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Gaming was once compared to drugs, gambling and alcohol in South Korea. Now its gaming academies offer a chance to earn a six-figure salary – if you make the grade Son Si-woo remembers the moment his mother turned off his computer. He was midway through an interview to become a professional gamer.“She said when I played computer games, my personality got worse, that I was addicted to games,” the 27-year-old recalls. Continue reading......

More than a year after the storm ripped apart families and farms, growers are bullish about strength of their industryChristmas tree farmers in western North Carolina are still rebuilding from last year's devastating Hurricane Helene, but growers are optimistic about business and the overall strength of their industry in the region.“There's still a lot of recovery that needs to happen, but we're in much better shape than we were this time last year … sales are good,” Kevin Gray, owner of Hickory Creek Farm Christmas Trees in Greensboro, said earlier this month, while the buying season was in full swing. Continue reading......

From Copenhagen's cycle lanes and Vienna's shared parks to Barcelona and London's unfulfilled potential, better living is close at handThe angry rumble of a speeding SUV. The metallic smog of backlogged traffic. The aching heat of sun-dried neighbourhoods baking in an oven of concrete and asphalt.For most people, the mundane threats that plague our environments are likely to annoy more than they spark dread. But for scientists who know just how dangerous our surroundings can be, the burden of knowledge weighs heavy each day. Across Europe, environmental risks cause 18% of deaths from cardiovascular disease and 10% of deaths from cancer. Traffic crashes in the EU kill five times more people than murders. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Reform leader promotes Direct Bullion – but experts say commodity is not for everyday investorsNigel Farage has been criticised over his £400,000-a-year second job promoting the idea that people should buy physical gold and put it into their pension pots.Farage is paid more than four times his MPs' salary for the four-hour-a-month job at Direct Bullion, where he has featured in Facebook and YouTube videos. Continue reading......

My father, Alexander Wishart, who has died aged 81, began at the foot of the banking ladder aged 16, eventually becoming general manager and director of Harrods Bank in the 1980s, and regional managing director of the Bank of Beirut (UK) in the 90s. He was a proud member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.Born in Edinburgh to Margaret (nee McDonald), a munitions worker, and Alexander Wishart, a draftsman and sergeant in the Royal Air Force, Alex grew up in Leith and the Edinburgh suburb of Colinton with his two younger brothers; he went to Leith academy and the Royal high school. Continue reading......

Water treatment and landfill companies given chance to make case that EPA rules should not apply to themRepublicans are attempting to exempt some major polluters from paying for Pfas “forever chemical” cleanup. If successful, it could mark a major setback in US effort to rein in Pfas pollution.The Republican-led House energy and commerce committee recently held a hearing at which it invited representatives from the water treatment and landfill industries, among others, to make the case about why they should be exempted from rules that hold polluters financially accountable for the cleanup of two types of dangerous Pfas. Continue reading......

Tashkent Supermarket's new West Village location offers staples like plov and samsas hot and fresh – a taste of Central Asia for everyoneWhen I first stepped into the Tashkent Supermarket in Brighton Beach, I could barely get around. The store was bustling, packed with the familiar unsmiling faces of post-Soviet people eager to get their hands on foods like manty – intricately shaped dumplings filled with minced beef, onion and, depending on where you're from, pumpkin for the subtle sweetness. Or chak-chak, a dessert made of small pieces of fried golden dough held together by honey syrup. Kompot, too, a drink made by simmering seasonal or dried fruits.Growing up in Kazakhstan, these were staples in school cafeterias and at home. Manty was one of the first dishes my mom taught me to make – I thought she was a magician, the way she rolled the stretchy dough out so wide and thin, yet thick enough to hold the filling without tearing. I was rarely allowed to have soda or sugary drinks, but homemade ko...

Critics compare offensive to Iraq war, citing familiar mix of regime-change rhetoric, security pretexts and oil interestsDonald Trump's recent claims that the US should keep Venezuelan oil from seized tankers are part of a broader belief in rightwing “resource imperialism”, experts say.In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated pressure on Venezuela, invoking drug-trafficking claims. This month, the US intercepted two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil and began pursuing a third, while intensifying its campaign against the country's president, Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading......

Legislation that seeks to curb harmful content is viewed as a threat to Silicon Valley by many Maga politiciansUK politics live – latest updatesFor Maga politicians, European tech regulation hits hard in two areas: at the economic interests of Silicon Valley and at their view of free speech.The action against five Europeans who are taking on harmful content and the platforms that host it has had an inevitable feel to it, given the increasingly vociferous reactions to the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) and the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA). Both pieces of legislation require social media firms to protect users or face the threat of sizeable fines. Indeed, Elon Musk's X has been fined €120m (£105m) this month for breaching the DSA. Continue reading......

Washington accused of 'coercion and intimidation' after five Europeans behind campaign to regulate American tech giants targetedUK politics live – latest updatesThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Union have accused Washington of “coercion and intimidation”, after the US imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating American tech giants.The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, a former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, including two in Germany and two in the UK. Continue reading......

TG Jones took over stores six months ago but consumers have noticed little change or investment“It's just the same.” Six months on from the sale of WH Smith's high street business, the name above the door may have changed to TG Jones, but many shoppers have not noticed a splurge of investment or change.“The layout is the same and what they are selling is the same,” says Gillian Parsons as she exits TG Jones on a busy high street in the market town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where a steady flow of visitors are picking up cards, wrapping paper and the odd present in the week before Christmas. Continue reading......

US lifestyle entrepreneur joins Snoop Dogg and Luka Modric by making minority investment in the Welsh clubThe American lifestyle personality Martha Stewart has become the latest celebrity to become a co-owner of Swansea City football club.Stewart will join the rapper Snoop Dogg and the footballer Luka Modric as a minority owner of the Welsh club, which plays in the second tier of England's football pyramid. The announcement was made in a post on the club's website by two of its owners, Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen. The post did not disclose the size of the investment. Continue reading......

Stonepeak will acquire 65% of lubricants business as part of wider plans for the oil company to pay down its debtBusiness live – latest updatesBP has agreed to sell a majority stake in its $10bn (£7.4bn) lubricants business Castrol to the US investment firm Stonepeak, as the new chair, Albert Manifold, rapidly reshapes the under-pressure oil and gas company.Stonepeak will acquire a 65% stake in Castrol, in a deal that values the division at $10.1bn including its debt. The deal, which will see BP retain a 35% stake in the business through a joint venture, is expected to close at the end of next year, the company said on Wednesday. Continue reading......

Victoria Atkins says announcement to raise tax threshold from £1m to £2.5m days before Christmas 'seems very odd'UK politics live – latest updatesMinisters “snuck out” the announcement that they had decided to U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, the Conservatives said, after the government revealed the move in a press release two days before Christmas.Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, accused the government of trying to dodge scrutiny of its latest policy reversal, under which the threshold for taxing inherited farmland will rise from a planned £1m to £2.5m. Continue reading......

RAC says traffic expected to reach highest level since pandemic, while Heathrow predicts busiest festive seasonTravel this Christmas Eve could be the UK's busiest ever, as millions of drivers take to the roads and hundreds of thousands of passengers catch planes for festive getaways.Train journeys are also forecast to be very busy, with rail services ending earlier than normal. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsWe have some Christmas Eve deal action – BP has agreed to sell a majority stake in its Castrol division to US investment firm Stonepeak Partners for $6bn.The UK oil giant will divest a 65% stake in the lubricants unit, in a deal that values Castrol at $10.1 billion including debt.“Today's announcement is a very good outcome for all stakeholders. We concluded a thorough strategic review of Castrol, that generated extensive interest and resulted in the sale of a majority interest to Stonepeak.The transaction allows us to realise value for our shareholders, generating significant proceeds while continuing to benefit from Castrol's strong growth momentum. And with this, we have now completed or announced over half of our targeted $20bn divestment programme, with proceeds to significantly strengthen bp's balance sheet. The sale marks an important milestone in the ongoing delivery of our reset strategy. Continue reading......

Seaweed has become a key cash crop as climate change and industrial trawling test the resilient culture of the semi-nomadic Vezo peopleAlong Madagascar's south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits.Coastal villages around Toliara, a city in southern Madagascar, host tens of thousands of the semi-nomadic Vezo people, who make a living from small-scale fishing on the ocean. For centuries, they have launched pirogues, small boats carved from single tree trunks, every day into the turquoise shallows to catch tuna, barracuda and grouper.A boat near lines of seaweed, which has become a main source of income for Ambatomilo village as warmer seas, bleached reefs and erratic weather accelerate the decline of local fish populations Continue reading......

As pubs nationwide buckle under soaring costs, one Argyll village spent three years buying and restoring theirs – and has ambitious plans for the futureIt's opening night at Scotland's newest community pub, Oakbank Inn, which sits on the Holy Loch in the village of Sandbank, Argyll. It's a clear, cold night, and the inn couldn't look more welcoming: a cosy glow from within the historic building, the Cowal hills beyond. The Christmas lights are twinkling, the glasses are charged and there's a palpable sense of goodwill, cheer, and plenty of pride in the air. By 6pm, it's buzzing. Locals are already propping up the bar as a stylish woman sweeps in and bags the last table. She is Debbie Rycroft, a local haberdasher. “A pint in my own local,” she smiles happily, relishing a toast with her husband and equally dapper 19-year-old son.First-night hiccups are limited to a wonky nozzle and a brief worry about a small radiator leak. “How many people to fix a heater?” quips someone as a line of concer...

Big brands such as Sainsbury's and M&S also selling directly in app through links in videos and livestreamsIt is better known for its viral dances and for making hits out of forgotten songs, but the social media site TikTok is becoming a force to be reckoned with as a shopping platform.Major retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Samsung, QVC, Clarks, and Sainsbury's are now selling their wares on the site's e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, alongside more than 200,000 UK small and medium businesses. Continue reading......

State department accuses group of pressuring tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints through regulation of disinformationThe state department has barred five Europeans from the US, accusing them of leading efforts to pressure tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints, in the latest attack on European regulations that target hate speech and misinformation.Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans – who include former European Commissioner Thierry Breton – have led “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.” Continue reading......