business

Record numbers of Britons are going to the gym, as the desire of many gen Zers to socialise while getting fit instead of drinking in the pub drives an unprecedented surge in membership, a report shows. In all, 11.5 million people aged 16 and over– a new high – now belong to a gym in … Read more

A survivor from a massacre of Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in Gaza has said he saw Israeli troops open fire on a succession of Red Crescent ambulances and rescue vehicles and then use a bulldozer to bury the wreckage in a pit. Munther Abed, a 27-year-old Red Crescent volunteer, was in the back of … Read more

Tate Modern has announced its most significant single donation in more than 50 years, a monumental triptych by the American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell that she named after her German shepherd dog, Iva. The huge six-metre work, painted by Mitchell in 1973, was given to Britain’s national art collection by the billionaire Miami real estate … Read more

Prince Harry has launched a thinly veiled attack on the chair of the Sentebale charity he founded two decades ago for telling “blatant lies”, as an inquiry was launched into claims about the organisation’s governance. In a statement issued in response to the Charity Commission’s decision to open a “compliance case”, the prince said he … Read more

The Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam expressed a string of controversial views on fringe podcasts before his preselection, including the claim that women should not serve in combat positions with the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Benjamin Britton, who has been praised by Peter Dutton as an “outstanding candidate”, ran unsuccessfully for the … Read more

The Co-operative Group plans to open at least a further 120 grocery shops this year after profits rose more than fivefold, but told the government that “layering costs” on retailers could hit high streets and communities. The mutual, which owns more than 800 funeral parlours and an insurance and legal advisory business as well as … Read more

Russian authorities on Thursday banned the Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF), which focuses on HIV/Aids prevention, citing its support for LGBTQ+ rights as a reason for the move. Founded by the British singer and songwriter in 1992, the organisation funds HIV treatment programmes in countries including Russia. It also advocates for LGBTQ+ people, who have … Read more

Luton Airport will be allowed to almost double in capacity after the government overruled planning inspectors who recommended blocking the scheme on environmental grounds. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander granted the development consent order for the airport’s plans to expand its perimeter and add a new terminal, allowing a potential 32 million passengers a year. The … Read more

The deaths of a British couple who were found in their renovated rural home in Aveyron, south-west France, are being treated as a murder followed by a suicide. The bodies of Andrew Searle, 62, a retired fraud investigator, Dawn Kerr, 56, a project manager, were discovered on 6 February at their home in the village … Read more

A megafarm which would have produced almost one million chickens and pigs at any one time has been blocked by councillors in Norfolk over climate change and environmental concerns. Councillors on King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council unanimously rejected an application to build what would have been one of the largest industrial poultry and … Read more