London-listed miner pauses Mozambique operation amid political unrest

The London-listed mining company Gemfields said it had temporarily halted its ruby mining operation in Mozambique after groups “took advantage” of political unrest to set fire and attempt to invade its site, resulting in two deaths.Gemfields, one of the world’s largest miners of coloured gemstones, said more than 200 people associated with illegal ruby mining attempted to invade the residential village built by the company next to its Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) operation in northern Mozambique on Christmas Eve.The company, which is incorporated in Guernsey and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges, said the groups were trying to take advantage of the widespread civil unrest after the controversial and disputed national election.Gemfields said on Friday that looters set fire to community buildings built by MRM and that security forces, made up of the Mozambican police and the military, protected the residential village in a “staged escalation of force” that resulted in two individuals being shot and killed.On the same day, a vocational training centre built by MRM, and operated by Mozambique’s Institute for Vocational Training and Labor Studies, in the nearby village of Wikupuri was looted and damaged

ECB faces tough task after flip in fortunes for eurozone economies

The European Central Bank is facing a tough balancing act in 2025 as it tries to navigate a reversal of fortunes in eurozone economies, as the hardest-hit nations of the 2010s debt crisis outperform the traditional core.Highlighting a potential shift in power dynamics within the single currency bloc, economists said countries in the EU periphery ravaged by last decade’s sovereign debt crisis were in a stronger position than northern Europe’s most powerful nations, including France and Germany.In a marked turnaround from a decade ago, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are among eurozone nations expected to grow by at least 2% in 2025 – more than double the rates forecast for France and Germany by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Carsten Brzeski, the global head of macro research at the Dutch bank ING, said: “They have flipped. There are two sides to that story

From dream to reality: Go-op, Britain’s first cooperative railway

The idea for the country’s first cooperative rail service came to Alex Lawrie in 2004 after another frustrating trip across Somerset.Having moved to Yeovil four years earlier with his young family, his job as a cooperative development manager involved daily trips across the south-west trying to set up member-owned businesses.A reluctant motorist, he quickly became frustrated with the rail service he was depending on to get around.“It baffled me, trains came at seemingly random intervals, there were only a few trains serving a big town like Yeovil, hours would pass without a train coming,” Lawrie says. “I couldn’t understand it, I was like, ‘There are the rails, they all link up, more or less, how hard can it be to get a better service?’”While most passengers would grumble and leave it at that, Lawrie took the matter into his own hands

UK steel industry calls for government to buy British in offshore wind push

The UK steel industry has called for the government to promise to buy British as it prepares for a major expansion of offshore wind generation.Wind generation has become a key part of the UK’s energy system, contributing 29% of generated electricity in 2023. However, despite the huge increase in the number of turbines, only 2% of the steel used in British offshore wind projects over the past five years was made in the UK, according to a study by the consultants Lumen Energy & Environment, commissioned by UK Steel, a lobby group.The British industry wants the government to aim to dramatically increase that proportion. The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is preparing to publish a new steel strategy in the spring that will look at how to “increase steel capacity and capability in the UK” even as the industry struggles with the costs of decarbonising

Boxing Day footfall down on UK high streets despite discounts

Fewer consumers made the journey to high streets and shopping centres in search of Boxing Day discounts this year.Footfall across UK retailers was down 8.9% as of 3pm on Thursday, compared with Boxing Day in 2023, according to data from MRI Software.“The decline in Boxing Day activity may reflect a shift in consumer behaviour, influenced by the ongoing cost of living crisis,” said the retail tech experts’ marketing and insights director, Jenni Matthews.UK high streets suffered the biggest decline – about 10

The first quarter of 21st century wasn’t great for investors. The next needs an AI boost | Nils Pratley

The first quarter of the 21st century is almost up, assuming one regards 31 December 1999 to have been the last day of the last millennium (non-partying pedants insist the date actually fell on the final day of 2000). It is the cue for analysts at Deutsche Bank to remind investors how much can change in the course of 25 years, in this case from the days when Nokia phones and fax machines, rather than iPhones and Amazon, were everyday features of life.Here’s one jaw-dropper: back in sunny days of 1999, there was a live debate as to when the US would pay down its entire stock of government debt. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckoned the glorious day would arrive sometime in 2013. In reality, borrowing headed in the other direction almost immediately – and the US debt-to-GDP ratio is now above 100%