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US president claims 'framework' of agreement in the works after 'very productive' meeting with Nato secretary generalDonald Trump has walked back his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland.Four days after vowing to introduce steep import duties on a string of US allies over their support for Greenland's continued status as an autonomous Danish territory, the president backed down. Continue reading......

The president's fixation on 'piece of ice' Greenland carries an echo of Vladimir Putin's claims about CrimeaThe good news headline from Donald Trump's trip to Davos was that he seemed to rule out force for now in his urgent quest to acquire Greenland. The bad news: he started talking about Iceland as well.What might have been a big reveal about the next step in Trump's imperial ambitions was more likely a slip, though all speculation about the workings of the presidential brain is by now a guess at best. Continue reading......

The global economic system doesn't even benefit its US and European creators any more – let alone indebted nations or emerging giantsDonald Trump represents everything that the Davos crowd hates – and it is unlikely they are any more well-disposed towards him after being forced to listen to more than an hour of the president's rambling speech today. He is a protectionist, not a free trader. He thinks the climate crisis is a hoax and is suspicious of multilateral organisations. He prefers power plays to dialogue and he doesn't have any time for the “woke” capitalism that Davos has been keen to promote, with its focus on gender equality and ethical investment. The shindig's organisers, the World Economic Forum (WEF), had to agree to sideline those issues in order to secure Trump's appearance.For decades, anti-globalisation protesters have sought to shut down the WEF. Thanks to Trump's threat to take over Greenland, their prayers may soon be answered. In today's world, Davos is an irrelevance ...

Prime minister's reported trip follows approval by UK government for Beijing to build new embassy in LondonUK politics live – latest updatesDavos live – latest updatesKeir Starmer will reportedly visit China next week after controversial plans for Beijing to build a vast embassy in London were approved by his government.The UK prime minster will lead a delegation of blue-chip British companies, according to Reuters. The same firms, which include BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce were also said to be among those who will join a revamped “UK-China CEO council”. Continue reading......

US president tells business and political leaders in Davos his country needs ownership to defend 'unsecured island'Business live – latest updatesDonald Trump has stepped up his demand to annex Greenland but said the US would not use force to seize it during a rambling, invective-laden speech at Davos where he once again lashed out at Europe's political leaders.The address to thousands of business and political leaders at the World Economic Form in the Swiss ski resort indicated that while the US president was renouncing the use of military force – for now at least – to wrest control of Greenland, he still intended to wield America's economic and diplomatic power to bend European allies to his will. Continue reading......

Given the software company's size and funding options, British Business Bank's investment looks like mission creepThe state-owned multi-tentacled British Business Bank has never been a simple organisation to understand, but at least one could vaguely grasp its intended role in life. “Our mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK,” declares its website.Jolly good. For decades, complaints have been heard about gaps in the financing ecosystem for startups and for promising young UK companies, particularly those in tech-related and life science fields, or those spinning out of universities. So one can applaud the existence of a large and distinctly British source of capital to “crowd in”, as politicians like to say, private venture funds. Continue reading......

Jamie Dimon warns of civil unrest as Nvidia's Jensen Huang argues that tech will create rather than destroy jobsJamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, has said artificial intelligence “may go too fast for society” and cause “civil unrest” unless governments and business support displaced workers.While advances in AI will have huge benefits from increasing productivity to curing diseases, the technology may need to be phased in to “save society”. Continue reading......

Brussels to host emergency summit to discuss options including 'nuclear deterrent' of retaliatory sanctionsThe European parliament has formally suspended the ratification process on its US trade deal, in protest against Donald Trump's threat to impose 10% tariffs on EU exports unless the bloc agrees he can take over Greenland.The pause is the strongest material response the EU has shown so far to what several leaders last week called blackmail. Continue reading......

As Mark Carney, Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen decide 'to live in truth', what will it take for Starmer to call out Trump?Davos live – latest updatesDonald Trump has told the Davos economic forum “without us, most countries would not even work”, but for the first time in decades, many western leaders have come to the opposite conclusion: they will function better without the US.Individually and collectively, they have decided “to live in truth” – the phrase used by the Czech dissident Vaclav Havel and referenced by the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, in his widely praised speech at Davos on Tuesday. They will no longer pretend the US is a reliable ally, or even that the old western alliance exists. Continue reading......

In a rousing speech, Mark Carney made the case for unity in the face of Donald Trump's new world order. We reproduce it hereToday I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics – where the large, main power, geopolitics – is submitted to no limits, no constraints.On the other hand, I would like to tell you that the other countries, especially intermediate powers like Canada, are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the various states. Continue reading......

Their latest report makes no mention of Greenland, Venezuela, or even Trump. This is just a pretence that normality continues This week the IMF released an update to its World Economic Outlook, titled “Global Economy: Steady amid Divergent Forces” and, seriously, in what fricking world are they living? It was yet another example of international groups, governments and parts of the media sane-washing the utter crisis we all exist in because Donald Trump is an egomaniacal bully with the impulses of a spoiled toddler.How's this for timing: on Sunday Donald Trump announced from 1 February he will levy a 10% tariff “on any and all goods sent to the United States” from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland, and will increase it to 25% from 1 June unless they let the US gain control of Greenland. Continue reading......

Agreement a milestone for British television as broadcaster teams up with world's biggest video platformThe BBC has announced that it will produce tailor-made content for YouTube in a milestone for British television as the public service broadcaster teams up with the world's biggest video platform.The corporation has previously posted clips and trailers for BBC shows on YouTube but under the new deal it will make fresh programming for its online rival. Continue reading......

Snap's chief executive had been due to testify in civil action also involving Meta, TikTok and YouTubeSnapchat's parent company has settled a civil lawsuit shortly before it was due to start in California, but other large tech companies still face a trial under the case.Snap's chief executive, Evan Spiegel, had been due to testify in a tech addiction lawsuit which also involves the Instagram owner, Meta; ByteDance's TikTok; and Alphabet-owned YouTube – which have not settled. Continue reading......

Rachel Reeves says business rates support for pubs is on its way after chain reveals £45m surge in costsDavos live – latest updatesJD Wetherspoon has warned of lower than expected half-year profits, as the pub chain revealed a £45m surge in costs driven by “higher than expected” bills for energy, wages, repairs and business rates.The bigger-than-forecast expenses in the 25 weeks to 18 January meant profits at Wetherspoons are now “likely to be lower” compared with the same period in 2024, said its chair, Tim Martin. Continue reading......

Retailer buys chain from administration for £3.8m adding to brand portfolio ranging from FatFace to Made.comNext has rescued the Russell & Bromley footwear retailer out of administration for £3.8m but about 400 jobs are likely to go at 33 shops not included in the deal.The British brand, founded in 1879 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, trades from 36 stores and nine concessions across the UK and Ireland. But Next will only take on three stores – in Chelsea, Mayfair and the Bluewater Shopping Centre – and about 48 store staff, it is understood. Continue reading......

The world needs global leaders to clearly and firmly denounce the havoc Trump is wreaking on the US and international orderHundreds of global CEOs, finance titans, and more than 60 prime ministers and presidents are in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual confab of the world's powerful and wealthy: the World Economic Forum.This year's Davos meeting occurs at a time when Donald Trump is not just unleashing his brownshirts on Minneapolis and other American cities, but also dismantling the international order that's largely been in place since the end of the second world war – threatening Nato, withdrawing from international organizations including the UN climate treaty, violating the UN charter by invading Venezuela and abducting Nicolás Maduro, upending established trade rules, and demanding that the US annex Greenland.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at r...

Felling of 500-year-old oak has provoked fury from public and Enfield council, which leases land to Mitchells & ButlersThe restaurant chain Toby Carvery is facing eviction from one of its sites after taking a chainsaw to an ancient oak tree without the permission of its council landlord.The partial felling last April of the 500-year-old oak on the edge of a Toby Carvery car park in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, provoked widespread public dismay and fury from Enfield council, which leases the land to the restaurant's owners Mitchells & Butlers Retail (M&B). Continue reading......

With 64% of the city's residents relying on buses and trains so overloaded that up to 10 passengers die a day, anger is rising over a taxpayer-funded road most will never useMumbai is known for its graphic inequality, its gleaming high-rises where the rich live with panoramic views of the Arabian Sea standing next to windowless hovels perched over drains. It is home to 90 of India's billionaires, but also to more than six million slum dwellers, about 55% of central Mumbai's population.Now Mumbai has a new symbol of the gulf between rich and poor: a high-speed, eight-lane motorway on its western coast, which critics say serves only the wealthy despite being built with taxpayers' money. Continue reading......

It's time to stand up for ourselves. With targeted action and tariffs, we can help push back the bully in chiefEd Davey is leader of the Liberal DemocratsDonald Trump is behaving like an international gangster. His threats to Greenland this week have crossed a line, blackmailing America's closest allies and threatening the future of Nato itself. From leaking messages with other world leaders to whining about the Nobel peace prize, the US president has gone from unstable to seemingly unhinged. And our government needs to wake up.For months, Keir Starmer has pursued a strategy of quiet appeasement. He told us that by avoiding confrontation the UK could carve out a special status that would shield our industries from the coming storm. Only a few months ago, Trump hailed the “special relationship” at Windsor Castle after being lavished with a state banquet. Now, thanks to his actions, it is nearly in tatters. Starmer's Mr Nice Guy diplomacy has failed.Ed Davey is leader of the Liberal Democrats Continu...

Government opts against phasing out new boilers by 2035 in effort to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a yearAnalysis: Labour's warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK householdsThere will be no phaseout date for gas boilers in the government's warm homes plan despite its pledge to wean the UK off fossil fuels, but billions of pounds will go towards heat pumps and insulation upgrades.Labour's principal attempt to solve the UK's cost of living crisis, the £15bn warm homes plan, will overhaul 5m dwellings, aiming to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a year, in the biggest public investment yet made into home upgrades.£5bn for upgrades, including insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, for people on low incomes.£2bn towards low-cost loans for people who can afford them.£2.7bn for the boiler upgrade scheme, by which people can swap their existing gas boilers for £7,500 on a new heat pump.£1.1bn for heat networks, which distribute heat from a central source, which coul...