 in 2025, compared with 1,124 in 2024. Continue reading......

Crews Hill near Enfield in north London could become a victim of Labour's ambitious housebuilding goalUK construction hit by worst run since global financial crisisOn the fringes of north London is an area of garden centres, green spaces and winding country lanes that feel a world away from the capital's urban sprawl.Tucked just inside the M25, Crews Hill near Enfield has been home to a cluster of horticultural businesses for decades, leading to it being nicknamed the “golden mile”. Continue reading......

Women gather outside factories hoping for work as the economy struggles under US export taxesEvery morning at 7am, women gather outside clothing factories in Maseru, the capital of the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, hoping to be offered work. However, since Donald Trump imposed swingeing global tariffs in April 2025, those opportunities have been fewer and farther between.Moleboheng Matsepe lost her full-time job sewing sports leggings for the California brand Fabletics in 2023. She was initially able to pick up three-month contracts, but has not had any work since September. Continue reading......

Updated government assessment says measures will now entail 'no more than a modest increase' for employers Labour watering down its sweeping overhaul of workers' rights is expected to slash the cost of the plan for UK businesses by billions of pounds, the government's own analysis shows.According to an updated Whitehall impact assessment published on Wednesday, concessions by ministers could reduce the cost of the employment rights bill for businesses to about £1bn. Continue reading......

US coastguard reportedly boards Marinera, facing no resistance but risking confrontation with MoscowThe US has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean in a high-stakes operation that could risk confrontation with the Kremlin, after Moscow reportedly dispatched a submarine to safeguard the vessel.The Marinera tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, “was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro”, US European Command said in a post on X. Continue reading......