business

A Labour-run London council left more than 100 families homeless without support last year after they refused to be relocated outside the borough, the Observer can reveal. Freedom of information data from about 80% of English councils shows that they ended their legal duties to 615 households who refused offers of housing outside the local … Read more

The threat of tornadoes moved east into the Mississippi valley and deep south on Saturday, a day after a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires. Multiple tornadoes were reported in Missouri on Friday, just some of the extreme … Read more

A Eurovision contestant has reworked her song after a word in the lyrics sounded like an English swearword. Miriana Conte’s song was originally titled Kant, the Maltese word for singing. The song now includes the voice of the BBC economics editor Faisal Islam after he interviewed Conte on Newsnight about having only days to alter … Read more

This week, the world’s most influential fossil-fuels conference, which has been dubbed the “Coachella of oil”, featured an industry displaying outward glee but barely managing to conceal its anxiety. As recently as last year, sustainability was a major focus at the annual Houston convention, known as CeraWeek, with fossil-fuel companies touting climate plans. But in … Read more

The first time Yvonne met Gary Rogers he arrived at her house in a shiny black Range Rover smelling of Armani Code perfume, with neatly gelled silver hair. It was August 2017, and Yvonne’s ex-husband had suggested she ask the motor dealer, known locally as the “Jag man”, to fix her car. Yvonne* says their … Read more

The captain of the Russian container ship that crashed into a US oil tanker in the North Sea, killing a crew member, has appeared in court. Vladimir Motin of Primorsky, St Petersburg, in Russia was charged with gross negligence manslaughter over the collision earlier this week. Motin, 59, appeared at Hull magistrates court on Saturday … Read more

The red tape of government bureaucracy spans more than 4,000 years, according to new finds from the cradle of the world’s civilisations, Mesopotamia. Hundreds of administrative tablets – the earliest physical evidence of the first empire in recorded history – have been discovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq. These texts detail the … Read more

The British Council has been accused of exploiting hundreds of agency teachers on zero-hour contracts forced to compete for lessons in a “feeding frenzy” every week. An open letter from teaching staff reveals the prestigious government-funded public body does not offer regular hours to tutors on its popular English Online platform, which provides lessons to … Read more

When the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, resigned in early January, after months of pressure to quit, the approval ratings of the progressive firebrand had dropped from their peak of 65% in September 2016 to 22%. At the end of last year, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, described by many as “Trump Lite”, was the … Read more

Five people have been charged after a 40-year-old woman was shot dead in south Wales last week. Joanne Penney died at a block of flats in Talbot Green, near Pontyclun, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, on Sunday. South Wales police said they had charged two women and three men, who will appear at Cardiff magistrates court … Read more