Business

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the entrepreneur behind easyJet, is offering ambitious young business owners the chance to secure up to £150,000 in funding as the third annual Stelios Awards for Young Entrepreneurs officially open in the UK. More than 30 years after founding easyJet at the age of just 27, Sir Stelios has built an “easy” brand empire spanning more than …

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has secured $20bn (£15.7bn) in fresh funding, pressing ahead with its expansion plans even as its flagship chatbot, Grok, faces intensifying global scrutiny over the creation of sexualised and non-consensual images of women and children. The Series E funding round, announced on Tuesday, exceeded xAI’s initial $15bn target and attracted heavyweight backers including Nvidia, …

UK housebuilding has fallen to its weakest level since the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, underlining the scale of the challenge facing ministers as they attempt to revive construction and meet housing targets. New data from S&P Global shows activity across the UK construction sector continued to shrink in December, with housing and commercial construction work both contracting at the fastest …

Donald Trump has claimed that Venezuela will “turn over” between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States following a US-backed operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro from power. Posting on social media, the US president said the oil — worth an estimated $2.8bn (£2.1bn) at current market prices, would be sold by the US, with proceeds …

Karachi: Lucky Investments Limited has crossed PKR 130 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) within its first year of operations, marking a major milestone and positioning the Company as Pakistan’s fastest-growing Islamic Asset Management Company (AMC). Launched with a focused mandate to promote Shariah-compliant, ethical, and disciplined investing, Lucky Investments introduced its first Islamic fund in April 2025. In less …

Pakistan is a country blessed with a diverse range of minerals and natural resources, which form a cornerstone for industrial growth, export potential, and economic development. From industrial metals to precious stones, the nation’s mineral wealth is vast, yet remains largely underutilized. Understanding Pakistan’s materials and minerals is critical for investors, policymakers, and industries seeking to harness these resources sustainably. …

Drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), have rapidly transformed from niche gadgets into essential tools across industries globally. From agriculture and logistics to defense and emergency response, the versatility of drones is redefining technological landscapes. In Pakistan, the adoption of drone technology is gaining momentum, paralleling international trends and opening new avenues for innovation and economic growth. Global Drone Trends: …

UK media regulator Ofcom has made “urgent contact” with xAI, the artificial intelligence business owned by Elon Musk, following reports that its Grok chatbot can be used to generate sexualised images of children and non-consensual explicit images of women. The intervention follows widespread concern over Grok’s image-generation capabilities on X, where users have posted examples of the AI being prompted …

Renowned Chinese inverter manufacturer Hoymiles has entered Pakistan to provide high-tech, long-duration energy storage solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, utilizing solar systems for electricity consumption. Speaking as the chief guest at the Hoymiles launching ceremony held at a local hotel on Monday, Ali Rashid, Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh on Science and IT, said the provincial …

The cyberattack that forced Jaguar Land Rover to shut down its factories is expected to have cost the carmaker more than £3 billion in lost sales over the final quarter of the year. The West Midlands-based group, owned by Tata Motors, revealed that vehicle shipments from its factories plunged by 43 per cent in the three months to December after …