A former employee of the US state department has pleaded guilty after being accused of trading government information for gifts from Chinese agents, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday

Scotland’s first minister on Wednesday insisted the country must be ready to hold a second independence referendum by 2021 if Brexit goes ahead, but stopped well short of committing to such a vote.

Netflix has lowered its borrowing costs and increased the size of its new bond deal being sold to investors today, reflecting strong demand for the streaming giant’s debt.

The S&P 500 on Wednesday hovered near its closing high, with sentiment steady as the run of corporate updates from big-name US stocks gathered pace.

The Canadian dollar weakened to a more than three-month low against its US counterpart on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada became the latest global central bank to ditch plans for future rate rises.

Carrefour, Europe’s largest retailer by revenue, said on Wednesday after the market close that robust performance in its second-largest market of Brazil helped the group to accelerate sales in the three months of the year.

Shares in Centamin climbed to the top of the FTSE 250 leaderboard on Wednesday after the gold producer reported higher than expected production.

The Nasdaq Composite chalked up a record intraday high, extending the index’s push into peak territory.

Tyson Foods, the US meat producer, has exited its investment in Beyond Meat, the alternative protein company which is due to go public at the start of May.

ExxonMobil will invest more than £800m to expand the UK’s biggest oil refinery in a move the US oil major claims will help reduce Britain’s need to import diesel.

Ford is investing $500m in Rivian, an electric vehicle start-up that has developed its own battery pick-up truck, in a move intended to help it catch up with rivals in the new technology.

KCom, the telecoms business that briefly became one of the UK’s highest-valued companies during the dotcom bubble, has agreed to a £504m cash takeover by a pension fund.

The return of Sir Mick Davis to the mining sector has been thrown into doubt after Brazil’s Vale said it was investigating a proposed deal the veteran dealmaker is trying to pull off in Guinea.

BSGR, the mining group owned by the family of Israeli diamond trader Beny Steinmetz, was ordered to pay iron ore producer Vale $1.25bn after it was found liable for fraudulent misrepresentations, including a bribery scheme, by a London arbitration court.

Higher demand in its mining and construction businesses helped industrial bellwether Caterpillar beat forecasts for first-quarter sales and prompted it to boost its full-year earnings outlook.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to allow residents of Moscow-backed rebel-held territories in eastern Ukraine to obtain Russian passports.

Cyprus has seen strong demand for its inaugural 30-year bond sale in the latest sign of the country’s recovery from a fiscal and economic crisis that peaked six years ago.

Nasdaq topped Wall Street expectations in the first quarter with growth in data and technology sales helping to offset weakness in the traditional trading business.

AT&T on Wednesday reported a first-quarter revenue miss as its premium TV and streaming service lost subscribers while the US telecoms group said it was on track to meet its deleveraging goals.

Twitter will encourage users to report false voter information in the EU and Indian elections as part of the platform’s attempts to combat threats to electoral integrity.

German business leaders this month took a gloomier turn as their confidence in the eurozone’s biggest economy weakened unexpectedly, a leading indicator revealed.

Saudi Arabia will not rapidly ramp up its oil output after the US ended the sanctions waivers for buyers of Iranian crude, the kingdom’s energy minister said on Wednesday.

The UK government’s borrowing hit a 17-year low during the past financial year, according to preliminary figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.

Dutch brewer Heineken has reported an increase in beer volumes in all regions, driven in particular by double-digit growth in Africa, Middle East and eastern Europe, but maintained its mid-single digit growth outlook for the full year.