Category Archives: Business

Authorities use GPS data to try to find missing device – as it happened

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Perrottet promises easier access to housing for domestic violence victims

NSW domestic violence victims will have easier access to housing through concessions on stamp duty and rental bond loans if the Perrottet government is re-elected, AAP reports.

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Jeremy Hunt overdoes the Es: why his economic plan is a letdown

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Speech on ‘enterprise, education, employment and everywhere’ contained only vague, empty promises

Brexit will shake Britons out of their comfortable torpor, turn them into risktakers and put the UK at the forefront of the digital revolution – that was Jeremy Hunt’s message in his much-trailed speech on growing the UK economy.

The chancellor came to Bloomberg’s HQ in the City of London on Friday seeking to raise the country’s spirits, hail the split with Brussels and dispel the “declinism” he says saps Britain’s energy.

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China owns vast network of UK real estate, offshore records reveal

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Presence of key distribution centres on list of more than 250 properties raises questions about grip on supply chain links

The Chinese government owns a vast network of UK real estate via offshore secrecy jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and the Isle of Man, the Guardian can reveal, raising questions about Beijing’s grip on links in the UK supply chain.

Disclosures made as part of a new government register of property owned via offshore entities show that China’s investment division owns more than 250 properties across Britain via dozens of companies. They include distribution centres that are key to the flow of food and goods in multiple regions of the UK including the south-west and south-east of England and the Midlands.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner – as it happened

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Ukrainian loss would embolden leaders in Pacific region, ambassador says

The ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, stresses that the reason Australia’s assistance needs to continue is because it’s in Australia’s interests to support the Ukraine:

The reason why we need to keep up and step up that assistance because this war in Ukraine is disrupting everything. It’s really undermined security, regionally, globally.

It’s having a major impact on your partners here in the region. Look at Indonesia. I mean, they are really suffering from the lack of food that can get on their market. They have 275 million people to feed and they really rely on grain from Ukraine, which now they have a hard time getting hold of as the prices have surged. We’ve seen the impact on the energy markets on the volatility of the commodity markets.

What’s important is that Australia continues to support Ukraine. We are truly thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package which was announced in October where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated and the troops which are now in Britain have already been able to train Ukrainian soldiers. It’s really a big help.

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US activist investor who accused Adani of ‘biggest con in corporate history’ dares Indian group to sue

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Hindenburg Research accusations denied by Adani as ‘baseless’ while activist investor claims legal action will reveal accounting fraud

The US investor targeting Indian conglomerate Adani Group over what it claims is the “biggest con in corporate history” has dared the company to sue, given it would open the coal producer to further scrutiny.

Hindenburg Research’s report has already wiped billions of dollars of value from the sprawling empire of Gautam Adani, the world’s third richest man, and drawn in the contentious Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland.

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Jeremy Hunt to promote low-tax and private sector ‘re-tooling’ of industry

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Chancellor also expected to tell markets that government spending will remain within strict limits

Jeremy Hunt will defend the government’s vision for Britain’s economic future in a speech to City executives in London on Friday when he will lay out plans for investment and growth.

The chancellor will say he wants to promote policies that allow the private sector to re-tool the UK’s industrial base and re-skill the workforce to generate strong growth over the next decade.

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Coal power stations warmed up for third time this week as UK cold snap persists

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National Grid put Drax and EDF’s West Burton generator on standby, with the latter stood down at 5am

National Grid asked coal-fired power stations to warm up on Thursday for the third time this week in case they are needed as cold weather across the UK continues.

Two units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Nottinghamshire were asked to fire up just before midnight on Wednesday. The West Burton unit was stood down at 5:13am, but the Drax units have continued to heat up, according to notifications sent to the industry.

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Adani’s Queensland coalmine cited in US investor’s claims of ‘biggest con in corporate history’

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Scathing allegations, which company rejects as ‘baseless’, will hamper access to Wall Street but surging coal price will ease burden, experts say

The ability of Adani Group to raise money will be curbed after scathing allegations in a report by an activist US short-seller, although surging coal prices that underpin the Indian conglomerate’s contentious Queensland operations will help alleviate some pressure, analysts say.

Adani, which operates the Carmichael coal and rail project via its rebranded subsidiary Bravus, is the target of US investment firm Hindenburg Research, which alleges the company has engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”.

A private company called Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings with ties to Adani paid A$147m for unspecified “work in progress” assets from the Australian operations, without a detailed description.

The same private company paid A$155m for the right to use the rail facilities at the Queensland operation.

The private Carmichael company also received A$100m from an Adani subsidiary to pay off debt.

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Bank of Israel governor says judicial reform could hurt economy – reports

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Amir Yaron said to have warned PM that erasing democratic checks and balances could deter crucial foreign investment

The governor of the Bank of Israel has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that his new government’s proposals for sweeping judicial reform could damage the country’s economy, according to Israeli media reports.

Prof Amir Yaron met the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, after requesting an “urgent meeting”.

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Adani Group firms lose $9bn in value amid short-seller claims

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Hindenburg Research says world’s third-richest person, Gautam Adani, is pulling ‘largest con in corporate history’

More than $9bn (£7.3bn) was wiped off the fortune of companies partly owned by the world’s third-richest person, after an activist investor accused him of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.

Shares in listed companies tied to Adani’s empire Adani Group lost $9.4bn in market value on Wednesday after short seller investment firm Hindenburg Research published a detailed investigation into accusations of “brazen stock manipulation”, “accounting fraud” and “money laundering.”

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Celebrities call on UK banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coalfields

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Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance add their voices to Richard Curtis’s Make My Money Matter campaign

Famous names including Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance have joined activists and businesses in calling on the UK’s big five banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coal expansion.

Make My Money Matter, a campaign set up by Richard Curtis, the screenwriter, director and Comic Relief co-founder, has written to the chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest and Lloyds to urge these banks to “stop financing fossil fuel expansion”.

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MPs to recall Royal Mail boss to parliament to face questions

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Simon Thompson has been summoned back over accuracy of evidence he gave to committee

The chief executive of Royal Mail is to face a rare recall to parliament to face questions over the accuracy of evidence he gave to a committee of MPs.

Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s boss, has been summoned back by the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, after giving evidence in a sometimes testy exchange last week.

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Primark enjoys bumper festive UK sales thanks to heels and baggy suits

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Owner ABF says its grocery brands such as Twinings and Kingsmill also increased trading

Strong sales of heels, baggy suits and knitwear propelled Primark’s sales ahead of expectations over Christmas as shoppers returned to city centres and consumer spending was more resilient than anticipated.

Sales at the cut-price fashion chain’s established stores rose by 11% in the four months to 17 January, compared with the same period a year before, as the owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), said it had sold more items of clothing while prices had also risen by about 8%.

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Federal government to intervene in transport union’s high court fight against Qantas

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Tony Burke to appear in court as airline seeks to overturn November decision which found it illegally outsourced ground staff jobs

The federal government will join the Transport Workers’ Union’s (TWU) high court fight with Qantas as the airline bids to overturn a ruling that it illegally outsourced 1,700 ground handlers’ jobs.

The workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, filed a notice of appearance on 16 January to intervene in the case, in which Qantas hopes to overturn a full federal court decision exposing it to a mammoth compensation bill for laying off staff at 10 airports in November 2020.

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Eurostar trains forced to run with empty seats due to Brexit passport rules

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About 350 out of 900 seats normally left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels

Peak time Eurostar trains are daily forced to run across the Channel with hundreds of empty seats because border police cannot process passports quick enough.

About 350 out of 900 seats are normally left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels despite “huge demand” for the greenest form of international travel, Eurostar bosses said.

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Poorest in UK have £40 a month less to spare than a year ago, study finds

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Richest have gained similar amount over same period, reflecting differing impacts of inflation

The UK’s least affluent households have almost £40 a month less spare cash than they did a year ago while the richest have gained a similar sum in the same period, according to figures exposing how inflation has hit the poorest the hardest.

The wealthiest 20% of households had £36 a month more in discretionary income in December compared with a year before, as they enjoyed record earnings growth which offset rising energy and food bills, analysts at Retail Economics found.

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Energy suppliers to be investigated over Britons forced on to prepayment meters

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Ofgem could look to take legal action if companies are not taking proper care of vulnerable households

Energy companies are to be investigated by the regulator Ofgem after the number of households struggling with their bills being forced on to prepayment meters has increased sharply.

Ofgem could consider taking legal action if it determines that the rise in the number of homes being forced on to prepayment meters is proven to show companies are not taking proper due care of vulnerable households.

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Thames Water’s real-time map confirms raw sewage discharges

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Effluent in Gloucestershire river pinpointed by digital map as water companies accused of routinely pumping out waste to rivers

The market town of Fairford, nestling in the Cotswold hills, is perhaps best known for its church, which has the only complete set of mediaeval stained glass windows in England.

But thanks to a more modern phenomenon, an interactive digital map produced by Thames Water, the Gloucestershire town, with its traditional honey coloured limestone houses, is becoming better known for its continuous, gushing, raw sewage overflow.

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MP calls for action on crime in ‘under siege’ town – as it happened

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Pearson urges voice dissenters to ‘be smart’

Karvelas also asks Pearson about the concerns that are coming from the left, including Indigenous affairs spokesperson for the Greens, Lidia Thorpe, who will be calling for treaty before voice at the Invasion Day rally.

And when you have a breakthrough response, a breakthrough response like constitutional recognition, you’ve got to grab it. You’ve got to switch from protest to grabbing the opportunity.

… And I believe that a full response to the Uluru statement will achieve actual real reconciliation. We’re at a point in our history where the protest has achieved the result we desire. And, and so we’ve got to be smart about it.

This this year is the most important here in the past 235. That’s my assertion. This is the most important year and and this referendum is the most important question concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians since the first fleet.

We’ve got to understand what is at stake, and that is the chance for reconciliation and if the referendum is kiboshed through game play and spoiling game by the opposition, we will lose the opportunity forever.

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UK will be 15 years late in hitting £1tn annual export target, figures show

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Exclusive: Forecasts predict exports will fall to £707bn next year and target will not be reached until 2035

Ministers have been accused of leaving a “record of failure and broken promises” as internal forecasts show Britain will be 15 years late in achieving its £1tn annual export target after being hit by Brexit.

Projections from the Department for International Trade (DIT) show the value of UK exports will not reach £1tn until 2035, based on current trends, with the total due to fall to £707bn next year.

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