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IBM led some of the 20th century’s most pioneering projects in artificial intelligence and supercomputing, including the development of the Deep Blue chess-playing system that became the first to defeat reigning world champion Garry Kasparov, in 1997. Then, in 2010, the IBM Watson AI system for answering questions in natural language was put to the

European stocks rose at the open on Thursday as investors cheered the prospect of strong US corporate earnings and shrugged off the threat of further interest rate rises to combat inflation. The region-wide Stoxx 600 gained 0.4 per cent, while Germany’s Dax index rose 0.6 per cent. France’s Cac 40 was up 0.7 per cent.

Profits at Centrica more than tripled year on year to a record high of £3.3bn in 2022, as the energy group’s North Sea production and nuclear power businesses benefited from a surge in gas and power prices. The owner of British Gas, which has recently been embroiled in a scandal over forcibly installing expensive prepayment

The layer of sky above the cruising height of commercial aircraft and below satellite orbits was, until recently, regarded by most people to be empty space. That changed after a gigantic Chinese balloon drifted across North America 20km above the ground, followed by three more mysterious objects with lower altitude flight paths, which were all

Remember when we were all going to ditch our humdrum lives, tedious physical needs and uninspiring friends and family, so that we could live a life of virtual bliss in the metaverse? When we could give up the endless pursuit of self-improvement and just exist as perfect avatars instead? When Facebook rebranded to Meta because,

Trafigura shocked the corporate world last week when it booked a $577mn writedown and revealed it had been the victim of a “systematic fraud”. But industry insiders were more surprised at the man the commodity trader identified as being behind the alleged perpetrator companies: Prateek Gupta, a 43-year-old Indian businessman who has traded with Trafigura

In a huge hangar in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, welders are aiming blazing torches at sheets of aluminium. The hulls of three new ships, each about 27 metres long, are taking shape. The first will hit the water sometime in the spring, ferrying workers to service wind turbines off the New England coast. The US

The surprise selection of Kazuo Ueda to become the next governor of the Bank of Japan will break with decades of tradition and put an academic on that prickly throne for the first time in the postwar period. Despite his longstanding prominence, combing through Ueda’s previous comments for hints of what his appointment might mean

Mexican retailer and Coca-Cola bottler Femsa said on Wednesday that it would divest its near-15 per cent stake in Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer. The company made the decision as part of a strategic review of its business, which owns Mexico’s largest convenience store chain, Oxxo. It will sell its stake, which is currently 14.8

World Bank president David Malpass will step down from his post at the end of June, nearly a year before his term expires. The bank issued a statement on Wednesday saying Malpass, who was appointed to his position by former US president Donald Trump, had informed the board of his decision to step down after

Nicola Sturgeon will step down as Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National party with no obvious successor, but here are some of the SNP figures currently considered potential frontrunners. Kate Forbes, 32, cabinet secretary for finance and the economy, was seen as possible future first minister even before she ably delivered Scotland’s

Announcing her resignation as Scotland’s first minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National party, Nicola Sturgeon insisted she would step down with her nation in the “final phase” of the journey to end its three-century-old union with England. “I firmly believe that my successor, whoever he or she may be, will lead Scotland to

Sterling suffered a heavy decline on Wednesday, slipping to its lowest level in six weeks against the dollar as a sharper than expected slowdown in UK inflation eased the pressure on the Bank of England to keep raising interest rates. The pound dropped as much as 1.5 per cent to $1.198, a level last touched

Nicola Sturgeon ran out of road. It is as simple as that. Scotland’s first minister, a woman with a strong claim to being the most effective political leader in Britain, has decided the only way was down. The bigger and more important point is that what her departure signifies is an independence movement which also

Jens Stoltenberg chooses his words carefully. The strait-laced Norwegian secretary-general of Nato is famous for his ability to stick rigidly to talking points. So when he warned this week that the west’s “under strain” defence sector had “a problem”, he meant it. Russia’s war against Ukraine is almost a year old. Tens of thousands have

The proverbial cemeteries are filled with conservatives who thought they could beat Donald Trump. Some Republicans, like Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador, who launched a presidential bid this week, were against Trump before they were for him. Now she is against him again. Others, such as Mike Pence, the former vice-president, cannot bring himself

Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National party after a backlash over her strategy for securing independence and a fall in popularity over proposed gender laws. Sturgeon, who has led the SNP for eight years, told a press conference in Edinburgh that giving everything to the “best job

Sterling weakened and UK government bonds rallied after UK inflation fell more than forecast to a five-month low, raising the chances that interest rate rises would pause sooner than investors had previously expected. Data on Wednesday showed UK inflation slowed to 10.1 per cent in January, more than expected. Core inflation fell to 5.8 per

Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is preparing a blockbuster $3.75bn takeover bid for Tottenham Hotspur, the Premier League football club, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plans. Najafi, who is the chair of MSP Sports Capital, is working with a consortium of investors to structure the bid and is weeks away from formally

UK inflation slowed by more than expected to a six-month low in January, adding to growing evidence that price pressures have peaked. The annual rate of consumer price inflation declined to 10.1 per cent in January, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday, down from 10.5 per cent in December. Inflation hit a high