business

Two almost lifesize sculptures of a man and woman, who was believed to have been a priestess, have been found during the excavations of a huge tomb in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. The detailed funerary relics adorned the tomb containing several burial niches built into a wide wall in the necropolis of Porta … Read more

Louisiana voters soundly rejected four constitutional amendments championed by the Republican governor, Jeff Landry, related to crime, courts and finances. Voters said no to each amendment by margins exceeding 60%, according to preliminary results the secretary of state’s office released after voting concluded on Saturday evening. Landry and his allies had crisscrossed the state in … Read more

The Italian defence company Leonardo has been given a £165m contract extension by the British government for its work maintaining the Royal Navy’s fleet of 54 Merlin helicopters, in an sign of the impact of the UK’s commitment to ramp up defence spending. Keir Starmer’s government, which is planning to increase military spending to 2.5% … Read more

The Bletchley Park code breaker, Charlotte “Betty” Webb, has died at the age of 101, the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association (WRACA) has confirmed. Arriving at Bletchley from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) aged just 18, Webb spent four years during the second world war at the code-breaking centre working in various roles. Webb, from … Read more

A man has been shot dead by police responding to reports of a person carrying a firearm at Milton Keynes railway station, Thames Valley police said. Police said they were responding to reports on Tuesday afternoon. The force said: “Officers from Thames Valley police and British Transport police were called to reports of a man … Read more

The European Union has a “strong plan” to retaliate against tariffs imposed by Donald Trump but would prefer to negotiate, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said. Trump, who has upended eight decades of certainties about the transatlantic relationship since taking office, has threatened tariffs on goods from around the … Read more

Alabama’s attorney general cannot prosecute individuals and groups that help Alabama women travel to other states to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled on Monday. US district judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, after he suggested they could face prosecution under anti-conspiracy laws. … Read more

If you want to understand the debate about bail reform in Victoria – and the gulf between the position taken by the Allan government and the recommendations of experts – you could do worse than consider the case of an alleged youth offender known as MMA. His case has straddled the recent changes in bail … Read more

The chief executive of Channel 4 said that artificial intelligence companies are “scraping the value” out of the UK’s £125bn creative industries, and urged the government to take action. Alex Mahon told MPs that if the government pursues its proposed plan to give AI companies access to creative works unless the copyright holder opts out, … Read more

Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has embarked on a marathon overnight speech on the Senate floor to warn of what he called the “grave and urgent” that Donald Trump’s presidential administration poses to democracy and the American people. Booker began his speech at 7pm on Monday night and passed the 12-hour … Read more