Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Chris Lower and wife Margie, who has stage four cancer, have made plans that depend on their deal with the investment firm
Earlier this year, Margie and Chris Lower cleaned out their tiny corner of tropical paradise in Mission Beach, preparing to hand the keys of their fisherman’s shack to investment firm Mayfair 101.
Margie, who has stage four bowel cancer, had wanted to be closer to hospitals for medical treatment and family. She imminently needs about $60,000 from the sale of their home to pay for a course of immunotherapy.
Most employees will continue to work remotely; those who return will be required to wear face masks and practice social distancing
The New York Stock Exchange’s famous Wall Street trading floor opened on Tuesday for the first time in more than two months, having closed in March due to the spread of Covid-19.
Governor Andrew Cuomo rang the opening bell while wearing a face mask, signaling that while New York state may be starting to open up, things will be far from normal for some time yet.
EU foreign affairs chief says end of US-led global system may have arrived and Europe needs robust strategy for China
The Asian century may have arrived marking the end of a US-led global system, the EU’s foreign affairs chief has said amid a growing discussion in Europe on how to weave a path between China and the US.
“Analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes,” Josep Borrell told a group of German diplomats on Monday, adding that the coronavirus pandemic could be seen as a turning point and that the “pressure to choose sides is growing”.
Carmaker must pay compensation to motorist who bought minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software
Volkswagen has lost a landmark legal battle in Germany’s highest civil court over compensation for the buyer of a secondhand minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software.
The world’s largest carmaker must take back the plantiff’s manipulated car and pay him €28,257.74 (£25,325), in a case that will lead to the company paying compensation to 60,000 German VW owners.
The move has been made using emergency Covid-19 powers and favours company directors, they say
A surprise move by treasurer Josh Frydenberg to make shareholder class actions harder has been slammed by lawyers as cronyism that gives company directors the green light to hide bad information from investors.
“If bad directors take advantage of this change to lie to shareholders and people whose savings are in superannuation, the treasurer will share responsibility,” Jacob Varghese, the chief executive of law firm Maurice Blackburn, told Guardian Australia.
The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies rejected an EU proposal three years ago to work on fast-tracking vaccines for pathogens like coronavirus to allow them to be developed before an outbreak, the Guardian can reveal.
The plan to speed up the development and approval of vaccines was put forward by European commission representatives sitting on the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) – a public-private partnership whose function is to back cutting-edge research in Europe – but it was rejected by industry partners on the body.
Falcon 9 rocket to make history as billionaire seeks to commercialise space travel
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company hopes to make history on Wednesday by launching the first astronauts into space from US soil in nine years, as the billionaire takes the next step in his dream to commercialise space travel.
Donald Trump will be among the spectators at Kennedy space centre in Florida to witness the launch, which has been given the green light despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Penny Wong says treasurer should have ‘the courage’ to take responsibility for error as Coalition faces calls to expand wage subsidy
Labor will attempt to pressure the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to appear before the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry to explain the “$60bn black hole” in the jobkeeper program.
The move comes as the Morrison government faces growing calls to expand the wage subsidy to cover a wider group of workers, after revelations on Friday that the six-month program is now expected to cost the budget $70bn rather than $130bn.
Rebecca Wilkie is used to running a budget. The single mother of two daughters knows what it is to keep one eye on the bank balance. After being stood down as a full-time Qantas flight attendant at the end of March, however, the budget is tighter still. “Life was a struggle for us before the pandemic, to be honest,” she says.
She is managing. But catching up on the mortgage payments after the initial relief ends, and paying for the greater utility bills when they come through, worry her. She’s hoping, and expecting, that after 18 years at the airline, a job will be waiting for her once jobkeeper stops and the recovery begins.
Hertz, which has 38,000 staff, is one of the largest firms to be undone by the pandemic
The 102-year-old car rental firm Hertz has filed for bankruptcy protection after its business all but vanished during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hertz said in a US court filing on Friday that it had voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 reorganisation. Its international operating regions including Europe, Australia and New Zealand were not included in the US proceedings.
The Morrison government commission has promoted gas as a key way to boost the economy after the coronavirus crisis
The head of the Morrison government commission tasked with coming up with plans to revitalise the economy after the coronavirus crisis, Nev Power, is to step aside from his position as deputy chairman of a gas company over conflict of interest concerns.
“Because of the perceptions of conflict of interest he has stepped back from participating in board meetings and will not participate in the decisions of the board” of Strike Energy, a spokesman for the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission said on Friday evening.
The Downfall meme format has been widely circulating on the internet for more than a decade, with users adding their own subtitles to a clip from the 2004 German film Downfall, showing a highly agitated Adolf Hitler in his bunker screaming at his military commanders in the final days of the war.
High court rejects challenge after ministers overruled climate objections of planning officials
The UK government’s approval of a large new gas-fired power plant has been ruled legal by the high court. A legal challenge was brought after ministers overruled climate change objections from planning authorities.
The plant, which is being developed by Drax in North Yorkshire, would be the biggest gas power station in Europe, and could account for 75% of the UK’s power sector emissions when fully operational, according to lawyers for ClientEarth, which brought the judicial review.
Festivals are cancelled, livestreams thriving – so how can music recover? Jack Garratt, Ella Eyre, Sara Quin and more talk gigs, hits and togetherness
Like many other aspects of life, the music industry has been changed, possibly permanently, by the coronavirus pandemic. There have been predictions of financial meltdown and of venue closures on a vast scale; suggestions that now is the moment for streaming services to change the way they pay musicians; even arguments that pop music in lockdown provides a model for how the music business should be: more creatively free, more resourceful, less reliant on touring.
We assembled a panel of musicians to discuss coronavirus and its effects: Sara Quin of the Canadian pop duo Tegan and Sara; pop singer-songwriter Ella Eyre; James McGovern of Dublin punk band the Murder Capital; Jeremy Pritchard, bassist of Manchester’s Everything Everything; and the singer-songwriter Jack Garratt.
More than 30,000 pubs, bars and restaurants may remain permanently closed because the coronavirus shutdown has sent a wrecking ball through the UK’s hospitality trade.
The grim prediction follows a week in which the Casual Dining Group, which owns the Bella Italia and Café Rouge restaurant chains, warned it was headed into administration – casting doubt over the future of its 250 restaurants.
EasyJet is to resume a small number of flights on 15 June, with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks, as it returns to the skies after grounding its entire fleet on 30 March.
The airline initially will restart domestic routes in the UK and France where it says there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe.
Car maker says it is ‘horrified’ by the ad that featured a large white hand ‘flicking’ a black man
Volkswagen has withdrawn a Golf car advertisement posted on its official Instagram page that the company admitted was racist and insulting, saying it would investigate how it came about.
The car company, which has already seen its reputation tarnished in the past five years after it admitted cheating diesel emissions tests, said it did not tolerate any form of racism.
Angus Taylor also spoke on the border closure issue while on the ABC:
Well, I think ultimately it’s a decision for Queensland but the advice coming in is very clear from the Chief Medical Officer and it’s clear what the New South Wales Premier has put her view as well.
What I want to see is opening up, getting things going again, jobs, investment and of course we have got to make sure all our policies are aligned with that at the federal level and we’d like to see states do the same and that includes our emissions policy which is all about strengthening the economy.
Speaking to the ABC a little earlier, Gladys Berejiklian says she did not think it was “logical at this stage to maintain those border closures for a prolonged period of time”.
She prefaced the comment with “that’s a matter for the Queensland premier and the Queensland government” before giving her opinion, so that might tell you how relations within national cabinet are starting to go.
New South Wales is in a position now where we’re really focused on jobs and the economy, and we’ll be able to get our industries up and running.
But for Australia to really move forward as a nation during this very difficult economic time as well as difficult health time, we do need our borders down, we do need to allow people to move between states, to live, to work, to see family.
Minister says checks on animals and food products are needed to maintain island of Ireland’s ‘disease-free status’
The government has confirmed for the first time that there will be Brexit checks on animals and food goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from next January.
The announcement, detailed in a 23-page document released by the government on Wednesday, comes months after Boris Johnson pledged there would be no checks on trade crossing the Irish Sea – telling businesses that if anyone asked them to fill in new paperwork, they could “throw it in the bin”.