Among those named in reports is Paul Manafort, former political strategist for Donald Trump
Thousands of documents detailing $2 trillion (£1.55tn) of potentially corrupt transactions that were washed through the US financial system have been leaked to an international group of investigative journalists.
The leak focuses on more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the US government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Continue reading...In Almería’s vast farms, migrants pick food destined for UK supermarkets. But these ‘essential workers’ live in shantytowns and lack PPE as Covid cases soar
Photographs and drone footage by Ofelia de Pablo and Javier Zurita
It is the end of another day for Hassan, a migrant worker from Morocco who has spent the past 12 hours under a sweltering late summer sun harvesting vegetables in one of the vast greenhouses of Almería, southern Spain.
The vegetables he has dug from the red dirt are destined for dinner plates all over Europe. UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Lidl and Aldi all source fruit and vegetables from Almería. The tens of thousands of migrant workers working in the province are vital to the Spanish economy and pan-European food supply chains. Throughout the pandemic, they have held essential worker status, labouring in the fields while millions across the world sheltered inside.
Continue reading...Funding used to protect workers will expire on 30 September, and airlines have already announced huge layoffs
US airlines are facing what one leading analyst calls a “Thelma and Louise” moment as the industry approaches a government-funding deadline that could decide its future.
On 30 September a government aid packages used to protect workers expires, the airlines have already announced huge layoffs but what comes next could be even worse.
Continue reading...During lockdown millions started WFH – and most of us don’t want to go back. In just a few months the landscape of work, family and city life has altered dramatically - but are all the changes positive?
There’s a man sitting at the first-floor window of the house that lies on the other side of my back fence. It’s early August, the weather is sweltering, and his window is wide open. He’s talking on a hands-free phone, laughing in that ingratiating manner that suggests a large payday is at stake. He speaks in a fashionable sales patter that sounds similar to real conversation, but crucially isn’t, and he’s practically broadcasting his pitch to the neighbourhood. WTF? I want to shout, but I already know the answer: WFH.
With the exception of Covid-19 itself, working from home has been the big story of 2020. I’ve been home-based for more than 20 years and for most of that time, before my neighbour began advertising his WFH status, I was a local exception, left to my own devices in tranquil isolation. No one was much interested in the emotional dynamics of my daily work regime. But since the lockdown emptied the nation’s offices, it’s become a national topic of conversation.
Continue reading...St Martin-in-the-Fields jettisons ensembles to focus on in-house provision at a time when freelance performers ‘on their knees’
Ten London musical ensembles claim they have been “summarily dismissed” by one of the capital’s most prestigious churches in an “act of callous and unchristian behaviour”.
The orchestras and choirs have put on concerts regularly at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square for 30 years, paying a hire fee for the venue and commission on ticket sales.
Continue reading...Covid has forced many people out of workplaces. Some have saved money by moving overseas
When the coronavirus lockdown forced Mason Palmer, 26, to start working from home, the digital content creator had a rethink about where that home was and in July he moved from Bristol to Milan. “I’ve always loved travelling to Italy,” he says. “I was always going over there; it was like an expensive hobby.”
He did not expect his boss to necessarily be on board with his plans and suggested that he move to working for the company, Working Word, on a freelance basis. But the firm was open to the idea and his boss kept him on staff. “Now I’m like the unofficial Milan branch,” he laughs.
Continue reading...Deal is the first concrete implementation of the special arrangements for Northern Ireland
A £200m contract to implement Brexit checks on goods in the Irish Sea has been won by a consortium of companies led by Japanese company Fujistu.
HMRC announced on Friday that a two-year contract for the new trader support service (TSS) had been awarded to a consortium led by the tech company and its partners, the Customs Clearance Consortium, an organisation run by customs expert Robert Hardy and the Institute of Export and International Trade.
Continue reading...Clashes between Isis-linked militants, government troops and mercenaries have displaced 200,000 in mineral-rich Cabo Delgado
For decades a forgotten corner of Mozambique, Cabo Delgado has now become the country’s El Dorado, promising billions in natural gas and gemstones but delivering its population only violence and displacement.
An insurgency in the province now threatens to become further entrenched – 50,000 people have fled their homes since March and Mozambique’s neighbours are currently debating sending in regional forces to help defeat militants who seized a strategic port in the town of Mocímboa da Praia last month.
Continue reading...Report includes Jeff Bezos, whose personal fortune has risen by 65% since 18 March
The already vast fortunes of America’s 643 billionaires have soared by an average of 29% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has at the same time laid waste to tens of millions of jobs around the world.
The richest of the superrich have benefited by $845bn , according to a report by a US progressive thinktank, the Institute for Policy Studies.
Continue reading...Cost of sugar, bread and transport soar, while promised World Bank aid is yet to arrive
Millions of people in Sudan are facing hardship as the cost of food and transport soars amid economic turmoil in the country.
The cost of some staple foods like bread and sugar has increased by 50% over the past few weeks, driving inflation to a record high of 167%, up from 144% in July.
Continue reading...Cost cuts and lack of scrutiny contributed to 737 Max disasters, say US politicians
Boeing jeopardised the safety of passengers by cutting costs on the development of the 737 Max and escaped scrutiny from regulators before software flaws contributed to two fatal crashes of the aircraft, according to a report by US politicians.
The US manufacturer was forced to ground its bestselling plane after the crashes of a Lion Air 737 Max in 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines jet in 2019. The crashes killed 346 people.
Continue reading...Overall sales have fallen 20% between January and August but Audi sales have actually increased
New car sales in Australia have slumped since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but one sector is bucking the trend – luxury brands.
Overall sales have fallen 20% as people have lost jobs and income, overseas factories have closed down and the recession has begun to bite.
Continue reading...President says he has to ‘do something’ about the body after it rules that duties on $200bn worth of Chinese goods breached regulations
The United States has described the World Trade Organization as “completely inadequate” after it criticised the Trump administration’s tariffs on China.
The WTO said on Tuesday that the US breached global trading rules by imposing levies on more than $200bn of Chinese goods in the opening salvo of president Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing two years ago.
Continue reading...Family pay tribute to Habitat founder as ‘visionary who revolutionised the way we live in Britain’
Sir Terence Conran, the man who dragged Britain’s front rooms and parlours into the modern age almost single-handed, has died at the age of 88, his family has announced.
A designer, retailer and restaurateur who founded Habitat in 1964, Conran was at the centre of an aesthetic revolution that established England, and London in particular, as a European creative powerhouse.
Continue reading...Citroën’s ‘urban mobility object’ is classed as a light quadricyle and can be driven without a full licence
The vehicle is cheap and the reactions from the pavement are a bonus, from the disbelieving double-take or uncontrolled giggle to the frankly envious where-do-I-get-one-of-those (plus the odd pitying stare, but then this is Paris).
At first glance, Citroën’s new Ami, a playful polypropylene cube on wheels with an unashamedly Toytown aesthetic, seems hardly the kind of car to excite the passions of France’s drivers. But, perhaps because it is not a car, that is just what it is doing.
Continue reading...Agreement in principle comes as Britain races to secure deals before Brexit transition ends
Japan and the UK have agreed a “historic” free trade deal, as Britain races to secure easy access to overseas markets as it prepares to leave the European Union.
“This is a historic moment for the UK and Japan as our first major post-Brexit trade deal,” Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, said after a video call on Friday with the Japanese foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi.
Continue reading...The agency announced it is buying lunar soil from a commercial provider as part of a technology development program
Nasa has announced it is looking for private companies to go to the moon and collect dust and rocks from the surface and bring them back to Earth.
The American space agency would then buy the moon samples in amounts between 50 to 500 grams for between $15,000 to $25,000.
Continue reading...In a statement to Australian Stock Exchange the company confirms move that follows the blowing up of 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia
The Rio Tinto chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, and two other senior executives are leaving the global miner after its board bowed to intense investor pressure for strong action over its decision to blow up 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Rio Tinto said Jacques was leaving “by mutual agreement” with the board.
Continue reading...Local route managers and signallers will be given more power to cut speeds or close lines
Heavy rain could lead to more trains being cancelled or told to travel at low speed in future, following the Stonehaven crash that killed three people in Aberdeenshire last month.
An interim report by Network Rail into the tragedy spelled out strengthened procedures that could hasten line closures in bad weather, pending safety inspections.
Continue reading...Billions in dividends from ventures with conglomerate MEHL funnelled to army units implicated in Rohingya crackdown
One of the world’s largest brewers, Kirin – whose subsidiaries include San Miguel and craft beers brewed in the US and UK – has been linked to crimes committed by the Myanmar military following an Amnesty International investigation.
Kirin is partnered with a Myanmar-based conglomerate with interests in mining, beer, tobacco, garment manufacturing and banking, whose shareholders include military units directly implicated in serious human rights crimes against Rohingya people, analysis by the human rights group found.
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