Category Archives: Business

Australia news live: Chalmers ‘urgently seeking more detail’ after Trump flags 200% pharmaceutical tariffs; head-on collision on Sydney Harbour Bridge

Posted on by

Treasurer says Trump’s tariff threats on foreign pharmaceuticals and copper ‘very concerning developments’. Follow the latest news live

Chalmers says millions of people were hoping for interest rate relief yesterday

Jim Chalmers says “there were millions of people who were hoping for more rate relief yesterday and didn’t get it”.

As per letters sent to various countries yesterday, in addition to letters that will be sent today, tomorrow, and for the next short period of time, TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change. In other words, all money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 - No extensions will be granted. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Continue reading...

ASA cracks down on online pharmacies advertising weight loss injections

Posted on by

Watchdog releases nine new rulings setting clear precedents for online selling

Online pharmacies are no longer allowed to run adverts for weight loss injections, the advertising watchdog has ruled, as part of a crackdown on what has been described as a “wild west” culture of online selling.

In the UK, advertising prescription-only medications (POMs) – which includes all weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – to the public is illegal. However, a Guardian investigation previously found some online pharmacies either breaking these rules outright, or exploiting grey areas to peddle the medications to the public.

Continue reading...

Ed Miliband abandons plan to charge less for electricity in Scotland

Posted on by

Energy minister decides against ‘zonal pricing’ backed by Octopus founder but opposed by many other energy firms

Ed Miliband has abandoned plans to charge southern electricity users more than those in Scotland, after senior officials warned it could put off investors and make it more difficult to build renewables.

Sources have told the Guardian that the government has decided not to proceed with the scheme, known as “zonal pricing”, and that the decision will be announced once it has been signed off by the cabinet.

Continue reading...

Apple appeals against ‘unprecedented’ €500m EU fine over app store

Posted on by

iPhone maker accuses European Commission of going ‘far beyond what the law requires’ in ruling

Apple has launched an appeal against an “unprecedented” €500m (£430m) fine imposed by the EU on the company, in the latest clash between US tech companies and Brussels.

The iPhone maker accused the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – of going “far beyond what the law requires” in a dispute over its app store.

Continue reading...

Low water levels push up shipping costs on Europe’s rivers amid heatwave

Posted on by

Vessels on Rhine in Germany and Danube in Hungary forced to sail partially loaded

Low water levels after heatwaves and drought are limiting shipping on some of Europe’s biggest rivers including the Rhine and the Danube and pushing up transport costs.

As much of Europe swelters in hot temperatures, water levels in its main rivers have fallen. This is affecting shipping along the Rhine – one of Europe’s key waterways – south of Duisburg and Cologne in Germany, including the choke point of Kaub, forcing vessels to sail about half full.

Continue reading...

Musk should stay out of politics, treasury secretary says after ‘America’ party news

Posted on by

Scott Bessent suggests Musk focus on business a day after tech billionaire announced his new political party

Elon Musk should focus on running his companies and keep himself out of politics, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary said on Sunday, a day after the world’s richest person – and a former White House adviser – announced the formation of a new political party.

“The principles of Doge were very popular – I think if you looked at the polling Elon was not,” Scott Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to the so-called “department of government efficiency” that Musk temporarily headed after Trump’s second presidency began in January.

Continue reading...

UK carmakers on track to meet EV sales target despite intense lobbying to lower quota

Posted on by

Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in first half of 2025, only just below the effective 22% share needed to meet rules

Carmakers are on track to meet existing UK electric car sales targets despite having successfully lobbied the government to water them down.

Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in the first half of 2025, only marginally below the 22.06% share needed to meet existing rules once concessions are taken into account, according to an analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank.

Continue reading...

Anger as Nationwide refuses members a binding vote on boss’s 43% pay hike

Posted on by

Lender says Debbie Crosbie’s package ‘should compete with banks’ but critics say building societies are ‘supposed to be the good guys’

Nationwide is under fire for refusing to give members a binding vote on a controversial 43% pay rise for its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, which could total up to £7m.

Campaigners say it leaves the mutual’s members with fewer rights than shareholders of listed UK banks and exposes a worrying “loophole” in building society rules.

Continue reading...

‘We’re an antidote’: Boss of Legoland owner on the thrill of theme parks in a world of technology

Posted on by

Fiona Eastwood says real-life experiences that bring people together are vital amid a battle for attention in the digital era

Artificial intelligence is in the process of upending the business models of companies all over the world, but when it comes to the $100bn (£73bn) global theme park business the thrill of “big metal” rollercoasters is still the biggest draw.

Fiona Eastwood, the boss of the sector’s second biggest operator, Merlin Entertainments, says that in a world dominated by battles over screen time it is real-life experiences that provide families with an “antidote to phones and digital technology”.

Continue reading...

Home Office announces ‘nationwide blitz’ on asylum seekers taking jobs

Posted on by

Government under pressure on issue after stories of asylum seekers working illegally as takeaway delivery riders

The Home Office has announced what it is calling a “nationwide blitz” on asylum seekers who take jobs, after recent political controversy about people in asylum hotels working as food takeaway delivery riders.

In a statement, which gave few specifics, the Home Office pledged to begin “a major operation to disrupt this type of criminality” based around enforcement teams focusing on the gig economy, particularly on delivery riders.

Continue reading...

Trump threatens 17% tariffs on food and farm produce exports from Europe

Posted on by

EU says it ‘favours a negotiated solution’ but is prepared for potential trade war with retaliatory duties

Donald Trump threatened to impose 17% tariffs on food and farm produce exports from Europe during talks in Washington this week, it has emerged.

Such tariffs would hit everything from Belgian chocolate to Kerrygold butter from Ireland and olive oil from Italy, Spain and France, all big sellers in the US.

Continue reading...

Trump says US to start sending tariff rates letters to trading partners

Posted on by

Letters to be sent to countries without a deal in place before end of 90-day pause on 9 July

Donald Trump has said the US will start sending letters to trading partners setting out tariff rates that countries will have to pay from the beginning of next month.

The US president told the media that about “10 or 12” letters would be sent out on Friday, with further letters sent out over the “next few days”.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: man shot dead by police in siege in Victorian town; boy dies after e-bike crash in Sydney

Posted on by

Victoria police say they attempted to engage with armed man before ‘siege of several hours’. Follow the latest updates live

Smoke coming from Sydney tram causes to be suspended on Randwick line

Light rail services on the Randwick line have stopped due to smoke coming from the roof of a tram.

The man managed to get back into his car and drive a short distance before being overcome by his injuries.

Continue reading...

First-time buyers turn from rural areas to Britain’s regional cities

Posted on by

Number looking to move to urban centres up 16% in first five months of 2025 compared with same period in 2015

With the rise of home working and surging house prices in many urban areas, one might have assumed that British cities had lost some of their appeal to homebuyers over the past decade, but it turns out the opposite is the case.

An analysis of the first five months of this year shows the number of would-be first-time buyers in Great Britain looking to move to cities is up by 16% on average compared with the same period in 2015.

Continue reading...

News live: Wong says Trump ‘keen’ for meeting with Albanese; Creative Australia apologises to Venice Biennale artists

Posted on by

Follow the latest updates live

Power continues to be restored in NSW

About 5,800 customers remained without power at 7am Thursday, according to network operators Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy.

Continue reading...

Former UK civil service chief calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ over Taiwan threats

Posted on by

Comments from Simon Case come as UK defence review highlights Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as driver of global instability

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

Continue reading...

Heathrow substation fire ‘caused by fault first identified seven years ago’

Posted on by

Ofgem opens investigation into National Grid as report finds incident that cut airport power was preventable

The root cause of the substation fire that shut Heathrow airport was a preventable technical fault that National Grid had been aware of seven years ago but failed to fix properly, investigators have concluded.

The final report by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) on the incident said the fire that cut power to the airport on 21 March, affecting more than 1,350 flights, almost 300,000 passengers and cutting power to 67,000 homes, was “most likely” sparked by moisture entering the insulation around wires.

Continue reading...

Man in critical condition with lyssavirus after bat bite – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

NSW wild weather: ‘Conditions can become dangerous quickly’

Wild weather has brought down trees, damaged properties and flooded roads on the NSW coast, NSW SES says.

These incidents are a timely reminder that roads are slippery, and conditions can become dangerous quickly.

Please, never drive, walk or play in flood waters. If you do come across a flooded road, turn around and find an alternative route.

Continue reading...

EU may as well be ‘province of China’ due to reliance on imports, says industrialist

Posted on by

Stefan Scherer, boss of AMG Lithium, says Europe must become more self-sufficient in critical raw materials and new technologies

The EU may as well “apply to be a province of China” such is its inability to wean itself off that country’s supply of critical raw materials used in everything from electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines, a leading German industrialist has said.

As chief executive of AMG Lithium, the EU’s first factory to make the lithium hydroxide used in many car batteries, Stefan Scherer sits at the centre of what has been dubbed a new gold rush.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: some Central Coast residents told ‘evacuate now’ amid coastal erosion threat; children’s commissioner says child safety ‘not a priority in this country’

Posted on by

NSW braces for damaging winds and heavy rain from coastal low. Follow the latest updates live

Gas market review will ‘drive efficiencies in the system’, King says

The resources minister, Madeleine King, says a review into gas market regulations will drive efficiencies into the system.

Our existing policy has made sure that that gas is available. So that’s that combination of existing policies brings in that extra 600 petajoules. So indeed, that work is already happening.

What we’re trying to do and will endeavour to do, and the industry is very supportive of, is to make that more coherent, and how we can make sure we learn from the whole system, reduce duplication in some of the regulation, some of the reporting factors, simply how we can make it work better for consumers, for industrial users, and for the Gas industry itself. And that drives efficiencies in the system, which we expect will help with pricing.

We were honest with the public from day one: the toll situation would get worse before it got better. That’s the reality of the infrastructure pipeline locked in by our predecessors.

And now, the most recent NSW Budget reflects that – with toll revenue projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.

Continue reading...