Category Archives: Business

Hong Kong in recession after protests deal ‘comprehensive blow’

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Financial secretary calls fall in tourism an ‘emergency’ and says it will be extremely difficult for city to achieve any annual growth

Hong Kong’s financial secretary has said the region is in recession after more than five months of anti-government protests, and said it was unlikely to achieve annual economic growth this year.

“The blow to our economy is comprehensive,” Paul Chan said in a blog post on Sunday, adding that figures out on Thursday would show two successive quarters of contraction – the technical definition of a recession.

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It’s time to boycott any company doing business in Xinjiang | Michael Caster

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Forced labour in China’s internment camps taints the supply chains of many western companies. We need to take action

Any western company doing business in Xinjiang should consider their supply chains tainted by forced labour drawn from internment camps. Hardly a drop in the ocean of the vast global economy, this involves companies such as Ikea, H&M, Volkswagen and Siemens.

This month, the United States banned the import of products made by a firm in Xinjiang over its use of forced labour. It also blacklisted 28 Chinese entities for their role in the repression of Uighurs and issued visa restrictions on key Chinese officials. Following suit, two major Australian companies have now also announced they are ending partnership with their cotton supplier in Xinjiang.

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Richard Branson: ‘Aviation can be carbon neutral sooner than we realise’

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The relentlessly upbeat entrepreneur believes efficiency and electricity could stop airlines worsening the climate crisis

Life has been quite a trip for Sir Richard Branson so far, and this weekend will be no exception as he flies to the US from Tel Aviv via London with space rockets on his mind.

He is heading to Wall Street to ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange as his spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, becomes a listed company tomorrow.

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Prince Charles calls on City finance to fight climate emergency

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Prince says private sector needs to lead with green investments towards sustainable economy

Prince Charles has called on the City of London to help protect the environment by investing trillions of pounds into green investments which help create a sustainable economy.

In an interview with the Evening Standard the heir to the British throne said big businesses and City investors must drive a rapid decarbonisation of the economy before the environmental crisis becomes “a total catastrophe”.

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Meghan and Stormzy named among most influential black people in UK

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Ismail Ahmed, boss of money transfer firm WorldRemit, tops list of star names and entrepreneurs

The grime artist Stormzy, the Duchess of Sussex and the footballer Raheem Sterling have been named among the most influential black people in Britain.

However, it was the founder of pioneering money transfer firm WorldRemit, Ismail Ahmed, who topped the Powerlist 2020, an annual list of the 100 most powerful people of African, African-Caribbean and African American heritage across Britain.

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Brussels allows UK to subsidise fossil fuel generators

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Controversial energy scheme had been halted by European court

The UK’s largest fossil fuel generators may be back in line for almost £1bn in backup power subsidies this winter after the European commission approved the UK’s flagship energy scheme, which was ruled illegal last year.

A shock European court ruling brought the government’s “capacity market” to a standstill last November, triggering an in-depth investigation into whether the UK’s plan to pay power plants to stay open was compatible with EU state aid law.

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Truth behind German businessman’s ‘anti-Nazi’ father revealed

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Roland Berger held up his father, Georg, as a role model – but the real story is darker

It was an inspirational tale: after watching the horror of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, a German man tore up his Nazi party membership card in protest and turned against the regime.

His Christian-based principles led to him being hounded by the Gestapo, sent off briefly to Dachau concentration camp and eventually dispatched to the eastern front.

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WeWork board weighs up $10bn rescue plan from Japan’s SoftBank

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Proposal for US office-sharing company would lead to exit of co-founder Adam Neumann

The board of WeWork is meeting on Tuesday to consider a rescue plan worth almost $10bn (£7.7bn) from its biggest investor, Japan’s SoftBank, according to reports.

The proposal would keep the struggling US office-sharing company afloat and lead to the departure of its controversial chairman and co-founder, Adam Neumann.

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China overtakes US in rankings of world’s richest people

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Credit Suisse survey shows Brexit effect has reduced number of UK millionaires by 27,000

The number of wealthy Chinese people has overtaken the number of rich Americans for the first time, according to a report by Credit Suisse.

The bank’s annual wealth survey found there were 100 million Chinese people among the world’s top 10% of richest people, compared with 99 million in the US.

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Britain now G7’s biggest net importer of CO2 emissions per capita, says ONS

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Fall in UK-produced emissions has been offset by those from increase in imported products

Britain has contributed to the global climate emergency by outsourcing its carbon emissions to developing nations, according to official figures, despite managing to weaken the domestic link between fossil fuels and economic growth.

The Office for National Statistics said the UK had become the biggest net importer of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the G7 group of wealthy nations – outstripping the US and Japan – as a result of buying goods manufactured abroad.

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World economy is sleepwalking into a new financial crisis, warns Mervyn King

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Past crashes spawned new thinking and reform but nothing has changed since 2008 banking meltdown, says former Bank of England boss

The world is sleepwalking towards a fresh economic and financial crisis that will have devastating consequences for the democratic market system, according to the former Bank of England governor Mervyn King.

Lord King, who was in charge at Threadneedle Street during the near-death of the global banking system and deep economic slump a decade ago, said the resistance to new thinking meant a repeat of the chaos of the 2008-09 period was looming.

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McDonald’s get their scampi in a bunch over burger joint’s Effing Filet O’ Fish

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When the fast-food giant’s lawyers swooped on a small Canadian restaurant over its fish burger, the response was pithy

When Canadian chef Paul Shufelt decided to market a new burger at his Edmonton restaurant, he wanted to pay homage to the fast-food greats that have come before him – not find himself embroiled in a legal battle with a multinational corporation.

After creating a cod burger with coleslaw and red onions, Woodshed Burgers named their newest item the Effing Filet O’ Fish, a reference to both local company Effing Seafood, which provided the seafood, and the famous McDonald’s sandwich.

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Ethiopian Airlines crash: families to subpoena US operators of 737 Max

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Subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines seek information about flight crew training and 737 Max software MCAS

Lawyers representing families of passengers killed in a Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March are set to issue subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, the two biggest US operators of the jet, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The subpoenas will be issued over the next couple of days, the lawyers separately told Reuters.

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Banks warned over Saudi Aramco by environmental groups

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Eight green groups send letter to express concern over planned market float

Environmental groups have warned the banks linked to Saudi Aramco’s planned market float that they risk financing the destruction of the planet by supporting the public listing of the world’s biggest oil producer.

The eight green groups, including Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth, warned that the world’s largest IPO would be “the biggest single infusion of capital into the fossil fuel industry” since global governments signed the Paris climate accord in 2015.

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Northern Powerhouse seeks more control of HS2 rail scheme

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Business and city leaders warn of economic damage of cancellation and call for 2012 Olympics-style authority

A review of HS2 by northern business and city leaders has called for control of construction of the high-speed railway to be devolved to the north and Midlands – and warned that its possible cancellation would leave no viable alternatives for transforming their economies.

The Northern Powerhouse Independent Review (NPIR), established to inform or pre-empt the government’s own review of HS2, recommended a new body, HS2 North, be established to integrate HS2 with proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail links.

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Revealed: Cameron and May lobbied Bahrain royals for Tory donor’s oil firm

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Former PMs asked princes to support bid for $5bn contract by Ayman Asfari’s firm Petrofac

Two former Conservative prime ministers lobbied a Middle Eastern royal family to award a multi-billion dollar oil contract to a company headed by a major Tory donor, the Guardian has established.

In March 2017, while in Downing Street, Theresa May wrote to the Bahraini prime minister to support the oil firm Petrofac while it was bidding to win the contract from the Gulf state.

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Cancer-causing chemical found in WeWork phone booths

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In latest headache for cash-strapped company, WeWork says it has closed about 2,300 phone booths amid formaldehyde scare

WeWork, the cash-strapped office-sharing company, has a new problem that may prove costly. It has closed about 2,300 phone booths at some of its 223 sites in the United States and Canada after it says it discovered elevated levels of formaldehyde.

The company said in an email to its tenants on Monday that the chemical could pose a cancer-risk if there is long-term exposure.

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Boeing removes CEO as chairman amid 737 Max crisis

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Board reshuffle follows report saying planemaker failed to fully inform FAA about changes to flight control system

The Boeing chief executive officer, Dennis Muilenburg, has lost his other title as chairman of the planemaker, nearly a year after the first of two crashes of its 737 Max that together killed 346 people.

Boeing announced late on Friday that company directors decided to separate the two jobs and elected one of their own, David L Calhoun, to serve as non-executive chairman.

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US delays China tariff increase as Trump claims ‘substantial’ deal

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  • US had planned to raise tariffs on $250bn of goods to 30%
  • Trump: ‘All would like to see something significant happen!’

Donald Trump announced a “very substantial phase one deal” to solve the long-running trade dispute with China.

After a two-day meeting in Washington between US and Chinese officials on Friday Trump announced a delay on plans to raise tariffs on $250bn worth of goods to 30% on 15 October.

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Facebook paid just £28m tax on record £1.6bn earnings in UK

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Profits on social media app surged by more than 50% to £797m in latest tax year

Facebook’s UK operations paid £28m in tax last year despite attracting a record £1.6bn in British sales.

The social media company’s latest UK accounts show that gross income from advertisers rose almost 30% last year to £1.65bn, and pretax profits surged by more than 50% from £63m to £97m.

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