At VidCon conference, the annual gathering of digital creators in southern California, the most successful influencers mill around exclusive lounges, receiving free swag and posing for shoots on curated backdrops or spinning platforms. Jabria, Laurie and Zan are no different from other attendees in terms of their huge online presence. But unlike the others, who

The strong dollar has wiped billions of dollars off the second-quarter sales of US companies, prompting many to cut their guidance for the remainder of the year. The list of bellwethers stomaching multimillion- or billion-dollar hits has grown by the day after the US currency surged to its highest level in 20 years this month,

By the standards of contemporary activist campaigns, it was an unremarkable press release. Color of Change, a racial justice group, fired off a statement last week demanding that companies stop funding politicians who restrict women’s access to abortions. Color of Change is far from the first progressive organisation to accuse businesses of hypocrisy for enabling

As evening draws in across Turkey’s frontier with Syria, the trickle of traffic passing through the Öncüpınar border checkpoint turns into a stream. Through one channel, dusty trucks, their loads long emptied, rumble northwards back into Turkey. Through another, Turkish civil servants and aid workers head home after a day’s labour in the war-devastated neighbouring

Britain’s overseas aid programme has been thrown into confusion after the Treasury blocked “non-essential” new payments for the rest of the summer over concerns that the cost of relief work in Ukraine will breach a spending cap. Last year Boris Johnson’s government cut Britain’s overseas aid budget after the Covid pandemic, “temporarily” ditching a manifesto

Textile manufacturers in Leicester are still underpaying and exploiting workers, despite a clampdown by enforcement bodies and concerted efforts by UK retailers to clean up their supply chains, according to new research by the Low Pay Commission. Labour abuses in garment factories in the city in the East Midlands have been known for years, but

Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday tell Labour to change its “instincts” and focus as much on boosting growth as on the redistribution of wealth, as he tries to wrest the mantle of economic competence from the Conservatives. Starmer believes the fractious Tory leadership contest has offered Labour a chance to regain the public’s trust

The Conservative leadership contest has another six weeks to run before the UK has its next prime minister, but Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have already earmarked key allies for potential top roles in government. Both leadership campaigns insist no job offers have been made and that it is premature to discuss who might serve

European governments are attempting to water down Brussels’ plans to push the bloc into cutting gas demand to better weather a shortage of Russian supplies this winter. Diplomats from the 27 EU member states have been locked in negotiations since the European Commission proposed measures last week requiring countries to cut gas use by 15

The UK and French governments will each have a seat on the board of a new satellite operator aiming to take on billionaire space entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos under merger terms being thrashed out on Sunday between Eutelsat and OneWeb. Paris-listed Eutelsat and OneWeb, the space-based internet pioneer rescued from collapse by a

While you may not have realised it from Christine Lagarde’s understated delivery, the European Central Bank last week became a lot more pugnacious towards both financial markets and the eurozone’s fiscal policymakers. For quite some time the ECB, which Lagarde heads, has been visibly uncomfortable about being “the only game in town”. It was long

The battle between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to become Britain’s next prime minister switched to immigration over the weekend, as the two Tory leadership contenders vowed to outdo each other in tightening up control of the country’s borders. Sunak, the former chancellor, hinted he would clamp down on the number of people fleeing war

The writer is former chief economist at Goldman Sachs and was a UK Treasury minister It is now over 12 years since the Conservative party regained power. As members ponder their fourth leader during that time, the country urgently needs their choice — and our next prime minister — to have a credible vision of how to

The US military’s top officer said China was becoming more aggressive in intercepting military aircraft and undertaking unsafe aerial manoeuvres over the past five years. General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said China was conducting “dangerous intercepts” against American military aircraft and ships, and was also targeting Canada, Australia, Japan

China’s new Belt and Road Initiative investments in Russia have fallen to zero for the first time, signalling Beijing’s reluctance to incur sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine war. In contrast with past multibillion-dollar pledges and contracts, Beijing struck no new deals with Russian entities under the Belt and Road programme in the first

The EU’s trade chief has vowed to accelerate efforts to boost the union’s network of trade deals, as Brussels responded to member state calls to strengthen global supply chains, wean itself off Russia and deepen links with key allies. Valdis Dombrovskis, EU trade commissioner, said geopolitical pressures were “shifting our perspective on trade policy”, adding