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UK inflation falls to 3% as rate cut hopes build

UK inflation slowed more sharply than many had feared in January, falling to 3 per cent and bolstering expectations that the Bank of England could resume cutting interest rates as early as next month. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed consumer price index (CPI) inflation eased from 3.4 per cent in December to 3 per cent in January, the lowest annual rate since March 2025. The reading was in line with analysts’ forecasts....

Boohoo to raise £35m from shareholders amid turnaround strain

Boohoo Group has launched a £35m share placing as it seeks to strengthen its balance sheet and support its long-running turnaround, sending its shares down 10 per cent in early trading. The Manchester-based fast-fashion retailer, which rebranded last year as Debenhams Group to reflect the stronger performance of that label, said the equity raise would provide additional liquidity and help create what it described as an “optimal capital structure”. The placing, priced at 20p per...

Household energy bills set to fall by £117 from April

Household energy bills are forecast to fall by around £117 from April, as government policy changes outweigh modest increases in wholesale prices. Energy consultancy Cornwall Insight predicts that the Ofgem price cap will drop 7 per cent to £1,641 a year for a typical dual-fuel household when it is reset on 1 April. The forecast reduction is slightly smaller than Cornwall Insight’s previous estimate of an 8 per cent, or £138, cut, reflecting a recent...

Vance, Harris, Obama issue tributes to Rev Jesse Jackson

Vice President JD Vance, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama were among the prominent political figures who issued statements following the death of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The civil rights leader and two-time Democratic presidential primary candidate was 84. Vance indicated that one of his family members voted for Jackson in the 1988 Democratic presidential primary and for Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. ‘I have a close family member...

Why DOJ is caught up in two dozen court fights over voter rolls

Arguing that noncitizens could be on state voter rolls — something that is illegal under federal law — the Trump administration is escalating its campaign to obtain registration data ahead of the 2026 midterms, despite a string of federal court setbacks. The strategy has unfolded on three fronts: cooperation from Republican-led states willing to share voter data, lawsuits against roughly two dozen blue and purple states that have refused, and a legislative push in Congress...

Billionaire Victoria’s Secret mogul Les Wexner to testify in House Jeffrey Epstein probe

The House Oversight Committee is hearing from a billionaire on Wednesday who was named one of Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators by a 2019 FBI document. Les Wexner is the latest person to be deposed in the House’s investigation into the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case.  Unlike most previous depositions, however, committee staff and potentially some lawmakers are traveling to Ohio on Wednesday morning to depose Wexner in his home state. A spokesperson for Wexner declined...

US moves to expand missiles in Philippines, putting China within range

The U.S. is preparing to expand the deployment of advanced missile systems in the northern Philippines, placing additional long-range strike capability within range of key Chinese military assets and reinforcing Washington’s effort to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness across the Indo-Pacific. U.S. and Philippine officials announced plans to increase deployments of ‘cutting-edge missile and unmanned systems’ to the treaty ally, as both governments condemned what they described as China’s ‘illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activities’ in...

Vatican declines to join Trump’s Gaza ‘Board of Peace,’ calls for UN leadership

The Vatican will not join President Donald Trump’s newly formed Board of Peace, its top diplomatic official said Tuesday, signaling reluctance from the Holy See to take part in the post-war initiative. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Holy See ‘will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States,’ the Vatican’s official news outlet reported. The Board of Peace, which...

Battery Ventures raises $3.25bn fund to invest in global tech and AI

Battery Ventures has raised $3.25bn in fresh capital to invest in technology companies worldwide, as it doubles down on artificial intelligence and enterprise software opportunities. The new vehicle, Battery Ventures XV, was oversubscribed and closed in a single round, marking one of the largest recent fundraisings in the tech-focused private equity and venture capital market. The Boston- and San Francisco-headquartered firm said the fund will back businesses across the US, Europe and Israel, investing from...

Mike Lee calls Schumer’s ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ attack on voter ID bill ‘paranoid fantasy’

Senate Democrats have panned the GOP’s push for voter ID legislation as akin to segregationist laws from the Deep South, but the architect of the bill in the Senate says their arguments are detached from reality. ‘It’s paranoid fantasy,’ Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital. ‘These are absurd arguments. They should be ashamed to make them.’ Lee was responding to comments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has doubled down on...