Category Archives: Business

Australia live news: NSW government in minority after MP moves to crossbench; Labor bets big on housing

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The state’s Coalition has been forced further into minority after it lost its second MP to sexual assault allegations. Follow the latest updates

More cold days ahead for south-eastern Australia.

You will feel the chill if you live in southern #SA, #NSW and all of #Vic and #Tas, as cold fronts move through from the Southern Ocean, bringing a 3-day wintery blast of cold, wet and windy weather.

Latest forecasts & warnings: https://t.co/YRNaGYP9ci pic.twitter.com/yaqsY43HpF

The Australian Signals Directorate refuses to say who was behind an attack on parliament’s IT systems in March, despite confirming it knows who it was.

The parliamentary services department confirmed an outage of the system that manages mobile devices was caused by the department shutting the system to prevent an attempted intrusion into the parliamentary computer network.

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Greensill lobbying leaves your reputation in tatters, Cameron told

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MPs grill former prime minister for four hours about his text message and WhatsApp campaign

David Cameron was on Thursday told that his persistent lobbying of ministers, begging for favours on behalf of the controversial bank he worked for, had “demeaned” the position of the prime minister and left his “reputation in tatters”.

The former PM was forced to deny that his text message and WhatsApp lobbying campaign on behalf of Greensill Capital was driven by fears that an “opportunity to make a large amount of money was at risk”.

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Campaigners lose court case to stop Ugandan forest clearance

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Court ruling gives go-ahead for sugar plantation in Bugoma forest, home to endangered chimpanzees

Conservationists in Uganda have condemned as “shallow and absurd” a court ruling that authorised the government to allow swathes of a tropical forest to be cleared for a sugar-cane plantation.

Three environmental groups had taken the government to court over a decision to allow Hoima Sugar Ltd to build on 5,500 hectares (13,500 acres) in the Bugoma Forest Reserve.

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Budget 2021 reaction: Josh Frydenberg delivers National Press Club address – Australia politics live updates

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Coalition budget delivers $30bn in tax breaks and money for fossil fuel projects but no measures to help struggling universities or clean energy projects. Follow all the latest news and reaction to the 2021 federal budget as it happens

So not a lot new there. Which means question time is going to be a copy and paste affair.

The other question of note?

Why is the border closed for so long?

The key factor, the central factor, the only factor for us what keeps Australians safe. And it’s not simply the rollout of the vaccine, that is a factor for the Chief Medical Officer in making decisions around borders.

They also need to take into account, what is happening with the virus globally, its transmissibility, new variants of the virus, and what it would mean for Australians health and safety.

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US airline chiefs add to pressure for transatlantic travel to restart

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American, Delta and United bosses join BA and Virgin Atlantic in saying US-UK vaccination levels mean routes should reopen

Major US airlines have weighed in alongside UK carriers to urge the reopening of transatlantic travel, calling on governments in Washington and London to arrange a summit as soon as possible.

The airlines said safely reopening borders was essential for economic recovery and asked the nations’ leaders to meet before the G7, and take a decision with sufficient time for airlines to plan and restart services.

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Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

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The crypto asset is down more than 30% this week but is still up by more than 1,000% from the start of 2021

A senior manager at Goldman Sachs in London has quit the US investment bank after making millions from investing in Dogecoin, the joke crypto asset which has risen by more than 1,000% in value this year.

City sources said Aziz McMahon, a managing director and head of emerging market sales, had resigned from the bank after making money from investing in the digital currency based on the Doge internet meme.

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It’s not just racism and sexism. The Golden Globes have been sunk by sheer stupidity

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The preposterous Hollywood Foreign Press Association gravy train might have chugged on for ever if its members had just swallowed their pride and done more for diversity

An investigative report by the Los Angeles Times into the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that notoriously rackety organisation which administers the Golden Globes, has shown an eminently corruptible body drenched in antediluvian attitudes; this has resulted in NBC cancelling its TV coverage of next year’s ceremony and Tom Cruise handing back the three Globes he has personally won over the years.

Related: Golden Globes backlash: Tom Cruise hands back awards and NBC drops broadcast

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Nearly 40% of AstraZeneca investors reject boss’s bonus rise

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Covid vaccine maker passes its remuneration policy but suffers sizeable rebellion

AstraZeneca has suffered a substantial shareholder rebellion over proposals to hand its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, bigger bonus awards for the second consecutive year.

Nearly 40% voted against the policy, which could hand him pay and perks of nearly £18m for 2021.

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‘More than a job’: the meal delivery co-ops making the gig economy fairer

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Across Europe, worker-led delivery collectives are springing up to reclaim control from corporate platforms

Cristina González did a lot of waiting in 2018. Back then, the 29-year-old was a courier for the Spanish food delivery platform Glovo in her Basque home town, Vitoria-Gasteiz. She talks about feeling as if she was on standby the whole time: “You’re effectively having to be working constantly.”

While Glovo serves restaurants, customers can also order from supermarkets. This, Gonzalez says, was “a complete shitshow: supermarket orders are really easy to screw up”. If the supermarket did not have an item in stock and González completed the order, she might get a poor rating from the customer because of the missing item. If she turned down the order, González worried that it might affect her score on the platform. “It was very, very stressful.”

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The Hut Group strikes complex joint venture deal with SoftBank

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Deal values ‘yet to be formed’ technology division of THG at $6.3bn

The Hut Group (THG), the online retailer empire run by billionaire Matthew Moulding, has struck a complex joint venture deal with Japanese investment giant SoftBank that values a “yet to be formed” technology division of THG at $6.3bn (£4.5bn).

The deal, announced on Monday, values THG Ingenuity, which Moulding described as a “social media influencer platform” used to promote products, at about the same amount that the whole company floated at last year.

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US invokes emergency powers after cyberattack shuts crucial fuel pipeline

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Biden administration scrambles to avoid shortages after Colonial Pipeline targeted in worst-ever attack on US infrastructure

The Biden administration has invoked emergency powers as part of an “all-hands-on-deck” effort to avoid fuel shortages after the worst-ever cyber-attack on US infrastructure shut down a crucial pipeline supplying the east coast.

The federal transport department issued an emergency declaration on Sunday to relax regulations for drivers carrying gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products in 17 states and the District of Columbia. It lets them work extra or more flexible hours to make up for any fuel shortage related to the pipeline outage.

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Cyber-attack forces shutdown of one of the US’s largest pipelines

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Colonial Pipeline said it shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline, which carries 45% of the east coast’s fuel supplies

One of the largest pipelines in the US has been shut down after an apparent cyber-attack, its operator has said.

Colonial Pipeline said it had shut down its 5,500 miles of pipeline, which carries 45% of the east coast’s fuel supplies and travels through 14 southern and eastern US states, after the breach of its computer networks.

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‘We’re piggy in the middle’: Brexit has made life impossible, say Jersey fishers

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Their families have been fishing here for decades but despite promises of frictionless trade, the market for their fish is disappearing

Steph Noel, who has been fishing the waters off Jersey for almost four decades, could not see the point of chugging out to sea in his 8.5-metre boat, Belle Bird, this weekend.

“There’s no value in it for me,” he said. “It’ll cost me in bait and diesel but even if I have a good day there’s no market there for what I bring back.”

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James Packer’s ties with Israeli PM and spy chief became ‘national risk’ – report

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Australian tycoon was obsessed with Israel’s elite, once kissing feet of an ex-president, local media reports

James Packer’s entanglement with Israel’s elite, including a close personal relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu and the now Mossad chief, was considered a “national risk”, according to an Israeli report, quoting testimony from witnesses in Netanyahu’s corruption trial.

The Australian casino mogul, 53, developed an obsession with the Jewish state over the past few years, once kissing the feet of the former president Shimon Peres when he came for a dinner, according to “a person who was close” to Peres. He also considering converting to Judaism, Haaretz newspaper reported.

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French fishers’ protest over Jersey rights is over but the dispute will go on

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New restrictions and deep cuts to allowances mean both French and Jersey boat owners feel betrayed by Brexit

Dawn was still four hours away and the small Normandy port of Carteret was alive, some boats hurriedly unloading their catch for a rapid turnaround, others turning on their lights and firing up their engines for the first time that night.

Minutes after 3am on Thursday they had left the quayside and, in pitch darkness and a gentle swell, were pushing smartly out to sea to join a growing armada of 60-odd boats from Cherbourg right the way round to St-Malo.

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EU wants to mass produce three ‘course-changing’ Covid drugs from October

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Health commissioner says plan is to reduce hospitalisation and tackle long-term impact of Covid

Three Covid medicines with the potential to “change the course” of the pandemic will be authorised for mass production and use in the EU by October under a European Commission plan.

Stella Kyriakides, the commissioner for health, said such a move would reduce hospitalisation and tackle the long-term impact of Covid, with one in 10 people reporting symptoms 12 weeks after infection.

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US support for Covid vaccine patent waivers puts pressure on EU and UK

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Analysis: Joe Biden’s support for idea is vital but it won’t happen without backing of other rich nations

It was a “seismic decision” by Joe Biden, the US president, say campaigners who have fought for the demolition of patent protection on vaccines and drugs for decades. The US administration has amazed supporters and critics alike by throwing its considerable weight behind the pleas of South Africa, India and about 100 developing countries at the World Trade Organization to overturn patents on Covid vaccines in the interests of getting more of them, more cheaply and faster, to huge populations in need.

Patents preserve the profits of the multinational companies that make drugs and vaccines. They make it illegal for up to 20 years for manufacturers of generic medicines to turn out cheap copycat versions. In this pandemic where, as the World Health Organization says, no one is safe until everyone is safe, there is a powerful moral case for ditching them.

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Ministers urged to reveal details of £2bn Covid deals with private health firms

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Contracts to increase capacity handed to 17 companies, some of whom had donated to Conservatives

The government has been urged to publish details of up to £2bn in Covid-19 contracts awarded to private healthcare companies, including some that have helped fund the Conservative party.

Contracts to provide extra capacity during the pandemic have been handed to 17 firms since March 2020.

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Jersey hits back at ‘disproportionate’ French threat to cut electricity

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Paris threatens to take retaliatory measures in row over post-Brexit licences for French fishing boats

Jersey has accused France of making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.

The maritime minister, Annick Girardin, warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.

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