After the High Court ordered the late entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s estate to pay Hewlett-Packard about £740m for allegedly overstating Autonomy’s finances during its 2011 sale, administrators warn the estate may have to declare bankruptcy, imperilling creditor recoveries and sparking further legal wrangling on both sides of the Atlantic.
Brussels intends to demand that the UK pays towards contracts secured by British defence firms via a €150bn EU procurement fund, igniting debate over shared security costs, the future of cross-Channel collaboration and the principles of fair competition post-Brexit.
Facing the threat of Apple and other US tech giants pulling encrypted services such as iMessage, ministers are weighing a climbdown on provisions in the Online Safety Bill that would compel firms to weaken end-to-end encryption, seeking a balance between security goals, privacy rights and the UK’s attractiveness to investment.
Buoyed by clearer US regulation, mounting institutional inflows and growing talk of pension-fund access, the value of global crypto assets has broken through $4tn for the first time, propelling Bitcoin to a fresh peak and sharpening the debate over how conventional finance should adapt.
Payroll employment dropped by 41,000 in June to mark a fifth consecutive monthly decline, fuelling criticism of Reeves’s fiscal approach amid evidence that higher interest rates, subdued growth and an escalating trade dispute with the US are restraining hiring even as wages continue to outpace inflation.
Amid a sharp decline in global drinks sales and mounting investor pressure, Diageo chief executive Debra Crew has stepped down with immediate effect, handing temporary leadership to finance chief Lavanya Chandrashekar as the company confronts waning consumer demand and reviews its growth strategy.
Following a serious data breach that revealed the identities of thousands of Afghans who had worked with British forces, the government covertly launched an expensive emergency scheme to relocate many of them and their families to the UK to shield them from Taliban reprisals, drawing criticism for limited uptake and for withholding details from Parliament.
Donald Trump has warned he will impose 100% tariffs on a wide range of imports within 50 days unless the ongoing eastern European crisis is resolved, a show of economic pressure welcomed in London and across allied capitals while analysts question its wider impact on trade and diplomacy.
Germany has urged arms manufacturers to expedite defence production, strengthening Europe’s military capabilities in a broad plan to modernise equipment.
Brussels is proposing an annual levy on large firms to bolster the EU’s budget, prompting debate over potential costs and effects on corporate operations.