Category Archives: Business

French post office opens changing room for online shoppers

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Customers can collect their parcels and try on items in one trip during trial at La Poste branches

It is an increasingly common irritant of modern life. You order an item of clothing online; you wait with anticipation for it to arrive, and five minutes after it has arrived you’re packaging it up because it doesn’t fit.

For shoppers in France, however, the national post office may have the answer – or at least a way of making the process less logistically challenging. It is experimenting with in-store changing rooms to cater to people who want to quickly return purchases they do not want.

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Greggs enjoys bumper Christmas period as it hails easing inflation

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Reduced cost pressures and popular festive bakes and chocolate orange muffins boost bakery chain

Greggs has hailed easing inflationary pressures after the UK’s biggest bakery chain rang up bumper Christmas sales amid less travel disruption and enthusiasm for seasonal specialities such as festive bakes and chocolate orange muffins.

The company said sales at established stores had risen 9.4% in the three months to 30 December as it attracted more customers with extended opening hours and by offering online ordering.

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Plans to clear names of Horizon scandal victims to be announced ‘imminently’

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Post Office minister says government is close to setting out how hundreds of operators wrongly prosecuted will be exonerated

Plans to clear the names of hundreds of post office operators wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal will be announced “imminently”, a government minister has said.

Rishi Sunak will face MPs for prime minister’s questions and is under pressure to set out how the government will exonerate hundreds of post office operators accused of swindling money as a result of the flawed computer system.

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Mulch containing asbestos found at Rozelle parklands may have been used at other Sydney sites

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Testing reveals ‘low-risk’ contamination in samples taken from mulch near Rozelle playground, Transport for NSW says

An expansive park built above Rozelle’s multibillion-dollar spaghetti junction interchange has been closed after asbestos was found in garden mulch around a children’s playground – with the contractor involved confirming the mulch was also used elsewhere in Sydney.

An urgent audit was under way to determine what other sites could be affected by what the premier, Chris Minns, described as “a toxic substance”.

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Peter Dutton was flown by a billionaire to Gina Rinehart’s Pilbara party – where he had a message for parents

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Federal opposition leader told audience at Roy Hill mine that parents and teachers should instruct children about benefits of mining

Peter Dutton was flown to a party at the Pilbara mine of Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, by another billionaire rich-lister, where he made a speech suggesting parents and teachers talk to children about the positives of the mining sector.

In a speech at Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill mine in November last year, Dutton repeatedly thanked those working in resources. He described the work carried out at the mine as a “national treasure”.

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CEO says Boeing must acknowledge ‘our mistake’ as 737 Max 9 jets are grounded

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Planes await inspection by aviation regulators after panel blowout on Alaska Airlines flight amid heightened safety concerns

Boeing must acknowledge “our mistake”, its CEO has said, after the cabin panel of a 737 Max 9 jet blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight last week.

Dozens of Max 9 planes have been grounded following the incident, awaiting inspection amid heightened concerns around safety. Alaska and United Airlines have since both found loose parts on several jets.

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EDF Energy plans to extend life of four UK nuclear power plants

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French energy company to invest a further £1.3bn in its British nuclear fleet up to 2026

EDF is planning to extend the life of four nuclear power stations in the UK and increase investment in its British nuclear fleet.

The French energy company, which manages Britain’s eight nuclear power stations, said it would make a decision on whether to extend the life of the four plants with advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) – Torness, Heysham 1 and 2, and Hartlepool – by the end of the year. This would require regulatory approval.

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Channel 4 in diversity row as four white directors appointed to board

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Chair says government-approved appointments lag behind broadcaster’s diversity targets

A row has broken out over the lack of ethnic diversity among Channel 4’s new board members, as the broadcaster’s chair criticised the government’s decision to appoint four white directors.

The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, approved the appointments on Monday of five new non-executive directors to join the Channel 4 board and they were announced by the UK’s media regulator Ofcom.

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Post Office scandal could lead to rules change on private prosecutions

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Companies could be stopped from taking such action, and firms involved in Horizon case may have to pay compensation

Rules to prevent companies taking private prosecutions in the way the Post Office went after innocent post office operators are being considered by the government.

The move by the government to consider removing powers of prosecution from the Post Office and other entities is part of a response to the Horizon IT scandal that could also lead to companies involved, including the tech company Fujitsu, being asked to shoulder the financial burden of providing compensation, a cabinet minister indicated on Tuesday.

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The Iconic pledges to refund customers charged for bogus orders after hack

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Retailer’s move comes after some shoppers said more than $1,000 had been taken from their accounts

Online retailer the Iconic has promised to refund customers who were charged large sums for fraudulent orders after having their accounts compromised.

The refund pledge follows a backlash from consumers, who have been posting their frustration on the retailer’s Facebook page.

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Alcoa Kwinana alumina refinery shutdown will lead to hundreds of job cuts in resources minister’s electorate

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Madeleine King says she is ‘extremely disappointed’ while the opposition criticises Labor for ‘embarrassing failure’ on industry policy

The federal resources minister, Madeleine King, says she is “extremely disappointed” at the closure of a major alumina refinery in her electorate, with about 800 job losses expected, as the opposition criticises the government over what it has labelled “an embarrassing failure” on industry policy.

US alumina giant Alcoa announced on Tuesday it would close its 60-year-old refinery south of Perth, where hundreds of workers were expected to lose their jobs.

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Greenland startup begins shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars in the UAE

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Arctic Ice argues its rare, pure product can be part of Greenland’s green transition and greater independence

Frozen daiquiri anyone? Drinking a cocktail on top of a Dubai skyscraper may seem decadent enough, but a Greenland entrepreneur wants to add ancient glacier ice scooped from the fjords to the glass, for the ultimate international thrill.

Arctic Ice harvests ice from the fjords of Greenland, and then ships them to the United Arab Emirates to sell to exclusive bars. Using glacial ice in drinks is a common practice in Greenland, and, over the years, several entrepreneurs have unsuccessfully attempted to export it. Its co-founder Malik V Rasmussen said the ice, which has been compressed over millennia, is completely without bubbles and melts more slowly than regular ice. It is also purer than the frozen mineral water usually used in Dubai’s ice cubes.

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Paula Vennells to Ed Davey: the people with questions to answer on the Post Office scandal

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Numerous people have been criticised for their role in widespread miscarriage of justice that affected thousands

Over a 16-year period the Post Office wrongfully accused about 3,500 branch owner-operators of theft, fraud and false accounting, resulting in more than 700 prosecutions, despite knowing from at least 2010 that there were faults in the Horizon IT system.

To date no Post Office staff or suppliers have been punished. Here are some of those involved who still have questions to answer for their role in what has frequently been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.

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Sellafield nuclear safety and security director to leave

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Multiple safety and cybersecurity failings at nuclear waste site were revealed by Guardian last month

The top director responsible for safety and security at Sellafield is to leave the vast nuclear waste dump in north-west England, it has emerged.

Mark Neate, the Sellafield environment, safety and security director, is to leave the organisation later this year.

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Queensland farmers call for probe into price gouging after premier writes to grocery giants

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Peak body says farmers aren’t getting ‘fair value’ as Steven Miles demands answers from supermarkets on overcharging claims

A peak body representing Queensland farmers has increased pressure for an inquiry into price gouging after the state’s premier wrote to the big supermarket chains demanding answers over a “widening gap” between the prices farmers receive and those customers pay.

The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, sent a letter to the CEOs of Coles, Woolworths, IGA and Aldi on Friday telling them about his “growing concern” about the disparity between checkout prices and the value farmers receive for their stock.

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Manufacturers say UK becoming more competitive as global hub, survey finds

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Findings show British bosses growing in confidence over sector’s prospects despite ‘headwinds of sustained economic challenges’

Britain’s largest manufacturers believe the UK is increasing its competitiveness as a global hub for manufacturing, despite high energy costs, worker shortages and political instability holding back progress.

In a crunch period for the economy before the general election, the manufacturing trade body Make UK and the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said industry bosses were growing more confident about the sector’s prospects, but “headwinds of sustained economic challenges” still remained.

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Channel 4 plans deepest job cuts in over 15 years after TV ad slump

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Exclusive: As many as 200 roles could go as firm seeks to accelerate digital streaming strategy and limit cuts to content budget

Channel 4 is drawing up plans to cut potentially as many as 200 jobs in its biggest round of layoffs in more than 15 years, as it seeks to make savings to weather the worst TV advertising downturn since 2008.

The broadcaster, which has undergone a rapid expansion in recent years with staff numbers swelling to a record level of more than 1,200, aims to dramatically reduce a wage bill that now stands at more than £108m a year.

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Post Office suspected of more injustices over Horizon pilot scheme

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Exclusive: software believed to have resulted in prosecutions even before full system rollout in 1999

The Post Office is suspected of wrongly prosecuting dozens more operators who took part in a pilot scheme of the faulty Horizon system, the Guardian has been told.

Amid growing anger over the treatment of postmasters whose lives have been ruined in the scandal, Whitehall sources have confirmed that a precursor scheme was rolled out in 1995 and 1996 to hundreds of branches in north-east England.

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Design flaws not suspected ‘at this time’ with Boeing Max 9 jets, investigators say

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Boeing faces fresh scrutiny after door panel blows out of brand new plane, leaving a hole ‘the size of a refrigerator’

US aviation investigators were on the ground in Oregon on Sunday trying to figure out what caused a door panel to blow out of a brand new Boeing passenger jet just minutes after takeoff, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing with a hole “the size of a refrigerator” in the side of the plane.

The American jet maker was facing fresh scrutiny as regulators temporarily grounded the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after a section of a plugged exit door on an Alaska Airlines flight detached 16,000ft (4,877 meters) above Portland, Oregon, on Friday with 171 passengers and six crew on board. The weeks-old plane had been modified, requiring fewer emergency exits because it had fewer seats.

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Rishi Sunak considers plan to exonerate Post Office Horizon scandal victims

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PM reveals government is also considering plans to strip Post Office of its powers to prosecute

Post office operators whose lives have been ruined by the Horizon scandal could be exonerated under plans being considered by the government, Rishi Sunak has said.

The prime minister also confirmed that Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, could strip the Post Office of its powers to prosecute after more than 700 branch managers were wrongly handed criminal convictions.

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