Category Archives: Business

Australia politics live: Lambie threatens to disrupt Senate over Afghanistan medals; question time under way

Posted on by

Follow the latest news

Adam Bandt rails against Woodside’s exclusion from petroleum resource rent tax

Greens leader Adam Bandt is speaking to ABC radio RN Breakfast about the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) changes and in particular the fact that Woodside’s Western Australian North-West Shelf project isn’t included in it.

The tax is still broken, and they’re meant to be subjected to it. They should pay their fair share of tax. As I say, even after these changes, Australia only brings in a few $100 million extra from these big gas corporations that are making billions of dollars of profits. It’s about a 10th of what comparable countries bring in. If we made these guess corporations pay their fair share of tax. They’d be an extra $94 billion over the decade to go to things like delivering cost-of-living relief, funding a rent freeze, getting dental into Medicare.

Continue reading...

NSW politicians and public service executives hit with wage freeze to fund payrise for frontline workers

Posted on by

Legislation will be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday freezing the salaries of MPs and executives from July

Promised pay rises for New South Wales frontline workers will be funded by a two-year freeze on the wages of state politicians and public service senior executives.

Legislation will be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday freezing the salaries of MPs and executives from July and redirecting the millions of dollars in savings to nurses, paramedics, teachers and other frontline workers.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Agreed house sales in UK at highest point this year, says Zoopla

Posted on by

But property website warns that rebound in activity could be hit by rising mortgage rates

More prospective house sellers are returning to the UK’s property market, pushing agreed home sales to their highest point of the year in May, according to Zoopla, although it warned that the rebound in activity could be knocked by rising mortgage rates.

House prices have fallen by 1.3% nationally over the past six months, the property website found, but the speed of price falls has been decreasing as buyer confidence slowly improves.

Continue reading...

UK food inflation falls in May, raising hopes prices may have peaked

Posted on by

British Retail Consortium says rate fell from 15.7% to 15.4% even as rise in overall shop prices hits fresh high

Food inflation in the UK fell in May, lifting hopes that the rapid increase in grocery prices may have reached its peak after keeping the broader consumer prices index painfully high so far this year.

After more than a year of sharp increases in the price of food, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual food inflation eased this month from 15.7% to 15.4%, even as the overall rise in shop prices hits a fresh high.

Continue reading...

Balearic authorities call meeting with Ryanair in pastry carry-on

Posted on by

Airline said to have demanded two passengers pay €45 each to take ensaïmada onboard with hand luggage

The government of the Balearic Islands has called an urgent meeting with Ryanair and the local pastry-makers’ association after the airline tried to charge passengers to bring cakes onboard, claiming it exceeded their cabin baggage limit.

The row erupted after two passengers at Palma de Mallorca airport tried to each carry an ensaïmada, a traditional Mallorcan pastry, along with their hand baggage. The airline demanded an additional €45 (£39) each to bring the pastries onboard, at which point the passengers abandoned them rather than paying.

Continue reading...

Drax-owned wood pellet plant in US broke air pollution rules again

Posted on by

Amite BioEnergy, which was fined $2.5m in 2021, notified Mississippi facility had breached emission limits

A US plant that supplies wood pellets to the UK power generator Drax has violated air pollution limits in Mississippi, it has emerged.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has written to Amite BioEnergy notifying the Drax-owned company that it had violated emissions rules.

Continue reading...

Rail strikes: Hopes of a resolution have been indefinitely delayed

Posted on by

After a year of walkouts and failed talks, the unions, ministers and operators are as far apart as ever

Almost a year since the first national rail strike was called, another series of stoppages loom. Passengers who have been spared the usual round of disruptive bank holiday engineering works this weekend won’t be so lucky in the second half of the half-term break. Strikes by drivers and crew will more or less wipe out services on Wednesday and Saturday, shred schedules on Friday, and add a bit of scattergun disruption in between.

This time in 2022, the mere prospect of the biggest rail strike in decades was causing consternation. Now, though, the latest guaranteed upheaval has not even produced a round of talks between unions and industry – let alone ministers – to try to head off the disruption.

Continue reading...

Post Office Horizon inquiry used racist term for Black people, documents show

Posted on by

Investigators of alleged fraud were asked to group suspects by racial features, including ‘negroid types’

Lawyers investigating post office operators in the Horizon computer scandal used a racist term to categorise Black workers, according to documents released to campaigners.

Investigators were asked to group suspects based on racial features, the results of a freedom of information request found.

Continue reading...

‘Shops will close’: soaring cost of potatoes batters British chippies

Posted on by

The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk

Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.

A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.

Continue reading...

Austrade forum to promote links with oil giant Saudi Aramco condemned by activists

Posted on by

Environmental groups say the event in Perth to court the biggest polluting oil company of all time is ‘akin to a joint trade show with a tobacco major’

A government meet-and-greet to connect Australian industry with the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, has been criticised by environmental groups as “akin to a joint trade show with a tobacco major”.

Australia’s international trade agency Austrade will host the event, “Doing business with Aramco 2023”, next Friday at the Duxton Hotel in Perth.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak warned over possible UK recession in 2024

Posted on by

High inflation likely to push interest rates above 5% and force up mortgage and loan payments just ahead of election

Rishi Sunak has been warned the UK economy could be in recession next year as stubbornly high inflation pushes interest rates to more than 5% before the next general election.

Setting the stage for a further rise in borrowing costs on mortgages and loans for millions of households, economists predicted the Bank of England could be forced to drive Britain’s economy into a recession to tame inflation.

Continue reading...

Busy roads and airports expected over late-May UK bank holiday weekend

Posted on by

More than 3,000 planes scheduled to take off on Friday, with road traffic peaking as leisure trips coincide with commuting

The start of the May half-term holiday for many schools will see “hectic” roads and the most flights departing the UK since before the pandemic, according to industry estimates.

About 19m leisure journeys by car are expected on Britain’s roads over the next four days, and more than 3,000 planes are scheduled to take off on Friday.

Continue reading...

UK homeowners and first-time buyers warned to brace for 5%-plus mortgage rates

Posted on by

Lenders forced to raise fixed-term deals after latest inflation figure pushed swap rates upwards

Households looking for a new mortgage deal have been warned to expect 5%-plus fixed-rate deals in the coming weeks, after Wednesday’s inflation figures sent the money markets back into turmoil.

Nick Mendes, the mortgage technical manager at the broker John Charcol, said on Thursday that he doubts that there will be any two-year fixed-rate mortgages and probably few five-year deals priced at less than 5% in the coming weeks, as lenders are forced to reprice their mortgages upwards.

Continue reading...

Nvidia gains $185bn in value after predicting AI-driven boom in chip demand

Posted on by

Shares in US tech firm jump by 25% in early trading as quarterly revenue forecast excites investors

The value of the US tech company Nvidia has soared by a quarter after it predicted a boom in demand for its computer chips to meet the needs of artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT.

Nvidia’s share price rose by 25% in early trading on the back of the announcement, and gave it a market valuation of more than $940bn (£760bn) after stock markets opened on Wall Street on Thursday, up from $755bn on Wednesday evening.

Continue reading...

PwC tax scandal: staff stood down over concerns problem ‘significantly broader’ than one partner

Posted on by

Former NSW police commissioner and now PwC partner Mick Fuller contacted his friend the AFP commissioner after scandal broke, Senate estimates told

PwC has agreed to a federal government order to stand down all employees involved in the alleged misuse of confidential information from government work, responding to concern the problem is “significantly broader” than one partner at the firm.

The public service has stepped up its response to PwC for sharing confidential tax policy information to drum up business, with the head of Treasury referring the matter to police and finance ordering staff “directly involved in, or who had knowledge of, the significant breach” to be stood down.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Michael Gove orders review into corruption allegations at Teesside freeport

Posted on by

Investigation of Teesworks project to be led by independent panel of his choosing, not National Audit Office

Michael Gove has ordered an “independent review” into allegations of “corruption wrongdoing and illegality” surrounding a Teesside redevelopment project that is part of Rishi Sunak’s freeports plans.

But there was anger as Gove declined to act on calls for the National Audit Office (NAO) to lead the investigation, instead announcing it will undertaken by an independent panel that he will appoint, while the watchdog will have some limited role.

Continue reading...

US Congress members demand that PayPal end ban on Palestinian business

Posted on by

Other payment companies do business with Palestinians in the occupied territories, but PayPal only provides services to Israelis there

Eleven members of the US Congress have demanded PayPal end a ban on doing business with Palestinians in the occupied territories while permitting Israeli settlers to use the digital payment platform.

The letter, authored by Representative Mark Pocan, says PayPal is discriminating against Palestinians by denying “equal access to the digital economy”.

Continue reading...

Morrison government paid corrupt businessman millions for offshore processing on Nauru

Posted on by

Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani was convicted of bribing two Nauruan officials with more than $120,000

The former Australian government continued to pay millions of taxpayer dollars to a businessman convicted of corruption to provide offshore processing services on Nauru, even after he had pleaded guilty to bribing Nauruan government officials.

In August 2020 Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani was convicted of paying more than $120,000 in bribes to two Nauru government officials, including an MP and government minister, for favourable deals on phosphate mining contracts for his Radiance International group of companies.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Biden trade curbs on China risk huge damage to US tech sector, says Nvidia chief

Posted on by

Jensen Huang says Chinese firms will ‘just build it themselves’ if they cannot buy from US

The US risks causing “enormous damage” to its tech industry if it continues restrictions on trade with China, according to the chief executive of the chipmaker Nvidia.

Jensen Huang said curbs introduced by the Biden administration, which include restricting the export to China of advanced chips made with US technology, had left the business with “our hands tied behind our back”.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Huang said: “If [China] can’t buy from … the United States, they’ll just build it themselves. So the US has to be careful. China is a very important market for the technology industry.”

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Christian Porter will not act in Palmer lawsuit against government due to conflict, estimates told

Posted on by

Former attorney general received confidential information while in office and has said he will not act for Clive Palmer, senators hear. Follow the day’s news live

Cricket builds friendship between Australia and India, says Albanese

Narendra Modi described the Australia-India relationship last night as the three Cs – commonwealth, cricket and curry, the three Ds – diaspora, democracy and dosti (Bollywood film series and friendship) and the 3Es – economy, energy and education.

There is always a discussion about cricket when Australians and Indians gather and I did get the experience of being day one of the fourth test for a brief time with Prime Minister Modi. It was quite an experience in the world’s biggest stadium there in March and Australians and Indians are very passionate about their cricket but it is part of the way that we build our friendship between our two nations.

Continue reading...