Buy now, pay later: how to use it without getting into debt

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a form of credit that lets you spread payments for everything from clothes, jewellery and white goods to concert tickets, hotel rooms and takeaway meals.Typically the cost is split into three or four instalments that you pay off over a few weeks or months, and if you keep up with your repayment plan, you won’t pay interest or charges, so it can be completely free to use.BNPL is offered by a vast array of retailers, usually at the checkout of online stores. It is also available at some physical shops.Three brands – Klarna, Clearpay and Paypal – dominate the UK market

Group expands legal claim over South West Water sewage pollution

A group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been expanded across Devon and Cornwall.Thousands more individuals could now join the first environmental community group legal action against a water company over the impact of sewage pollution.Until now 1,400 people from Exmouth had joined the legal action but Leigh Day said on Wednesday it was being expanded to residents and businesses across Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth in Devon and Newquay and Penzance in Cornwall.The claim argues failings by South West Water are wide and entrenched in many coastal towns across the Devon and Cornwall region, rather than just the Exmouth area.Tina Naldrett, 62, a nurse from Dawlish, has joined the claim, after years in which she has seen the pollution at her beach get worse

Trump’s new global tariffs kick in at 10%; Bank of England governor says March rate cut ‘open question’ – as it happened

Time to wrap up…Donald Trump’s new global tariffs have taken effect at 10%, even though he had threatened a higher rate of 15% over the weekend, providing “some relief” for British businesses, according to a lobby group.After the US president suffered a defeat at the hands of the supreme court on Friday, which struck down his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs imposed last year, he angrily reacted by announcing a 10% global tariff, which he raised to 15% on Saturday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.The owner of Facebook has agreed to buy $60bn (£44.5bn) of artificial intelligence chips from the US semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices despite fears over the vast sums being spent on the AI industry.Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has clinched the five-year deal in which it will also buy 10% of the chip company

US datacenters face slew of problems amid grassroots protests against AI

Cancellations and delays of new US datacenters have increased as the artificial intelligence boom runs up against a slate of issues, including supply chain snags, energy shortages and tariff-induced restraints.Grassroots opposition from local communities has also derailed some plans, and some investors have grown wary of datacenters amid fears of an AI bubble.Dozens of plans for datacenters were killed or delayed in December or January, according to reports from the investment research firm MacroEdge and climate news outlet Heatmap. MacroEdge’s research identified 26 cancellations through January – up from one in October.The complex knot of issues raises questions about the US’s ability to quickly facilitate the datacenter boom

AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot’s pay rises to £17.7m

Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company, received a 6.4% pay rise last year, taking his total remuneration to £17.7m.The AstraZeneca boss is in line for a further increase this year, potentially making him the UK’s highest-paid chief executive once again.Soriot received a salary of £1

Oil prices hit seven-month highs as tensions rise before US-Iran talks

Oil prices have reached seven-month highs, as traders reacted to heightened tensions between the US and Iran ahead of nuclear talks this week.US crude futures rose to $67.28 a barrel on Monday, while Brent crude touched its highest level since 31 July at $72.50 a barrel. Prices fell back late in the session, but were up again on Tuesday morning, approaching Monday’s highs