EU and US to restart trade talks as sticking points on July tariff deal remain

The EU and US are set to restart trade negotiations next week after a two-month pause to try to settle unresolved sticking points in their controversial tariff deal struck in July.The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and trade representative Jamieson Greer will hold high-level meetings in Brussels on Monday with ministers, EU commissioners and industry bosses.The face-to-face meetings are the first talks since the six-week US government shutdown that began at the start of October. In a high-risk move, Lutnick and Greer have been invited to lunch with 27 trade ministers who are gathering for a summit on Monday.One insider said: “We need to keep it focused, what we don’t want is individual countries going up to them and demanding deals on this, this and that

Labour must back delivery drivers sacked by DPD, former cabinet minister says

The Labour government must back delivery workers who were sacked for speaking out about DPD’s plans to cut of thousands of pounds from their pay, a former cabinet minister has said.Louise Haigh has heavily criticised the delivery firm over its treatment of the workers – one of whom said the row had cost them their livelihoods just in time for Christmas.“This is pretty despicable behaviour from DPD management. Punishing vulnerable workers for standing up for their agreed terms and conditions should be illegal,” the former transport secretary said. She added that the “Labour government needs to make sure they are standing on the side of the powerless against such exploitative practices”

Hospitals and clinics are shutting down due to Trump’s healthcare cuts. Here’s where

Healthcare providers across the country have closed clinics and hospital wards in the four months since Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the landmark tax-and-spending legislation that will lead an estimated 10 million people to lose their health insurance.The law is expected to slash federal funding by hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming years, as part of Trump’s campaign pledge to shrink government spending. But it will do so in part by paring back eligibility for Medicaid, the US government’s health insurance program for low-income people; raising the cost of healthcare under the Affordable Care Act; and defunding some family planning providers who offer abortions.Rural hospitals and obstetric wards will be disproportionately battered, since they are typically expensive to run and serve high numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries. More than 300 rural hospitals are at risk of closure or cutting services, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found

Falling stock markets and high shop prices hit US consumer confidence; rate cut hopes lift Wall Street – as it happened

US consumer sentiment fell in November to one of the lowest levels on record as Americans grow gloomier about their personal financial outlook.The University of Michigan’s index of consumer morale has dropped to 51 for November, down from 53.6 in October.The recent stock market falls appear to have dented sentiment among rich Americans, while other citizens are suffering from high prices in the shops.Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu explains:After the federal shutdown ended, sentiment lifted slightly from its mid-month reading

US data agency cancels October inflation report as Fed considers whether to cut rates

The US federal government will not publish official data on inflation for October, depriving policymakers at the Federal Reserve of key information as they consider whether to cut interest rates.The Bureau of Labor Statistics canceled the release of the closely watched consumer price index (CPI) for October, citing the government shutdown – the longest in history, before it ended earlier this month – and stating it could not “retroactively collect” the data required for the report.The decision, announced on Friday, heightens uncertainty around the strength of the US economy. Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, had already likened the central bank’s task of guiding the economy, without standard data on its performance, to “driving in the fog”.Price growth remains above typical levels, according to recent CPI releases

Drax, the forestry industry and the guise of ‘green’ energy | Letters

The environmental non-profit Stand.earth fails to see the wood from the trees when it comes to the Canadian forestry industry and Drax’s limited role within it (Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say, 9 November). We do not own forests or sawmills, and we do not decide what areas are approved for harvesting.The vast majority (81%) of our Canadian fibre came from sawdust and other sawmill residues created when sawmills produce wood products used in construction and other industries in 2024. The remaining 19% of our fibre came from forest residues, including low-grade roundwood, tops, branches and bark