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Firms agree deals with Beijing-based Baidu to take self-driving cabs to UK capitalChinese robotaxis are due to be on the streets of London next year after the US ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber announced tie-ups with Beijing-based Baidu to deploy its self-driving technology.Lyft is the third firm to announce plans to introduce self-driving taxis to the UK capital next year, following Uber and Waymo, the main operator of robotaxis in the US. Continue reading......

ONS finds households' savings ratio has dropped to lowest rate for more than a year across third quarterUK consumers saved less money during the third quarter of the year as higher taxes squeezed disposable incomes.The households' saving ratio – which estimates the percentage of disposable income Britons save rather than spend – dropped 0.7 percentage points to 9.5%, the Office for National Statistics said. That is the lowest rate for more than a year. Continue reading......

Journalists find Swiss government rejected company over fears US intelligence might gain access to sensitive dataUK MPs have raised concerns about the government's contracts with Palantir after an investigation published in Switzerland highlighted allegations about the suitability and security of its products.The investigation by the Zurich-based research collective WAV and the Swiss online magazine Republik details Palantir's efforts, over the course of seven years, to sell its products to Swiss federal agencies. Continue reading......

Exclusive: executives at body that trained chef Jamie Oliver awarded pay rises and bonuses after sale to private firm – as hundreds of jobs may be offshoredA pair of City & Guilds executives have each been awarded million-pound bonuses and sizeable salary increases after the skills charity's business was acquired by an international company in October, the Guardian understands.The payments – which are understood to include a £1.7m award for the chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and £1.2m to the finance director, Abid Ismail – have emerged at a sensitive time for the training and qualifications business, as it navigates its first few months in the private sector. Continue reading......

Thousands of farms set to go bankrupt as grain farmers in particular hit by trade disruptions caused by price hikesDonald Trump, having promised to “NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN”, appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year.While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a “big part” of his plan to lower grocery prices for Americans, many US farmers are grappling with mounting financial issues – compounded by Trump's agenda. Continue reading......

Danish foreign minister 'deeply angered' by move to send special envoy to territory Trump has threatened to annexDenmark has said it will summon the US ambassador after Donald Trump announced he had appointed a special envoy to Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory he has threatened to annex.“I am deeply angered by the appointment and the statement, which I find totally unacceptable,” the Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told Denmark's TV2 in an interview, adding that the foreign ministry would call in the US ambassador in the coming days “to get an explanation”. Continue reading......

Whiskey brand, owned by Japanese drinks group Suntory, to close main distillery amid tariff uncertaintyThe maker of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey will halt production at its main site in Kentucky for all of 2026.The company said in a statement it would close its distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, until it took the “opportunity to invest in site enhancements”. Continue reading......

This year has brought us many brilliant video games – but as wealth continues to concentrate, and games are used to exert economic and political influence, we need to keep an eye on the top playersI love playing video games, but what interests me most as a journalist are the ways in which games intersect with real life. One of the joys of spending 20 years on this beat has been meeting hundreds of people whose lives have been meaningfully enhanced by games, and as their cultural influence has grown, these stories have become more and more plentiful.There is another side to this, however. A couple of decades ago, video games were mostly either ignored or vilified by governments and mainstream culture, leading to an underdog mentality that has persisted even as games have become a nearly $200bn industry. As their popularity has grown, so have their political and cultural relevance. And the ways in which games intersect with real life are now coloured by the economic and political realities of our times. C...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsGood morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Any wise men looking to buy gold, or silver, this Christmas face a record bill. Continue reading......

Humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish and end to puppy farming also in new package of animal welfare lawsCaged hens will be a thing of the past in England, the government has announced, as it launches a package of new animal welfare laws.Pig farrowing crates, which campaigners have said are cruel, will also be banned under the welfare changes. These cramped crates are used to stop pigs from rolling over and crushing their young, but once in them sows cannot turn over or move around at all. Continue reading......

Quickfire lots fuel a booming business, but critics condemn gambling-style features and popularity with 'scalpers'Christmas is fast approaching, the shopping days are ebbing away, and in one corner of the internet, the rush to grab highly prized Pokémon trading cards is boiling over into a competitive frenzy.“Got any cheap Mew?” asks one buyer, deploying the frantic tone of an addict, albeit one craving a rectangle depicting a creature from the all-conquering Japanese media franchise. Continue reading......

The commercialisation of the cosmos is already underway, and our current laws aren't fit for purpose If there is one thing we can rely on in this world, it is human hubris, and space and astronomy are no exception.The ancients believed that everything revolved around Earth. In the 16th century, Copernicus and his peers overturned that view with the heliocentric model. Since then, telescopes and spacecraft have revealed just how insignificant we are. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, each star a sun like ours, many with planets orbiting them. In 1995, the Hubble space telescope captured its first deep-field image: this showed us that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in our known universe, huge wheeling collections of stars dispersed through space. Continue reading......

Survey adds to experts' concern about addiction risk and highlights support for plan to ban sales to under-18sOne in eight teenagers aged 14 to 17 have used nicotine pouches, a survey has found, adding to health experts' concern about their growing popularity.Users hold the small sachets, which look like mini-teabags and are often flavoured, in their mouths to enjoy the release of the nicotine they contain. They are also known as “snus”. Continue reading......

Employment agency founder and philanthropist who raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charitySir Alec Reed, who has died aged 91, built a hugely successful employment agency, one of the UK's largest private businesses. But he will also be remembered as the man who changed the face of British philanthropy. His Big Give organisation – an imaginative way of involving rich donors in supporting charities – now raises more money at Christmas time than the BBC's Children in Need or Comic Relief. His own foundation draws its funds from its holding of 18% of the Reed group. He used to joke that Reed employees worked one day a week for charity.When he was knighted in 2011 for services to business and charity he said: “Without business there would be no charity – but without charity, what's the point of business?” Continue reading......

Official indicates vessel is subject to sanctions after Trump's 'blockade' on sanctioned tankers in and out of VenezuelaUS Coast Guard officials said on Sunday that they are tracking an oil tanker in international waters close to Venezuela, according to media reports, marking the second such action over the weekend – and the third within the past week.What officials described as an “active pursuit” in the Caribbean Sea took place a day after the coast guard seized another vessel off the coast of Venezuela early on Saturday morning, as Washington ramps up its pressure campaign targeting the South American nation's vital oil sector. Continue reading......

In the first 10 months of this year, South Korea imported $159m worth of kimchi, almost entirely from China, while exporting $137mThe pungent scent of red chilli powder hangs in the air at Kim Chieun's kimchi factory in Incheon, about 30km west of Seoul. Inside, salted cabbage soaks in large metal vats in the first stage of a process that Kim has followed for more than 30 years.But watching over the production line has become increasingly fraught. South Korea imports more kimchi than it exports, and the gap has widened as cheaper Chinese-made products take hold in the domestic market. Continue reading......

Traffic signals failed in large portions of the California city while Waymo robotaxis stopped in streets and intersectionsA widespread power failure plunged San Francisco into darkness on Saturday night, disrupting traffic citywide and forcing numerous self-driving Waymo taxis to stop abruptly in the middle of streets and intersections.As electricity went out across large portions of the city, traffic signals failed, leaving autonomous vehicles unable to operate as normal. Photos and videos shared by users on X showed Waymo robotaxis frozen in place, backing up traffic and creating hazardous conditions for other drivers. Continue reading......

All the incentives in Westminster politics militate against confronting difficult issues, but a failing government may as well try honestyThe formula for stable government, according to Britain's constitution, is a big parliamentary majority and divided opposition. Sir Keir Starmer's predicament proves that those conditions are not sufficient.The prime minister's inability to convince voters that he has an agenda for national renewal, and the demoralising effect that has had on the Labour party, make a leadership challenge look plausible after local elections next May. Maybe sooner. Continue reading......

Business lobby survey finds firms 'put brakes on key spending decisions' before autumn budgetHeather Stewart: Four reasons to be cheerful about UK plc in 2026Wes Streeting urges closer EU trading ties to grow economyUK failure to seal EU tax exemption hands firms pile of paperworkBusiness leaders have warned that Britain is entering 2026 amid a sharp economic downturn in the private sector, after companies “put the brakes on” investment and hiring before the autumn budget.In a gloomy snapshot after months of tax speculation, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said private sector output was on track to fall in the fourth quarter of 2025. Continue reading......

Guardian readers celebrate the European exchange programme and the fact that Britain will be rejoining it in 2027Julian Baggini is right to laud the opportunities for European student exchange activities, with the announcement that the UK will rejoin the Erasmus scheme in 2027 (Britain rejoining Erasmus+ won't halt the nativist tide – but it's a step in the right direction, 17 December). Until Brexit, there were diverse chances for students to sample courses, cultures and environments in unfamiliar settings, enriching their experiences in ways that had lasting benefits. As one example, I looked after the UK arm of a consortium of European universities that enabled up to 10 students each year from each of six participating universities from six European countries to attend a 10-day environmental field course in one of these countries. We were able to continue this arrangement without a break for 12 years from 1997, funded almost entirely through Erasmus, so the cost to students was minimal.The field co...