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The US and Germany will send main battle tanks to Kyiv, a significant increase of western military aid that was condemned by Russia and prompted cheers throughout Ukraine. The US will be sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine — or the equivalent of one Ukrainian tank battalion, senior Biden administration officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Several senior Ukrainian officials have resigned after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swiftly sought to defuse concerns over corruption at a time when he is requesting more western weaponry to repel Russian forces. “We have made personnel decisions . . . regarding officials of various levels in ministries and other central government bodies, in the regions, and in the law enforcement

Microsoft has confirmed a “multibillion-dollar investment” in ChatGPT bot maker OpenAI, making its biggest bet yet that artificial intelligence systems have the power to transform the tech giant’s business model and products. Precise financial details have not been disclosed, though the company on Monday said it was investing billions of dollars in a “multiyear” agreement.

The eurozone will avoid a recession this year according to a widely-watched survey of economists which illustrates the sharp about-turn in global economic sentiment in the past couple of weeks. As recently as last month, analysts surveyed by Consensus Economics were predicting the bloc would plunge into recession this year. But this month’s survey found

Banks are gearing up for the biggest round of job cuts since the global financial crisis, as executives come under pressure to slash costs following a collapse in investment banking revenues. The lay-offs — which are expected to be in the tens of thousands across the sector — reverse the mass hirings banks made over

Google’s parent company will axe 12,000 staff, pushing total tech job losses in the past 12 months above 200,000, as industry bosses concede they overextended during the pandemic’s digital boom. The industry-wide cull has affected more than 50,000 people across just four Big Tech companies that also include Amazon, Meta and Microsoft. Apple is the

The US Treasury has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to meet its obligations, after the US government hit its $31.4tn borrowing limit, Janet Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday as she urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling sooner rather than later to avoid an unprecedented default. The Treasury secretary had previously

The stress for investors is not yet over after stock markets cleared out the “crap” that built up after the outbreak of Covid-19, with a long period of drab returns still lying ahead, the chief executive of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has warned. US inflation could be poised to reaccelerate before this summer, in part

Goldman Sachs’ profits plunged two-thirds last quarter, missing expectations and capping a grim year that has forced the bank to embark on its largest cost-cutting exercise since the financial crisis. It was the Wall Street bank’s fifth straight quarter of falling profits and Goldman has already moved to cut more than 3,000 jobs, slash bonuses

US drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the UK government in protest at a sharp rise in the levy on branded medicines. Eli Lilly said the levy, which now amounts to more than a quarter of pharmaceutical industry revenue in the UK,

US companies are turning to convertible bonds as fundraising in Wall Street’s main equities market is at its lowest level for three decades. December was the busiest month of last year for convertible issuance by deal count according to Refinitiv data, as activity picked up over the second half of 2022. The amount US-based companies

Chinese authorities reported nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths at hospitals across the country since the end of strict pandemic restrictions in December, following criticism from groups including the World Health Organization for underrepresenting the severity of its outbreak. Jiao Yahui, director of the medical affairs department for China’s National Health Commission, said there had been a

JPMorgan Chase said it might be forced to pay more for deposits this year in what analysts called “a warning shot for the entire industry”. Like other Wall Street banks, JPMorgan has benefited from Federal Reserve interest rate rises boosting net interest income — the difference in what banks pay on deposits and what they

Annual US inflation fell in December to its lowest level in more than a year, in a further sign that price pressures have peaked amid the Federal Reserve’s historic campaign to tighten monetary policy. The consumer price index, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday, declined for a sixth consecutive month, registering an

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said the UK government wanted to have a “constructive dialogue” with unions, as ambulance staff across England and Wales launched industrial action over pay and working conditions. Workers from the GMB and Unison unions have begun industrial action in 10 out of the 11 ambulance trusts in England and Wales, after

Amazon is closing three UK warehouses this year, a move that will affect 1,200 staff, as the internet retailing giant cuts costs following a squeeze in consumer spending. The closures at fulfilment centres in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, Doncaster in South Yorkshire, and Gourock in Scotland were announced on Tuesday, a week after the tech

Eurozone unemployment hit a fresh record low, while output from German factories rose in November, boosting hopes of a milder-than-feared economic downturn across the single currency area. Figures from Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics bureau, showed that the number of people in the labour market without work fell slightly in November. Eurostat reported 10.849mn workers

EY is setting aside $2.5bn to fund an acquisition spree for its consulting arm following its planned separation from the Big Four firm’s audit business, as it presses ahead with preparations for the historic split. The war chest will allow the new company, which EY is aiming to float in New York, to double the

Companies have rushed to borrow money in the US corporate bond market in the first week of the year, taking advantage of easier financial conditions as investors scale back their expectations for the path of future interest rates. In the first seven days of 2023, companies from Credit Suisse to Ford issued $63.7bn worth of

Rishi Sunak has invited Britain’s trade union leaders to talks on Monday in an attempt to find a solution to the wave of disruptive strikes across the UK. The UK prime minister said in a broadcast interview on Friday that government departments had written to the relevant unions inviting them for talks to begin on