Workers and unions condemn ICE operation as ‘horrific’ as pressure builds on Susan Collins, facing re-election this year Maine, the US’s whitest state, has been shaken by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, a crackdown that could threaten Republican control of the Senate in November’s crucial midterm elections.Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents launched “Operation Catch of the Day” in the state on 21 January, targeting “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities”, according to the administration. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 11:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Prime minister’s Liberal Democratic party to be pressed on promised tax cuts and fiscal stimulus plansBusiness live – latest updatesJapan’s stock market has hit a record high after Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party (LDP) secured a comprehensive victory in Sunday’s election.The LDP won 316 of the 465 seats in the country’s lower house – the first time a single party has secured two-thirds of the chamber since the establishment of Japan’s parliament in 1947. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 09:29 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Exclusive: António Guterres says world’s accounting systems should place true value on the environmentEconomic growth is still heating the planet. Is there any way out?The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general António Guterres has warned.Speaking to the Guardian after the UN hosted a meeting of leading global economists, Guterres said humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s “existing accounting systems” he said were driving the planet to the brink of disaster. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Rising GDP continues to mean more carbon emissions and wider damage to the planet. Can the two be decoupled?During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth.Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO2 as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the idea that an inevitable cost of prosperity is environmental harm. Continue reading...

09 Feb 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Liam Byrne is echoing Robin Cook’s ethical trade policy, warning the UK needs deals more open to scrutiny to prevent future issuesTrade can be a dirty business. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was tolerated as a “special representative for trade and investment” in the noughties despite allegations that he kept convicted gun smugglers for friends, while Peter Mandelson’s ability to schmooze the rich and famous repeatedly overruled concerns about his probity.To close a deal, there are always compromises to be made, and sometimes the terms are unsavoury. Continue reading...

07 Feb 2026 16:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Deregulation alone can’t make homes affordable when rising inequality, not zoning, is what is driving prices upDonald Trump has an interesting view of how housing plays in US politics. “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes,” he said at a recent cabinet meeting. Unaffordable housing may be front and center of the “affordability crisis” pissing off voters. Still, he insists: “We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home.”It can be hard to square some things Trump says with other things Trump says, let alone with reality. One can’t help but remember his campaign “goal of cutting the cost of a new home in half” by eliminating pesky regulations that raise the cost of construction. Forget that cheap new entry-level homes will weigh on the price of the existing housing stock. Continue reading...

07 Feb 2026 12:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsOnly seven new petrol-powered cars sold in Norway in JanuarySilver is also looking very volatile.The spot price of silver tumbled by 19% yesterday, hot on the heels of its 27% plunge on 30 January. Continue reading...

06 Feb 2026 16:06 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN