Category Archives: Business

Jeep maker Stellantis demands billions to keep battery plant in Canada

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World’s fourth biggest carmaker threatens to move production to US unless government matches incentives offered to Volkswagen

Jeep maker Stellantis has threatened to shift a planned battery plant from Canada to the US unless it receives billions more in state subsidies offered to a rival, in the latest manoeuvre by a big manufacturer in the international battle over green incentives.

It comes as the world’s fourth biggest carmaker, which also produces Vauxhall/Opel, Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot, DS, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth vehicles, leads a campaign in Europe for the UK and EU to renegotiate tariff rules in the Brexit deal.

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Injectable HIV-prevention drug to be made in South Africa for the first time

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Indian drug company to make cheaper generic version of CAB-LA, potentially protecting millions of people in Africa from the virus

An affordable version of a groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug will be made in South Africa for the first time, potentially giving millions of people at risk of HIV infection in Africa access to a two-monthly jab that can almost eliminate their chances of contracting the virus.

The Indian drug company Cipla confirmed that a generic version of the prophylaxis, long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA), would be manufactured at its plants in Benoni, near Johannesburg, or Durban.

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SP Hinduja, billionaire head of Britain’s richest family, dies at 87

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Chair of Hinduja Group and his family had estimated collective fortune of more than £28bn

SP Hinduja, the billionaire patriarch of Britain’s richest family and chair of the globe-spanning Hinduja Group conglomerate, has died in London at the age of 87, his family have confirmed.

Srichand P Hinduja, who was known as SP or Sri, had dementia, according to reports.

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Elon Musk: I will tweet what I want even if it loses me money

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Twitter owner and Tesla chief defends tweet about George Soros after being accused of antisemitism

Elon Musk has said he will continue sending controversial tweets even it loses him money, as he defended himself against accusations of antisemitism over tweets about George Soros.

The Twitter owner and Tesla chief executive said he is “allowed to say what I want to”, as he defended a tweet posted on Tuesday saying the billionaire financier “reminds me of Magneto” – the Jewish villain in the X-Men series.

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UBS to make $35bn in Credit Suisse takeover – but lose $17bn in rushed deal

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UBS says it will absorb costs related to litigation, regulatory matters and liability adjustments in emergency rescue

UBS is in line to make an almost $35bn (£28bn) gain after its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse – but has said it will take a $17bn hit from costs related to the rushed rescue deal.

The Swiss lender has said it will make gains of $34.8bn after taking on Credit Suisse, based on an initial assessment of data until the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing. The accounting gain will be one of the biggest ever reported by a bank in a single quarter.

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Ofgem orders three energy firms to pay £8m compensation over late bills

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E.ON Next, Octopus and Good Energy did not supply final bill on time to many households that had switched

Three energy suppliers have been made to pay compensation totalling £8m for failing to supply a final bill on time to more than 100,000 households that had switched provider.

The energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, said E.ON Next was ordered to pay £5.5m to almost 95,000 customers because it did not provide them with a final bill within six weeks of moving to another supplier, nor did it pay compensation for the delay within 10 days of the missed deadline.

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Ford, Vauxhall owner and JLR call for UK to renegotiate Brexit deal

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Carmakers call on Britain to change rules on batteries that they say threaten electric vehicle production

Three big global carmakers have called on the UK government to renegotiate the Brexit deal, saying rules on where parts are sourced from threaten the future of the British automotive industry.

Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have joined Stellantis, which owns the Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroën brands, to warn the transition to electric vehicles will be knocked off course unless the UK and EU delay stricter “rules of origin”, due to kick in next year, that could add tariffs on car exports.

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No 10 food summit ‘no more than a PR stunt’ and failed to tackle key issues

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Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork meeting, the first of its kind, failed to address solutions to inflation, soaring costs and food security, say attenders

Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street food summit has been described as “empty" by food and farming industry representatives, who rounded on the prime minister for failing to discuss soaring inflation or set out measures to safeguard British food production.

The Farm to Fork summit, the first meeting of its kind, brought together farmers, food producers and some of Britain’s largest supermarkets.

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Greggs wins right to late-night opening for Leicester Square bakery store

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Chain resolves heated debate with council amid concerns over antisocial behaviour

A heated debate over Greggs’ right to trade into the early hours in central London, amid warnings it could cause a wave of crime and disorder, has been resolved.

Greggs said it could now open its Leicester Square flagship store until 2am from Thursday to Saturday and until midnight through the rest of the week after Westminster council allowed it to sell hot drinks, such as tea and coffee, as well as its sausage rolls, pizza slices and steak bakes, after an 11pm curfew.

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OpenAI CEO calls for laws to mitigate ‘risks of increasingly powerful’ AI

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Sam Altman says before Senate judiciary committee that he supports guardrails for technology to minimize harms

The CEO of OpenAI, the company responsible for creating artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E 2, said “regulation of AI is essential” on Tuesday as he testified in front of a Senate judiciary committee panel.

In his first appearance in front of Congress, Sam Altman said he supported regulatory guardrails for the technology that would enable the benefits of artificial intelligence while minimizing the harms.

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Regional Australia property market dips as prestige areas give up pandemic gains

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Big beneficiaries of regional migration during Covid such as Byron Bay have been hit hardest by increasing interest rates, experts say

Regional Australia’s housing market has taken another hit with prestige areas such as Byron Bay continuing to reverse pandemic gains.

Richmond-Tweed (-24.2%), the southern highlands and Shoalhaven (-16.0%) and Illawarra (-13.7%) in New South Wales recorded the largest annual declines in house values.

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Silicon Valley Bank’s former CEO tells Senate he is ‘truly sorry’ for collapse

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Greg Becker tells banking committee that takeover of SVB was ‘personally and professionally devastating’

The former CEO of the collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has said he was “truly sorry” for what he called the “devastating” collapse of the bank that triggered the worst banking crisis since 2008.

Speaking at a Senate banking committee hearing on Tuesday, Greg Becker said he believed the bank was responsive to regulator concerns about managing risk and working to address issues before an “unprecedented” bank run led to its failure.

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One in five workers will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 – IFS

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Jeremy Hunt’s freeze on allowances and thresholds will put a quarter of teachers and one-eighth of nurses in 40% income tax bracket

One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government’s record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people – one in five of all taxpayers – who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury’s attempt to reduce the UK’s budget deficit.

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Grid connection delays for low-carbon projects ‘unacceptable’, says Ofgem

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Watchdog’s chief writes to energy bosses as Grid sets out plan to cut waits by up to a decade

The energy watchdog for Great Britainwill label the decade-long wait to connect low-carbon projects to the electricity grid as “unacceptable”, amid tensions over a “blame game” for a mounting backlog of green power projects.

Jonathan Brearley, the chief executive of Ofgem, has written to energy bosses to warn that the current system, whereby energy projects queue for their connection, could be replaced by new methods to match power generation with demand.

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Australia news live: Dutton condemns ‘scumbags’ and ‘sick individuals’ after weekend Nazi display in Melbourne

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Ahead of Reserve Bank releasing board meeting minutes, opposition leader continues to accuse budget of being inflationary. Follow the day’s news live

Dutton also brushed off the idea that he needs to be careful with his language around migration.

Now in terms of the dog whistling comments and the rest of it. They are comments made by former Labor staffers who now masquerade as journalists. So I don’t take that as authoritative sort of assessment of my view which I think is quite valid.

The best thing we can do for Australian families at the moment is reduce their mortgage payments.

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Australian banks announce new anti-fraud platform to help quickly freeze scam payments

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Move adds to ‘arsenal of anti-scam initiatives’ as consumer rights groups call for laws to see banks reimburse victims

Australian banks have announced a platform that will help them act quickly to freeze money being sent to scammers by allowing the reporting of bank-to-bank scam payments in close to real time.

On Tuesday the Australian Banking Association announced the new Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) platform, which will facilitate the quick reporting of fraudulent payments as they are transferred to another bank. The move will boost “the likelihood that funds can be frozen and returned to customers”, the association said in a statement.

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Vice files for bankruptcy protection amid cut-price sale to consortium

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Digital publisher and owner of Vice News and Vice TV was once valued at $6bn but has agreed sale for $225m

Vice, the once high-flying media startup that reached a peak valuation of nearly $6bn (£5bn), has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US as the digital publisher engineers a cut-price sale to a group of lenders.

The company, whose assets include Vice News, Motherboard, Refinery29 and Vice TV, has agreed a sale to a consortium that includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital for $225m in the form of a credit bid for its assets as well as assuming Vice’s “significant liabilities”.

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UK could unlock £70bn a year in renewable energy, report claims

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Plausible for UK to become global clean energy superpower if investment is ramped up

The UK could unlock £70bn every year by generating enough clean electricity to become a major exporter of energy to mainland Europe, according to a former government economist.

A new report has found that by increasing Britain’s clean electricity generation 50% above its current projections for 2050 it could become a clean energy superpower capable of exporting £17bn of green electricity to Europe a year.

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Ministers call for immigration and UK food prices to increase

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Exclusive: Sunak urged to take urgent action to solve food crisis at meeting with Defra and farmers

Immigration and food prices must increase to solve the food crisis, ministers are to say at a summit.

Rishi Sunak will be joined by ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as well as farmers and industry leaders at the meeting at No 10 on Tuesday.

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Hertz apologizes after refusing rental car to Puerto Rican customer

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A worker at the rental chain demanded to see the American man’s passport, apparently unaware that the island is part of the US

The US rental car giant Hertz has apologized and pledged to retrain its staff after an employee denied a Puerto Rican customer a prepaid vehicle on the mistaken belief that he was from a foreign country and needed a passport.

During the encounter with the customer at New Orleans’s Louis Armstrong international airport, the Hertz employee also called over a law enforcement officer even though Puerto Rico has been a US territory since 1898 and has a (non-voting) member of Congress, according to a stunning report the CBS correspondent David Begnaud published on Twitter and Instagram late Saturday.

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