Category Archives: Business

Shell’s ‘obscene’ $5bn profits reignite outrage amid climate crisis

Posted on by

Campaigners criticise plan to increase oil and gas production despite extreme heat in Europe

Shell has reignited outrage among climate activists by handing billions to its shareholders after making profits that campaigners have described as “obscene”.

Protests were held outside the oil company’s London headquarters on Thursday after it reported second-quarter profits of just over $5bn (£3.9bn) in the same week that wildfires linked to the climate crisis burned across Mediterranean countries.

Continue reading...

Jim Ratcliffe’s charity cleared by regulator after preliminary investigation

Posted on by

Foundation set up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the UK’s richest person, had provided funding for a luxury clubhouse at ski club

The Charity Commission has closed a preliminary investigation into concerns about governance at a charity set up by the UK’s richest person, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which helped fund a £16m luxury clubhouse for an exclusive French Alps club where he and his daughter have skied for years.

The UK charity watchdog announced on Thursday that it had closed its “regulatory compliance case” into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation after finding that “the charity’s activities further its purposes and that there is no further role for the regulator”.

Continue reading...

US economic growth speeds up in second quarter and weekly jobless claims fall

Posted on by

Economy is being anchored by labor market and businesses are boosting investment, potentially holding off a recession

The US economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter as labor market resilience underpinned consumer spending, while businesses boosted investment in equipment, potentially keeping a much-feared recession at bay.

Gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of economic growth – increased at a 2.4% annualized rate last quarter, the commerce department announced in its advance estimate of second-quarter GDP on Thursday. The economy grew at a 2.0% pace in the January-March quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 1.8% rate.

Continue reading...

NSW police taskforce to investigate spate of shootings – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Wholesale power prices down from a year ago but still at elevated levels

Emissions from Australia’s main electricity grid dropped more than 6% in the June quarter from a year ago to a record-low for the period, and wholesale prices stabilised, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) said.

I think some of the people who are raising issues in the US Congress about this are saying ‘look the US has its own issues about its industrial base, its capacity to up its submarine production.’

But you know, what Aukus is about is actually augmenting the capacity to supply submarines in the region. And we Australia will be injecting money into the US industrial base.

Continue reading...

Meta stock surges after company reports 11% rise in revenue

Posted on by

Revenue grew to $32bn, marking company’s most profitable quarter since 2021, as news sends stocks surging by 7%

Meta stock rallied as the company reported an 11% rise in revenue on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations.

Revenue grew to $32bn in the quarter ending in June, compared to analysts’ average estimate of $31.12bn, marking Meta’s most profitable quarter since 2021. The news sent stocks surging by 7% in after-market trading.

More details soon …

Continue reading...

Netflix lists AI job worth $900,000 amid twin Hollywood strikes

Posted on by

Company lists highly paid machine-learning project manager role while actors and executives at odds over future of AI in Hollywood

As actors and writers strike over fair compensation and protections from the encroachment of artificial intelligence, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra), 87% of the guild’s actors make less than $26,000 per year.

The use of AI in the production of film and television – either to write scripts, generate actors’ likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Writers have been striking since May; the actors joined earlier this month. The first joint strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill.

Continue reading...

Spurs billionaire Joe Lewis pleads not guilty to securities fraud

Posted on by

Lewis, whose family owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, is accused of ‘brazen’ insider trading

Lawyers for the British billionaire Joe Lewis have accused prosecutors of making an “egregious” mistake, as the 86-year-old pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.

Lewis, who heads the family that owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, was arraigned on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with 16 counts of securities fraud and three of conspiracy to commit fraud, which prosecutors called a “brazen” insider trading scheme to enrich his friends, lovers and employees, including two private jet pilots.

Continue reading...

NatWest was caught out by Nigel Farage’s deft political game

Posted on by

Tory anger over Coutts affair led to bank’s board feeling it had no choice but to sack CEO Alison Rose

Just after 5.40pm on Tuesday afternoon, the two people in charge of NatWest Group put out a joint statement. Dame Alison Rose, its chief executive, admitted she had been the source for an incendiary BBC story about Nigel Farage’s accounts at its exclusive private bank, while Sir Howard Davies, the bank’s chair, expressed his support for her remaining in charge of the lender.

Eight hours later, the bank had performed a dramatic reversal, having catastrophically misjudged the mood of its largest shareholder, the UK government. After last-minute interventions from both the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, board members convened for a late-night virtual call that was to spell the end of Rose’s 31-year career with the bank.

Continue reading...

Sunak and Hunt accused of ‘damaging UK plc’ over NatWest boss’s exit

Posted on by

Concerns raised over anonymous briefings that triggered early-hours resignation of Dame Alison Rose

The prime minister and the chancellor have been accused of “damaging UK plc” and failing to follow due process amid concern over anonymous briefings that triggered the early-hours resignation of NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose.

“There is a real sense of disquiet that political pressure has led to a midnight exit for such an important banking CEO,” an official at the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, told the Guardian. “They should have allowed due process.”

Continue reading...

NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns over Nigel Farage Coutts account row

Posted on by

Former Ukip leader obtained report suggesting media coverage of his political views was considered in Coutts closure decision

Dame Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, has stood down after a row over the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with the private bank Coutts, which NatWest owns.

Rose has resigned from the banking group after the former UK Independence party leader complained to the BBC about a report that claimed his accounts with Coutts were closed for commercial reasons. The broadcaster has since apologised and amended its story.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage calls for NatWest bosses to go after chief executive resigns over Coutts row – business live

Posted on by

Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as UK bank replaces leader following late night board meeting

The minister in charge of overseeing the UK’s financial services has said that “it is right” that Alison Rose has resigned from NatWest Group, calling the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account “unacceptable”.

Andrew Griffith, the City minister, said the resignation “would never have happened” had NatWest Group’s subsidiary, Coutts, not withdrawn the account “due to someone’s lawful political views”.

Continue reading...

Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis charged with ‘brazen’ insider trading

Posted on by

Billionaire allegedly gave friends, employees and romantic partners information on companies in which he was investor

The billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club was charged with orchestrating “brazen” insider trading by US federal prosecutors on Tuesday.

According to Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, Joe Lewis gave friends, including his personal pilots, assistants and romantic partners, inside information from companies in which he was an investor.

Continue reading...

Ofgem to clamp down on rogue energy brokers ‘ripping off’ care homes and faith groups

Posted on by

Exclusive: Move follows outcry from small firms, charities and others about hidden commission fees

Rogue energy brokers are to be brought to heel by the industry regulator in a crackdown seeking to stop small firms being ripped off by their strongarm tactics and hefty fees.

Under proposed rules to be put forward by Ofgem on Wednesday, energy suppliers would be forced to come clean on the billions in secret broker commissions they load on to business contracts.

Continue reading...

Sciensus’s licence partly suspended after death of cancer patient

Posted on by

Regulator acts after firm paid millions by NHS for healthcare gave patients wrong chemotherapy dose

Britain’s health regulator has partly suspended the manufacturing licence of Sciensus, a private company paid millions by the NHS to provide vital medicines, after the death of a cancer patient who was given the wrong dose of chemotherapy.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken “immediate” action under regulation 28 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 law “where it appears to the MHRA that in the interests of safety the licence should be suspended”.

Continue reading...

Rhodes wildfires are climate wake-up call, says UK minister

Posted on by

Patrick Courtown sounds warning as evacuation flights head to Greek island to rescue stranded Britons

Wildfires in Rhodes are a “wake-up call” on the effects of the climate crisis, a UK government minister has said, as empty planes were sent to the Greek island to help bring home stranded Britons.

After a mass evacuation from parts of Rhodes, members of the House of Lords were told the situation was “stabilising” and there was no immediate need for the government to advise people to stop travelling there.

Continue reading...

New cryptocurrency offers users tokens for scanning their eyeballs

Posted on by

Worldcoin, launched by CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, says scheme will distinguish between ‘verified humans’ and AI

Members of the public are being invited to have their eyeballs scanned by a silver orb as part of cryptocurrency project that aims to use biometric verification to distinguish humans from AI systems.

People signing up to the Worldcoin scheme via an app this week will receive a “genesis grant” of 25 tokens, equivalent to about £40, after having their iris scanned by one of the bowling ball-sized devices.

Continue reading...

UK interest rates need to stay higher for longer to beat inflation, says IMF

Posted on by

US Fed will also have to raise rates more aggressively than forecast, says Washington-based body

Interest rates in the UK will need to stay higher for longer than previously forecast in order to tackle stubbornly high inflation, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

The IMF’s regular update on the state of the global economy singled out the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England as two central banks that will need to raise official borrowing costs more aggressively than it assumed only three months ago.

Continue reading...

AI bots could replace us, peer warns House of Lords during debate

Posted on by

Crossbencher asks Lords to imagine bots with ‘higher productivity and lower running costs’ as example of risk to UK jobs market

The House of Lords could be replaced by bots with “deeper knowledge, higher productivity and lower running costs”, said a peer during a debate on the development of advanced artificial intelligence.

Addressing the upper chamber, Richard Denison hypothesised that AI services may soon be able to deliver his speeches in his own style and voice, “with no hesitation, repetition or deviation”.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk reveals new Twitter logo X

Posted on by

Experts warn that rebranding of 15-year-old app may be a risky move at a time when competitors are upping their game

Elon Musk has revealed a new logo for Twitter, choosing a “minimalist art deco” X as part of a rebrand of the platform.

The Twitter owner indicated that the design would be altered, tweeting that it “probably changes later, certainly will be refined”. Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed the choice on Monday by tweeting the design and writing: “X is here! Let’s do this.”

Continue reading...

‘A near-death experience’: UK tourists describe escape from Rhodes wildfires

Posted on by

Travellers say they faced ‘absolute chaos’ as they were forced to flee with luggage still at hotels

Dean Mason, 56, from Rothley in Leicestershire, described getting caught up in the Rhodes wildfires as a “near-death experience”.

Mason arrived at a hotel in Kiotari beach a week ago with his wife, daughter, and four-year-old granddaughter.

Continue reading...