Watchdog fines just four companies despite 300,000 sewage spills

The environment watchdog prosecuted just four water companies for breaching an overflow permit between 2018 and 2022 despite hundreds of thousands of sewage spills over that period, according to official data. Southern Water, Severn Trent, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water were prosecuted by the Environment Agency and fined a total of just over £94mn in…

Labour plans to tackle housing crisis by forcing landowners to sell at lower prices

Labour is drawing up plans that would force landowners to sell plots for a fraction of their potential market price in an effort to cut home-building costs in England, according to party officials. Lisa Nandy, shadow levelling-up secretary, intends to reform how land is valued when acquired by councils through “compulsory purchase orders” (CPOs), if…

China turns down US invitation for defence chiefs meeting in Singapore

Beijing has declined the Pentagon’s request for a meeting between US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and China’s defence minister Li Shangfu at a security forum in Singapore in June, the latest sign of the difficulties the countries are having trying to stabilise their turbulent relationship. The overture had been made for a meeting to take…

Is a Disney cruise cheaper than a trip to Disney World? Sometimes, it is. Here’s a breakdown.

Is a Disney cruise cheaper than a trip to Disney World? Sometimes, it is. Here’s a breakdown.

A Disney Cruise certainly isn’t cheap, especially compared with other cruise operators. But what about compared with other types of Disney vacations? For many travelers, a Disney DIS, +0.17% cruise actually comes out cheaper than a trip to Walt Disney World. To better understand Disney Cruise Line versus Disney World costs, NerdWallet analyzed prices for…

How much does a mammogram cost? Depends on whether it’s diagnostic or screening.

How much does a mammogram cost? Depends on whether it’s diagnostic or screening.

Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh a financial decision. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. And please share your suggestions for future Financial Face-off columns by emailing our columnist at lal[email protected].  This column usually lays out the…

Kosovo erupts in violence as ethnic Serbs bar Albanian mayors from taking office

Kosovo erupted in the year’s worst clashes between ethnic Serbs and Albanians on Monday as tensions escalated over a disputed election last month, leading to dozens of casualties among mostly Serb protesters and injuries to about 25 Nato peacekeepers. The violence broke out as Serb demonstrators tried to block newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors from…

My husband won’t work and doesn’t have a driver’s license. What can I do?

My husband won’t work and doesn’t have a driver’s license. What can I do?

I am married, but we are both different people, and I get the feeling my husband doesn’t even like me. He’s too tired to leave, and we don’t have anything but bills. He doesn’t have a driver’s license, and he won’t even go to court to pay his fines and get it back. He’s content…

Democrats and Republicans confident they can pass deal to avert US default

Republican leaders and the White House have secured the backing of crucial mainstream lawmakers for their deal to avert a damaging default on US debt, raising confidence that the pact can be swiftly approved by Congress. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and president Joe Biden have little room for error to ensure passage of the…

Nvidia and Best Buy suggested a pandemic-era tech bottleneck is ending. Now we see for sure

Nvidia and Best Buy suggested a pandemic-era tech bottleneck is ending. Now we see for sure

Best Buy Co. BBY, +4.28% Chief Executive Corie Barry said last week she expected the downtrend in tech-product demand to bottom out soon, with a rebound in the second half of the year. Executives for chip maker Nvidia Corp. NVDA, +2.54% said their logjam of products that could not find buyers after a pandemic surge…

India files criminal complaint against Rolls-Royce and BAE

India’s top investigative agency has filed a criminal complaint accusing Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems of engaging in corruption over historic deals to supply fighter jets to the country. The Central Bureau of Investigation alleged that the companies had between 2003 and 2012 engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to “cheat the government of India” over deals…

Wall Street tech darling Nvidia unveils more AI products — including a new supercomputer

Wall Street tech darling Nvidia unveils more AI products — including a new supercomputer

Wall Street clearly hasn’t seen anything yet. Nvidia Corp., the chip manufacturer that investors can’t seem to get enough of, announced a flurry of dazzling AI-related products over the weekend, including a new supercomputer, alongside plans to make online gaming figures come alive. “We’re now at the tipping point of a new computing era with…

Memorial Day weekend: Is the post office delivering mail? Are banks open?

Memorial Day weekend: Is the post office delivering mail? Are banks open?

For many of us, the upcoming Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to the summer season. But we should never forget the true meaning of Memorial Day itself (Monday, May 29) — an occasion to honor those who died while serving their country. The national holiday traces its roots back to 1868, when a…

Nvidia chief Jensen Huang says AI is creating a ‘new computing era’

Nvidia’s chief executive hailed a new era of computing in which “everyone is a programmer”, as the world’s most valuable semiconductor group unveiled a new supercomputer platform to stay at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution. In his first in-person public address since the start of the pandemic Jensen Huang warned that the traditional…

Opinion: How NFL star Austin Ekeler brings his ‘A’ game to personal finance

Opinion: How NFL star Austin Ekeler brings his ‘A’ game to personal finance

I think about money through the same lens that I think about everything else. It starts with hard work, discipline, and applying yourself in whatever you choose to do so that you are able to build value in yourself and in what you bring to an organization. That value in turn creates opportunities personally and…

Turkish stocks rise, lira hits fresh record low after Erdogan wins re-election

Turkish stocks rise, lira hits fresh record low after Erdogan wins re-election

Turkish stocks climbed on Monday, while the lira hit a fresh record low after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected and embarked on his third decade in the top position. The results of a runoff poll, after no clear winner emerged in the May 14 election, showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, while his…

‘I can do it’: Erdoğan promises Turkey more strongman medicine

Counting had not even concluded in Turkey’s run-off election on Sunday evening when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan climbed atop a bus in his hometown of Istanbul to declare victory. “We will be together to the grave,” Erdoğan proclaimed to booming applause before flying to Ankara, the capital city, to deliver a formal victory speech to…

WPP, Nvidia team up to build AI-enabled content engine for digital advertising

WPP, Nvidia team up to build AI-enabled content engine for digital advertising

U.K. advertising-holding company WPP is teaming up with U.S. chip giant Nvidia to develop a content engine that uses generative artificial intelligence for digital advertising, the companies said Monday. WPP WPP, +1.20% and Nvidia NVDA, +2.54% said that, by integrating 3D tools with generative AI, the engine will allow creative teams to produce commercial content…