Financial news

• Drone attacks damage major Moscow refinery during Russia’s parliamentary elections – video

  20-09-2026 16:30 via theguardian.com
  An oil refinery was damaged in Moscow after Ukraine launched a major attack on the city and other parts of Russia involving hundreds of drones.The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, said more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were aimed at Moscow, and accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere with the highly controlled three-day election that is expected to tighten president Vladimir Putin’s 26-year grip on powerHundreds of drones target Moscow on last day
  
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• UK startup snares $20m to recreate gigs with ‘hyper-realistic’ digital avatars

  20-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Unit1 hopes to offer lower cost version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venueThe former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars.Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment executive who ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cats-to-Evita empire for five years from lat
  
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• China’s stranglehold on rare earths must be ended, says hopeful supplier to EU

  20-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Rafael Moreno, whose company has opened demo plant in Brazil, says market is ‘nervous’ as Trump-Xi summit loomsThe head of a mining company hoping to supply the EU with rare earths in two years’ time has said it is “paramount” to end China’s stranglehold on the supply of the raw materials used in everything from cars to wind turbines and military jets.As Donald Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, prepare to meet on Thursday in their second summit of
  
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• AI slowdown calls justified but collapse of bubble may be more immediate threat | Heather Stewart

  20-09-2026 12:38 via theguardian.com
  Scale of debt issuance being used to fund the hectic pace of the datacentre rollout by tech firms is a worryWarnings about powerful and uncontrolled AI have dominated the headlines this past week. But even amid the omens of apocalypse, it is still worth asking if the entire AI-industrial complex is sailing towards a financial iceberg.It will hardly be our most pressing concern if the bots are poised to take over the world, but a collapse of the AI bubble would have repercussions far beyond the U
  
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• Chiltern Railways enters public ownership in Labour nationalisation push

  20-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Operator that runs services between London Marylebone and Birmingham is sixth to be nationalised since 2025Chiltern Railways has become the latest train operator to enter public ownership as the government closes in on its ambition to renationalise all major passenger rail services.The operator, which runs commuter rail services on the Chiltern mainline between London Marylebone and Birmingham, on Sunday became the sixth to be nationalised under Labour, with the remaining four to follow by the e
  
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