British Museum ends ‘deeply troubling’ sponsorship from Japanese tobacco firm

Move welcomed by critics, who have been calling for end to ‘morally unacceptable’ deals since 2016

Harvard to investigate Larry Summers’s Epstein ties as he exits OpenAI board

Newly released Epstein documents drag the ex-treasury secretary into deeper scrutiny as Harvard widens its review

The days of 4% pay rises are behind us – wages are now barely growing faster than inflation

The recovery of real wages is expected to be so slow that it will take us until 2044 to get back to having as much purchasing power as in 2021

UK inflation eases for first time in five months to 3.6% before crunch budget

Drop in October’s annual rate raises hopes of interest rate cut after Rachel Reeves’s tax and spending statement

Netherlands suspends state seizure of Chinese chipmaker Nexperia

Dutch government’s move pauses dispute that threatened car production around the world

China suspends seafood imports from Japan as Taiwan row escalates

Beijing reimposes 2023 ban, citing Japan PM’s comment that military would respond to Chinese attack on island

Fall in UK inflation looks like turning point that heralds interest rate cut

Rachel Reeves hints there will be budget measures to push down prices and Bank of England is likely to act

Launch of East West Rail services to be delayed in row over guards on trains

Trains between Oxford and Milton Keynes put back to 2026 partly due to dispute, Chiltern Railways says

Onboard the world’s largest sailing cargo ship: is this the future of travel and transport?

The Neoliner Origin set off on its inaugural two-week voyage from France to the US with the aim of revolutionising the notoriously dirty shipping industry

‘Out of touch’ hereditary peers criticised for voting against workers’ rights

Lords look ‘undemocratic and firmly against interest of working people’, say senior trade union and Labour figures

Ocado’s share price is back where it started. Are its robots just too fancy?

Delivery company struggling to convince US chain Kroger, its most important customer, of the virtues of automation

The Guardian view on crypto’s latest crash: it reveals who pays the price for a failing economy

Editorial: The bitcoin collapse lifts the lid on a society without opportunity, where risk is privatised and rightwingers sell illusions of freedom while ordinary punters bear losses

Visma approaches City grandee to act as chair if €20bn London listing goes ahead

Norwegian software group looks to ex-Worldpay boss Sir Ron Kalifa as it weighs up blockbuster flotation in London or Stockholm

Klarna says AI drive has helped halve staff numbers and boost pay

Buy now, pay later firm says pay has risen by 60% with staff numbers mostly cut by attrition and tech investment

Tories and Reform spout imaginary numbers as they fight for attention

Back-of-an envelope calculations by Kemi Badenoch, Mel Stride and Nigel Farage are nothing but political fever dreams