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FBI searches southern California facility where chemical incident spurred evacuation

Chemical tank overheated in May and forced evacuation of 50,000 nearby residents due to danger of explosion

The FBI is searching a southern California aerospace facility where an overheated chemical tank forced 50,000 residents to evacuate last month, after federal authorities served a search warrant there on Wednesday.

Signed by a federal judge last week, the warrant approved the seizure of records related to the “storage, use or disposal” of methyl methacrylate, the chemical stored inside the tank that authorities feared could explode.

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© Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP

© Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP

© Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP

Mike Ashley’s Frasers makes €1.98bn takeover bid for Hugo Boss

Fashion and sportswear group, which owns 26% of the German luxury brand, is now seeking full control

Mike Ashley’s retail group, Frasers, has launched a near-€2bn takeover offer for the German luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss.

The fashion and sportswear group, which owns 26% of Hugo Boss, said it is offering to pay about €1.98bn (£1.73bn) for the remainder of the business to take full control.

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© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Toby Carvery to fund orchard replanting as settlement for felling ancient oak

10 June 2026 at 16:30

Enfield council in north London took legal action against restaurant chain after outrage over damage to tree

The UK restaurant chain Toby Carvery has settled a legal dispute over taking a chainsaw to an ancient oak tree without permission, by agreeing to pay to restore a lost orchard.

The unauthorised partial felling of the 500-year-old oak next to a Toby Carvery car park in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, north London, in April last year, prompted widespread public outrage and questions in parliament.

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© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Breast cancer and endometriosis drug Zoladex is being pulled from Australia. How will women be affected?

10 June 2026 at 16:00

The vital medicine, made by AstraZeneca, will not be available from November, possibly leaving thousands of women without treatment

Thousands of women could be left without vital breast cancer and endometriosis medicine when AstraZeneca removes its treatment from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and the private market, experts warn.

Zoladex will no longer be available in Australia from November, as the ABC first reported, but some existing patients will still be able to access it for an additional six months.

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© Photograph: Olena Malik/Getty Images

© Photograph: Olena Malik/Getty Images

© Photograph: Olena Malik/Getty Images

Inflation rises to a 3-year high on spiking gas prices, highlighting affordability challenges

Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.

Weight-loss drug users save more than £400 a year on food as take-up triples

10 June 2026 at 14:29

Research suggests households that include a GLP-1 user collectively spent £780m less on grocery bills

Weight-loss drugs are saving users’ households more than £400 a year on grocery bills, according to a survey, which found use of GLP-1s has nearly tripled in the past two years to 1.9 million adults.

More than 6.3% of households in Great Britain now include at least one GLP-1 user, according to the research by Worldpanel by Numerator. This marks a sharp rise from 4.1% of households in 2025 and 2.3% in 2024.

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© Photograph: Ashok Saxena/Alamy

© Photograph: Ashok Saxena/Alamy

© Photograph: Ashok Saxena/Alamy

China’s BYD aims to be world’s biggest car firm within five years

EV maker aims to overtake Toyota, as it plans to spend £1.8bn to build five-minute flash chargers in Europe

The Chinese car company BYD has said it aims to be the world’s biggest automaker within the next five years.

Targeting Toyota’s long-held top spot, BYD’s founder and chair, Wang Chuanfu said he was confident it could overtake global rivals through rapid advances in battery technology and fast charging, as well as growing production overseas, including Europe.

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© Photograph: Cheng Xin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Cheng Xin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Cheng Xin/Getty Images

Dutch Authorities Block $115 Million Deal by a U.S. Tech Company

The Netherlands blocked a U.S. company from buying a Dutch firm that handles its national ID system, saying it would create a “threat to the public interest.”

© Laurens Van Putten/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Willemijn Aerdts, the Dutch minister for the digital economy and sovereignty, spoke to the news media last month after blocking the acquisition of Solvinity, a Dutch tech company, by the U.S. firm Kyndryl.

WH Smith raises £100m as it warns on profits due to Iran war

10 June 2026 at 14:57

Retailer plans to shut unprofitable stores as falling US airport traffic due to Middle East conflict hits trading

Business live – latest updates

WH Smith has issued a profit warning after shopper numbers at its stores in US airports fell as a result of the war in the Middle East, prompting the company to raise fresh capital from investors.

The retailer, which operates 1,200 outlets globally in airports, railway stations and hospitals, raised £102m through a share sale on Wednesday to strengthen its balance sheet, pay down debt, invest in technology and shut down unprofitable stores following “a downturn in trading conditions”.

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© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Guy Bell/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

More than half of clean energy schemes needed for Labour’s 2030 target offered grid connection

10 June 2026 at 07:00

The 700 projects include wind and solar farms, battery storage, gas and hydro plans

More than half the renewable energy projects needed to meet the government’s clean power targets by 2030 are now able to plug into the electricity grid after years of delay, according to the system operator.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has offered more than 700 clean energy projects in Great Britain a grid connection date since the start of the year, after a two-year process to unblock a bottleneck that threatened to delay projects into the 2030s.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Bycatch has ‘shocking’ toll on British marine life, first-ever analysis reveals

10 June 2026 at 05:00

Conservationists say cherished creatures such as whales, dolphins and seabirds are being killed in large numbers by fishing tackle

Thousands of Britain’s most charismatic and protected marine wildlife, including whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals and seabirds are being killed as “collateral damage” by fishing vessels every year, according to the first-ever analysis of bycatch data.

The analysis, by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of voluntary conservation groups, reveals the devastating toll bycatch, the accidental capture and killing of non-target species by fishing vessels, is having on marine species.

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© Photograph: Marco Kesseler/Alamy

© Photograph: Marco Kesseler/Alamy

© Photograph: Marco Kesseler/Alamy

Ukraine strengthens defense ties with Latvia, Estonia

9 June 2026 at 22:22
Ukraine signed new defense cooperation agreements with Latvia and Estonia on June 9, deepening security and defense ties with the Baltic nations.

UK’s biggest retailers urge government to act on youth unemployment

9 June 2026 at 16:50

Bosses of M&S, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among those writing to Starmer that the ‘ladder of opportunity’ is wobbling

Some of the UK’s biggest retailers are planning to write to the prime minister urging him to tackle the youth unemployment crisis, with signatories expected to include the bosses of Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Lobby group the British Retail Consortium said it had drafted a letter to Keir Starmer calling for action, and is circulating it among its 200 members, which include all the main UK retailers (with the exception of Games Workshop) as well as smaller shops. The letter is expected to be published on Wednesday.

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© Photograph: Oliver Dixon/PA

© Photograph: Oliver Dixon/PA

© Photograph: Oliver Dixon/PA

Amazon’s main UK arm handed £7.6m tax credit as profits soar to £355m

9 June 2026 at 13:15

Tech company received infrastructure relief as its five biggest UK divisions generate £32bn in revenues

Amazon’s main division in the UK was handed a £7.6m tax credit last year by HM Revenue and Customs, despite profits at the retail-to-streaming company surging by more than a quarter to £355m.

Amazon UK Services – which employs 66,000 staff, the vast majority of the company’s 75,000 employees in Britain – said it owed £9.1m in “current tax” last year.

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© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

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