Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from £11.9bn over past five years to £9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoods

The UK plans to slash its aid to poor countries stricken by the climate crisis by more than a fifth, the Guardian has learned, despite promises to increase assistance and warnings from campaigners that the move will cost lives and livelihoods.

Ministers plan to cut climate finance for the developing world from £11.6bn over the past five years to £9bn in the next five. In real terms, accounting for inflation, this would represent a cut of about 40% in spending power since 2021, when the £11.6bn budget was agreed.

Days after Labour’s 2010 defeat former cabinet minister began dogged pursuit of ‘highly paid’ jobs, emails show

Peter Mandelson began seeking advice from the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on how to land “highly paid” senior roles with companies including BP and Glencore within days of Labour’s 2010 electoral defeat, emails show.

A flurry of messages, sent in the weeks and months following the collapse of the New Labour project, reveal how Epstein mentored Mandelson as the former cabinet minister touted himself for lucrative jobs at global businesses.

Rights group says growing authoritarianism and abuses in US, Russia and China threaten global rules-based order

The world is in a “democratic recession” with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers – levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new report.

The system underpinning human rights was “in peril”, said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), with a growing authoritarian wave becoming “the challenge of a generation”, he said.

MoneySavingExpert founder has said changes that will lead to some graduates in England and Wales paying more are ‘not moral’

• Graduates in England and Wales: share your views on student loan repayments

A fairly technical-sounding change to student loans tucked away in last November’s budget has become the catalyst for an increasingly bad-tempered row pitting the UK consumer champion Martin Lewis against the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

In one interview, Lewis – the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, who boasts a vast following – said he did not think the planned change to repayment terms “was a moral thing”.

Barclays, HSBC and NatWest shareholders already approved big pay rises after post Brexit loosening of remuneration rules

Lloyds Banking Group boss, Charlie Nunn, could be in line for a maximum annual pay packet worth more than £13m, as he becomes the latest boss to benefit from the UK’s controversial decision to lift a cap on banker bonuses.

The bank’s remuneration committee has begun drafting a new three-year executive pay policy that, for the first time, will take advantage of looser pay rules that have sent potential payouts soaring at rival banks.

Board unwilling to accept hostile takeover despite $40bn guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate.

Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, had sought to combat WBD’s criticism of its offer and claims it had “consistently misled” investors by saying it had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons.

High Pay Centre calculates bosses will pass milestone on third working day of 2026 with median pay of £1,353 an hour

The bosses of FTSE 100 companies will have made more money in 2026 before midday on Tuesday than the average worker will all year, according to figures laying bare the yawning income gap.

Median annual pay for FTSE 100 chief executives is £4.4m, the High Pay Centre thinktank calculated, 113 times higher than the £39,039 earned by the median full-time worker.

Agreement finalised by the OECD waters down a landmark 2021 deal that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%

Nearly 150 countries have agreed on a landmark plan to stop large global companies shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, but the US will be exempt from the deal, angering tax transparency groups.

The plan, finalised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, excludes large US-based multinational corporations from the 15% global minimum tax after negotiations between the Trump administration and other members of the G7.

Hailing app will now act as agent rather than supplier outside London, avoiding VAT requirement

Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers.

The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is payable on minicab fares and would have resulted in the whole Uber fare becoming subject to the 20% sales tax.

Uptick of more than 20% in 2025 was fuelled by share buybacks and helpful breezes in key constituent parts such as defence and mining

• FTSE 100 index enjoys its best year since 2009

• Business live – latest updates

It was a bumper year for stock markets globally and the surprise, perhaps, is that the FTSE 100 index more than kept up. The London market has sometimes been derided as lacking dynamism – the hedge fund manager Paul Marshall called it the “Jurassic Park” of exchanges a few years ago – but its main index enjoyed its best 12 months since 2009. The Footsie didn’t quite make it to the round number of 10,000 but still improved by 21.5%, slightly outperforming the S&P 500 index in the US.

How did that happen amid weakening UK growth, pre-budget chaos and general gloom? The short answer is that a stock market index reflects only its constituent parts. It is not a symbol of national economic virility. That is especially true of the internationally flavoured Footsie, whose members make about three-quarters of their combined revenues overseas.