Category Archives: Business

FAA investigates after Southwest plane drops to ‘within 400ft’ of Pacific Ocean

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News comes as US regulators investigate separate incident after Boeing 737 Max 8 plane did a ‘Dutch roll’ in May

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines flight reportedly plunged to “within 400ft” of the Pacific Ocean during a flight.

A memo distributed to Southwest pilots, obtained by Bloomberg, said that the Boeing 737 Max 8 plunged at a rate of 4,000ft a minute off the coast of Hawaii, coming within hundreds of feet of the ocean before climbing to safety.

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Virgin Australia delays vote on controversial enterprise agreement that would cut pilots’ days off

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Exclusive: Last-minute decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is ‘engaging’ with airline on concerns rostering is leaving pilots fatigued

Virgin Australia has made a last-minute decision to delay putting a controversial pilots’ enterprise deal to vote, after outcry about its plan to cut days off and concerns that pilot rostering was nearing unsafe limits.

The decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) officials flagged they were aware of fatigue concerns over Virgin Australia’s pilot rostering after the Guardian revealed internal disquiet on the issue among senior pilots and frustration at what they felt was an inadequate response from management.

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Australian banks to alert customers on interest rate moves under changes to get savers better deals

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Move comes after consumer watchdog found banks were using pricing strategies that were highly complex or took advantage of the tendency to set and forget

People will be alerted each time their interest rate moves and when promotional offers expire under a suite of changes aimed at prodding bank customers to snag a better deal.

The federal government plans to act on a number of recommendations from two Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reports that found bank customers could earn and save more if not for barriers stopping them switching to better offers.

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London Stock Exchange CEO honoured in king’s birthday list

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Julia Hoggett awarded damehood for services to business, while HSBC chair Mark Tucker receives knighthood

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The head of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the chair of HSBC are among the business leaders to be recognised this year in King Charles’s birthday honours list.

Julia Hoggett, a former banker who has been the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange since 2021, has been awarded a damehood for her services to business and finance.

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Russian ties and cheap tech: G7 leaders unequivocal in criticism of China

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Concerns set out over supply of materials with military applications, and impact of subsidies on global market

China’s role in providing assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine, and its “harmful overcapacity” in the production of cheap goods, have been targeted by G7 leaders despite misgivings from Germany.

On the second day of the annual summit, being held in Puglia under the Italian chair, the US drove home a 36-page communique that condemned Chinese subsidies for products such as solar panels and electric cars which it said were leading to “global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity … undermining our workers, industries, and economic resilience and security”.

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Elon Musk’s $45bn Tesla pay package not a done deal, say legal experts

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Although shareholders have backed chief executive’s remuneration deal, doubts remain over whether he will be able to access share-based package

Tesla’s battle to reinstate Elon Musk’s $45bn (£35bn) pay package is far from over, according to legal experts, despite shareholders backing the chief executive’s remuneration deal.

Investors in the electric carmaker re-ratified the pay deal on Thursday after it had been struck down by a judge in the US state of Delaware. The company’s chair, Robin Deynholm has already pledged to “put it back in front of the court”.

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US bank Wells Fargo fires employees for ‘simulating’ being at their keyboards

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Workers were sacked after review found they were ‘creating impression of active work’, says filing

The US bank Wells Fargo has fired more than a dozen workers for alleged “simulation of keyboard activity”, in an apparent attempt to fool their employer into thinking they were working.

The employees were “discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work”, according to a filing with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

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The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

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Children near Amsterdam airport use inhalers more, study finds

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Results show increase in symptoms such as wheeziness in presence of high aviation-related ultrafine particles

As the public hearings for London Gatwick airport’s northern runway resume, researchers from the Netherlands have found greater inhaler use in children living near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

Stand close to a large airport and, if the wind is in the wrong direction, each cubic centimetre of air that you breathe will contain tens of thousands of ultrafine particles (UFP).

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Stellantis says it will ‘fight’ for electric car sales rather than hide behind tariffs

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The owner of Vauxhall, Jeep and Fiat says it opposes EU measures against Chinese EVs and wants to compete ‘as a global company’

The owner of the Jeep, Fiat and Vauxhall brands has said it will not take a defensive stance in the battle for electric car sales, amid signs of an escalating trade war in the market between Europe and China.

Stellantis’s chief executive, Carlos Tavares, has criticised the EU tariffs on imported Chinese cars announced on Wednesday and said the world’s fourth biggest carmaker preferred to “fight to stay competitive”.

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Australia news live: person ‘likely’ with dementia made call to police before 92-year-old allegedly assaulted by police, Karen Webb says

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Chalmers asked about findings that jobseekers unable to afford ‘basics of life’

The treasurer Jim Chalmers was up on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, asked about new Anglicare data showing Australians on income support are “structurally unable to afford the basics of life”.

This is the primary motivation for the substantial cost of living relief that we’re providing in the budget. Whether it is the tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, help with student debt and cheaper medicines, plus the increases to jobseeker – which were in the budget before last – all of these are important ways that we can not just understand and acknowledge the pressures that people are under, but actually respond to them.

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More than half of UK students working long hours in paid jobs

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Lack of maintenance support is creating two-tier higher education system, say experts

More than half of full-time students are working long hours in jobs to support themselves at university, spending nearly two days a week in paid employment during term time, owing to the cost of living crisis.

A survey of 10,000 full-time UK undergraduates by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) found a record 56% had paid employment while they were studying, working an average of 14.5 hours each week.

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Australia’s unemployment rate dips to 4% as economy adds 40,000 new jobs

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Jobless rate eases as employers shrug off rising costs to keep adding to their workforces

Australia’s unemployment rate eased last month as employers shrugged off rising costs including higher interest bills to keep adding to their workforces.

The jobless rate was 4% in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with economists’ predictions and was a slight drop from April’s 4.1%.

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EU to put tariffs of up to 38% on Chinese electric vehicles as trade war looms

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Move, to be applied provisionally from July, would trigger duties of more than €2bn a year

The EU has notified Beijing that it intends to impose tariffs of up to 38% on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, triggering duties of more than €2bn (£1.7bn) a year and a likely trade war with China.

The tariffs will be applied provisionally from next month in line with World Trade Organization rules, which give China four weeks to challenge any evidence the EU provides to justify the levies on imported EVs.

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US inflation eases slightly as economic anxiety looms over presidential election

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Consumer price index rose 3.3% in May, as Federal Reserve is due to announce latest decision on interest rates

Inflation cooled slightly in the US last month, as consumers’ frustration over high prices continues to loom over November’s presidential election.

The consumer price index rose at annual pace of 3.3% in May, slipping back from the previous month’s reading of 3.4%.

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‘We’re not backing down’: US grocery workers take on Kroger with strike vote

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Food 4 Less workers to vote on action if new deal is not reached, as employees say wages and benefits lag behind

About 6,000 grocery store workers are set to vote on strike action after the expiration of their union contract with the Kroger-owned Food 4 Less chain.

The contract with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) expired on Saturday. Members are voting on whether to authorize a strike if a new deal is not reached, and results expected late on Friday.

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DFS furniture chain blames Red Sea crisis for profit warning

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Attacks on shipping leading to delays to deliveries and higher shipping costs, says retailer

The furniture retailer DFS has issued its second profit warning of the year, blaming much of the drop on delays to deliveries and higher shipping costs caused by the Red Sea crisis.

The retailer, which owns 118 shops across the UK, said it expected pre-tax profits of £10m-£12m for the year ending 30 June 2024, well down on the £20m-£25m predicted in March, amid supply chain disruption and weaker consumer demand.

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China’s glut of idle property causes headache for the government

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The industry that has traditionally powered about a quarter of GDP has been in a downward spiral that policymakers have struggled to halt

All across China, from Beijing in the north, to Shenzhen in the south, millions of newly built homes stand empty and unwanted. There were nearly 391m sq metres of unsold residential property in China as of April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That is the equivalent of Manchester and Birmingham combined – and then some – sitting as vacant, unwanted property.

This glut of idle property has caused a headache for the government, shaken the world’s second largest economy and raised tensions over the purpose of housebuilding in a nation where property investment had been viewed as a safe bet.

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New ‘targeted’ search in Samantha Murphy investigation – as it happened

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Sydney’s light rail network disrupted today amid industrial action

A reminder for Sydney commuters that the light rail network will be disrupted today amid planned industrial action.

Recent estimates have Australians consuming around 3,300,000 bags of cocaine per year, with every single one of them bought off the black market. There is no way of knowing whether any of them have been cut with deadly substances like fentanyl or nitazene.

We have to acknowledge that the majority of people who use cocaine do so recreationally and there is absolutely no chance of stopping people using the drug. We therefore need to consider all options to reduce harm, including regulating cocaine in a similar way to how we regulate alcohol.

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Top civil servant joins EDF after running department that struck nuclear deal

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Alex Chisholm, who led business office during Hinkley Point C negotiations, appointed UK chair of energy firm

One of the UK’s most senior civil servants, Alex Chisholm, has been revealed as the new UK chair of the energy company EDF, after having previously run the department that struck a deal for it to build a new nuclear power station.

Chisholm was permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, and before that led the business department, which worked on the government deal for EDF to go ahead with the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset. The agreement was struck in 2016 with UK bill payers bearing the cost of the construction over a 35-year period.

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