Few things are more perilous for democracy than an effort to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimate election. This is what Donald Trump is now formally accused of. Bringing the previous, lesser, charges against him — of falsifying business records and mishandling classified documents — was right and necessary to show that
News
Private companies will be given a bigger role in running and funding diagnostic centres for the NHS as the UK government seeks to enlist independent providers to help clear record waiting lists for treatment. The decision to expand the role of the private sector in centres that provide checks and scans is expected to be
The reaction to Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of the US’s pristine debt rating played out on a split screen on Wednesday: outrage from the White House and relative calm among investors in the market for Treasury bonds assessed by the agency. Fitch late on Tuesday lowered the US long-term rating one rung from triple A to
The writer is a former US naval officer and senior adviser at the Atlantic Council think-tank Is Britain a formidable military power today? Sadly, no. Even though the UK would only enter a conflict with partners, its conventional forces are now critically underpowered. Indeed, the total number of active duty personnel — about 150,000 — is smaller
This summer, hordes of tourists have been crossing the Atlantic to celebrate post-lockdown travel freedoms. But for some North Americans visiting UK homes, a surprise awaits in the kitchen that highlights a striking cultural gap. The culprit is the humble washing machine. In British homes, this device often sits by the sink or fridge. So,
Donald Trump’s legal team has pushed back against the US government’s drive for a “speedy trial” over this week’s historic charges that the former president conspired to subvert the 2020 election. In comments that signalled Trump’s desire to slow proceedings — possibly until after next year’s presidential contest — John Lauro, one of his lawyers,
Carlyle Group’s profits fell last quarter as the buyout group failed to benefit from a rebound in markets and struggled to drum up interest in a new flagship fund, underlining the challenge facing new chief executive Harvey Schwartz. A former executive at Goldman Sachs, Schwartz took the reins at Carlyle in February and has pledged
If an Englishman’s home is his castle then the car is his steed. So deeply is the motorist embedded in both the national and political psyche that pivotal voting archetypes are described by their ride. Political strategists have, over the years, fretted over the affections of White Van man, Mondeo man and Galaxy man. Such
Beijing has unveiled a new system to limit minors’ device usage and control the content young people can consume online, in a move that poses a fresh challenge to tech groups already tightly policed by the state. The proposed rules from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) require device makers, operating systems, apps and app
One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders said the share of its first-time buyers taking on more than 36-year mortgages had more than tripled, as affordability issues in the housing market took its first-half profits down by 29 per cent. Taylor Wimpey said on Wednesday that 27 per cent of its first-time buyers had taken mortgage terms
US government debt rallied on Wednesday, despite Fitch Ratings’ unexpected decision to downgrade Washington’s top-tier sovereign debt rating, as a sell-off in stock markets drove investors into the safety of Treasuries. Yields on two-year Treasuries fell 0.05 percentage points to 4.9 per cent, while 10-year yields were down 0.02 percentage points to 4.03 per cent.
BAE Systems has lifted its annual profit forecast as the war in Ukraine helped drive orders to a new record at Britain’s biggest defence company. The company said on Wednesday that it had won £21.1bn of new orders in the first six months of the year, as governments stepped up their military spending. Its order
The future of democracy in America will turn on the trials of Donald Trump — and the political turmoil that will surround them. The latest indictment of the former president — in connection with his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election — is the most important case that Trump faces. It
The writer is a science commentator We know that AI can write, add up, and prioritise tasks. But could it independently make a million dollars? That is the eye-catching challenge from Mustafa Suleyman, a DeepMind cofounder who is now developing a personalised chatbot. He points out that large language models, such as LaMDA and ChatGPT,
EY boss Carmine Di Sibio’s right-hand man has emerged as a frontrunner to take over as global head of the Big Four firm in a leadership race triggered by the collapse of its attempted break-up this year. British executive Andy Baldwin, one of the architects of the aborted plan to spin off EY’s consulting operations,
The European Commission has approved €733bn in state support since March 2022 for businesses affected by the war in Ukraine and the green transition, an amount superseded in recent years only by subsidies approved during the Covid-19 pandemic. Germany accounts for almost half of total EU state aid funding approved under a temporary crisis scheme
With his second criminal case against Donald Trump, Jack Smith has taken his biggest swing yet. In doing so, the prosecutor appointed to handle investigations into the former US president is entering uncharted legal territory. The scope of the charges brought by Smith’s team could not be broader, in effect alleging an all-out assault on
Donald Trump suffered a new legal blow on Tuesday when he was indicted on federal charges connected to his effort to overturn the result of the 2020 US presidential election. But even as the criminal proceedings against him pile up, consuming his bid for a new term in the White House, the former president is
US prosecutors have charged Donald Trump in connection with attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the second federal indictment brought against the former president in as many months. Trump was charged with four criminal counts including conspiracy to defraud the US, to obstruct an official proceeding and to threaten individual rights, according
China’s economy defies analogies. Just as its growth over the past four decades was unprecedented, its current difficulties — and it certainly has a problem, if not quite a crisis — are unique. It is not Japan in 1990, Korea in 1997 or the US in 2008. China does not face a financial crisis or
A Starbucks outlet in Beijing. In China, comparable store sales rose 46% from a year ago, with stores back to standard operations after the end of zero-Covid policies © Ng Hang Guan/AP Starbucks reported record revenues and profits beat analysts’ expectations in the coffee chain’s latest quarter, helped by higher prices for its beverages and