Moody’s changes outlook on firm from stable to negative as financial plans ‘do not provide attractive risk-return balance’ Thames Water’s debt has been downgraded as the struggling utility company seeks to secure £3bn in emergency funding to stave off collapse, after it emerged that the government has approached potential administrators. The rating agency Moody’s downgraded…

Electrical goods chain also says it intends to bring in more automation, despite market ‘perking up’ over Christmas Business live – latest updates Currys has announced it is to bring in more automation and that it is entering a period of “depressed hiring” after changes to employers’ national insurance, though it said the consumer environment…

Panda fan culture once flourished in China. But Beijing is tightening control of discussion of a national symbol.

PM labels opposition leader ‘weak’ for failing to make a single national press club address since 2022 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has branded Peter Dutton “weak” for skipping appearances in front of the national media in Canberra,…

The victims of the tragedy have been remembered by a commemorative exhibition erected by the NSW government. Follow today’s news live. Huge swathes of the country will continue to swelter as a severe heatwave is set to continue across much of Australia until the middle of next week. The Bureau of Meteorology has current heatwave…

LGBT couples now have the same rights as any other couple – the culmination of a decades-long campaign.

Previous government spent almost £1m trying to prevent release of documents in 56 legal cases More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home. The costs were part of a bill of…

Exclusive: Timpson says government plans to reverse rise in female inmates and use alternative forms of punishment A women’s jail in England or Wales should be closed by diverting offenders to alternative forms of punishment and rehabilitation, the prisons minister, James Timpson has said. In an interview with the Guardian, the former head of the…

The pioneering presenter was best known for hosting Sounds of the 70s and the Radio 2 Rock Show Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79, it has been announced. Walker, who hosted Radio 2’s Sounds of the 70s and The Radio 2 Rock Show, began his career as a pirate…