Financial news

• Rachel Reeves is causing confusion on competition policy. What does she want? | Nils Pratley

  17-03-2025 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Is the chancellor just tweaking, or is she rewriting the definition of ‘anti-competitive’ under consumer’s noses?Another day, another trip to Downing Street for the nation’s regulatory chiefs as the chancellor attempts (again) to “kickstart” growth and chop back red tape. A novelty this time was the suggestion that the Competition and Markets Authority would be told to restrict the number, or at least the type, of deals it investigates. There could be changes
  
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• From London to Lviv: how Trump’s new world order has shaken Europe

  17-03-2025 15:07 via theguardian.com
  
  At each stop on 1,000-mile trip, discombobulated Europeans are grappling with new and unsettling realities as the US reforges its alliancesWhile Donald Trump talks of the “big beautiful ocean” separating the US from the war in Ukraine, 1,000 miles of rail track links London St Pancras to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.The 19-hour trip takes in Brussels, the German economic powerhouse of Frankfurt, and Vienna, the Austrian capital, before the train rattles into Kraków in s
  
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• What’s in their (digital) wallets? The scammers loading up phones with stolen cards

  17-03-2025 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Criminals are pouring effort and resources into a new way of exploiting hacked bank accountsA new and ­sophisticated fraud has emerged in which criminals transfer the bank cards of victims on to the digital wallets of their own phones and then buy goods online and in high street shops.A group of anti-fraud bodies have come together to warn of the dangers of the scam, which international criminal gangs have been using in the UK as well as North America and other countries. Continue reading...
  
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• Strangers had sex in our Premier Inn hotel room while we were out

  17-03-2025 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  We hired an accessible room because my husband has Parkinson’s. We returned to find panties in the basin and condoms in the looStrangers had sexual relations in our Premier Inn room while we were out and Premier Inn refuses to do anything about it.We are an elderly couple in our 70s and my husband has advanced Parkinson’s and ­dementia. We had booked an accessible room for two nights in the London Stratford hotel over Christmas while we visited our daughter. The room was in good
  
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• 4BIO Capital Portfolio Company Araris Biotech to be Acquired by Taiho Pharmaceutical for up to USD 1.14 billion

  17-03-2025 09:30 via globenewswire.com
  
  Press Release4BIO Capital Portfolio Company Araris Biotech to be Acquired by Taiho Pharmaceutical for up to USD 1.14 billionAraris will receive USD 400 million upfront, with the potential for additional near-term and long-term milestone payments of up to USD 740 million4BIO Capital led the Series A in 2022, following its first investment in the Seed in 2020London, United Kingdom, 17 March 2025 – 4BIO Capital (“4BIO” or “the Group”), an international venture capital
  
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• Nine in 10 councils in England to levy maximum council tax increase

  17-03-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Highest possible rise for third year running comes as cash-strapped authorities try to repair finances and, for some, avoid bankruptcyMost households in England will be charged the maximum increase in council tax for the third consecutive year after local authorities confirmed their plans before the 2025-26 financial year.Nearly nine in 10 (88%) of 153 upper-tier authorities in England will impose a 4.99% increase in April, the most allowed without triggering a local referendum. Continue reading
  
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• Buyers’ property market looms in UK amid record numbers of homes for sale

  17-03-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Decade-high level despite rush to beat stamp duty deadline will push sellers to restrict price rises, says RightmoveHomebuyers who miss this month’s stamp duty deadline in England will benefit from a decade-high choice of properties this spring, with competition forcing many sellers to restrict price increases, according to a report.The average price of a property coming to market for sale across the UK has risen by 1.1% or £3,867 this month to £371,870, in line with the long-t
  
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• Buy-to-let firms become biggest single type of business in UK, data shows

  17-03-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Four times more buy-to-let firms than fast-food shops now registered at Companies House as landlords switch set-up to cut tax paymentsBuy-to-let businesses have become the largest single type of business in the UK – with nearly four times as there are fast food takeaways or hairdressers.There are more companies set up to hold buy-to-let property registered at Companies House than any other type of business, according to research from the estate agent Hamptons. Continue reading...
  
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