Financial news

• US seizes two oil tankers in international waters – video

  07-01-2026 20:31 via theguardian.com
  Footage posted by US Southern Command and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, appears to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. It was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north AtlanticEurope – live updatesUS politics – live updates Continue reading...
  
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• Trump says he will ban big investors from buying single-family homes

  07-01-2026 20:14 via theguardian.com
  Median sale price was at $410,800 last year, according to the Census Bureau, even as Trump campaigned on affordabilityDonald Trump said his administration was moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in a bid to reduce home prices.In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president said he will be asking Congress to codify the measure and will be discussing additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech at the Davos World Economic
  
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• The Guardian view on Britain and Europe: time to move together, faster and further | Editorial

  07-01-2026 19:30 via theguardian.com
  The chaos that Donald Trump is causing in the world makes the case for continental solidarity and explicit repudiation of Brexit divisions Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for 2026 was to talk more about the domestic issues that concern British voters. Donald Trump knocked that plan off course. US intervention in Venezuela inevitably demanded the prime minister’s attention, as did this week’s summit of Ukraine’s allies, the “coalition of the willing”, in Paris. Progres
  
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• The Guardian view on granting legal rights to AI: humans should not give house-room to an ill-advised debate | Editorial

  07-01-2026 19:25 via theguardian.com
  Anthropomorphising tech helps Silicon Valley shares to soar, but our empathy should be directed to worthier causesMost readers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel Klara and the Sun will have been moved by the portrait of its eponymous AI narrator. As a solar-powered “artificial friend”, bought as a companion and potential substitute for a sick teenage girl, Klara fulfils her duties with a loving loyalty that makes it impossible to think of her as a mere piece of tech.Brilliant, thou
  
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• Reflagged by Russia, spied on by UK, seized by US: why so much interest in a rusty tanker in the Atlantic?

  07-01-2026 17:56 via theguardian.com
  The ship is alleged to be part of a shadow fleet dodging western sanctions. It had no oil onboard – but was it carrying Russian weapons?A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia’s military rushed towards it.Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Ru
  
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• ‘How is it possible?’: Berliners demand answers after sabotage causes blackout

  07-01-2026 17:20 via theguardian.com
  Arson attack that left parts of German capital in darkness for days stirs outrage over infrastructure insecurityEurope live – latest updatesWhen Silke Peters bought a crank radio and a camping stove just after the start of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, her husband thought she was “a little crazy”. “He put me down, only half-jokingly, as a prepper,” she said, referring to the kind of person who stockpiles in case of catastrophe.For almost four years, the i
  
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• ‘We’re in limbo’: the garden centre ‘golden mile’ that may be lost to a new town

  07-01-2026 16:02 via theguardian.com
  Crews Hill near Enfield in north London could become a victim of Labour’s ambitious housebuilding goalUK construction hit by worst run since global financial crisisOn the fringes of north London is an area of garden centres, green spaces and winding country lanes that feel a world away from the capital’s urban sprawl. Tucked just inside the M25, Crews Hill near Enfield has been home to a cluster of horticultural businesses for decades, leading to it being nicknamed the “golden
  
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• ‘The pressure is too much’: Lesotho’s garment workers on the frontline of Trump tariffs

  07-01-2026 15:25 via theguardian.com
  Women gather outside factories hoping for work as the economy struggles under US export taxesEvery morning at 7am, women gather outside clothing factories in Maseru, the capital of the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, hoping to be offered work. However, since Donald Trump imposed swingeing global tariffs in April 2025, those opportunities have been fewer and farther between.Moleboheng Matsepe lost her full-time job sewing sports leggings for the California brand Fabletics in 2023. S
  
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• UK construction hit by worst run since global financial crisis

  07-01-2026 13:08 via theguardian.com
  Output shrank for 12th month in a row in December, while housebuilding in deepest slump since 2020Business live – latest updatesBritain’s construction sector has recorded its worst run since the financial crisis almost two decades ago, with housebuilding mired in the deepest slump since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.UK construction output shrank for the 12th month in a row in December, the longest unbroken run of declines since the global financial crash of 2007-09, althoug
  
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• ‘A sign to change your technique’: how to make your toothbrush last longer – and keep it out of landfill

  07-01-2026 11:00
  They may be small, but toothbrushes can create mountains of waste. Experts reveal how to clean and care for them and extend their life• The best electric toothbrushes, testedIf toothbrushes were sentient, they’d complain about their lot in life. Their thankless existence involves repeatedly cleaning one of the grimmest parts of the body, then being thrown out once their bristles are insufficiently effective. Or, in the case of electric toothbrushes, decapitated before resuming their d
  
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• ‘Yamagata is ramen’: Japan’s city of noodle fiends revels in ‘capital’ status

  07-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Noodle dish is nation’s favourite comfort food and source of civic pride – but it has health risksThe road to ramen paradise ends in the unlikeliest of places. At Men Endo, located in a suburban street, next to a school and a low-rise apartment block, bowls of noodles disappear in a flurry of slurps, gulps and hurried but heartfelt exchanges of appreciation between customer and chef.On a cold afternoon in Yamagata, a city in Japan’s northeast, the wait for a seat at Men Endo&rs
  
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