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Pascal Soriot suggests UK-US agreement will not be enough to revive plan to expand Cambridge siteBusiness live – latest updatesThe boss of Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company has said the government's recent drug pricing deal is a “very positive step” but is unlikely to unfreeze a paused £200m investment in Cambridge.AstraZeneca's chief executive Pascal Soriot suggested that a UK-US deal on NHS pricing agreed in December would not be “sufficient” to restart the project to build a research site in the east of England, which was paused in September. Continue reading......

Moltbook, a social media site for AI agents, is nothing new. Still, the marriage of big tech and politics demands we take a standOn a recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, I was shocked by the billboards that lined the freeway outside of the airport. “The singularity is here,” proclaimed one. “Humanity had a good run,” said another. It seemed like every other sign along the road was plastered with claims from tech firms making outrageous claims about artificial intelligence. The ads, of course, were rife with hype and ragebait. But the claims they contain aren't occurring in a vacuum. The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, recently said: “We basically have built AGI, or very close to it,” before confusingly qualifying his statement as “spiritual”. Elon Musk has gone even further, claiming: “We have entered the singularity.”Enter Moltbook, the social media site built for AI agents. A place where bots can talk to other bots, in other words. A spate of doom-laden news articles and op-eds follo...

Clive Selley, who oversaw £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes, will lead international divisionBusiness live – latest updatesThe head of BT's infrastructure arm Openreach is to step down after almost a decade, having almost completed a £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes.Clive Selley, who was tasked by former BT chief Philip Jansen to “build like fury” to address the UK's status as global laggard in the rollout of high-speed broadband, will become the boss of BT's international division. Continue reading......

CS Venkatakrishnan dismayed by 'depravity and corruption' revealed in Epstein files as he announces profitsBusiness live – latest updatesThe chief executive of Barclays has said he is “deeply dismayed and shocked” at the “depravity and the corruption” revealed in the Epstein files, as the bank deals with the fallout of its ex-boss Jes Staley's ties to the convicted child sex offender.In his first public comments on the matter since the US Department of Justice began publishing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in December, CS Venkatakrishnan said his thoughts went out to the victims of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting child sex trafficking charges. Continue reading......

Government also offers contracts for record number of solar schemes as it aims to create clean electricity system by 2030Business live – latest updatesThe largest onshore windfarm in England in a decade has been awarded a government subsidy among 190 contracts for energy projects, as Labour attempts to hit a goal of creating a virtually zero carbon power grid within four years.The government said it would offer contracts to a record number of solar projects alongside support for onshore windfarms including the huge Imerys project near St Austell in Cornwall. Labour lifted a de facto ban on new onshore windfarms after returning to power in 2024. Continue reading......

Travel company reports lower demand for US amid signs Trump immigration crackdown is deterring travellersBusiness live – latest updatesEuropeans are booking fewer trips to the US, Europe's biggest travel operator has said, as appetite for long-haul travel wanes and concerns linger around Donald Trump's immigration policies.Tui, which receives most of its bookings from customers in Europe, has seen “significantly lower demand” for travel into the US, according to its chief executive, Sebastian Ebel. Continue reading......

Some jobs will be moved offshore in wake of telco's $700m joint venture with tech consultancy AccentureGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 200 Telstra jobs are expected to be cut, as the telco rolls out AI capabilities and sends some jobs to India.Telstra and the technology consultancy Accenture announced a $700m joint venture (JV) in 2025 to drive efficiency, modernisation and productivity. Continue reading......

Japan's Nikkei jumps to new peak in extended rally after Sanae Takaichi's party secures election victory; London-listed oil giant BP suspends share buybackGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Global stocks hit a new record in Asian trade, led by a three-day rally in Tokyo where the Nikkei jumped to a fresh peak, after Japan's conservative governing coalition strengthened its grip on power.So, the US dollar kicked off the week on the back foot, and upcoming US data from today through Friday will determine whether the pressure continues or whether the greenback finds some relief.US retail sales today are expected to show slowing growth in December — not great news for the most festive month of the year. On Wednesday, the official jobs report is expected to come in soft, with around 70k non-farm job additions, a steady unemployment rate and slower wage growth at 3.6%.We are reducing capital expenditure for 2026 to the lower end of the...

Cyber-espionage campaigns are targeting employees directly, including through hiring processes, report claimsDefence companies, their hiring processes and their employees have become a key target of state-sponsored cyber-espionage campaigns, according to a report from Google released before the Munich Security Conference.The report catalogues a “relentless barrage of cyber operations”, most by state-sponsored groups, against EU and US industrial supply chains. It suggests the range of targets for these hackers has grown to encompass the broader industrial base of the US and Europe –from German aerospace firms to UK carmakers. Continue reading......

UK projects will allow local areas to control and profit from renewable power generation, says energy secretaryThe UK government is pledging to spend up to £1bn on community-owned green energy schemes in an effort to combat growing scepticism and resistance to renewables and grid upgrade projects.Ed Miliband, the UK energy secretary, said the new funding was intended to help democratise the energy system, increase the wealth and financial independence of local communities, and potentially cut some local energy bills. Continue reading......

Bithumb has apologised for staff error that sent customers 620,000 bitcoins instead of 620,000 Korean won, equivalent to a few hundred US dollarsSouth Korea's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange is scrambling to recover more than $40bn of cryptocurrency after accidentally crediting customers with 620,000 bitcoins during a promotional event last week.Bithumb said it had corrected most of the mistaken credits, but that about 13bn won ($9m) remained unrecovered after some recipients sold or withdrew the funds before the error was detected. Continue reading......

Countries' drop in scores in annual table comes amid 'worrying trend' of backsliding in established democraciesThe UK and US have sunk to new lows in a global index of corruption, amid a “worrying trend” of democratic institutions being eroded by political donations, cash for access and state targeting of campaigners and journalists.Experts and businesspeople rated 182 countries based on their perception of corruption levels in the public sector to compile a league table that was bookended by Denmark at the top with the lowest levels of corruption and South Sudan at the bottom. Continue reading......

Scientists find £700m underwater acoustic project, likened to a 'fish disco', could save 44 tonnes a yearScientists have found that plans to use a “fish disco” to deter migratory marine life from the nearby Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor could help save 90% of fish from the power plant's water intake pipes – but the solution is set to cost its developer £700m.EDF Energy, which is building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset, said research it commissioned from scientists at Swansea University had found that using an acoustic deterrent system helped to ward off the “vast majority” of fish it tagged for the experiment. Continue reading......

President says Gordie Howe Bridge will open only when US is 'fully compensated' – and makes bizarre hockey claimAs Democrats prepare to force a vote in the US House this week on Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, the president posted a lengthy diatribe on his social media platform in which he threatened to block a bridge connecting the US and Canada and made a bizarre false claim that increased trade between Canada and China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey.Trump began his latest screed against the US's second-largest trading partner by claiming that “everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades”. Continue reading......

After a reckless shopping spree, I ditched contactless payments and bank cards to see how far £200 cash in hand would get me – and if I could improve my spending habitsIf I'm lucky, I can just about squeeze a £20 note into the back of my phone case, which holds the device I reflexively tap to pay for almost everything. But this week was different. After a reckless coffee-and-clothing spending spree made a mighty dent in my bank account, I decided I needed to take action. Self-control was one option, but another more drastic route was blunt-force restriction. I would ditch contactless payments, along with debit and credit cards. Instead, I would spend a week relying solely on cash.After subtracting the lavish lattes and Asos deliveries that had massively inflated my average weekly spend, I allowed myself £180 for the basics, including food and travel. For safety, I gave myself an extra £20. The first task was to take out £200 in cash from the ATM. But what the hell was my pin number? Thanks to cont...

Two decades of weak pay growth have left poorer households stuck, Resolution Foundation says, fuelling political uneaseIt would take 137 years for lower-income families in the UK to see their living standards double at the current rate of growth, according to a thinktank.A two-decade stagnation in disposable incomes has created a “mood of unease” across the country, the Resolution Foundation says, warning of the risk of “further political disruption” unless pay growth accelerates. Continue reading......

Owner of Villa's Tacos said the rapper loved their restaurant and asked the business to join his Super Bowl performanceA beloved Los Angeles taqueria made its primetime debut during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX half-time show, delighting and surprising its legion of faithful patrons.Bad Bunny's 13-minute performance was a love letter to the culture, history and legacy of Puerto Rico, with sets depicting sugarcane fields, a house party and even a wedding ceremony, complete with Lady Gaga performing a salsa rendition of her hit “Die With a Smile.” Continue reading......

Cap-busting tax hike will be embarrassing for the party, which has made low council tax a priorityReform-led Worcestershire county council is likely to issue England's largest council tax rise this April after it was given special permission by the government to increase it by up to 9%.Worcestershire is one of a handful of authorities whose requests to be allowed to increase local rates above the standard 5% cap from April have been accepted by ministers. Continue reading......

US president not challenged over false claims climate change is 'hoax' and parts of London have sharia lawThe UK's media regulator Ofcom has been accused of abandoning “any pretence” of guarding against misleading and biased television coverage, after it refused to investigate a series of complaints about a GB News interview with Donald Trump.During the interview with the rightwing network, broadcast last November, the US president falsely claimed human-induced climate change was “a hoax” and that London had no-go areas for police. He said parts of the capital had “sharia law”. Continue reading......

Bank snares biggest acquisition since it was bailed out by taxpayers in 2008 but it isn't cheap – and may be slow to pay offNatWest to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners for £2.7bnAnnounce a £2.7bn acquisition and watch your stock market value fall by £3.1bn.NatWest picked a bad day to announce its big move in the fashionable field of “wealth management” – the noise from Westminster created a poor backdrop for UK assets such as gilts and domestic banks. But the main problem with its Evelyn Partners deal is that it is very much of the “one for the long term” variety. The terms are not obviously cheap. Continue reading......