Category Archives: Business

EU bans Pakistan national airline flights over pilot exam cheats

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PIA will not be able to fly into the EU for at least six months because of doubts over validity of pilot licences

The European Union’s aviation safety agency announced today that Pakistan’s national airline would not be allowed to fly into Europe for at least six months after the country’s aviation minister revealed that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated during their pilot’s exams.

Pakistan International Airlines spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said PIA had not been flying to Europe because of the pandemic. But the airline had hoped to resume its flights to Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Barcelona and Milan within the next two months.

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Britain and Brussels turn on each other for prolonging City’s uncertainty

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Deadline to agree regulatory equivalence for financial services and allow business after Brexit likely to be missed

Britain and Brussels have each accused the other of holding up a decision on the City of London’s ability to do business in EU markets from next year, prolonging the financial services’ state of uncertainty about the future.

Both parties had agreed to complete assessments of the other’s regulatory regimes for financial services by Tuesday 30 June, with the expectation that they would deemed “equivalent”, allowing business to continue in the new year.

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How do you deal with 9m tonnes of suffocating seaweed?

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Across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, scientists are developing alternative sustainable solutions to the golden tide of Sargassum

The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, first detected by Nasa observation satellites in 2011 and now known to be the world’s largest bloom of seaweed, stretches for 5,500 miles (8,850km) from the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast of Africa.

Millions of tonnes of floating Sargassum seaweed in coastal waters smother fragile seagrass habitats, suffocate coral reefs and harm fisheries. And once washed ashore on Mexican and Caribbean beaches, this foul-smelling, rotting seaweed goes on to devastate the tourist industry, prevent turtles from nesting and damage coastal ecosystems, while releasing hydrogen sulphide and other toxic gases as it decomposes.

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Chesapeake Energy, fracking pioneer, files for bankruptcy owing $9bn

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The Oklahoma City-based company helped turn the US into a global energy powerhouse but ran up huge debts in the process

Chesapeake Energy, the shale gas drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection because its debts of $9bn were unmanageable.

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‘A travesty’: North Carolina grapples with reopening as Covid-19 cases surge

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North Carolina remains in the second phase of its reopening plan after hitting a new high in hospitalizations, but industry groups want restrictions eased

Major – the photogenic life-sized bronze bull statue that presides over a square near the center of downtown Durham, North Carolina – hasn’t had much company in recent weeks.

With the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state all trending upwards, many businesses up and down Main Street remain closed, while others operate in a limited capacity. Some storefronts have been boarded up following recent Black Lives Matter protests, with the plywood covered in graffiti art. “People were crying before the teargas,” one read.

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Coalition plays down reports of permanent $75 rise in jobseeker payment

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Social services minister says any talk of permanent change in unemployment payment will be for after coronavirus

The Australian government insists it is focused on the next phase of “short-term measures” to support people through the coronavirus pandemic amid reports it is considering a permanent $75 per week lift in unemployment benefits.

The government has been coming under increasing pressure over the drop-off in economic supports due in September, with the Qantas announcement last week of a further 6,000 job cuts adding to expectations of extended economic pain.

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Covid-19 survivors could lose health insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare

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  • ACA prevents denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
  • Abolition could mean Covid-19 victims could be turned down

Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage should the Trump administration successfully repeal Obamacare.

The Trump administration asked the supreme court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act – a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance reform law popularly known as Obamacare.

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Facebook policy changes fail to quell advertiser revolt as Coca-Cola pulls ads

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Company follows Unilever’s lead after platform announces shift in how it handles hate speech

Facebook has announced changes to its policies around hate speech and voter suppression, but the measures have done little to quell the wave of companies pulling advertising from the platform amid backlash over how the company handles hate speech online.

The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, on Friday announced tweaks to a number of policies, hours after the multinational Unilever said it would pull its advertisements from the platform for the next six months.

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No going back to normal after the pandemic? Don’t bet on it | Gaby Hinsliff

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After every crisis, great thinkers declare life will never be the same again. But don’t underestimate the pull of old habits

As the US army rolls into a newly liberated Paris, a woman sits serenely under the only working hairdryer in the city. The war photographer Lee Miller’s iconic shot of a salon reopening amid the rubble in the summer of 1944 could easily have become an image of heartless vanity when Vogue published it. Who cares about a hairdo, when millions have died?

Yet at the time it somehow managed to convey both ingenuity and hope, in a world far enough steeped in death to long for a little frivolity. The return of being able to care about something that doesn’t actually matter must have come, in the circumstances, as a blessed relief. When Boris Johnson announced the reopening of British hairdressers this July, Miller’s picture sprang to mind.

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Coronavirus Australia update: NT blocks people from Covid hotspots and Virgin Australia bidder Cyrus Capital pulls out – live news

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State’s chief minister says people from areas with spikes in cases will be quarantined at their own cost; Bain Capital remains only bidder for embattled airline. Follow live

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath spoke to media earlier, urging residents to comply with quarantine orders.

Although we are so fortunate in Queensland to have so few active cases, the fact is, as of today, we have almost 3,000 people in people on quarantine orders. About 880 of that people are in hotels but over 2,000 are quarantining in their homes.

It is absolutely critical that those people remain at home for the 14 days that they are quarantining, that they are not allowing people into their homes and they are not leaving their homes for any reason other than to be tested for Covid.

In response to a twelve-year-old student at Camden High School in NSW testing positive to Covid-19, the state’s health department has set up an additional Covid pop-up testing clinic at Camden Hospital.

The clinic will have walk-in testing with no bookings required and the clinic will be open over the next three days between 10am and 4pm.

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Exclusive: Viber severs ties with Facebook in growing boycott

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Service adds to firms shunning Facebook over refusal to act against Donald Trump posts

The messaging service Viber, the fifth biggest with more than a billion users around the world, is severing all ties to Facebook as part of a growing boycott of the company by commercial partners.

The campaign, initially started in the US after Facebook’s refusal to take action against posts from Donald Trump which critics said incited violence, has now grown to become an international movement.

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Global stock market rally is a gamble, IMF warns investors

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Report identifies gap between market optimism and depressed state of economies

The global stock market rally represents a gamble by investors that central banks will ignore the risks of a buildup in debt and continue to provide support at the current record levels, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

In an update to its half-yearly global financial stability report, the IMF said central banks had been pivotal in the recovery of share prices from their Covid-19 trough but there was now a gap between the optimism of financial markets and the depressed state of economies.

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Australian drugmakers hit by critical shortages at height of pandemic, inquiry hears

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Evidence given to parliamentary committee sparks new calls to develop national capability to manufacture medicines and key supplies

Australian companies were “shocked” to experience price-gouging and had trouble accessing critical supplies to make medicines and personal protective equipment at the height of the pandemic, a parliamentary committee has been told.

It has prompted fresh calls for Australia to build up its ability to manufacture critical drugs “without reliance on opaque and fragile offshore supply chains”.

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Extending free childcare could fuel huge boost to economy, report says

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Economists’ study says permanently free childcare would provide short-term stimulus and drive long-term growth

Australia could unlock huge economic gains by continuing to offer free childcare after the pandemic is over, a new report argues.

The release of the report comes a day after Australia’s small business ombudsman and employer groups warned of the coming cliff in economic supports including free childcare ending and called on the government not to reduce jobseeker unemployment benefits to their former level of $40 a day.

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Segway, personal vehicle known for high-profile crashes, ending production

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Company will retire Segway PT, popular with tourists and police officers, on 15 July

Segway, which boldly claimed its two-wheeled personal transporter would revolutionize the way people get around, is ending production of its namesake vehicle.

The Segway PT, popular with tourists and police officers but perhaps better known for its high-profile crashes, will be retired on 15 July, the company said in a statement.

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UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson ditches 2m social distancing rule for ‘1m-plus’ in England

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Richard Graham, a Conservative, asks if schools and FE colleges will be able to go back normally in September.

Johnson agrees. He says that is what he wants.

Johnson says the government wants to get the prevalence of coronavirus down so much that shielding is no longer needed.

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‘Big tobacco wants our youth’s lungs’: rise of smoking in Jordan

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Despite one of the world’s highest smoking rates, many politicians believe a ban will effect the economy

When patients quit cigarettes at the King Hussein Cancer Center’s smoking clinic they are asked to be patient with their children. Often their offspring have been exposed to so much secondhand smoke that they have become addicted, too.

“For every four cigarettes their parent has smoked, the child has smoked one,” says Firas al-Hawari, a physician who directs the clinic. “We can control the parents with medication, but the kids are going through withdrawals because we don’t have them on medication.”

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Apple update to allow iPhone users to choose default apps

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Move in autumn will let users set Gmail as default email app and Firefox as main web browser

iPhone users will be able to set Gmail as their default email app, Firefox as their main web browser, and listen to Spotify on their HomePod speakers, after Apple announced concessions to competitors who argue the company is abusing its monopoly.

The new openness will arrive with a wave of software updates in the autumn, Apple said, alongside the other new features the company promised at its Worldwide Developers Conference, held remotely from Cupertino, California, on Monday.

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German payments firm Wirecard says missing €1.9bn may not exist

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Company thought money was in two Asian banks but search hits dead end in Philippines

Wirecard has said that €1.9bn (£1.7bn) in funds missing from its bank accounts may not exist, as the accounting scandal at the German payments company deepens.

The firm processes tens of billions of euros in credit and debit transactions each year and is a former darling of Germany’s tech sector. It had previously said it believed the money was held in escrow accounts at two Asian banks.

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‘My life became a disaster movie’: the Bangladesh garment factory on the brink

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One factory owner tells how coronavirus cancellations by UK brands have seen him struggle to pay wages

As high streets across England opened this week and hundreds of people jostled through the doors of clothing shops, thousands of miles away in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Mostafiz Uddin is worrying about how to pay his workers’ wages.

At Denim Expert Ltd, the sustainable clothing company he founded in 2009 as a sustainable apparels clothing company, hundreds of boxes of jeans are crammed against walls and packed to the ceiling. These boxes contain 38,000 pairs of Burton jeans, worth more than £200,000 that were ready for shipment in early March. But as the UK went into lockdown that month, an email pinged into his inbox that tore his life apart.

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