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Some of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders, including Virgin Money and Skipton Building Society, have stopped offering new home loans in response to the market volatility triggered by the government’s mini-Budget. Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, the biggest mortgage lender in the UK, is also withdrawing a range of new home loans, it told

Western capitals are making contingency plans should Vladimir Putin take steps towards acting on his threats of nuclear attacks against Ukraine and are sending private warnings to the Kremlin about possible consequences, according to western officials. The Russian president’s nuclear warnings are “a matter that we have to take deadly seriously,” White House national security

Investors have warned UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng that the bonanza of tax cuts and spending measures he announced on Friday risk undermining their confidence in the country. On Friday the chancellor heralded a “new era” for the UK economy, in which he plans to boost growth by delivering the biggest tax reduction since 1972 at

Sterling fell 3 per cent against the dollar to below $1.09, its lowest point since 1985, after UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng took a huge political gamble with a debt-financed package of £45bn of tax cuts. Britain’s biggest set of tax cuts for 50 years includes axing the 45p additional rate for the highest earners as

The Bank of England raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25 per cent on Thursday, setting out the prospect of a further big increase in November to bring inflation under control. The move takes the BoE’s benchmark rate to its highest level since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008. However,

Vladimir Putin said Russia’s armed forces would call up its reserves immediately to support its invasion of Ukraine and indicated Moscow would probably annex large swaths of the country’s territory. In an address to his nation that Nato also criticised for its “dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric”, the Russian president announced “partial mobilisation” ahead of

Four Moscow-controlled regions in Ukraine will stage referendums this week over becoming part of Russia, as the Kremlin tries to regain the initiative after major battlefield losses earlier this month. In another sign of Moscow’s hardening stance, Russia’s Duma passed a law on Tuesday that would increase penalties for desertion in the event of a

Queen Elizabeth II has begun the journey to her final resting place at Windsor after a momentous state funeral at Westminster Abbey, attended by world leaders and British citizens mourning the country’s longest-serving monarch. Crowds thronged the route of the Queen’s coffin as it made its way from the abbey through the heart of ceremonial

Public admonishments of Russian president Vladimir Putin by the leaders of China and India over his invasion of Ukraine signal a shift in global perceptions of the war, western officials have said, amid efforts by Europe and the US to erode the Kremlin’s international support. The chiding of Putin by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi

Wall Street stocks recorded the biggest weekly drop in months after a profit warning from economic bellwether FedEx jolted investors who are already on edge over a looming interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve at its upcoming meeting. The blue-chip S&P 500 index fell 0.7 per cent on Friday, bringing weekly losses to

The German government has taken control of three refineries owned by Russian oil company Rosneft, in an escalation of the energy war between Moscow and the west triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government had not taken the step lightly, but that “it was unavoidable”. “We have known for a

Russian president Vladimir Putin has acknowledged Chinese “concerns” about the war in Ukraine at his first in-person meeting with President Xi Jinping since the invasion. Putin’s comments in a meeting with Xi in Uzbekistan on Thursday were the first public admission of differences between Beijing and Moscow over the war in Ukraine. “We highly value

The UK’s rate of inflation eased back into single digits in August on the back of lower petrol prices, providing some relief to households as they go into winter. The headline consumer price index was 9.9 per cent higher than a year earlier during the month, down from a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent

The US inflation rate was higher than forecast in August, keeping up pressure on the Federal Reserve for a large interest rate rise this month and triggering a dramatic sell-off on Wall Street. The consumer price index increased 0.1 per cent for the month, above economists’ expectations for a 0.1 per cent drop, as a

Ukraine still faces “a tough fight” after Russia gave up most of the territory it had taken near Kharkiv following a lightning counteroffensive that forced many of its retreating troops to leave the country, according to the Pentagon. A senior military official said on Monday that the Russian military “had largely ceded their gains” around

Ukraine needs to secure the vast territory it has recaptured from possible Russian counter-attack, the country’s defence minister has warned, as he said Kyiv’s lightning offensive had gone far “better than expected”. The attack has routed the Kremlin’s forces, led to the recapture of some 3,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory and prompted an unusual

Russia abandoned military strongholds in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday in an apparent rout of its front line positions, after Ukrainian forces pushed forward in a lightning advance that has left Moscow’s forces in disarray. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had pulled back from the strategic city of Izyum, claiming it had decided to “regroup” and transfer

King Charles III addressed his nation for the first time on Friday, vowing to emulate his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s “life-long service” as Britain began a period of national mourning. The new monarch’s words came at the end of day of parliamentary tributes, gun salutes and raw emotion, as thousands of people gathered at the

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, has died, leaving her people in mourning but reflecting on a life of duty in which she bound the country together through 70 years of momentous change. Her death, at the age of 96, was announced by Buckingham Palace at 6.30pm on Thursday. It marked a watershed moment in

The pound has fallen to its weakest levels since 1985, reflecting the daunting scale of the economic challenge new prime minister Liz Truss faces as she prepares to unveil an emergency energy package. Truss will on Thursday give details of the state intervention to shield households and companies from soaring energy bills. Government insiders said