Regulator sets out possible ways forward in review of requirement to deliver across Britain, six days a week
Royal Mail could save up to £650m if it delivered letters just three days a week and £200m by stopping Saturday deliveries, the communications regulator has said.
The watchdog said a reduction from six to five days a week would save £100m to £200m, and going down to three days would save between £400m and £650m.
Continue reading...Delta Air Lines jet was due to depart Atlanta international airport and none of the crew or passengers were hurt
A nose wheel fell off a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger jet and rolled away as the plane lined up for takeoff over the weekend from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson international airport in the US, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
According to a preliminary FAA notice, none of the 184 passengers or six crew members aboard were hurt in the incident.
Continue reading...Banks say tax tweaks approved by Anthony Albanese’s cabinet may slow pace of RBA interest rate cuts and further reforms are needed to fill budget shortfalls
The Albanese government’s changes to the stage-three tax cuts won’t reignite inflation, although they may slow the pace of Reserve Bank interest rate cuts and more reforms are needed to close future budget gaps, economists say.
Cabinet has approved a revision to the cuts, legislated in 2019, that extends tax relief to those earning less than $45,000 a year to be paid for by reducing the benefit to higher-income earners, with full details still be formally released.
Continue reading...As nuclear plant is hit by further delay, real cost will be far higher after inflation is included, as project uses 2015 prices
The owner of Hinkley Point C has blamed inflation, Covid and Brexit as it announced the nuclear power plant project could be delayed by a further four years, and cost £2.3bn more.
The plant in Somerset, which has been under construction since 2016, is now expected to be finished by 2031 and cost up to £35bn, France’s EDF said. However, the cost will be far higher once inflation is taken into account, because EDF is using 2015 prices.
Continue reading...Entertainment giant has dabbled with live events in bid to shore up its dominant position as world’s largest streaming platform
Netflix has unveiled a $5bn push into live television after striking a decade-long deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to broadcast the hit wrestling show Raw.
The entertainment giant, which led the on-demand streaming revolution, has dabbled with live events in recent years in a bid to shore up its dominant position as the world’s largest streaming platform.
Continue reading...Government uses cyber sanctions powers under Magnitsky laws for first time to target Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, alleged to be responsible for hack
Australia has used its new cyber sanctions powers for the first time against a Russian citizen, Aleksandr Ermakov, in connection with the Medibank Private data breach.
Magnitsky-style sanctions laws that were introduced in Australia in late 2021 include a world-leading measure to allow the imposition of Australian travel bans and asset freezes on those allegedly involved in “significant” cyber-attacks.
Continue reading...Six million of the poorest people would need more than double their incomes to move out of hardship, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Escaping poverty has become significantly harder over the past two decades, with progress to eradicate hardship in Britain having stalled under the Conservatives since 2010, a major report has warned.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said levels of hardship had deepened for millions of people across the country since the mid-1990s, having been compounded by years of “political failure” to tackle poverty.
Continue reading...Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers president, reaffirms general strike on 1 May 2028, saying ‘members need to come together’
Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers president, criticized Donald Trump on Monday but declined to back Joe Biden as he reaffirmed plans to lead a general strike in the US in 2028.
Speaking to union members at the UAW national political conference in Washington DC, Fain said it was time for union members to come together.
Reuters contributed reporting
Continue reading...Former Cop26 president abstains from vote saying bill breaks UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels
Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill going through the Commons will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead will break the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.
The government’s offshore petroleum licensing bill passed its second reading on Monday night with 293 votes to 211 against. No Conservative MPs voted against it, and Sharma – the former business secretary who served as president of the Cop26 climate talks – abstained. The legislation would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences.
Continue reading...Record highs come amid hopes a cooldown in inflation will allow Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year
Wall Street scaled fresh records on Monday, as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average each closed at an all-time high.
The S&P gained 0.2% to 4,850.43. The Dow cleared 38,000 for the first time, rising 0.4% to 38,001.81.
Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Georgia-Pacific, owned by Koch Industries, employ controversial legal tactic to circumvent paying millions to sickened workers
Asbestos victims, their families and attorneys are claiming a Koch Industries-owned company and its lawyers are using a controversial bankruptcy maneuver to avoid paying millions in compensation to its former employees.
Workers at Georgia-Pacific, a paper and building products company, have been locked in a years-long battle with a company over claims asbestos in its products caused fatal cancers.
Continue reading...25% jump in firms facing ‘critical’ financial distress, with property and construction sectors featuring heavily, says Begbies Traynor
More than 47,000 UK companies are on the brink of collapse after a 25% jump in the number of businesses facing “critical” financial distress in the final three months of 2023, according to a report.
It marks the second consecutive quarter-on-quarter period when critical financial distress has risen by a 25%, the latest “Red Flag” report by insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor found.
Construction (7,849)
Support services (7,096)
Real estate & property services (6,228)
Professional services (4,347)
General retailers (3,133)
Telecoms & IT (2,830)
Health & education (2,719)
Media (1,828)
Financial services (1,373)
Food & drug retailers (1,343)
Continue reading...PM says Labor government will receive advice by Wednesday’s caucus meeting on how best to assist Australians struggling with rising costs
Anthony Albanese has continued to raise expectations of further cost-of-living relief as some backbench MPs debate the possibility Labor could modify stage-three income tax cuts to pay for new measures.
On Monday the prime minister said “if we can find ways to put extra dollars in people’s pockets, particularly those low and middle income earners who are doing it tough, then we’re prepared to do so”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: NFU warns blanket import checks from April could fuel long delays and damage future crops
The UK’s fruit and flower growers face an “existential threat” from new post-Brexit border checks that could damage business and affect next year’s crops, the country’s biggest farming body has said.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warned that changes to import rules in April, which will impose checks at the border for nearly all young plants coming into the country, could cause long delays and result in plants being damaged or destroyed.
Continue reading...Deal aimed at keeping energy bills affordable will see 260 petajoules supplied to gas-fired power stations in Australia’s south-east coast until 2033
Australia’s south-east coast will be further guaranteed gas supply in an effort to keep lights on and energy bills affordable before predicted supply shortages at the decade’s end.
It comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has called Labor MPs and senators to Canberra on Wednesday for a snap caucus to discuss further cost-of-living relief measures put forward by Treasury.
Continue reading...Detectives believe man is targeting single women – while AFP shines spotlight on romance fraud
Law enforcement agencies are on the hunt for a man accused of stealing millions from property market investors as police warn Australians to be on guard against “pig butchering” scams before Valentine’s Day.
A Victorian man is alleged to have fleeced wannabe property market investors of $8.7m by claiming to be a developer who offers to help people demolish their homes and build townhouses in their place.
Continue reading...Even as more job cuts await, some analysts see the beginnings of a bull market in the coming season of earnings reports
Will 2024 be a boom or a bust for big tech? By one estimate, there have been more than 7,500 layoffs in the sector since the start of the year – a dispersal of pink slips that many hoped would have ceased after the deep job cuts of 2023.
However, as the US’s big tech earnings season gets under way this week, some analysts are predicting strong numbers. This batch of quarterly financial results may show that the industry has cleared out its pandemic-era overhiring and reorganised itself around cloud computing and AI - necessitating cuts in sectors with less rosy prospects. Analysts keen on AI say we are at the start of a tech bull market.
Continue reading...ABS data highlights shoppers’ attraction to promotions, as supermarkets giants discount unhealthy food twice as often as healthier items
Supermarket promotional items can sell at up to 70 times their normal rate, analysis shows, in a sign of the market power the grocery giants exert over Australian households that includes a preference to discount junk food.
An upcoming parliamentary inquiry designed to investigate claims of profiteering is expected to place significant focus on grocery specials, while the competition regulator has also suggested it could sue major supermarkets for deceptive promotions. The chains have defended their pricing practices.
Continue reading...Regulator’s review will look at evidence and options on how universal postal service ‘might need to evolve’
Royal Mail could be allowed to end Saturday postal deliveries as part of Ofcom’s review into how the service may need to be reformed.
Next week, Ofcom will publish a document outlining “potential options for the future of the universal postal service”.
Continue reading...Powers bestowed by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 are not being used effectively, say critics
HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion.
Critics say the data, released under freedom of information laws to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and TaxWatch, suggests that HMRC is undermining its own deterrents against corporate tax evasion by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.
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