News

Scientists are urging China to look for alternatives to its two homegrown Covid-19 vaccines to tackle its Omicron outbreak, amid mounting concerns about the jabs’ efficacy against the variant. The country is struggling with two problems as it faces its worst Covid-19 surge since the start of the pandemic: the sluggish take-up of booster doses

Ukraine plans to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave Mariupol, the besieged south-eastern city where Russia this week began a bombing campaign targeting the city’s Azovstal steelworks. The government secured agreement on a corridor to bring civilians out of the city from 2pm, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said on Wednesday. “Given

In the vast expanses of sun-drenched north-west Australia, one of the most ambitious energy ventures in history is being planned as part of a pipeline of billion-dollar hydrogen projects across the country. The Asian Renewable Energy Hub is expected to cover 6,500 square kilometres in the Pilbara mining region with solar panels and wind turbines

Emmanuel Macron (Report, April 16) wants to end “abusive” executive pay through EU negotiations. There is a more effective way to end this travesty. In 1963, the top rate of income tax in the US was 91 per cent for “married filing jointly” incomes above $400,000 ($3.8mn in 2022 dollars). This effectively functioned as a

Honda’s carefully investigative and logical approach to electric vehicle production is a model that has stood the test of time (Report, April 13). Chief executive Toshihiro Mibe says Honda needs “to take into account multiple factors, such as the living environment and the penetration rate of renewable energy, rather than simply switching to electric vehicles”.

Robert Shrimsley has made a convincing case for Tory MPs to stand up for their principles or risk losing their reputation as well as their seats (“Johnson is dragging his party down”, Opinion, April 14). Unfortunately, it is symptomatic of the current illness of British politics that when the time comes to stand up and

The UK plans to strip Russia’s stock exchange of a status that allows investors to claim tax relief on trades, in a move aimed at further isolating Moscow from global financial markets. HM Revenue & Customs said on Tuesday that it intended to revoke the Moscow Exchange’s status as a recognised exchange, removing investors’ ability

Some international airlines have dropped a requirement for passengers to wear masks on flights to and from America after a US judge threw out a Biden administration mandate. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Donald Trump appointee who sits on the federal bench in Florida, deemed the public transport mask mandate unlawful on Monday, ruling that

Kirkbi of Denmark has an appropriately Nordic model. Its portfolio, anchored by a 75 per cent stake in toymaker Lego, funds philanthropic endeavours, renewable energy — and adds to the wealth of the controlling Kirk Kristiansen family. Last year profits quadrupled to DKr27bn ($3.92bn), and were 60 per cent up on pre-pandemic 2019. Fittingly, Lego

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has sought to soften a campaign pledge to ban women from wearing the Islamic headscarf in public ahead of a run-off round of voting against Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. The shift comes after both candidates encountered women wearing headscarves on the campaign trail, reigniting a longstanding debate in

Uber’s UK pension provider is to redraw its new workforce scheme within months of its launch after a union complained the lack of a sharia-compliant investment option effectively excluded much of the ride-hailing app’s Muslim-majority workforce. Auto-enrolment in a workplace pension scheme was one of the main practical benefits to drivers of Uber’s decision last

After retaining his world title in 2021, Magnus Carlsen declared that he was only interested in future challenges from much younger players. That comment highlighted the status of Alireza Firouzja, the ex-Iranian turned French prodigy. The 18-year-old jumped to world No2 last autumn and is now among the favourites for the eight-player Candidates at Madrid in

Blackstone has struck a $13bn deal to acquire one of the biggest portfolios of student housing in the US, extending a streak of real estate transactions that has already made the private equity company one of the biggest owners of inner-city apartment blocks and suburban homes. The purchase of American Campus Communities will give Blackstone

Disrupter of disrupters? Or swan song of the special purpose acquisition company? European investors are making that call over a deal involving music streaming service Deezer. The French group has reached terms with cash shell I2PO to list on Euronext Paris at a pre-money value of €1bn. Bringing together billionaires François-Henri Pinault and Leonard Blavatnik,

Stanley Gibbons expects stamp and coin enthusiasts to benefit from rising prices for their collections, as inflationary pressures push investors to hedge against inflation. Graham Shircore, chief executive of the collectibles dealer, said on Tuesday there was “some evidence that real assets tend to do reasonably well during periods of heightened inflation . . . stamps and coins have

We will “roll up our sleeves” and “deliver real change”. We are “progressive, modern, caring”. Sinn Féin’s pitch ahead of May’s Northern Ireland assembly elections could almost have come from a manifesto anywhere. But it is significant as much for what it does not say as for what it does. Irish reunification — the fundamental

Robinhood has agreed to buy UK crypto company Ziglu, as the US retail brokerage steps up its expansion beyond share trading and makes a second attempt to push into Britain. The Californian company said on Tuesday that London-based Ziglu’s “impressive team of deeply experienced financial services and crypto experts [will help] accelerate our global expansion

The global economy will suffer a hit to growth and higher inflation this year as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the IMF said on Tuesday. In its World Economic Outlook, the fund said prospects had “worsened significantly” with countries closest to the war likely to be hardest hit. But it warned that risks

Russia plans to take legal steps to recover $300bn of its foreign currency reserves frozen by western governments in a bid to overturn one of the most painful measures imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The pledge to mount a legal challenge against the measure was announced by the head of

China has signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands just days ahead of a visit by US government officials to the South Pacific country, exacerbating western fears over Beijing’s growing influence in the region. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele signed the deal “in recent days”, the Chinese foreign