Business

A £5bn grant scheme to help pubs, restaurants and retailers hit hardest by lockdown restrictions is set to be unveiled by the chancellor in Wednesday’s budget. Rishi Sunak is also planning to support first-time buyers by incentivising lenders to accept deposits of just 5% for properties up to £600,000. The chancellor has warned hard decisions

UPDATE: The House of Representatives early on Saturday passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a Covid-19 relief and recovery bill that would be Joe Biden’s first legislative achievement if it reaches his desk. The massive piece of spending legislation now goes to the Senate. The bill passed narrowly in the House, 219-212. Two Democrats,

Britain’s second-richest family is exploring plans to join a wave of “blank cheque” mergers in a move that could see another major UK electric vehicle manufacturer going public in the US. Sky News has learnt that Ashok Leyland, the Indian-listed group controlled by the Hindujas, is working with bankers on a potential merger of Switch

With the Golden Globes just about here, Twitter erupted with shock and dismay Friday that the ceremony’s founding organization, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has no Black members and hasn’t for the past 20 years. After the weak acknowledgement of the problem put out yesterday by the HFPA, the reality of the situation did not

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that Britain’s public finances will face “enormous strains” in the wake of the latest national lockdown. Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget announcement, Mr Sunak told the Financial Times a bill for the government’s £280bn investment in coronavirus support will eventually have to be paid, with low interest rates leaving the nation’s

Leaders of the DGA, SAG-AFTRA and IATSE have sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to work with President Joe Biden to pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, saying that it will provide “much-needed relief for the current crisis and address long-standing vulnerabilities in our economy.” The House Rules Committee held a

European Union leaders are divided over developing vaccine passports to open the continent up to tourism this summer. Some countries want an EU-wide approach instead of individual nations having their own certificates, while others are concerned such documentation could result in discrimination. Leaders of the EU’s 27 countries met online on Thursday to start a

UPDATED with details from analysts’ call:  WarnerMedia parent AT&T has clinched hotly anticipated deal to sell a significant minority stake in satellite broadcaster DirecTV to private equity group TPG in a deal that will net the telecom giant $7.8 billion. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2021, values DirecTV’s video business

The parent firm of British Airways has called for the introduction of digital health passes to help reopen the skies while revealing a €7.4bn (£6.5bn) annual loss as a result of coronavirus pandemic disruption. International Airlines Group (IAG) demanded a global approach, with common testing standards, as the travel industry reels from a disastrous 12

EXCLUSIVE: The Exchange is to introduce to buyers at the upcoming virtual EFM to feature Our Last Summer, executive-produced by Oscar-winner and True Blood and Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball (American Beauty). Set in Westchester over the summer of 1991, the film will follow closeted teenager Daniel Rosen who travels a bumpy road to

Asda has warned that 3,000 workers in its stores are at risk of losing their jobs as the chain plans to ramp up investment in online sales. The UK’s third-largest supermarket chain said the shake-up was driven by the shift in demand towards grocery deliveries which charged forward for the sector as a whole at

Paramount+ will have two subscription tiers: a basic one costing $5 a month and a higher level at $10 a month. The $10 plan will be ad-free and will have some programming not available on the basic, ad-supported tier. Ingredients in the higher-end plan include the live CBS signal, which has been a key element

Global airlines are expected to burn through as much as $95bn more cash this year after tighter coronavirus restrictions put the brakes on recovery, according to an updated forecast. The downgraded outlook from industry body IATA points to another year of struggle for the sector after a grim 2020 which is expected to have cost

Facebook said will invest $1 billion in the global news industry over the next three years but came out swinging Wednesday over its news blackout of Australia, which it reversed yesterday after Aussie lawmakers agreed to modify a proposed law. In a blog post entitled The Real Story of What Happened With News on Facebook

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned Brussels against creating a “serious escalation” by forcing firms to relocate euro clearing business away from the UK. Mr Bailey told MPs Britain should “resist very firmly” any attempt by the EU to try to dismantle by “dubious” means the dominance of London in clearing euro-denominated derivatives

Last Wednesday, as California Governor Gavin Newsom gave one of his regular Covid-19 updates, he expressed surprise at “something not a lot of folks are paying attention to.” That “something” is the growth of the so-called West Coast variant of Covid-19. Newsom and his surrogates have, to their credit, regularly given updates on the growth

The number of women on the boards of top UK-listed companies has risen by 50% in five years but “significant progress” still needs to be made in leadership roles, a review has found. Progress made since 2015 also means there are now no all-male boards in the FTSE 350, though there are 16 so-called “one

Susan Fox will lead The Walt Disney’s Co.’s government relations efforts in Washington, D.C. Fox, who has been with the company for 20 years, succeeds Richard Bates, who died in December. She’ll be senior vice president of government relations and report to Alan Braverman, senior executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at the company.

Rates of pay growth are running at their highest level since 2008, according to official figures which also show the first rise in payrolled employment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported average weekly earnings up by 4.7% on an annual basis during the three months to December.