Category Archives: Business

Diversity policies face ‘full-out attack’ in 2024, leading HR boss warns

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President of the largest human resources organization in country says national shift following George Floyd’s 2020 murder is fading

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies within US companies will “come under full-out attack in 2024”, the president of the largest US human resources organization in the US has said.

“It’s going to become a hot-button issue this year,” Johnny C Taylor Jr, president and chief executive of the Society of Human Resource Management, told reporters. The national shift to be more inclusive that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed, is already fading, he said. “We’re already seeing companies go away from it.”

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Fortnum & Mason online customers hampered by service ‘glitches’

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Online shoppers at the upmarket London grocer complain about being billed twice and being on hold for nearly 90 minutes

Customers of the luxury grocer Fortnum & Mason have been complaining about difficulties placing orders and getting a response from customer services during a busy Christmas period for the retailer.

Some shoppers at the store, which holds a royal warrant and is famed for its Christmas hampers, have taken to social media and review websites to complain about being charged multiple times after repeating transactions thinking they had not gone through.

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‘It’s going to delay the mail’: the fight over Louis DeJoy’s USPS plan

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Trump’s postmaster general appointee is implementing a 10-year austerity plan that will slash jobs and close sorting centers

More than 500,000 workers at the United States Postal Service (USPS) will be handling billions of deliveries through the holidays. For hundreds of them, this may be their last Christmas at their current mail sorting facility and workers are warning the impact on consumers will be severe.

Donald Trump’s appointee as postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, is currently implementing a 10-year “Delivering for America” austerity plan that will slash jobs and close sorting centers.

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Costco sells $100m in gold bars in most recent quarter

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Retailer began selling bars of 24-karat gold online in September, with each release selling out ‘within a few hours’

Known for selling goods in bulk, Costco’s latest such offering – gold bars – has proved a hit, with $100m worth sold in the most recent quarter, Business Insider reported.

With demand for the precious metal rising globally amid the economic uncertainty of the past few years, Costco in September began selling 1oz (28g) bars of 24-karat gold exclusively online, with Costco members eligible to buy two apiece. The retailer has more than 72m paid memberships.

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Australians may get more cost-of-living relief in the next budget, Jim Chalmers says

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Exclusive: Treasurer says government working on measures to ease the squeeze as well as policies to accelerate transition to net-zero emissions

Jim Chalmers has said Australians could receive more help with cost-of-living relief in the budget next May and confirmed the government is working up new policy measures to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.

In an end-of-year interview with Guardian Australia following the release this week of the mid-year budget update, the treasurer said the government would consider further interventions to help households between now and the May budget as long as measures didn’t fuel inflationary pressure, which has been moderating.

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Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold as concern about economy grows

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Interest rates will need to stay high for sufficiently long to return inflation to 2% target

The Bank of England has said Britain is facing a tougher job to crush persistently high inflation than other advanced nations, as it kept interest rates on hold at the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.

Pushing back against expectations in financial markets for a deep round of interest rate cuts next year, the central bank said there was still a long way to go before it could declare victory on inflation, despite a worsening outlook for the UK’s stagnant economy.

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Currys boss: minimum wage hike shows government does not ‘care’ about retail

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Planned 10% UK increase as business rates rise will put pressure on already overburdened industry, says Alex Baldock

The boss of Currys has accused the government of failing to “understand or care” about UK retailers by pushing through a “big hike” in the UK’s minimum wage.

Alex Baldock’s comments come weeks after chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced plans to increase the legal minimum wage for the UK’s lowest paid workers to £11.44 an hour, representing a hike of almost 10%, from April 2024. The move will force employers to pay full time workers around £1,800 more per year.

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Thames Water appoints Chris Weston as boss with up to £2.3m package

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Former British Gas executive tasked with leading turnaround in face of debts and controversy over sewage

Thames Water has appointed a former British Gas executive as its new boss with a pay package of up to £2.3m a year and tasked with leading a crucial turnaround as it faces mounting debts and controversy over dumping sewage in Britain’s waterways.

Chris Weston replaces Sarah Bentley, who resigned with immediate effect in June amid a backlash over the firm’s poor environmental track record. Weston will take up the role on 8 January.

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‘They are so convincing’: Vera Gazzard lost her life savings to HyperVerse

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Australians who were convinced to put money into the Hyper group investment schemes say no one has been held to account for their losses

Geelong woman Vera Gazzard had plans for her $50,000 in savings. Elective surgery was on the list, as was help for her daughter who was expecting a second child.

But when an acquaintance recommended an investment opportunity called HyperVerse offering daily returns of 0.5% she jumped at the opportunity.

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Argentina’s new government devalues peso by more than 50%

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Package of spending cuts introduced in attempt to tackle country’s worst economic crisis in decades

Argentina has devalued its currency, the peso, by more than 50% as part of a package of large-scale spending cuts intended to address the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

The plans, introduced under the newly inaugurated administration of Javier Milei, include cutting energy subsidies and cancelling tenders for public works.

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Sainsbury’s boss defends decision to sell customers’ Nectar card data

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Supermarket says it protects personal data ‘incredibly carefully’ and move makes ads ‘more relevant’

The chief executive of Sainsbury’s has defended its decision to sell data on the shopping habits of his customers to TV and consumer goods manufacturers looking to target their advertising.

Simon Roberts has said the supermarket group protects personal data “incredibly carefully” and that its strategy had made adverts more “relevant” for shoppers.

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War has left Gaza economy at almost total standstill, says World Bank

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Washington-based development organisation providing $20m for citizens suffering ‘multidimensional poverty’

The economy of Gaza has ground to an almost total standstill as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas that has left about 85% of workers without jobs, the World Bank has said.

In an assessment of the economic impact of the two-month-long conflict, the Washington-based development organisation said Gaza was operating at only 16% of its productive capacity and was in “deep recession”.

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Scale of bullying and harassment of women in City ‘shocks and alarms’ MPs

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Cross-party Treasury committee says its private hearings suggest there has been no improvement in 20 years

MPs on the cross-party Treasury committee have been “shocked and alarmed” to hear about the scale of bullying and sexual harassment against women in the City of London, which suggests there has been “no improvement whatsoever” over the past 20 years.

The Labour MP and committee member Angela Eagle said private hearings held as part of the committee’s sexism in the City inquiry had raised significant concerns about the conditions women were forced to endure in the UK’s financial services sector.

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Abu Dhabi-backed group close to £1bn deal for Gogglebox maker All3Media

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Telegraph bidder RedBird IMI in talks to buy UK’s largest independent TV production group

The Abu Dhabi-backed investment group that has struck a deal to buy the Telegraph is close to securing a £1bn-plus takeover of another prize UK media asset – All3Media, the TV production group behind shows including Call the Midwife, Squid Game: The Challenge, Gogglebox and Midsomer Murders.

RedBird IMI, a joint-venture between the US company RedBird Capital and International Media Investments (IMI) of Abu Dhabi, the investment vehicle for the UAE vice-president, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is understood to be in advanced negotiations to buy the UK’s largest independent TV production group.

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Dozens of US lobbyists represent both climate-focused charities and fossil fuels – report

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Watchdog finds 86 foundations, including New Venture Fund and Pew Charitable Trusts, that share firms with fossil fuel companies

Dozens of US charities, including ones prioritizing climate action, are employing lobbying firms who also work for fossil fuel companies, new data shows.

Pew Charitable Trusts work on environmental issues while sharing a lobbying firm with Chevron. New Venture Fund’s priorities include a “range of conservation, climate, and energy issues”, yet it employed lobbying firms representing oil and gas companies in six states since the beginning of 2022. And Ballmer Giving funds climate and Indigenous rights programs, yet represents a company building fossil fuel infrastructure on tribal land.

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China overtakes US as branded coffee shop capital of the world

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Number rose by almost 60% in a year to 49,691 stores, making China ‘a global coffee industry powerhouse’

The branded coffee chain craze may trace its roots to a single Starbucks in Seattle’s Pike Place market in 1971, but now China has toppled the US as the country with the most branded coffee shops.

The number of branded coffee shops in China increased by 58% over the past 12 months to a record 49,691 outlets, according to research by World Coffee Portal. That was more than 9,000 in excess of the 40,062 in the US, where the market grew by just 4%. The US had held the crown as the world’s biggest coffee shop market for the entire 20-year history of the research.

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Falling UK inflation will ease pressure for high pay awards, says thinktank

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Strong growth in earnings has been driven by increases in cost of living, says Resolution Foundation

Bank of England concerns over the high level of pay awards are likely to be eased in the coming months as wage settlements fall in response to a tumbling annual inflation rate, a thinktank has said.

The Resolution Foundation said recent strong growth in earnings was primarily caused by a sharp increase in the cost of living, with workers trying to prevent their living standards being eroded.

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EU agrees tough limits on police use of AI biometric surveillance

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Measure bans use of real-time data without judicial authorisation in nearly all circumstances and covers both public and private spaces

Police and national security bodies in the EU will be banned from using real-time biometric data driven by artificial intelligence in most circumstances without having judicial authorisation, it has emerged.

The measure was part of a historic agreement reached between the European parliament and EU member states on Friday after three days of negotiations. However, officials only revealed the operational details on Monday, as the final text will not be published until “a cleaning-up process” is complete.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘final’ film The Boy and the Heron hits No 1 at North American box office

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The Japanese director’s animation beats The Hunger Games prequel and Godzilla Minus One on its opening weekend in the US and Canada

The Boy and the Heron, reportedly the final film from Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, has taken the number one spot at the box office on its North American release, as well as achieving record figures for the director.

Preliminary box office returns report that The Boy and the Heron took $12.8m in the US and Canada on its opening weekend, putting it a significant distance ahead of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which managed $9.4m. In third place was another Japanese film, the monster movie Godzilla Minus One, on $8.3m.

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UK Christmas shoppers will pay more for less this year, say economists

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Cost of festive season is up almost a quarter in three years, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research

Consumers will pay more for less this Christmas, economists have warned, getting less of a bang for their buck than the faint phutting of a puny, overpriced cracker being pulled.

Although Britons will spend more than in the belt-tightening 2022 festive season, the resultant fare won’t yet match the pre-pandemic Christmases past.

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