Category Archives: Business

Hungary rolls out red carpet for Xi in final leg of European tour

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Warm welcome for Chinese president contrasts with rest of EU, with up to 18 cooperation agreements expected

Hungary has rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping in a show of warmth that contrasts with wariness in the rest of the EU about China’s stance on trade, global politics and human rights.

On the third and final stop of his first European tour in five years, Xi was given a ceremonial welcome by Hungary’s president, Tamás Sulyok, at Buda Castle, in Budapest, before talks with Viktor Orbán. The Hungarian prime minister, the EU’s longest-serving leader, has sought to deepen ties with Beijing and blocked EU motions criticising China’s human rights abuses.

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Chinese PR boss says sorry after glorifying work-till-you-drop culture

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In a crisis of her own making, Qu Jing also threatened Baidu staff who dared to question her management style

The head of public relations at China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, has apologised after creating her own PR crisis with a series of videos glorifying the country’s work-till-you-drop culture.

Qu Jing, who is also vice-president at the company, said she would not take responsibility for her staff’s wellbeing “as I’m not your mother” in the videos posted over the May bank holiday on Douyin, the most popular short-video app in China. In another she said: “If you work in public relations, don’t expect weekends off.”

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Bank of England keeps interest rates at 5.25% but hints at a June cut

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Policymakers say they want to see more evidence that price pressures are easing before cutting rates

• Business – live

The Bank of England has signalled it could start cutting interest rates as early as June after inflation was found to be “moving in the right direction”, as it kept borrowing costs on hold at 5.25% for the sixth time in a row.

Alongside the decision to keep rates on hold, the Bank said inflation was already on course to hit its target of 2% and would fall to just 1.6% in two years, opening the door to future cuts in interests.

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Boeing supplier regularly shipped parts with defects, whistleblower alleges

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Santiago Paredes says he raised concerns over defects on fuselages leaving Spirit AeroSystems factory

A former employee of Boeing’s largest supplier has alleged that key aircraft parts regularly left the factory with serious defects.

Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit AeroSystems in Kansas between 2010 and 2022, said he was used to finding “anywhere from 50 to 100, 200” defects on fuselages – the main body of the plane – that were being shipped to Boeing, and he felt threatened for raising his concerns.

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Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX says it will be able to repay creditors full $11bn

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CEO confirms once company has sold off remaining assets it will have more than amount required

The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has said it will be able to repay creditors the full $11bn (£8.8bn) it owes, as the boom-bust cycle repeats itself with a sharp increase in bitcoin prices.

John Ray III, who succeeded the disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried as the chief executive of FTX shortly after its collapse, said that once the exchange had sold off its remaining assets, it might have more than $16bn – well in excess of its debts.

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Oil services company John Wood Group rejects £1.4bn takeover offer

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Aberdeen-based firm listed on FTSE 250 knocked back unsolicited approach from Dubai-based Sidara

The British oil services company John Wood Group has rejected a £1.4bn takeover offer from a Dubai-based rival, Sidara, which “fundamentally undervalued” the company.

Aberdeen-based Wood is the latest British company on the London Stock Exchange to face takeover speculation amid deepening concerns that UK-listed stocks are undervalued compared with other markets.

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‘Unfair banking’ and ‘damaging’ financial rules harming UK’s small firms, MPs warn

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Treasury committee says ‘debanking’ and use of personal guarantees for loans is putting small businesses at risk

Unfair banking practices and “damaging” financial regulators are harming small businesses and putting innovation and growth at risk, parliament’s Treasury committee has warned.

A report from the committee’s inquiry into access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) said a lack of supportive policies were compounding problems for firms that had survived a “torrid” five years, which included the global pandemic and energy crisis.

“Confidence amongst SMEs in accessing finance has fallen and acceptance rates for business credit has lowered significantly,” the report said.

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Supermarkets inquiry: forcibly break up major retailers for anti-competitive behaviour, report says

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Senate committee examined how major chains including Coles and Woolworths have set prices during Australia’s cost of living crisis

Major supermarkets should be forcibly broken up if they engage in anti-competitive behaviour, a Senate inquiry has recommended, in a move designed to empower shoppers and suppliers against Australia’s dominant food retailers.

The findings pit the Greens-chaired Senate committee against the Labor government, which opposes legislative changes that would allow the court-enforced divestiture of assets. Supporters say the move would act as an incentive for supermarkets to not misuse market power.

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Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

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Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 years

Olive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.

Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests.

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Bonza administrators worry that 20,000 out-of-pocket airline customers could attend creditors meeting

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‘That would require a stadium,’ federal court hears as airline administrators try to organise online meeting for Friday that would allow everyone to vote

Administrators determining the future of the troubled airline Bonza are bracing for as many as 20,000 out-of-pocket customers to join a creditors meeting this week with the federal court hearing that online voting options are being considered.

On Tuesday lawyers representing Hall Chadwick, the administrators controlling Bonza after its planes were abruptly repossessed a week ago, appeared before the federal court justice Elizabeth Cheeseman seeking orders to streamline the process for the first creditors meeting on Friday. It will be held amid ongoing efforts to find a new owner for the budget carrier.

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Boeing’s first astronaut launch called off due to faulty valve

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Countdown halted hours before liftoff in latest delay for long-planned flight, with no word on next attempt

Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on its rocket on Monday night.

Two Nasa test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner capsule when the countdown was halted, just two hours before the planned liftoff. A United Launch Alliance engineer, Dillon Rice, said the issue involved an oxygen relief valve on the upper stage of the company’s Atlas rocket.

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Xi’s European tour: where is Chinese leader going and what are visit’s aims?

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Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán among leaders Xi is meeting, with several key issues on the table

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has begun a three-country tour of Europe – his first state visit to the continent in five years – at a time when China-EU ties are under strain from trade disputes and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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Conflict of interest concerns raised over MEPs’ second jobs

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Seven out of 10 have outside work with six earning more with work than as parliamentary representatives, analysis shows

Half a dozen members of the European parliament earn more from second jobs than as EU lawmakers, according to analysis that raises questions about potential conflicts of interest.

The campaign group Transparency International EU found that 70% of the European parliament’s 705 members have side jobs. Just over a quarter (26%) of side jobs were paid, with six lawmakers earning more than their €120,900 (£103,000) annual gross MEP salary.

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Rail strikes restart as Aslef train drivers embark on new action

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Union to roll out 24-hour strikes across England’s train operators for three days this week and six-day overtime ban from Monday

Rail passengers face a week of disruption as train drivers embark on another round of industrial action on Monday, despite tentative attempts by the industry to restart talks.

Drivers in the Aslef union will strike for 24 hours at each of England’s national train operators over the course of three days from Tuesday until Thursday, while an overtime ban will apply nationwide from Monday until Saturday.

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Farmer confidence at lowest in England and Wales since survey began, NFU says

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Union cites extreme wet weather and post-Brexit phasing-out of EU subsidies as main reasons for slump

Farmers’ confidence has hit its lowest level in at least 14 years, a long-running survey by the biggest farming union in Britain has found, with extreme weather and the post-Brexit phasing-out of EU subsidies blamed for the drop.

The National Farmers’ Union warned there had been a “collapse of confidence” and that the outlook was at its lowest since the annual poll of its members in England and Wales began in 2010.

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Warren Buffett backs Apple after firm sells millions of shares in iPhone maker

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Berkshire Hathaway CEO stressed relationship at annual meeting attracting Apple CEO Tim Cook, Bill Gates and Bill Murray

The billionaire investment tycoon Warren Buffett has stressed his empire will remain a key investor in Apple after it sold billions of dollars’ worth of shares in the iPhone maker.

Thousands of shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s sprawling conglomerate, have flocked to Omaha, Nebraska, for the firm’s annual meeting – dubbed Woodstock for Capitalists – this weekend.

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Warning over asthma drug after 500 neuropsychiatric reactions reported in young children

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UK medicines regulator says information on boxes of montelukast will alert users to risk of mood and behaviour changes

More than 500 adverse neuropsychiatric reactions have been reported in children under the age of nine involving an asthma drug which is to get new warnings over its risks.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced last week that more prominent warnings would be added to the information provided on boxes of the asthma drug montelukast, sold under the brand name Singulair.

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Mining industry braces for multi-billion pound Anglo American bidding war

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Glencore understood to be considering takeover offer while BHP could move again after initial rejection

The global mining industry is braced for a multi-billion pound bidding war for Anglo American amid growing speculation that mining companies are preparing rival bids.

The Australian miner BHP is understood to have sent senior executives to Anglo’s base in South Africa to meet key company stakeholders after an initial offer of £31bn was rebuffed by Anglo’s board last week.

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Experts condemn US tobacco firm’s sponsorship of doctor training as ‘grotesque’

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Philip Morris International has supported non-smoking programmes around the world ‘to advance its own interests’, say health professionals

The tobacco company Philip Morris has sponsored courses for doctors in multiple countries, in what critics have called a “grotesque” strategy.

Medical education programmes on quitting smoking and harm reduction in South Africa, the Middle East and the US have been supported by Philip Morris International (PMI) or its regional subsidiaries, according to advertising material seen by the Guardian.

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