South East Water faces £22m fine for supply failures

In morning trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 0.8% higher, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up by 1.6%, while South Korea’s Kospi rose by 2.2%. They had fallen sharply on Monday as Asian countries are heavily dependent on oil and gas that would normally pass through the strait.

South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics says it expects to post a 19-fold jump in its profits, driven by global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips. The company forecast that it made 89.4tn won (£43.6bn; $58.4bn) between the start of April and the end of June, marking its third record quarterly operating profits in…

Two-thirds of the increase in cost is due to an underestimate of costs by the previous government, inefficient delivery, and to works being missed from the scope of the original plan, according to the government. One third of the increase is due to inflation, Alexander said.

Growth in the UK economy slowed by more than expected to 0.1% in the July-to-September period, official figures show, as car production slumped. The figure was below the 0.2% predicted by analysts, and is a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves less than two weeks ahead of the Budget in which she is widely expected to…

Renting for an adult is more than twice as expensive in outer London than other UK cities, increasing to three times as expensive in inner London, meaning the income needed to live “with dignity” – defined as being “able to take part in the world around you in a meaningful way” – in London is…