business

Potentially deadly flash flooding, high-magnitude tornadoes and baseball-sized hail could hit parts of the midwest and south on Wednesday as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged, forecasters warned. There were tornado warnings Wednesday morning near the Missouri cities of Joplin and Columbia – merely the opening acts of what forecasters expect will be a more … Read more

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Welcome Good morning and welcome to our live election coverage. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories to get us into gear before Krishani Dhanji takes the wheel. Former Liberal prime minister John Howard says Peter Dutton is … Read more

A pet reindeer beloved by many in Alaska’s largest city has been euthanized, just weeks after someone tampered with his cage and possibly poisoned him, his caretaker said on Wednesday. “I don’t have an answer as to why he had to be put down other than it relates back to what happened,” said Albert Whitehead, … Read more

There was “no agenda” in the Guardian’s investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Noel Clarke, the high court has heard. In her second day in the witness box, Lucy Osborne, an investigative correspondent at the Guardian, defended the publication’s reporting in the face of questioning from the former Doctor Who star’s barrister, Philip Williams. Osborne, … Read more

There will come a moment when the Labour claim that the Tories are to blame for everything will no longer stick. People will start shaking their heads and reckon that Labour have something to answer for. But we’re not quite there yet. At least not at prime minister’s questions. For half an hour in the … Read more

When Bonnie Prince Charlie fled the Scottish Highlands after defeat at the Battle of Culloden, his route may have crossed the fossilised footsteps of massive meat-eating dinosaurs, researchers say. Newly discovered impressions at Prince Charles’s Point on the Isle of Skye, where the Young Pretender is said to have hunkered down in 1746, reveal that … Read more

The world is on track for disastrous global heating – but this will create profits for some air conditioning companies, according to forecasts by leading Wall Street financial institutions. Recent reports by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and the Institute of International Finance all make clear the finance sector considers the Paris climate agreement limiting global … Read more

Emmanuel Macron has said the French judiciary is independent and must be protected as a judge was put under police guard after sentencing Marine Le Pen to an immediate ban from running for office. Speaking on Wednesday, two days after the far-right leader’s conviction for the embezzlement of European parliament funds, the French president told … Read more

Political attacks on judges are “dangerous” and “a huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, the attorney general has said in a direct rebuke to the shadow justice secretary. Richard Hermer said politics was entering a “dangerous moment” where politicians were “attacking judges on a personal basis” on the … Read more

Rachel Reeves has defended the £40bn in tax increases in autumn’s budget as businesses brace for their impact, saying NHS waiting lists would now be higher if she had not taken action. Employers are set for a £25bn increase in national insurance contributions (NICs), which comes into force on 6 April, at the same time … Read more