Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Inditex seeks to boost online retailing as coronavirus causes 44% sales slump
The owner of Zara will close as many as 1,200 stores around the world as the clothing retailer tries to boost online sales during the chaos wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inditex said it would “absorb” between 1,000 and 1,200 mainly smaller stores, with losses concentrated among older shops from brands other than Zara. The Spanish company’s other brands include Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti.
Retailer paid $109m in dividends just weeks after cancelling clothing orders, leaving suppliers in Bangladesh facing financial crisis
Kohl’s, one of the US’s largest clothing retailers, cancelled millions of dollars worth of existing orders from Bangladeshi and Korean garment factories just weeks before paying out $109m (£85m) in dividends to shareholders, the Guardian can reveal.
The company cancelled orders of clothing worth approximately $100m from Korea and $50m from Bangaldeshi factories after the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and refused petitions from suppliers asking for the option to renegotiate payments.
Three new cases of Covid-19 reported were all from overseas travellers and are in quarantine; Queensland high court calls requests from lawyers to access border closure documents ‘a fishing expedition’. Follow live updates
Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:
Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament - 339 recommendations.
That Commission had been set up by the government. And at that time, there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national Royal Commission never got over 400 deaths since that Royal Commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.
Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:
Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.
I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.
Penny Mordaunt tells MPs she hopes to have post-Brexit deal agreed by autumn
The UK government will tell the EU on Friday it is not going to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, the paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, has said.
She told the House of Commons in an update on Brexit talks that she and Michael Gove would “emphasise that we will not be extending the transition period” when they meet EU counterparts at a Brexit joint committee meeting on Friday.
National Bureau of Economic Research says economic growth in the US peaked in February and has since entered its first downturn since 2007 to 2009
The United States is officially in a recession, ending the longest economic expansion in US history, the committee that calls downturns announced on Monday.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said that economic growth in the US peaked in February and has since entered its first downturn since 2007 to 2009.
Relatives claim they secretly recorded Sir Frederick Barclay to protect family business
Sir Frederick Barclay’s nephews have said they felt it was “necessary and reasonable” to bug the conservatory of the Ritz hotel after becoming concerned that their billionaire uncle’s conduct could potentially damage the family’s business empire, according to documents lodged at the high court.
Barclay, 85, and his daughter, Amanda, are suing three of his twin brother Sir David Barclay’s sons – Alistair, Aidan and Howard, and Aidan’s son Andrew – over 1,000 conversations secretly recorded at the Ritz hotel across several months.
The government is reportedly ready to let beer gardens open from 22 June as part of plans drawn up by a group of ministers, dubbed the “Save Summer Six”, who are looking at ways to restart the hospitality industry earlier than initially planned, writes my colleague Rob Davies.
The proposals, first reported in the Financial Times, would allow some of the 27,000 UK pubs that have outdoor space to serve customers for the first time in three months.
UK airline and travel stocks are up, for once, despite the new quarantine rules. The cruise operator Carnival is the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 index, up 14%, while BA owner IAG is 6.9% ahead and easyJet has gained 5.5%.
As reported earlier, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the airline would fly through the 14-day UK quarantine, which he described as “rubbish”. Britain’s three biggest airlines – Ryanair, easyJet and IAG – have begun legal proceedings against the government over the quarantine rules, which they argue are illogical and unfair, and come months late.
Nigeria and Iraq also agree to cuts as prices begin to recover with coronavirus lockdowns easing
Opec, Russia and allies have agreed to extend record oil production cuts until the end of July, prolonging a deal that has helped crude prices double in the past two months by withdrawing almost 10% of global supplies from the market.
The group, known as Opec+, also demanded countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded production quotas in May and June, compensate with extra cuts in July to September.
Germany amazed the whole continent with last week’s stimulus package, but it paves the way for countries such as France to agree an effective coronavirus response
From champion of austerity to Europe’s biggest spender – Germany has travelled a long way in just a few months. The notoriously frugal ministry of finance has agreed to spend €130bn – a sum equal to 4% of national income – on more than 50 initiatives to promote growth across the country.
This breathtaking investment programme comes on top of the almost 30% of GDP the government has so far spent on rescuing businesses and protecting jobs during the coronavirus crisis.
Barcelona-based firm is thought to have fought off bids from Unilever, L’Oréal and Shiseido
The celebrity makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury has handed a control of her namesake makeup and skincare empire to a Spanish fashion and fragrances business in a deal that could have valued the company at up to £1bn just seven years after she started it.
Tilbury, 47, personally owned between half and 75% of the company until signing a deal with the Barcelona-based Puig will likely have handed her a cash payout worth tens of millions of pounds. The Spanish firm also owns brands including Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier and Nina Ricci.
And in one bound she was transformed. For Angela Merkel, the days of being lampooned as the archetypal Swabian housewife keeping tight control over the purse strings are over. Now, courtesy of a €130bn (£116bn) stimulus package, she is the spend, spend, spend chancellor.
Make no mistake, much of the past criticism of Germany’s frugal approach to government spending and budget deficits was justified. Saving some money for a rainy day is one thing but running surpluses worth 8% of national output was unnecessary and harmful to the global economy.
Young’s pub chain intends to open all of its 276 sites by the 3 August, and is hopeful the business can “bounce back” once its pubs are allowed to reopen, but expects trading to be “materially below average” for the rest of the year.
Another interesting detail from the SMMT data: Tesla’s Model 3 was the most popular car during May.
Transportation department says restriction to start 16 June
US wants Beijing to let American carriers resume flights
The US will bar Chinese passenger carriers from flying to the United States starting on 16 June as it pressures Beijing to allow US air carriers to resume flights, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday.
The post office could be key to people voting during the pandemic but perverse financial rules and Trump’s hostility put that at risk
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the United States post office had been atrophying from financial turmoil. Over the past decade, post offices have been closed across the country, rural mail delivery is stretched thin, and thousands of post office workers have been laid off.
The outgoing postmaster general recently warned that without immediate support the agency could run out of funds within the year, and in that case might need to shut down.
ABS reports growth slowed to 1.4% through the year as industrial relations roundtables prepare an agenda to regrow the jobs lost during Covid-19. Follow live
Linda Burney and Mark Dreyfus has put out a statement, calling for clear targets to address the over-representation of First Nations people in Australian’s prison systems, and child removal.
Here is part of it:
I doubt we’ll be seeing ‘back solidly in the red’ mugs for sale anytime soon though.
Electric and hybrid cars gained traction among European buyers in April despite coronavirus lockdowns stalling the market, suggesting carmakers are likely to avoid potential fines potentially worth billions of euros if they fail to reduce average emissions.
Battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 17% of sales across all European markets, including the UK, in April, according to data collated by industry analysts Jato Dynamics. That was more than double the 7% market share achieved in April 2019.
The UK’s fishing industry has accused the EU of using a “nuclear option” to secure a Brexit deal, warning that it is prepared for blockades by the French if trade talks collapse.
Fishing leaders have also revealed they do not support an extension to the transition period despite being hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic, with the closure of restaurants and hotels affecting sales.
Budget carrier is imposing 20% pay cuts for flight crew and 10% for cabin staff
French flight crew have accused Ryanair of blackmailing them into taking pay cuts or losing their jobs.
The Irish airline, which has warned it may cut up to 3,000 jobs in Europe, told staff in France it was imposing 20% salary cuts for flight crew and 10% for attendants. Those who are already on legal minimum wages will have their hours reduced.
The pandemic amplified many of the issues facing remote First Nations communitites. Today, Labor will question officials from the National Indigenous Australians Agency on its pandemic response & plans going forward. Watch at: https://t.co/Ngg6QzZtFn... See more pic.twitter.com/vZorAaEDom
Paper concludes EU does not have to offer privileges given to others in previous deals
The EU has no legal duty to grant the UK privileges offered to other countries in trade deals, an internal European parliament paper has concluded ahead of a crucial round of Brexit talks this week.
The document, drawn up by officials for the parliament’s UK coordination group, is a short analysis of arguments made by the UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, in a letter to his counterpart, Michel Barnier. Frost accused the EU of treating the UK as an “unworthy” negotiating partner by denying the UK “the kind of well-precedented arrangements commonplace in modern FTAs [free trade agreements]”.