Business

Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan has issued a stark warning to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, urging her not to introduce new levies that would “stifle competition and growth” in Britain’s financial sector. Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Venkatakrishnan said taxing banks and investors more heavily risked “taxing growth out of existence,” just weeks before Reeves unveils her first Budget. His …

Tesco’s ambition to rival Ocado with a fleet of robotic warehouses has been thrown into turmoil after its technology partner went bust. The supermarket had struck a deal with Canadian automation start-up Attabotics earlier this year to roll out robotic warehouse systems designed to revolutionise how online orders are fulfilled. But Attabotics has filed for bankruptcy protection and is now …

Harrods has confirmed that hackers have stolen personal data from its online customers in a fresh IT security breach. The luxury department store said details such as names and contact information were accessed via a third-party provider. Harrods insisted that no payment details or passwords were compromised and described the incident as “isolated” and “contained”. In an email sent to …

Sir Richard Branson has been urged to rethink his plan to run trains through the Channel Tunnel, after the rail minister said rival bids to Eurostar must commit to serving Kent and east London stations. Virgin Group is one of several operators hoping to break Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly on the route, but Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill warned that proposals …

The chief executive of Yahoo has sounded the alarm over the rise of artificial intelligence, warning that AI’s use of copyrighted content could wipe out publishers unless tech companies change course. Jim Lanzone, who runs the American online publishing giant, said Yahoo was one of the most heavily “pilfered” sources of material used to train AI models. He criticised the …

by Anna Fleck, The OECD has raised its global growth forecast for 2025, now predicting GDP to expand by 3.2 percent, up by 0.3 percentage points from its June estimate. According to the OECD Economic Outlook interim report released on Tuesday, the economy “proved more resilient than anticipated” in the first half of 2025. Key drivers of this stronger-than-anticipated performance include front-loading of goods production …

by Felix Richter, Over the past two decades, domestic robots like robot vacuums and lawn-mowing robots have evolved from gimmicks for tech lovers to actual mass-market products. Today, these automated little helpers are capable of performing household chores as good as, if not better than humans, freeing up valuable time for their owners to focus on more important things such as …

by Anna Fleck, Data from UNESCO shows the number of Chinese students studying in the United States has dropped in recent years, with some students pivoting towards countries in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the number of Chinese students going to study in Russia has also grown. To an extent this data mirrors larger geopolitical shifts, such as cooling relations between Beijing …

by Katharina Buchholz, Numbers calculated by financial advisory Lazard as of June 2025 estimate price ranges for the generation of one MWh of energy by different sources. While the data shows that it is always cheapest to produce electricity from fully depreciated facilities, renewable energy can nevertheless compete in today’s market when it comes to prices even when disregarding federal subsidies. Gas, nuclear and coal energy …

Gold has always been more than just a glittering metal. For centuries, it has represented wealth, power, and security across civilizations. From being used as currency in ancient trade routes to serving as the backbone of modern financial reserves, gold continues to shine as one of the most influential and valuable commodities in the world. Historical Significance of Gold The …