Media executive’s exit comes as broadcaster faces a number of controversies
James Warburton, the chief executive and managing director of Seven West Media, left the company on Thursday, amid a tumultuous period for the broadcaster.
The prominent media executive was due to step down before the end of the financial year, according to executive changes first announced late last year.
Continue reading...Shares in Beyoncé and Neil Young song fund rise amid hopes uncertainty over its future could be over
The embattled British music royalties investment fund Hipgnosis, which owns the rights to songs by artists from Beyoncé to Neil Young, has agreed to a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) takeover by a music and theatrical rights rival after months of turmoil over the company’s structure and leadership.
The Concord Chorus deal, which offers Hipgnosis shareholders a 32% premium to Thursday’s share price at $1.16 a share, could put an end to uncertainty over the FTSE 250 firm’s future.
Continue reading...Demand for private treatment booms as NHS waiting lists remain long, while more people also sign up for dental cover
Britain’s health cover market has grown by £385m in a year as the NHS crisis prompted more people to seek out private medical treatment and demand for dental insurance increased, according to a report.
The total health cover market, including medical and dental insurance and cash plans, grew 6.1% to £6.7bn in 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the health data provider LaingBuisson.
Continue reading...Foreign minister warns of environmental catastrophe in Baltic Sea as he accuses Moscow of using unseaworthy vessels
Russia appears prepared to create “environmental havoc” by sailing unseaworthy oil tankers through the Baltic Sea in breach of all maritime rules, the Swedish foreign minister has said.
Speaking to the Guardian during his first visit to London since Sweden became a Nato member, Tobias Billström called for new rules and enforcement mechanisms to prevent the ageing and uninsured Russian shadow fleet causing an environmental catastrophe. About half of all Russian oil transported by sea passes through the Baltic Sea and Danish waters, often operating under opaque ownership, and using international waters to try to avoid scrutiny.
Continue reading...Swiss food firm’s infant formula and cereal sold in global south ignore WHO anti-obesity guidelines for Europe, says Public Eye
Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.
Campaigners from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, sent samples of the Swiss multinational’s baby-food products sold in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing.
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Unemployment ‘might take up a little bit’ when new numbers released later this week
Q: Given the economic conditions we’re seeing, what should households with mortgages expect?
[Inflation] won’t necessarily continue to come off in a perfectly straight line, but [it] is a fraction of what it was a couple of years ago when we came to office. That’s a good thing.
So we’ve got a whole bunch of things going for us in Australia, but enough to concern us as well about the global conditions about the way that people are still under considerable cost of living pressure.
The way that I would describe it to your listeners is we’ve got inflation lingering in parts of the world, we’ve got growth slowing in China and elsewhere, we’ve got tensions rising in the Middle East and the war in Europe. We’ve got supply chains which are straining and we’ve got a global economy which is fragmenting and transforming and so all of these factors are really important to us as we finalise the government’s third budget.
These are going to be these global conditions are going to be a really big influence on our budget, so the trip to DC which will be a pretty quick and make the most of it but it’s a good opportunity to take the temperature of the global economy.
Continue reading...Hi-tech ‘golden triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London risks deeper regional inequalities, says thinktank
Investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are “profoundly skewed” towards the “golden triangle” of Oxford, Cambridge and London, and risk deepening existing regional inequalities in England, according to research.
Ministers have promised to level up the country, narrowing the gap between the best- and worst-performing areas, but the rapid rollout of generative AI and automation could cut against that aspiration, according to the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW).
Continue reading...Engineer Sam Salehpour calls on planemaker ahead of testimony before Senate homeland security committee
A whistleblower has urged Boeing to ground every 787 Dreamliner jet worldwide after warning they are at risk of premature failure ahead of a high-profile hearing on Capitol Hill.
The planemaker has been grappling with its latest crisis since a cabin panel blowout in January raised fresh questions about the production of its bestselling commercial jet, the 737 Max.
Continue reading...In the UK, anxiety over the crisis after Iran’s missile strike on Israel drives down UK shares
An escalating Middle East conflict risks leading to higher oil prices, a reversal of the recent fall in inflation and a puncturing of the optimistic mood in financial markets, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
The Washington-based IMF said it was closely monitoring events in the region after Iran’s missile strike on Israel at the weekend and stressed the possibility that a war between the two countries could lead to higher interest rates.
Continue reading...British bootmaker says it does not expect to increase prices this year as it reports poor US sales
Shares in Dr Martens plummeted to a new low as the UK bootmaker warned on profits and poor performance in the US, and announced the departure of its chief executive.
The brand, known for its yellow-stitched thick-soled boots, warned sales would fall by a single-digit percentage in the year to the end of March 2025, compared with a year earlier. Profit before tax could be just a third of last year’s £159m in a worst-case scenario.
Continue reading...Supplier mistakenly charged direct debit customers at rate meant for those who pay when they get bills
Scottish Power is to pay £1.5m in refunds and compensation after overcharging nearly 1,700 households at the height of the energy crisis and in previous years, paying out an average of £294 to each customer.
The energy regulator, Ofgem, said it agreed the redress package with the supplier after it confirmed that, between 2015 and 2023, it mistakenly charged 1,699 direct debit customers at a higher rate that should only apply to those who pay when they receive their bill.
Continue reading...David Miller, then chief operating officer, tells inquiry he does not remember 1999 meeting in which comment was made
A former Post Office executive has told a public inquiry that he “should not have said” to its board that the Horizon IT system was “robust and fit for purpose” and agreed there had been a “missed opportunity” to investigate post office operators’ concerns.
David Miller, who retired in 2006 as chief operating officer of Post Office, had been told of problems with Horizon when he held meetings with post office operators in June 1999, the inquiry into the scandal has heard.
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz says European cars should have equal access to Chinese customers
The chancellor of Germany has urged industry bosses in China to play fair by not overproducing cheap goods or infringing copyright rules.
Speaking on a three-day visit to China, where he is travelling with leading business representatives and three government ministers, Olaf Scholz said he, in turn, would encourage the European Union not to be driven by self-interested protectionism, in which governments restrict international trade to help domestic companies.
Continue reading...Poverty reduction drive all but halted across many nations as Bank calls for more money to tackle a ‘great reversal’
The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world’s poorest countries has brought poverty reduction to a halt and led to a widening income gap with nations in the rich west, the World Bank has warned.
In a report released to coincide with its half-yearly meeting, the Washington-based organisation said half of the world’s 75 poorest nations had seen income per head rise more slowly than in developed countries over the past five years.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tactics include proposals to raise smoking age to avoid outright ban, and exemptions for cigars, says Cancer Research UK chief
Tobacco firms are lobbying MPs and peers in an effort to derail Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy to phase out smoking, the head of Britain’s biggest cancer charity has said.
The prime minister’s landmark legislation – which would bar anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes and make England the first country in the world to ban smoking – is due to be debated in parliament for the first time on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Flood and frozen pipe damage caused by series of storms, says Association of British Insurers
Storms and heavy rain pushed up weather-related home insurance claims in the UK by more than a third last year to a record £573m, according to industry data.
The repair bill for storm damage and other extreme weather during 2023 was £150m more than in 2022, the Association of British Insurers said, contributing to an overall 10% rise in residential property claims settled last year.
Continue reading...Exclusive: contaminated blood campaigners say internal 1976 Immuno AG document proves British government negligence
The British government was willing to risk infecting NHS patients to get “lower-priced” blood products, according to a document that campaigners claim proves state and corporate guilt in one of the country’s worst ever scandals.
A public inquiry into the deaths of an estimated 2,900 people infected with conditions such as HIV and hepatitis will publish its final report in May, four decades after the NHS started prescribing blood and blood products – including from drug users, prisoners and sex workers – sourced from the US.
Continue reading...Treasurer offers more detail on forthcoming Future Made in Australia plan after concerns raised by productivity commissioner
Tax breaks and subsidies may be offered to industry as part of the government’s yet-to-be-detailed Future Made in Australia plan – but Jim Chalmers says there will be “strict tests” on public funding for the green energy strategy.
The treasurer says there must be “generational change” in Australia to match similar major green economy programs being undertaken by other nations including the US.
Continue reading...OpenDemocracy investigation names attenders, including Keir Starmer, at Edinburgh meeting to discuss party’s banking policies
Senior members of the shadow cabinet have held a private meeting with a group of financial services companies to discuss the party’s banking policies just weeks after one of the companies donated £150,000 to the party.
Six senior Labour figures – including the leader, Keir Starmer, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds – attended the meeting in Edinburgh last December, according to an investigation by the website OpenDemocracy.
Continue reading...More than 40 locations across the US reported the backlash after rightwing account stokes anti-trans rhetoric about its rules
More than 40 Planet Fitness locations across the country have received bomb threats after a conservative movement against the gym’s trans-inclusive locker room policy went viral online.
In the weeks since the backlash against the gym chain started in March, at least 43 locations in Connecticut, Florida, Alabama and other states have received bomb threats, according to progressive media watchdog group Media Matters.
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