Energy entrepreneur claimed headline about different man used alongside his photograph was defamatory
The millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince’s £100,000 libel case against the Daily Mail has been thrown out after a high court judge ruled it did not have a realistic chance of success.
The green energy businessman and Forest Green Rovers chairman claimed the newspaper libelled him in a June 2023 article titled “Labour repays £100,000 to ‘sex harassment’ donor”.
Continue reading...Lending puts banks in ‘complete violation’ of commitments to Paris agreement, climate group says, even as overall funding to sector ebbs
Australia’s big four banks are in “complete violation” of commitments to the Paris climate accord by funding fossil fuel expansion even as their overall lending to the sector continues to ebb, according to a new report.
The climate activist group Market Forces said in the report that the banks lent the industry $3.6bn in 2023, bringing their total loans to more than $61bn since 2015. Last year, though, was first year in the past eight that banks avoided explicitly backing a new or expanded fossil fuel project.
Continue reading...Exclusive: solar developer Trinzic to voluntarily shut down as holding company seeks to recoup more than £25m
A solar energy project developer linked to Thames Water is to be liquidated and its staff made redundant as the crisis engulfing the debt-laden water supplier puts strain on its complex corporate structure.
Trinzic Operations Ltd, which is ultimately owned by Thames’s parent company Kemble Water Holdings, is to be voluntarily shut down, the Guardian can reveal.
Continue reading...Researchers say standups’ contribution is unsung, and hope findings will help to bolster the industry’s credibility
The live comedy industry in the UK contributes more than £1bn to the economy every year, according to a study by Brunel University London.
In the first project of its kind, researchers calculated the industry’s annual value at £1bn, based on an estimated 3,000 workers in the sector, surveying more than 350 comedians, promoters, producers, venue managers and agents.
Continue reading...The $99bn figure comes as data shows exports growing at fastest rate in 15 months while imports fell
China posted a record $99bn (£76.4bn) trade surplus last month amid signs of importers bringing forward orders to beat higher tariffs on goods from the world’s second biggest economy.
The latest official figures from Beijing showed exports growing at their fastest rate in 15 months, while the weakness of China’s domestic economy resulted in falling imports.
Continue reading...The same percentage of employed people who worked remotely in 2023 is the same as the previous year, a survey found
Don’t call it work from home any more, just call it work. According to new data, what once seemed like a pandemic necessity has become the new norm for many Americans.
Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the results of its American time use survey, which asks Americans how much time they spend doing various activities, from work to leisure.
Continue reading...Roadworks mean stretch between junctions 10 and 11 will be shut from 9pm on Friday to 6am on Monday
Drivers have been warned to expect delays this weekend as part of the M25 shuts down for the third time this year.
Major roads in the south-east will be “incredibly busy” this weekend as National Highways closes a section of London’s orbital motorway for roadworks in both directions between junctions 10 and 11 in Surrey from 9pm on Friday to 6am on Monday, the AA said.
Continue reading...Network Rail route directors will also attend next week as UK government aims to reform railways quickly
Labour has summoned the bosses of some of the worst-performing train operators, including Avanti West Coast and TransPennine, for meetings next week as it seeks to rapidly reform the railways and reset industrial relations.
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, will bring in Network Rail route directors to attend all talks with the train companies, signalling the move towards an integrated railway.
Continue reading...Deal for undisclosed sum secures Bristol-based company’s future after ‘material uncertainty’ in 2023
Graphcore, a British chipmaker once seen as a potential competitor to Nvidia, has been bought by Japan’s SoftBank in a deal that secures the company’s future.
The Bristol-based startup’s products are focused on artificial intelligence and it has been acquired by the powerful Japanese tech investor for an undisclosed sum. Last year, Graphcore warned that there was a “material uncertainty” over its survival and that it needed fresh funding by May 2024.
Continue reading...Audit also finds CEOs are more likely to be sacked than not get their bonus
Chief executives across Australia’s largest companies are making slightly less money, but are still taking home on average 50 times the pay package of a typical worker.
In its annual audit of CEO pay, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (Acsi) found chief executives at the 100 largest listed businesses averaged $5m in the 2023 financial year, down from $5.2m the previous year.
Continue reading...Donations to school building funds are tax deductible, with Brethren-owned businesses across three states the beneficiaries
Schools set up by the Exclusive Brethren sect have spent millions of dollars with businesses owned by church members on major building projects, including to a company majority-owned by the powerful Hales family, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
The Brethren’s OneSchool Global (OSG) schools are registered charities in Australia and exempt from income tax. The schools also have building funds endorsed for deductible gift recipient status.
Continue reading...Joe Biden says in statement that falling prices and rising wages are ‘thanks to my economic plan’
Prices unexpectedly fell in the US last month, lifting hopes that the Federal Reserve is on the verge of cutting interest rates.
As inflation fell 0.1% on a monthly basis in June, having been unchanged in May, the consumer price index’s annual increase was also the smallest in a year.
Continue reading...Archegos Capital Management’s founder guilty of 10 of 11 criminal counts over investment firm that collapsed in 2021
Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, the Archegos Capital Management founder, was convicted of fraud and other charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Prosecutors at a criminal trial had accused him of market manipulation ahead of the 2021 collapse of his $36bn private investment firm.
The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, found Hwang guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts and Patrick Halligan, his Archegos deputy and co-defendant, guilty on all three counts he faced. Hwang and Halligan sat flanked by their lawyers as the verdict was read by a soft-spoken foreperson.
Continue reading...Brexit supporter calls for new chancellor to ‘rectify tax inequality’ in hospitality industry
Tim Martin, the politically outspoken boss of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain, has praised the new Labour chancellor’s economic “pedigree”, as he called for tax changes to help the struggling hospitality sector.
Martin regularly publishes economic and political commentary alongside his company’s results and has previously voiced support for Brexit and Boris Johnson.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Flights have been cancelled or delayed out of Brisbane airport this morning as thick smoke blankets the city.
According to the Brisbane airport website, nine domestic flights and two international flights have been cancelled. On social media, the airport wrote that widespread fog across Brisbane was “slowing movements on ground and limiting visibility.”
Flights are still departing but there are delays due to the reduced visibility.
Participants will be able to check accessible scorecards that will show what services DES providers offer and how they rate for quality and effectiveness, helping them make an informed choice when selecting their provider.
Continue reading...Campaign for better pay and benefits stepped up, says union representing about 30,000 staff in South Korea
Thousands of workers in South Korea have pledged to extend indefinitely the first strike at Samsung Electronics, ramping up a campaign for better pay and benefits at one of the world’s largest smartphone and AI chip makers.
A union representing about 30,000 staff – about a quarter of its employees in South Korea – said members were extending industrial action that was originally meant to last only three days, after management failed to give any indication that it would hold talks with them.
Continue reading...Former chair of Whitehall agencies overseeing state-owned businesses gives view on what went wrong
The former chair of a Whitehall agency responsible for taxpayers’ interest in the Post Office has blamed the Horizon IT scandal on a mixture of “incomplete curiosity” and “a toxic culture” at the state-owned company.
Robert Swannell, a veteran City businessman and former Marks & Spencer chair, was speaking on Tuesday before the judge-led public inquiry investigating why post office operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting over financial discrepancies linked to bugs within the Horizon IT system.
Continue reading...For UK consumers the cost of beans could increase by up to 25% over the coming year
The price of coffee is set to remain “very high” and is unlikely to drop until the middle of next year amid intense pressure on supply chains, the Italian coffee company Lavazza has said.
“We have never seen such a spike in price as the trend right now,” said Giuseppe Lavazza, who chairs the company. He admitted that he had been wrong to predict last year that prices would begin to fall this year. On Monday, prices reached $4,300 (£3,356) a tonne.
Continue reading...Ride-hail giant is lowering the starting point for negotiations under the closing loopholes regime, one driver claims
Uber drivers say looming cuts to fares will squeeze them even more in a cost-of-living crisis, arguing the ride-hailing giant is reducing what they are paid before new standards under the government’s closing loopholes legislation are determined.
Last week, Uber told drivers that rider fares would be cut from 7 August. The company has not told drivers the exact amount, but it is understood it would be an average of less than 5%.
Continue reading...Live coverage of business, economics and markets after New Popular Front is largest party in second round of France’s election, with far-right third
The French election has meant that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) will not be in power, but it has not settled what France’s new government will look like.
The New Popular Front (NFP), the hastily arranged coalition of left-wing parties, won the most seats, but it is far short of a parliamentary majority. The result will mean a lot of negotiation to agree on who will be the new prime minister – let alone on achieving anything meaningful in governing the country.
The French parliament is more divided than ever, made up mainly of three blocs (Left – 182 seats, Centre – 168 seats, Extreme Right – 143 seats) and a number of smaller ones. As we predicted before the elections, no bloc can claim an absolute majority.
Minority government
French political parties “are not used to making concessions in order to create a programme around a coalition with other parties”, and the NFP’s most prominent figure, Jean-Luc Mélenchon demanded its entire programme be implemented. “If political parties maintain such positions, a long period of instability will ensue,” said Ledent.
Learning to cooperate
“Excluding the 80 MPs from the far left and the 145 from the far right, there are over 350 MPs left to form a broad coalition ready to reform France, taking into account the diversity of opinions. In other European countries, including Germany, such a configuration would be quite natural and would result in a government with a clear majority.
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