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Value of heavily indebted company has plummeted more than 90% since it bought chain of 1,400 bookmakersBusiness live – latest updatesEvoke, the London-listed gambling company that owns William Hill and the 888 online casino brand, has said it is considering a sale or breakup of the group, after warning of a £135m hit from tax increases announced in last month's budget.In a statement to the stock market, the heavily indebted company said it had appointed bankers at Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to explore potential options to secure its future. Continue reading......

Latest package in rollback of green rules also suggests repealing hazardous chemicals database Europe live – latest updatesDatacentres, AI gigafactories and affordable housing may be exempt from mandatory environmental impact assessments in the EU under a proposal that advances the European Commission's rollback of green rules.The latest in a series of packages to cut red tape calls for permitting processes for critical projects to be sped up and reducing the scope of environmental reporting rules for businesses. Continue reading......

Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the USAll tourists to the United States would have to reveal their social media activity from the last five years, under new Trump administration plans.Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), would also require any email addresses and telephone numbers visitors have used in the same period, and the names and addresses of family. Continue reading......

Legal action alleges Irish broadcaster defamed group by claiming they led antisemitic chants at festival in JuneThe British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan have launched defamation proceedings against the Irish broadcaster RTÉ over its coverage of their performance at Glastonbury.The legal action alleges Ireland's national broadcaster defamed the group by claiming they led antisemitic chants at the festival last June. Continue reading......

As shoppers ask ChatGPT for inspiration, brands scramble to ensure their products appeal to the bots calling the shotsConsumer test drive: can AI do your Xmas gift shopping for you?Christmas shopping – some love it, to others it's a chore, and this year for the first time many of us will outsource the annual task of coming up with gift ideas to artificial intelligence.While traditional internet search, social media – especially TikTok and Instagram – and simply wandering a local high street will still be the main routes to presents for most this year, about a quarter of people in the UK are already using AI to find the right products, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Continue reading......

The short answer is yes, but if you don't want big brands or to use Amazon then more time and a lot more prompts are needed'Is retail ready for the AI shopping shift?The question “what present do you recommend for …” will be tapped into phones and computers countless times over this festive period, as more people turn to AI platforms to help choose gifts for loved ones.With a quarter of Britons using AI to find products, brands are increasingly adapting their strategies to ensure their products are the ones recommended, especially those trying to reach younger audiences. Continue reading......

Olya Kuryshchuk's publication is a rare – and increasingly powerful – voice advocating for the people behind the scenes in an industry that loves a star. Its new awards celebrate the 'teams who never get to walk a red carpet'At the Fashion awards – a lavish event at the Royal Albert Hall this month – Jonathan Anderson was named designer of the year for a third time for his work at his own namesake brand and Dior, Anok Yai was named model of the year and Delphine Arnault, the CEO of Dior and scion of fashion's wealthiest family, gained a special recognition award for her work supporting new talent through the LVMH prize. Think of it as fashion paying tribute to its biggest stars.Since the night, there has been praise for the British Fashion Council's new CEO Laura Weir but also criticism. The anonymous Instagram account boringnotcom, which often shares strong opinions on the industry, wrote: “As predicted, the same names got rotated and won the fashion awards … how utterly boring.” Conti...

Chancellor says income tax U-turn was agreed in partnership with Keir StarmerUK politics live – latest updatesRachel Reeves has condemned leaks before her make-or-break budget as “unacceptable” as she revealed her income tax U-turn was agreed in partnership with Keir Starmer.Defending her tax and spending plans before MPs on the Commons Treasury committee, the chancellor said she had been frustrated by “leaks that were clearly not authorised” before her November speech. Continue reading......

Boss says German firm also investing in generative engine optimisation to help push it to top of chatbot responses Business live – latest updatesTui, Europe's biggest travel operator, has said it is investing heavily in AI as more people turn to ChatGPT to help book their holidays, including using the technology to create “inspirational” videos and content.The chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said the company was investing in generative engine optimisation (GEO), the latest incarnation of search engine optimisation (SEO), to help push Tui to the top of results from AI chatbots including ChatGPT and Gemini. Continue reading......

Co-chairs of LNG firm, who bought stock worth almost $12m each after meeting with Trump officials, deny wrongdoingA senior Democratic senator is calling for an investigation into potential insider trading by fossil-fuel billionaires close to the Trump administration, after a Guardian investigation raised questions about an unusual share buying spree.Robert Pender and Michael Sabel, the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Virginia, bought more than a million shares worth almost $12m each, just days after meeting with senior Trump officials in March. Continue reading......

About 56,000 people control three times as much wealth as half of humanity. Here's one way to illustrate thatCruising around on private jets, the ultra-rich are the world's financial elite – but how many people actually occupy this exclusive wealth club? Could they all fit into a floating mega-yacht, or is the group much bigger, possibly the size of a dazzling mega-rich city?Thanks to an inequality report out on Wednesday, we now have a snapshot of the size of the topmost layer floating above everyone else – the 0.001%. Continue reading......

Reports say space exploration company has begun talks about stock market listing that could raise more than $25bnBusiness live – latest updatesElon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX is preparing to list on the stock market next year in a move that could raise more than $25bn (£19bn) and value the business at more than $1tn, according to reports.SpaceX, which designs, builds and launches rockets, is said to have started discussions with banks about an initial public offering (IPO). It could join the stock market in about June or July, according Reuters, which cited an unnamed source familiar with the matter. Continue reading......

Visitor numbers to UK's 10 most-visited services have settled at a 'lower level' than before 25 July, report findsTraffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen in the wake of age checks being introduced this year while use of specialist software to dodge viewing restrictions has increased, according to the communications watchdog.Ofcom said the enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online porn publishers, including the most visited provider in the UK, Pornhub. Continue reading......

Glitzy draws, OJ-era chaos, grass laid over AstroTurf and a host nation that barely cared – the 1994 World Cup arrived amid suspicion and slapstick. Yet it became a watershed that would alter US sport and global football politics alike“The United States was chosen,” the columnist George Vecsey wrote in the New York Times in 1994, “because of all the money to be made here, not because of any soccer prowess. Our country has been rented as a giant stadium and hotel and television studio.” Nobody could seriously doubt that. The USA had played in only two World Cups since the second world war and hadn't had a national professional league for a decade. And that meant there was a great deal of skepticism from outsiders, even after Fifa made it clear there would be no wacky law changes to try to appeal to the domestic audience: Would anybody actually turn up to watch?But there was also hostility in the United States. A piece in USA Today on the day of the draw told Americans they were right not to care...

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.Elon Musk's SpaceX is aiming to hold one of the biggest stock market listings of all time next year, according to reports.10am GMT: Treasury Committee hearing on budget with chancellor Rachel Reeves10.45am GMT: Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey speaks at FT Global Boardroom conference:Noon GMT: US weekly mortgage market data7pm GMT: US Federal Reserve interest rate decision7.30pm GMT: Federal Reserve press conference Continue reading......

From a live blog on the BBC to cautious reaction in the New York Times, here's how the world's media covered the banThe BBC blogged about it, News Corp boasted about it and the New York Times questioned its effectiveness.Australia's world-first laws stopping children accessing social media until they turn 16 turned heads globally, with mixed and nuanced results. Continue reading......

Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world's population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential.The authoritative World Inequality Report 2026, based on data compiled by 200 researchers, also found that the top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half captures less than 10% of total global earnings. Continue reading......

Women work longer and per hour earn a third of what men are paid, in figures that have changed little in 35 years, UN report shows“Gender inequality is one of the most entrenched and significant problems of our time,” says Jocelyn Chu, a programme director at UN Women, responding to the stark figures contained in this year's World Inequality report, which labels gender inequality a “defining and persistent feature of the global economy”.Women work longer and earn just a third – 32% – of what men get per hour, when paid and unpaid labour, such as domestic work, are taken into account. Even when unpaid domestic labour is not included, women only earn 61% of what men make, according to the report. Continue reading......

Ahead of James Cameron's latest Avatar sequel hitting the big screen, we look at how studios aim for 'theatricality' to get streaming film fans from sofa to cinemaIf anyone still knows how to fill a movie theatre, it's James Cameron. Having broken the all-time worldwide box office record in 1997 with Titanic and again 12 years later with Avatar, his work is the acme of big-screen spectacle.His latest offering, Avatar: Fire and Ash, arrives in radically different circumstances. With several years now between us and the pandemic, it is clear that theatrical box office is likely not coming back to what it was: US total box office for 2025 currently stands at $7.6bn (down from $11.3bn in 2019); the worldwide haul is expected to be around $34.1bn, a 13% drop from pre-Covid times. All the more onus on Cameron's hypertrophic Smurfs to bring in the box office cavalry at year's end. And hopefully supply some further indications about the magic elixir needed to break the Netflix'n'chill stranglehold and get...

Head of advertising and data at Sky will lead C4's response to threatened Comcast takeover of ITVChannel 4 has raided Sky for its new chief executive as the broadcaster faces the prospect of a takeover of ITV by Comcast that would pose the biggest threat in its four-decade history.Its board is understood to have agreed the appointment of Priya Dogra, the head of Sky's advertising, data and new revenue, as its new chief executive. Continue reading......