UK businesses remain broadly confident in Britain as a base for growth, even as rising costs and economic uncertainty weigh on margins, according to new research from Barclays. The bank’s latest Business Prosperity Index, analysing anonymised data from around one million clients alongside a survey of 1,000 business leaders, reveals a two-speed economy emerging at the end of 2025. Larger firms are pushing ahead with long-term borrowing and investment, while smaller companies are turning to...
President Donald Trump’s newly created Board of Peace is set to hold its first meeting Thursday, with administration officials and participating countries framing the gathering as a step toward implementing the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire and reconstruction effort rather than a moment likely to deliver an immediate breakthrough. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement, ‘President Trump is proud to welcome representatives from more than 40 nations to the Donald J....
Youth unemployment has surged to its highest level in more than a decade, raising fears of a “lost generation” and intensifying expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next month. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in the three months to December 2025, the unemployment rate among 16 to 24-year-olds climbed to 16.1 per cent. That equates to nearly 740,000 young people out of work, an increase of around...
A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison Thursday for leading an insurrection after declaring martial law in December 2024. Yoon was found guilty of abuse of authority and masterminding the insurrection. Yoon, 65, denied the charges and argued that he had presidential authority to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government. Prosecutors said in January that...
We sit down with James Doyle, Managing Director of Endeavour Group, a building safety consultancy and training provider supporting duty holders responsible for some of the UK’s most complex and high-risk buildings. Based in the North West and operating nationally, Endeavour Group brings an evidence-led, engineering discipline to the built environment as regulatory scrutiny continues to increase. With more than two decades of experience spanning offshore oil and gas, process safety and fire engineering, Doyle...
Nearly nine in 10 higher-risk pension funds have failed to match the performance of the FTSE 100 over the past five years, according to new analysis that raises fresh concerns about retirement outcomes for millions of savers. Research by Investing Insiders examined almost 13,000 personal and workplace pension funds holding more than £1tn in assets between December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2025. Funds in the medium-high and high-risk categories were benchmarked against the FTSE...
A Washington, D.C., grandmother who lost her grandson to gun violence delivered a fiery defense of President Donald Trump during a Black History Month celebration Wednesday at the White House. Forlesia Cook’s grandson, Marty William McMillan Jr., was killed in 2017 at the age of 22. Cook has since spoken publicly about the loss, including testifying before Congress about his killing. After Trump invited Cook to say a few words at the event, she used...
PARIS — Eleven people, including two aides to a French far-left lawmaker, were arrested in France overnight and early on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a far-right activist last weekend in Lyon, according to the Lyon prosecutor’s office, which has opened a murder investigation. Among those arrested were at least one aide and two other people connected to Raphael Arnault, a lawmaker from far-left party France Unbowed (LFI), who said on Tuesday...
: This was the kind of prison break officials say could have changed the region, and perhaps even the world, overnight. Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees, described by a senior U.S. intelligence official as ‘the worst of the worst,’ were being held in northern Syria as clashes and instability threatened the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the guards responsible for keeping the militants locked away and preventing a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials believed that if the...
Small businesses are bracing for what they describe as an “unprecedented cost crunch” in April, with more than a third warning they may shut down or scale back operations as a raft of higher expenses take effect. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has written to Rachel Reeves warning that the cumulative impact of rising energy bills, business rates, higher employment costs and changes to statutory sick pay risks undermining economic growth. A survey by...
