4+ mon, 2+ week ago (408+ words) Kraft Heinz, the US food group, is preparing to break itself up, spinning off a large part of its groceries business into a new entity that could be valued at as much as $20 billion. The remaining company would focus on its faster-growing sauces and condiments brands including Heinz Tomato Ketchup and the Dijon mustard brand Grey Poupon. The intention is that the two separate units would be in total worth more than Kraft Heinz's market capitalisation of about "31 billion, said the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story. The company has suffered as consumers turn to healthier, less processed food products amid the surge in use of weight-loss drugs, turning away from products like processed cheese and ready meals that were once mainstays of American pantries. Tariffs have added to Kraft's woes and it lowered its annual organic sales…...

6+ mon, 1+ week ago (401+ words) On paper he seems like an excellent prospect. An exceptional football career, during which he rose to become captain of England without ever receiving a booking. This was followed by a distinguished broadcasting career in which he led the BBC's coverage of sporting events including World Cups and Olympic games. Now he is a free agent 12 months before the biggest World Cup yet, which will include an expanded pool of 48 teams and which is being held in America, Canada and Mexico. However, the appetite for broadcasters to sign Gary Lineker to their presenting squad may be somewhat diminished after he was shown the red card by the BBC on Monday after a 26-year relationship. In an interview in April, Lineker said that he did not envisage returning to television after next year's World Cup and instead anticipated concentrating on his…...

10+ mon, 3+ week ago (437+ words) The cards on the table spoke to his state of mind. Bold lettering bordered by ornate flowers screamed "Feel useless" at Matt Scully, who surveyed the cards he had chosen. "This is the worst game of Uno ever," he told his therapist who had proffered the emotion card exercise. His therapist suggested it was a strength of his: to make people laugh while stupefied by sorrow. "Even with that litany of self-hatred laid out in front of me, I still made a silly quip," Scully said. At the start of last year Scully was "recovering from the loss of a marriage that had been the "bedrock" of his life. Then came the news that an old friend had died by suicide. Gritting his teeth through this wasn't enough anymore. "The thought of enduring another year was not attractive at all,…...

3+ mon, 4+ day ago (414+ words) The number of babies born in Scotland has dropped to the lowest level since records began almost 170 years ago, new figures showed. Official statistics from National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed that there were 45,763 live births in 2024, a fall of 172 from the previous year. This was the lowest annual total since records began in 1855, the NRS said. Births in Scotland have generally been falling since about 1965, with 2024 being the second year in a row where births have reached a record low. The NRS added that Scotland's total fertility rate " the average number of children born to each woman over her lifetime " fell from 1.27 in 2023 to 1.25 in 2024, the lowest it has been since 1951. There were 159 babies who were stillborn last year, with Scotland recording 3.5 stillbirths for every 1,000 live births. This rate was down from 3.7 in 2023, to the joint lowest stillbirth rate…...

7+ mon, 2+ week ago (418+ words) The Character Group's shares fell after it warned it was unable to accurately forecast its sales to the US Peppa Pig has become caught up in President Trump's global tariff war. The Character Group, the toy company whose manufacturing licences include the much-loved children's cartoon, has pulled its annual guidance. The Aim-listed group said that its ability to accurately forecast sales into the US, which represent about 20 per cent of revenues, had been "considerably obscured. Shares in The Character Group sank by as much as 10 per cent on Friday. The company manufactures about 95 per cent of its products in China, which Donald Trump has targeted with tariffs of 145 per cent in an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Marks & Spencer has warned that the levies could threaten its move to start selling Percy Pig sweets in the…...

4+ mon, 2+ day ago (421+ words) In his book, Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, Rick Reilly alleged the American president's conduct on the course was far from exemplary. "Trump doesn't just cheat at golf," the author wrote. "He cheats like a three-card monte dealer. He throws it, boots it and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs." Now a video has emerged from the president's trip to Scotland that may support his thesis. Taken during a weekend round at his Turnberry course, the video shows Trump parking a golf buggy near a bunker and a large portion of rough. Walking ahead of the buggy are two caddies. As the US president prepares to get out of the buggy, one of them can be seen stooping down and dropping a ball onto a patch of short grass just before…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago (406+ words) Prince Andrew has caused a litany of embarrassments for the royal family. The scandal surrounding him has threatened to overshadow the work of the monarchy, which ultimately led to him giving up his titles. Here we lay out the timeline in Andrew's long fall from grace: 1999 " Andrew is believed to have met Jeffrey Epstein after being introduced by Ghislaine Maxwell, a mutual friend. June 2000 " Epstein and Maxwell are guests at a party hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. December 2000 " Andrew hosts a shooting weekend at Sandringham, the late Queen's estate in Norfolk. Epstein was among the guests. March 2001 " According to Virginia Giuffre, after dinner and dancing at Tramp nightclub in London, at which the duke apparently sweated profusely, Andrew had sex with the 17-year-old at Maxwell's home in Belgravia. Andrew denies the allegations and says he has no memory…...

6+ mon, 3+ day ago (415+ words) Luckily, selling cars doesn't really drive Elon Musk " or his Tesla fan club. So, like the stock market, he'll probably shrug off the latest reversal from Europe: sales pretty much halving in April to 7,261 vehicles and on the skids by 39 per cent to 61,320 in the first four months of 2025. The figures from Acea, the European automobile manufacturers association, tell a familiar tale: a nice triple-whammy. " Tesla sales down 49% across Europe in April " How Elon Musk plans to fix Tesla: robots and "unboxed' cars Sure, Austin will start low key: just 10 or 20 robotaxis. But that, Musk told CNBC, was en route to a rapid thousand, before a rollout to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Indeed, he said there'd be hundreds of thousands of autonomous Teslas on US roads by the end of 2026. The launch will answer key questions, too. Are the…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago (419+ words) The chancellor must stamp out pension tax raid rumours ahead of next month's budget and reconsider the triple lock, an influential industry body has warned. Pensions UK, which represents retirement schemes for more than 30 million savers, wrote in an open letter to Rachel Reeves that it was concerned by reports that the tax-free lump sum allowance could be cut. The organisation said speculation alone was enough to create a "rush" of pension withdrawals similar to what happened before last year's budget. Savers aged 55 and over (rising to 57 from April 2028) can usually withdraw up to 25 per cent of their retirement savings tax-free, up to a cap of "268,275. But reports in October last year suggested that Reeves had plans to cut this to "100,000. She later decided to leave the cap untouched and the government faced criticism for failing to address the rumours…...

5+ mon, 1+ week ago (399+ words) Economic growth is on course to slow this year and next as businesses face higher employment costs, rising inflation and headwinds from the global trading environment, the CBI has warned. The business lobby group downgraded its forecast for annual growth this year from 1.6 per cent to 1.2 per cent, broadly in line with estimates from the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The CBI said the UK's economic prospects would worsen next year, with annual GDP growth slowing to 1 per cent. The economy grew by 1.1 per cent last year. Louise Hellem, chief economist at the CBI, said the government's decision to raise national insurance contributions on employers and lift the national living wage last autumn "will lead to higher prices, subdued business investment and slower employment growth. " Business live: UK inflation cools to 3.4% in May "We…...