News

UK housebuilding has fallen to its weakest level since the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, underlining the scale of the challenge facing ministers as they attempt to revive construction and meet housing targets. New data from S&P Global shows activity across the UK construction sector continued to shrink in December, with housing and commercial construction work both contracting at the fastest pace in more than four years. The survey of purchasing managers found that housebuilding and...

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has secured $20bn (£15.7bn) in fresh funding, pressing ahead with its expansion plans even as its flagship chatbot, Grok, faces intensifying global scrutiny over the creation of sexualised and non-consensual images of women and children. The Series E funding round, announced on Tuesday, exceeded xAI’s initial $15bn target and attracted heavyweight backers including Nvidia, Fidelity, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Valor Equity Partners, the private investment firm run by...

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the entrepreneur behind easyJet, is offering ambitious young business owners the chance to secure up to £150,000 in funding as the third annual Stelios Awards for Young Entrepreneurs officially open in the UK. More than 30 years after founding easyJet at the age of just 27, Sir Stelios has built an “easy” brand empire spanning more than 200 businesses, from budget airlines and hotels to storage, shipping and retail. Now, through the...

Donald Trump has claimed that Venezuela will “turn over” between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States following a US-backed operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro from power. Posting on social media, the US president said the oil — worth an estimated $2.8bn (£2.1bn) at current market prices, would be sold by the US, with proceeds controlled by him and used “to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States”....

A deed poll is a legal document used in the UK to formally record a change of name. It allows an individual to update their name across official and professional records, including employment documents, payroll systems, and business registrations. Why name consistency matters in a professional context In the workplace, consistency of personal details is more than an administrative preference. Employers rely on accurate records for contracts, tax reporting, background checks, and internal systems. A...

Recently, one of Italy’s leading publications — Il Giornale — published a piece about the legal dispute between a major Italian engineering group Maire S.p.A. and the swiss-based fertilizer producer EuroChem, which is being heard in several jurisdictions worldwide, including London and Moscow. The article examined the potential implications of ongoing litigation for Maire’s public disclosures, share price and foreign assets. Several hours after publication, the article was taken down from the newspaper’s website without...