Royal Navy shipbuilder in limbo owing to cash shortage at Liberty Steel plant

A shipbuilder for the Royal Navy faces an uncertain wait for the steel to build three warships because of a shortage of cash at the Scottish steel mill that has won the contract.Liberty Steel Dalzell in Scotland has been unable to start production in earnest because there is “no cashflow to buy slab”, despite an order to supply 34,000 tonnes of metal plates to build fleet solid support (FSS) ships for the navy, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.Sir David Murray, a Scottish metals magnate, said the UK government should step in, as it has done with other steelworks, to pressure Liberty Steel to pass over control of the plant. He has previously told the government he would be willing to step in and run the business.The cash shortage at Liberty is a sign of the continued financial troubles facing companies owned by the under-pressure metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta

Davos 2026: the last-chance saloon to save the old world order?

“A Spirit of Dialogue”: the theme for this year’s World Economic Forum, the gathering of the global elite in the sparkling Alpine air of Davos, seems a heroic stretch, when star guest Donald Trump has spent the past year smashing up the world order.The president will touch down alongside the snowcapped Swiss mountains with the largest US delegation ever seen at the WEF, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the special envoy Steve Witkoff.Last year, just days after his second inauguration, Trump was beamed in to Davos on screen to deliver a punchy speech, in which he threatened across-the-board tariffs, urged Nato countries to raise defence spending, and called on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates “immediately” – setting the tone, as it turned out, for a chaotic 12 months.A year on, what was left of the fraying rules-based global order, already jeopardised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising power of the autocratic regime in Beijing, is rapidly unravelling, and the “spirit of dialogue” has been distinctly hard to find.This year’s meeting is taking place at a time of extraordinary geopolitical tumult

‘We could hit a wall’: why trillions of dollars of risk is no guarantee of AI reward

Will the race to artificial general intelligence (AGI) lead us to a land of financial plenty – or will it end in a 2008-style bust? Trillions of dollars rest on the answer.The figures are staggering: an estimated $2.9tn (£2.2tn) being spent on datacentres, the central nervous systems of AI tools; the more than $4tn stock market capitalisation of Nvidia, the company that makes the chips powering cutting-edge AI systems; and the $100m signing-on bonuses offered by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to top engineers at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.These sky-high numbers are all propped up by investors who expect a return on their trillions

He called himself an ‘untouchable hacker god’. But who was behind the biggest crime Finland has ever known?

Tiina Parikka was half-naked when she read the email. It was a Saturday in late October 2020, and Parikka had spent the morning sorting out plans for distance learning after a Covid outbreak at the school where she was headteacher. She had taken a sauna at her flat in Vantaa, just outside Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and when she came into her bedroom to get dressed, she idly checked her phone. There was a message that began with Parikka’s name and her social security number – the unique code used to identify Finnish people when they access healthcare, education and banking. “I knew then that this is not a game,” she says

Australian Open 2026: Sabalenka, Alcaraz and Raducanu in action on day one – live

On 1573 Arena, Norrie has taken the first set off Benjamin Bonzi 6-0 and just struggled to a hold for 1-1 in the second; on Cain, Francis Tiafoe, seeded 29, leads Jason' Kubler, the Australian qualifier, 7-6 5-3; on Kia, Seb Korda and Michael Zheng are playing a deciding set; and on Laver and Court respectively, we’ll soon have Sabalenka v Tiantso Rakotomanga Rajaonah and Bublik, now up to 10, against Jenson Brooksby.Mini Eggs, though. Absolute art.Strewth, stone the crows, g’day and welcome to the Australian Open 2026 – day one!January gets a bad rep and with good reason, but when we really think about it, can we really complain about Masters snooker, Mini Eggs, and the first grand slam of the year? Exactly.Already today, Arthur Fery has beaten the no 20 seed Flavio Coboli, Cameron Nofrrie is on court now, likewise Francis Tiafoe, and to come, we’ve Sasha Bublik, Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu, Carlos Alcaraz … and Venus Expletive Williams! It may be dark outside, but inside, we’ve the brightest sunshine; here we go

Britain’s Arthur Fery delivers Australian Open upset with win over 20th seed Flavio Cobolli

For a few fleeting moments inside the vast John Cain Arena, it seemed like Arthur Fery had missed his opportunity. The 23-year-old’s attempts to serve out an excellent set against, the 20th seed at the Australian Open, Flavio Cobolli, had ended painfully. He quickly found himself serving down 5-6 against one of the best players in the world with his back to the wall.These circumstances often do not favour the more inexperienced, lower-ranked players, but in one of the biggest matches of his career Fery made his own luck as he rose to the occasion and delivered the first great upset of the Australian Open, dismantling Cobolli 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1 to reach the second round for the first time.The victory marks Fery’s first ever grand slam win outside Wimbledon