News

PoliticsChancellor weighs stamp duty cut as housing market stalls

Treasury officials have modelled a temporary holiday for first-time buyers after transactions fell to their lowest level in a decade

BusinessNorth Sea wind farms held up by cable shortage, developers warn

Turbines are ready but the high-voltage lines to bring power ashore are years behind, threatening Britain's 2030 clean-power target

BusinessCity banks plan 4,000 job cuts as lending margins narrow

Falling interest rates were meant to lift the economy. For the banks, they have squeezed the spread between what they pay savers and charge borrowers

LiveTube strike: unions and TfL to resume talks on Monday as fourth day of walkouts ends

Services expected to return gradually on Sunday morning; both sides say gap on pay has narrowed

Business‘The OpenAI of trading’: inside the British lab that wants an AI to run the book

Foresight Research says its flagship model, Oracle, reads markets and news and trades without a human in the loop. It has yet to show the City its record

EnvironmentFarmers warn of record wheat shortfall after wettest spring on record

Yields down by a fifth across the east of England; millers already importing from France and Canada

TechnologyData centres are asking the grid for more power than Britain can give

Connection requests now exceed spare capacity in the south-east; developers are heading for Scotland and the north

TechnologyBritain's chip strategy: Cambridge or nowhere

The government has decided not to compete with Dresden and Arizona on fabrication plants. Its bet is on design, and on one city

TechnologyEvery drone over 250g to broadcast its position under new rules

The aviation regulator wants police and airports to identify any drone with a cheap receiver, after a year in which rogue aircraft closed three airports

TechnologyHumanoid robots have arrived at the trade show. The factory is another matter

A dozen firms showed two-legged machines stacking boxes. Asked how many were earning their keep, most changed the subject

ScienceBlood test for early pancreatic cancer shows promise in large trial

The test detected 71% of early-stage tumours in a study of 12,000 people at elevated risk

EnvironmentLargest glacier in the Alps lost another 60 metres this summer

The Aletsch has retreated more in five years than in the previous twenty, and the rate is still accelerating

WorldRotterdam port warns new UK border checks will add a day to lorry crossings

The last phase of post-Brexit controls begins in January; hauliers say the systems are not ready

WorldParis loves its café terraces. Its neighbours have had enough

The pandemic-era terraces were meant to be temporary. Five years on, the city is trying to decide what to keep

LiveFTSE 100 edges higher as traders reassess rate path; pound steady

Blue-chip index up 0.3% in afternoon trading, led by industrials; gilt yields little changed