Category Archives: Business

Most of world’s biggest firms ‘unlikely’ to meet Paris climate targets

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Only a fifth of the companies will remain on track, according to analysis of their disclosures

More than four fifths of the world’s largest companies are unlikely to meet the targets set out in the Paris climate agreement by 2050, according to fresh analysis of their climate disclosures.

A study of almost 3,000 publicly listed companies found that just 18% have disclosed plans that are aligned with goals to limit rising temperatures to 1.5C of pre-industrialised levels by the middle of the century.

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Fallout from Thomas Cook collapse felt across Europe and Africa

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Governments are in crisis-planning mode over efforts to repatriate 500,000 tourists

The collapse of Thomas Cook has plunged governments across Europe and Africa into crisis-planning mode as they help with the repatriation of more than 500,000 stranded tourists and begin to count the cost of the holiday company’s demise on already-battered economies.

About 50,000 holidaymakers are stranded in Greece, 21,000 in Turkey, 15,000 in Cyprus and 4,500 in Tunisia. Thousands of tourists are also stuck in the US and dozens of other countries. Most of the tourists are from the UK with an estimated 150,000 people, followed by Germany with about 140,000 holidaymakers.

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UK ministers accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate

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Offers from Spain and Turkey to save firm reportedly had no support from Westminster

The government has been accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate, as claims emerged that the Spanish and Turkish governments had offered to help save the stricken tour operator, only for the deal to disintegrate due to a lack of support in Westminster.

As recriminations flew, government-chartered aircraft began flying 150,000 stranded Thomas Cook customers back to the UK after the 178-year-old tour operator collapsed into liquidation in the early hours of Monday under the weight of its debts.

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Thomas Cook travel chaos: insolvency leaves 150,000 stranded on holidays – live updates

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A huge repatriation effort has begun after company ceases trading with immediate effect, causing flights to be cancelled

I’m going to hand over to my colleague Graeme Wearden now. Thanks for following along through the early hours.

A few reports have come through that Thomas Cook staff were not notified by the company of the trouble that the company was in. One said he found out the company had gone bust by reading media reports today. Another, whose family member worked for Thomas Cook, said the company had been telling staff up until yesterday that reports of financial distress had been inflated by the press.

If you know more, please get in touch: kate.lyons@theguardian.com

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No-deal Brexit will have ‘seismic’ impact, says European car industry

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Carmakers fear disorderly exit would cripple the just-in-time supply chain, investment and lead to tariff barriers

The European car industry has warned of catastrophic effects of a no-deal Brexit, saying it would have a “seismic” impact on making cars in Europe.

In a rare joint statement, chiefs from 23 automotive business associations across Europe joined forces to caution against a brutal exit from the bloc by Britain, where auto giants BMW, Peugeot PSA and Japan’s Nissan have factories.

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Thomas Cook in last-ditch talks to avoid collapse

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Up to 150,000 UK holidaymakers affected with 9,000 British jobs at risk as firm looks for £200m in funds

Thomas Cook is holding last-ditch talks with key players on Sunday in a bid to avert a collapse that will affect 150,000 UK holidaymakers abroad and put 9,000 British jobs at risk.

The travel company is at risk of falling into administration imminently unless it finds £200m in extra funds. The government and the UK aviation watchdog are preparing to launch a rescue plan codenamed Operation Matterhorn.

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‘The men who plundered Europe’: bankers on trial for siphoning €60bn

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Martin Shields and Nick Diable are accused of tax fraud in ‘cum-ex’ scandal that exposes City’s pursuit of profit

They have been called “the men who plundered Europe”: a group of cowboy traders, seasoned tax lawyers and mathematical whizz kids who are alleged to have conspired in the heart of the City of London to siphon at least €60bn in taxpayers’ money from the state coffers of several EU countries.

In Britain, the so-called “cum-ex” scandal, named after the complex derivatives juggling act employed, gained little attention amid the frenzied debate around the UK’s departure from the European Union when the fraud scheme was discovered in 2017.

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Iran threatens ‘all-out war’ if action taken over Saudi oil strike

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Foreign minister’s comments further inflame tensions in Persian Gulf after oil attacks

Iran’s foreign minister has warned that any attack on his country after a series of missile strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry would result in “all-out war”.

Javad Zarif also demanded that Riyadh hand over the evidence that it claimed proved the attack came from Iran, and not from Houthi-occupied Yemen.

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Outcry as Saga travel firm advertises cruise ‘exclusively for Brits’

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Over-50s holiday company apologises for brochure after Twitter backlash

Saga, the insurance and travel company aimed at the over-50s, has apologised after customers were sent a brochure advertising a cruise “exclusively for Brits”, prompting a furious backlash.

Twitter user Anthony Bale, who is a university professor, said his mother was “outraged” after being sent the magazine, the front page of which outlined the characteristics of the cruise.

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Climate strike in Australia: everything you need to know about Friday’s protest

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Time and location for the 20 September school strike for climate change in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Hobart and more

Thousands of Australian school students are again preparing to walk out of classrooms across the country to demand action on the climate crisis.

The global mass day of action will take place on Friday 20 September, three days before the United Nations climate summit in New York.

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‘No guts, no vision!’ Trump unhappy after Fed announces modest rate cut

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  • Central bank approves quarter-point interest rate reduction
  • Trump tweets: ‘Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve fail again!’

Under pressure from Wall Street and the White House, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates on Wednesday for a second straight meeting, but declined to signal if it would continue to drop rates in the future.

Related: Ilhan Omar condemns Trump for spreading 'lies that put my life at risk'

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Huang Xiangmo: judge to reveal why she froze $140m of Chinese businessman’s assets

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Anna Katzmann said Huang could only use the money to pay debt to ATO or for living or legal expenses

A judge will today reveal her reasons for slapping a $140m asset freezing order on controversial businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo after an application by the Australian taxation office.

At an urgent hearing in Sydney on Monday, federal court judge Anna Katzmann ordered Huang not to dispose of assets worth up to the $140.9m claimed by the ATO, including more than $6m worth of property in Sydney and an apartment in Hong Kong.

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Saudi Arabia oil attack: Trump hints at action as US points finger at Iran

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US president says he has ‘reason to believe we know the culprit’, as oil prices rise

Everything you need to know about the Saudi Arabia oil attacks

Donald Trump has said the US is “locked and loaded” and ready to respond to attacks on a petroleum processing facility in Saudi Arabia, as US officials said the evidence pointed to Iranian involvement.

The US president did not mention Iran, but wrote on Twitter that he had “reason to believe that we know the culprit” behind the series of attacks on the Abqaiq facility, which is the world’s largest petroleum processing plant. The attacks disrupted more than half of the kingdom’s oil output and will affect global supplies.

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OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma files for bankruptcy

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Move is partly aimed at halting more than 2,000 lawsuits filed against drug firm

US drug-maker Purdue Pharma has filed for bankruptcy and announced a $10bn (£8bn) plan to settle thousands of lawsuits that accuse the company’s prescription painkiller, OxyContin, of fuelling the deadly opioids crisis.

The company, owned by the billionaire Sackler family, faces more than 2,000 lawsuits, including actions from nearly all US states and many local governments, which allege Purdue falsely promoted OxyContin by downplaying the risk of addiction. The public health crisis claimed the lives of nearly 400,000 people between 1999 and 2017, according to the latest US data.

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‘I don’t know how we come back from this’: Australia’s big dry sucks life from once-proud towns

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Guardian Australia reports from three communities hard hit by one of the worst droughts in living memory

Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.

The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.

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London Stock Exchange rejects approach by Hong Kong counterpart

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‘Fundamental flaws’ in £32bn takeover proposal mean LSE board sees no merit in it

The board of the London Stock Exchange has “unanimously rejected” an approach by its Hong Kong rival after the Asian bourse made a surprise £32bn bid to take over the 321-year-old City institution earlier this week.

In an uncompromising response to the approach, which the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) described as a “significant backward step”, the UK firm said it saw “no merit in further engagement” with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX).

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Asic to decide on possible case against Clive Palmer over Queensland Nickel

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Corporate watchdog says criminal investigation is nearly complete and it is in discussions about way forward

A criminal investigation into Clive Palmer and the collapse of Queensland Nickel is nearly finished and the corporate regulator is in discussions with other government agencies about what to do next, federal parliament has been told.

“We are at the point where we are in discussions with other government agencies about the appropriate way forward,” the Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioner, John Price, told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

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Cockpit coffee spill caused transatlantic flight diversion – AAIB

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Control panel was damaged during Condor flight after captain put cup on tray table

A pilot spilling coffee in the cockpit of a plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean forced it to turn back and land in Ireland.

The hot coffee damaged an audio control panel, which gave off an electrical burning smell and smoke, an accident report found. It created significant communication difficulty for the pilots flying the Airbus A330, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

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ECB announces fresh stimulus as eurozone economy falters

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Mario Draghi says bank will reboot quantitative easing in month Lagarde succeeds him

The European Central Bank has announced a fresh stimulus package in an attempt to prevent the fragile eurozone economy from grinding to a halt, with an interest rate cut and plans to pump €20bn (£19bn) a month into the financial markets.

In one of his final acts in his ECB presidency, before Christine Lagarde takes charge in November, Mario Draghi said governments across the eurozone needed to take greater steps to reboot growth by ramping up public spending or cutting taxes.

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Dancers, writers, caddies: the gig workers who could benefit from California’s historic bill

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Uber and Lyft drivers aren’t the only ones getting protections – but journalists and musicians have raised concern

Groundbreaking legislation passed by California lawmakers on Wednesday has been lauded for its potential to transform the way tech companies such as Uber and Lyft treat their drivers – but those aren’t the only workers who stand to benefit.

The bill, known as AB5, will go into effect in January 2020. It sets a three-part standard for determining whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors, requiring that (a) they are free from the company’s control, (b) they are doing work that isn’t central to the company’s business and (c) they have an independent business in that industry.

This means a hugely diverse range of professions – from cable installers to exotic dancers to writers – will be affected by the bill.

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