Bulk carrier uses deep-water channel en route to Canada marking important step in recovery efforts after last month’s disaster The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, killing a work crew and halting most maritime traffic through the city’s port. The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier sailing under a Panama flag, passed through the new 35ft channel headed for Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on Thursday. Two more commercial ships followed later, including a vehicle car ..read more

Investor’s move comes amid reports RedBird IMI is to formally withdraw its attempt to buy the newspaper The GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall is stepping down from the board of the broadcaster after three years, it was announced on Friday. Marshall is expected to be a frontrunner in the race to buy the Telegraph when the auction process reopens, after the government in effect scuppered its planned sale of the newspaper to a United Arab Emirates-backed consortium, RedBird IMI ..read more

Collections by ex-Spice Girl had been too dear for most but deal with affordable chain forecast to help tip VB business into profit When Victoria Beckham debuted her first collection of just 10 dresses in a luxury hotel suite at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 2008, she told the sceptical assembly of the world’s most powerful fashion editors that she had “spent a lifetime wanting to do this”. “It’s what I always dreamed of since I customised my school uniform when I was 7 years old,” she said. “Then along came the Spice Girls which opened a lot of doors for me. And, let’s be honest, closed ..read more

Tech company’s shares rise as it plans to reward investors after strong quarterly results Google’s parent company has hit a stock market value of $2tn (£1.6tn) as investors reacted to a declaration of its first ever dividend alongside strong results on Thursday. Shares in Alphabet rose 10% in early Wall Street trading on Friday to give the tech group a stock market capitalisation – a measure of a corporation’s value – of more than $2tn. Alphabet last hit that level in intraday trading in 2021, but has yet to close above that benchmark after a day’s trading ..read more

Inquiry hears firm ‘drip fed’ compensation to Martin Griffiths’ widow as incentive for her to ‘maintain confidentialty’ The Post Office sought to “hush up” the case of Martin Griffiths, a post office operator who took his own life, by “drip feeding” compensation payments to his widow and lining up a media lawyer to protect its reputation, a public inquiry has heard. Angela van den Bogerd, a former business improvement director at the state-owned body, was being questioned at the Horizon IT public inquiry on Friday about the case of Griffiths, who died in 2013 after financial shortfalls were fo ..read more

Offer for ‘cutting edge’ UK firm from Thoma Bravo signals another blow for the London Stock Exchange Business live – latest updates The Cambridge-based cybersecurity and artificial intelligence company Darktrace is likely to become the latest British technology champion to be swallowed up by a US suitor, after it agreed a $5.3bn (£4.2bn) sale to US private equity business Thoma Bravo. Darktrace, whose co-founding investor Mike Lynch is now on trial for fraud and conspiracy in the US, agreed to an offer 44% higher than its average share price over the past three months ..read more

This is not a repeat of the Covid pandemic. Yet global governments should follow the US and prepare a response Avian flu, or H5N1, is making headlines in the United States. The past few years have seen concerning signs of it spreading across the world – whether in chickens in Britain, sea lions in Peru, or Caspian seals in Russia. This time, it is has been confirmed in American cows, and the World Health Organization has warned that the risk of it spreading to humans is of “enormous concern”. While it is early days, the hypothesis is that in late 2023, a single cow was infected by coming into ..read more

After meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, Antony Blinken says relations improving but rift remains over Ukraine war Antony Blinken has warned Xi Jinping at a meeting in Beijing that the US and its European allies are ready to impose new sanctions on Chinese companies if they do not stop supplying material and equipment to the Russian arms industry. There was no immediate response from Xi, but earlier on Friday China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said “disruptions” could reverse recent improvements in US-China relations and lead to a “downward spiral” of rivalry, confrontation and even conflict ..read more

EV sales have plateaued across the world but the newfound glut of vehicles may just be temporary Elon Musk became the world’s richest man by evangelising about electric cars – and delivering them by the million. Yet in recent months his company, Tesla, has struggled to maintain its momentum: sales have dropped this year, and so has its share price. Those struggles have become emblematic of a broader reckoning facing the electric vehicle (EV) industry. After the soaring demand and valuations of the coronavirus pandemic years, the pace of sales growth has slowed. The industry has entered a new p ..read more

Employment tribunal sought over claims firm tried to induce workers to leave union in long-running row The GMB is taking legal action against Amazon in the long-running battle for recognition at its Coventry warehouse, accusing the US firm of trying to “induce” staff to leave the union. An employment tribunal claim is being lodged on behalf of five workers at the large site, known as BHX4 ..read more