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The US and Germany will send main battle tanks to Kyiv, a significant increase of western military aid that was condemned by Russia and prompted cheers throughout Ukraine. The US will be sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine — or the equivalent of one Ukrainian tank battalion, senior Biden administration officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Several senior Ukrainian officials have resigned after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swiftly sought to defuse concerns over corruption at a time when he is requesting more western weaponry to repel Russian forces. “We have made personnel decisions . . . regarding officials of various levels in ministries and other central government bodies, in the regions, and in the law enforcement

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has asked his ethics adviser to investigate the tax affairs of Nadhim Zahawi in a move that raises questions about the future of the Conservative party chair. Downing Street also admitted on Monday that when Sunak publicly defended Zahawi last week, the prime minister had not known that the former

The eurozone will avoid a recession this year according to a widely-watched survey of economists which illustrates the sharp about-turn in global economic sentiment in the past couple of weeks. As recently as last month, analysts surveyed by Consensus Economics were predicting the bloc would plunge into recession this year. But this month’s survey found

Banks are gearing up for the biggest round of job cuts since the global financial crisis, as executives come under pressure to slash costs following a collapse in investment banking revenues. The lay-offs — which are expected to be in the tens of thousands across the sector — reverse the mass hirings banks made over

Google’s parent company has announced it will axe 12,000 staff, pushing total tech job losses above 200,000 since the start of last year, as industry bosses concede they overextended during the pandemic’s digital boom. The latest cuts will affect about 6 per cent of the total workforce at Alphabet, which also owns autonomous car company

Christine Lagarde warned financial markets on Thursday that the European Central Bank was determined to “stay the course” and signalled further big interest rate rises lay ahead to get inflation down. In comments that bolstered the euro, the ECB president told the World Economic Forum in Davos that markets should ditch their view that the

The stress for investors is not yet over after stock markets cleared out the “crap” that built up after the outbreak of Covid-19, with a long period of drab returns still lying ahead, the chief executive of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has warned. US inflation could be poised to reaccelerate before this summer, in part

Goldman Sachs’ profits plunged by two-thirds last quarter, missing expectations and capping a grim year that has forced the bank to embark on its biggest cost-cutting exercise since the financial crisis. It was the Wall Street bank’s fifth straight quarter of falling profits and Goldman has already moved to cut more than 3,000 jobs, slash

US drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the UK government in protest at a sharp rise in the levy on branded medicines. Eli Lilly said the levy, which now amounts to more than a quarter of pharmaceutical industry revenue in the UK,

US companies are turning to convertible bonds as fundraising in Wall Street’s main equities market is at its lowest level for three decades. December was the busiest month of last year for convertible issuance by deal count according to Refinitiv data, as activity picked up over the second half of 2022. The amount US-based companies

Chinese authorities reported nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths at hospitals across the country since the end of strict pandemic restrictions in December, following criticism from groups including the World Health Organization for underrepresenting the severity of its outbreak. Jiao Yahui, director of the medical affairs department for China’s National Health Commission, said there had been a

BlackRock’s Larry Fink has admitted that “negative markets had a substantial impact” on the world’s largest fund manager last year, wiping out $1.4tn of its assets and hitting profits. In an internal memo seen by the Financial Times, the chief executive said the operating environment “is unlike anything we’ve seen in decades”. His comments come

Annual US inflation fell in December to its lowest level in more than a year, in a further sign that price pressures have peaked amid the Federal Reserve’s historic campaign to tighten monetary policy. The consumer price index, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday, declined for a sixth consecutive month, registering an

Rishi Sunak on Wednesday said the government wanted to have a “constructive dialogue” with unions, as ambulance staff across England and Wales launched industrial action over pay and working conditions. Workers from the GMB and Unison unions have begun industrial action in 10 out the 11 ambulance trusts, following a heated escalation in rhetoric between

Amazon is closing three UK warehouses this year, a move that will affect 1,200 staff, as the internet retailing giant cuts costs following a squeeze in consumer spending. The closures at fulfilment centres in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, Doncaster in South Yorkshire, and Gourock in Scotland were announced on Tuesday, a week after the tech

UK government ministers are meeting union bosses on Monday in a bid to avert a fresh round of public sector strikes, as teachers’ unions ballot their members for action. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the meetings last week after the rail and health systems were crippled by a series of stoppages, with unions threatening more

EY is setting aside $2.5bn to fund an acquisition spree for its consulting arm following its planned separation from the Big Four firm’s audit business, as it presses ahead with preparations for the historic split. The war chest will allow the new company, which EY is aiming to float in New York, to double the

Kevin McCarthy has been elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, ending a tortuous week of wheeling and dealing on Capitol Hill that exposed sharp divisions in the Republican party and raised fresh questions about whether Congress can govern effectively in the years to come. McCarthy was elected Speaker just after midnight on Saturday

Rishi Sunak has invited Britain’s trade union leaders to talks on Monday in an attempt to find a solution to the wave of disruptive strikes across the UK. The UK prime minister said in a broadcast interview on Friday that government departments had written to the relevant unions inviting them for talks to begin on