UK unemployment hits 5.2%, highest rate for nearly five years

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The European Central Bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2 per cent for the fourth meeting in a row but raised its growth forecast for the Eurozone. Thursday’s rate decision was in…

These ships, typically oil tankers such as the one Ivan is stuck on, are more often ageing vessels of obscure ownership, unseaworthy, likely uninsured, and operationally hazardous. And they typically sail under flags of convenience or FOCs – the ships are registered in countries with very limited regulatory oversight.

Paul SeddonPolitical reporter PA Media The education secretary has defended Labour’s U-turn over offering all workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from their first day in a job. Instead, ministers now plan to reduce the qualifying period from the current two years to six months, in line with a deal agreed by some unions…

Unite called on the government to push ahead with publication of its Defence Investment Plan, to clarify the future of other contracts including the replacing of old fighter jets with new Typhoons, fitted with Rolls Royce engines, and a further commitment to military satellites built in Portsmouth and Stevenage.