Coventry Building Society makes £780m offer for Co-operative Bank Tentative offer follows four months of talks and could create new banking group with almost 5m customers
IMF’s Georgieva says border migration is helping US outperform Europe; UK car insurance prices finally falling – as it happened Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Post Office was urged by external lawyers to ‘suppress’ key document, inquiry hears Email was sent suggesting postal company should withhold disclosing investigation guidelines
Kemi Badenoch: ‘UK’s wealth isn’t from white privilege and colonialism’ Minister told London conference that Glorious Revolution of 1688 paved way for economic certainty
EasyJet cuts winter losses despite cancelled flights due to Israel-Gaza war Airline says demand has rebounded, with strong bookings at its holiday arm
‘We can’t hunt or fish’: the villages in Ecuador’s Amazon surrounded by abandoned explosives In 2002, high explosives were laid in oil wells across 20 sq km of forest. The firm has gone but the pentolite remains, despite a court ruling, putting lives and the ecosystem at risk
KitKat owner Nestlé faces vote forcing it to cut back on unhealthy products Company, which also makes Quality Street, says reducing sugar, salt and fats could harm ‘strategic freedom’
UK music investor Hipgnosis agrees £1.1bn takeover by Concord Chorus Shares in Beyoncé and Neil Young song fund rise amid hopes uncertainty over its future could be over
Private health insurance market grows by £385m in a year amid NHS crisis Demand for private treatment booms as NHS waiting lists remain long, while more people also sign up for dental cover
I Could Never Go Vegan review – cheerfully persuasive film about the plant-based lifestyle Thomas Pickering blends approachable narration with well-presented information in a welcome reminder of the Michael Moore method
Australia’s unemployment rate rises to 3.8% in March as employers shed more than 6,000 jobs Reserve Bank and Treasury had predicted unemployment rate would rise from February’s 3.7% as interest rates bite
‘Russia doesn’t care’: Sweden sounds alarm over unsafe oil fleet Foreign minister warns of environmental catastrophe in Baltic Sea as he accuses Moscow of using unseaworthy vessels
Holland & Barrett trains 600 women’s health coaches to give in-store support Retailer says it is filling advice gap on subjects such as menstruation and hormones amid wellness-focused revamp
Biden to triple taxes on Chinese steel and block Japanese takeover of US Steel President touted plan during speech on Wednesday in Pennsylvania, where union support could prove crucial
Bank of England governor shrugs off smaller-than-expected fall in inflation Andrew Bailey says inflation is in line with BoE forecasts but view of markets is that data will delay interest rate cuts