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Exclusive: Formal validation for claret reflects hotter conditions, falling consumption and shift towards chillable redsBordeaux's wine industry has historically adapted to consumer habits. In the 1970s the region leaned towards white, but by the 2000s was famed for powerful oak-aged reds.Now it's turning to a much older form of red with a name familiar to anglophones: claret. With origins in the 12th century, when it was first shipped to Britain, claret was soon our favoured wine, an unofficial byword for bordeaux red, which in recent decades has become increasingly full-bodied. Continue reading......

Nestlé has already recalled several batches due to concerns they may trigger nausea and vomitingThe Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed the presence of a toxin that can cause food poisoning in some Nestlé baby formula products.At the start of this month, the Swiss food and drink company recalled several batches of its SMA infant formula and follow-on formula due to concerns they contained cereulide, which can trigger nausea and vomiting when consumed. Continue reading......

Launch of R&D centre could pave way for deal for UK's Jaguar Land Rover to build cars for Omoda and Jaecoo ownerChinese carmaker Chery is to open a research and development headquarters in Liverpool, in a move that could pave the way for a deal for the British manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover to build its cars.State-owned Chery's commercial vehicle arm will base the headquarters for its European operations in Merseyside, including research, engineering, and commercial functions. Continue reading......

Pick of former Fed governor to replace Jerome Powell comes as White House seeks to tighten grip on central bank• Business live – latest updatesDonald Trump has announced Kevin Warsh as his nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, selecting a candidate who has been an outspoken critic of the US central bank.The move ends months of speculation about who the president would pick to replace Jerome Powell, as he waged an extraordinary campaign to influence policymaking at the Fed by repeatedly calling for interest rate cuts. Powell's second term as chair is due to end in May. Continue reading......

Panama's president says strategic waterway will operate as normal after ruling that advances US policy aimsPanama's president said ports at each end of the Panama canal would operate as usual after the country's supreme court ruled the concession held by a subsidiary of a Chinese company was unconstitutional.The court's decision on Thursday, which helps US attempts to block any Chinese influence over the strategic waterway, immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Continue reading......

Law will give private companies more control but experts unsure whether changes go far enough for USVenezuela's acting president has signed into law a bill making significant changes to the country's oil sector after pressure from the US to open it up to foreign private investment.The new hydrocarbons law promises to give private companies control over oil production and sales, ease taxes and allow for independent arbitration of disputes, while largely maintaining state control over oil production. Continue reading......

Government to lend up to £10,000 to worst-affected new retirees as minister admits there is 'unacceptable' backlogNewly retired civil servants say they are struggling to pay bills and buy food because delays at their pension scheme have left them without an income for months.Pensioners have reported being forced to borrow money from family to pay for food and heating, with some saying they feared losing their homes because they could not afford their rent or mortgage. Continue reading......

A ground rent cap is a good start, but ministers need to go further in reforming an unjust systemChanges to lease agreements, leading to steeply increasing ground rents over recent years, are an outrage. An estimated 18% of leaseholders in England and Wales – around 1m households – have a so-called “modern ground rent” lease, with escalating charges that make it impossible in many cases to remortgage or sell. Cost-of-living pressures, including food and energy price rises, make it all the more urgent that their situation is addressed. Angela Rayner was right to argue in the Guardian last week that ministers must pick a side.This market should never have been allowed to develop in the way that it has. An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found no evidence that leaseholders get anything for these annual fees – which are separate from service charges that pay for the maintenance of common areas. Campaigners for leasehold abolition are right that the rent-seeking behaviour of fr...

The prediction market's disciples and CEO believe its an unbiased way of knowing the future. But experts warn users could reshape the world to win bigIn the early hours of 13 June, more than 200 Israeli fighter jets began pummeling Iran with bombs, lighting up the Tehran skyline and initiating a 12-day war that would leave hundreds dead.But for one user of the prediction market Polymarket, it was their lucky day. In the 24 hours before the strike occurred, they had bet tens of thousands of dollars on “yes” on the market “Israel military action against Iran by Friday?” when the prospect still seemed unlikely and odds were hovering at about 10%. After the strike, Polymarket declared that military action had been taken, and paid the user $128,000 for their lucky wager. Continue reading......

When bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differentlyIt was December 1999. Tech investors were riding high, convinced that a website and a Super Bowl ad were all it took to get rich quick. Spending was mistaken for growth; marketing was mistaken for a business model. In just a few months, the dot-com boom would go bust: $1.7tn in market value vanished, and the broader economy took a $5tn hit.Yet something remarkable emerged from the wreckage. The post-crash internet wasn't defined by speculation, but by creation: the rise of web 2.0 and open-source software – and the birth of platforms like Firefox and Wikipedia. The lesson is simple: when bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differently.Mark Surman is the president of Mozilla Continue reading......

Victims of terrorist attacks say BAT's operations in North Korea helped fund weapons used in the Middle EastHundreds of US military service members, civilians and their families have filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages against British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world's largest tobacco companies, and a subsidiary, claiming the company spent years illicitly helping North Korea fund terrorism weapons that were used against Americans.BAT formed a joint venture in 2001 with a North Korean company to manufacture cigarettes in the country. The venture quietly continued, a 2005 Guardian investigation revealed, even as the US government publicly warned North Korea was funding terrorism and imposed sanctions on the country. Amid mounting international pressure in 2007, the company claimed it was ending business in North Korea, but secretly continued its operation through a subsidiary, the US justice department said in 2023. BAT's venture in North Korea provided around $418m in banking transactions, ?...

Construction works for Milano Cortina have been a lightning rod for suspected infiltration by organised crime, but anti-mafia groups have adopted an approach that will help future hostsEarly on the morning of 8 October, the Provincial Command of the Carabinieri in Belluno put out a press release announcing three arrests, in the culmination of a year-long investigation they called “Operation Reset”. Two of the three were brothers, were both known members of the notorious SS Lazio Ultras, the Irriducibili, it was stated in the release, and had boasted of having personal ties to former boss Fabrizio Piscitelli, who was murdered in 2019. The crimes the brothers had been arrested on suspicion of had not been committed in Rome, but 400 miles north, in the small alpine ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, high in the Dolomites, and home, for the next three weeks, to the Winter Olympics.The brothers are still awaiting trial, but the local public prosecutor's office has alleged that they were running an operatio...

The Sánchez government is under fire after two crashes. But politicians of all stripes have prioritised opening new lines over maintaining existing onesSpain has the most extensive high-speed rail network in Europe and the second-largest in the world after China. A source of immense national pride, the train system has grown and become more affordable thanks to a boom in rail passengers and competition among train companies. Every few minutes, a train departs from Madrid for Barcelona and vice versa, linking the country's two most populous cities. This 600km journey takes less than three hours for an average fare of €65.Thirty-four years after the first high-speed train between Madrid and Seville, the network now connects more than 50 cities in Spain. Along with being a badge of pride for the country, it even commands a rare political consensus. At least that was the case until this month's calamities. In the first accident, one train derailed and collided with another near the town of Adamuz in Anda...

Rocket company examining feasibility of both options before potential $1.5tn stock market flotation, report saysBusiness live – latest updatesSpaceX is reportedly considering a potential merger with the electric carmaker Tesla, or a tie-up with artificial intelligence firm xAI, as Elon Musk looks at options to consolidate his global empire.The rocket company is examining the feasibility of a tie-up with Tesla, or xAI, before a huge potential stock market float, according to Reuters. Continue reading......

US president warns Keir Starmer over closer ties with China during British PM's trip to secure lower tariffs and better access to Chinese marketDonald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing.The US president said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister's three-hour talks with leader Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsThe Financial Times have nailed their trousers to the mast, declaring that Donald Trump is preparing to nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to replace Jay Powell as Fed chair.They write:Warsh — who was the youngest Fed governor ever when he joined the central bank in 2006 — is known for his connections on Wall Street and in Washington policymaking circles.While he has a long-standing relationship with the president, some viewed his hawkish stance during his time at the Fed as a big obstacle to winning Trump's trust. Continue reading......

White House cites Cuba's ties to hostile powers as order ratchets up Trump's pressure to topple its governmentDonald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday laying the groundwork to slap tariffs on goods from countries that provide oil to Cuba, the White House said.The order, which ratchets up Trump's pressure to topple the Communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil. Continue reading......

Great Western Railway service recharges in three and a half minutes between trips on west London lineThe UK's first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend – operating a five-mile return route in west London.Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the West Ealing to Greenford branch line, four stops and 12 minutes each way, and now carrying up to 273 passengers, should its celebrity stoke up the demand. Continue reading......

The iPhone maker reported first-quarter earnings after market closeBig tech results show investor demand for payoffs from heavy AI spendingApple released its first quarter earnings on Thursday, exceeding Wall Street's expectations and seeing its revenue skyrocket 16% from the same time last year.“Apple is proud to report a remarkable, record-breaking quarter, with revenue of $143.8bn,” Tim Cook, the company's CEO, said in a statement. “iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment.” Continue reading......

Move comes after Britain's biggest drugmaker's dispute with government over drug pricingBritain's biggest drugmaker AstraZeneca is to invest $15bn (£11bn) in China, it announced during Keir Starmer's visit to the country, just months after cooling on plans for expansion in the UK.The Cambridge-based company said it would spend the money by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in China, where it already has a big presence. It includes the construction of a $2.5bn research hub in Beijing, which was announced last March. Continue reading......