Category Archives: Business

Major oil-producing nations agree historic 10% cut in output

Posted on by

Saudi Arabia and Russia reach truce after collapse in demand caused by coronavirus

The world’s largest oil producers have agreed a historic deal to cut global oil production by almost 10% to protect the market against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Members of the Opec oil cartel and its allies have agreed to withhold almost 10m barrels a day from next month after the outbreak of Covid-19 wiped out demand for fossil fuels and triggered a collapse in global oil prices.

Continue reading...

Robots deliver food in Milton Keynes under coronavirus lockdown

Posted on by

Starship Technologies’ small vehicles navigate pavements with no human driver required

A robotic delivery service in Milton Keynes could prove to be the future of locked-down Britain, as miniature autonomous vehicles bring food deliveries to almost 200,000 residents of the town.

Starship Technologies, an autonomous delivery startup created in 2014 by two Skype cofounders, has been testing its beer cooler-sized robots in public since 2015. The small, white, six-wheeled vehicles trundle along pavements to bring small deliveries to residents and workers of the neighbourhoods in which they operate, without the need for a human driver or delivery person.

Continue reading...

Australia coronavirus update live: Victoria extends state of emergency as travellers fly in from cruise nightmare – latest news

Posted on by

Premier Daniel Andrews says state of emergency will be extended for a further four weeks as Australians trapped on Antarctic cruise ship arrive in Melbourne. Follow updates live

McGowan says he took his kids camping ... in his backyard ... over Easter because obviously other locations were unavailable.

And that’s the end of the press conference.

“We’ve successfully flattened the curve, but now we’ve got to figure out how to keep it there but also find out a long-term solution to the problem we face,” McGowan says.

He says he is working on getting commercial tenancy legislation in parliament this week. He’s not sure whether residential tenancy legislation will be ready this week but it will be brought in when it is.

The former will be brought into WA parliament for debate on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: US overtakes Italy as country with world’s highest death toll

Posted on by

US death toll tops 19,600. Italy and India extend lockdown, while IHME revises down forecast for number of deaths in the UK

I’m keen to share some powerful photojournalism from around the world with you.

Here’s a photograph of women in Pakistan queuing up to get government aid to support themselves and their families during coronavirus.

The latest figures for France have just been released by the health ministry. They are as follows:

Continue reading...

Coronavirus crisis demands that the G20 give debt relief to sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on by
With the IMF and World Bank spring conference approaching, research underlines need to bail out world’s poorest countries

For more than two years the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that sub-Saharan Africa stands on the verge of a debt crisis. Ever since commodity prices began to fall in 2015, the public finances of nations stretching from Nigeria to Kenya and Chad to South Africa have deteriorated.

If China is the manufacturing centre of the world, Africa is its chief supplier of essential materials, from oil and copper to the rare-earth minerals used in mobile phones. As China’s manufacturing waned in the middle of the last decade, so did the crucial foreign earnings that keep African nations afloat.

Continue reading...

Milk floats ride to the rescue of locked-down British households

Posted on by

The once ubiquitous electric float had seen its power wane. Then came the pandemic

The humble milkman – a regular sight on most British streets throughout the 20th century – was almost consigned to the history books by the rise of the supermarkets.

But now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, these dairy deliverers on their electric floats are busier than ever as they try to keep up with newfound demand for their services.

Continue reading...

EU members clash over pandemic economic rescue package

Posted on by

France and Netherlands at odds on finance ministers’ €500bn compromise

France and the Netherlands have openly clashed over the meaning of a messy compromise struck by finance ministers which has unlocked a €500bn (£438bn) pandemic rescue package for European economies but left major issues unresolved.

Hours after a breakthrough was secured late on Thursday evening to allow immediate support for businesses and healthcare systems, it became clear on Friday that there remained bitter divisions within the EU over the longer-term task of rebuilding the European economy.

Continue reading...

Opec, Russia and other oil producers make draft deal to cut output

Posted on by

Mexico holds out against scale of reductions which would amount to 10m barrels per day, or 10% of global supply

Opec countries and allies led by Russia have agreed in principle to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered in the coronavirus crisis.

But there was some confusion after Mexico apparently refused to sign up to its share of cuts under the deal, which would have been 400,000 barrels per day. The Mexican energy minister Rocio Nahle Garcia tweeted that her country had suggested a cut of 100,000 barrels.

Continue reading...

EU strikes €500bn relief deal for countries hit hardest by pandemic

Posted on by

Compromise reached after Netherlands relents on ‘economic surveillance’ of beneficiary nations

A messy compromise to unlock €500bn (£438bn) of EU support for countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic has been struck after Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, warned that the existence of the bloc was at stake.

EU finance ministers on a video conference call struck a deal late on Thursday after the Netherlands shifted on a demand for “economic surveillance” of countries benefiting from €240bn of credit lines via the European stability mechanism, a bailout fund for struggling member states.

Continue reading...

EasyJet agrees delay with Airbus on delivery of 24 new aircraft

Posted on by

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly tried to get order cancelled

EasyJet has agreed with Airbus to delay the delivery of 24 new aircraft as the budget airline tries to stave off a shareholder rebellion led by its founder and former chief executive, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly called for easyJet to cancel its orders for new planes, with coronavirus lockdowns likely wiping out months of revenues.

Continue reading...

UK lockdown could end ‘with sector-by-sector plan’ for firms

Posted on by

Industries like manufacturing could return to normal before entertainment companies, according to Whitehall sources

Ministers are looking at ending the coronavirus lockdown with a “gradual sector-by-sector approach” that could see vital industries such as manufacturing get back to work before less critical ones like entertainment, according to Whitehall sources.

Two officials said one of the main options being explored for ending the lockdown was the idea of a phased return by industry, with civil servants in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy among those looking at how it could work.

Continue reading...

Blindsided: how coronavirus felled the global economy in 100 days

Posted on by

A singular event has economists asking the same questions as everyone else: how far is there to fall – and can we ever get back?

It is New Year’s Eve 2019 and around the world stock markets are closing for business on a high note. Shares in the US are up by almost 30% on the year, those in Japan by 18%. Even in Britain, where the mood has been dampened by months of Brexit uncertainty, the FTSE 100 has risen by 12%.

Overall, it had been the best year for stocks since 2009 and traders saw no real reason why the party should not continue into 2020. The US and China looked close to an armistice in their trade war, the US central bank was stimulating the world’s biggest economy, and Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the general election had removed any lingering doubts about whether Britain would leave the European Union.

Continue reading...

Australia coronavirus live update: education minister orders independent schools to reopen – latest news

Posted on by

Dan Tehan wants all schools to provide in-person teaching to children whose parents want it. Follow live

The NRL season will recommence in late May, but it’s still unclear in what form it will happen.

#BREAKING: The NRL has announced a competition restart date of May 28. #9News pic.twitter.com/e5uwbe0fAj

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson is calling for road blocks on the Great Ocean Road to force people to stay home this long weekend. @Kieran_Gilbert

Continue reading...

Coronavirus could double number of people going hungry

Posted on by

Exclusive: multinationals write to G7 and G20 urging leaders to keep borders open to trade and avert global food crisis

Food supplies across the world will be “massively disrupted” by the coronavirus, and unless governments act the number of people suffering chronic hunger could double, some of the world’s biggest food companies have warned.

Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo, along with farmers’ organisations, the UN Foundation, academics, and civil society groups, have written to world leaders, calling on them to keep borders open to trade in order to help society’s most vulnerable, and to invest in environmentally sustainable food production.

Continue reading...

Global trade will be vital to economic recovery from Covid-19

Posted on by

As crisis rages, governments must plan for its aftermath, says WTO’s director general

As country after country is compelled to shutter non-essential businesses and order people home to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing public health crisis is becoming an economic and social crisis that demands a policy response.

Millions of people already afraid for the health of their loved ones now confront the prospect of unemployment and prolonged economic misery. Dozens of emerging economies face financial and humanitarian distress as commodity prices and export earnings plummet, foreign investors flee and remittances from overseas workers decline.

Continue reading...

UK crime agency loses case against ex-Kazakh president’s family

Posted on by

Judge overturns unexplained wealth orders that led to freezing of London properties

Britain’s National Crime Agency has lost a high court attempt to force the daughter and grandson of a former president of Kazakhstan to explain where they got the money to buy £80m of property in London.

Last year, the NCA froze three of the family’s properties, including a mansion on north London’s so-called Billionaire’s Row with an underground swimming pool and cinema, over claims they were acquired using proceeds from unlawful activity.

Continue reading...

Qantas staff ‘incredibly fearful’ about flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas

Posted on by

Airline turns to New Zealand after failing to get sufficient volunteers from Australia amid coronavirus fears

  • Sign up for Guardian Australia’s daily coronavirus email
  • Download the free Guardian app to get the most important news notifications

    • Qantas is moving to recruit cabin staff from its New Zealand subsidiary to operate scheduled flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas, after it failed to get sufficient volunteers from its Australian cabin staff to operate planned flights.

    Amid news that 50 Qantas and Jetstar staff have contracted coronavirus there has been growing anxiety among Qantas staff about plans to resume flights to Los Angeles, London, Auckland and Hong Kong later this week.

    Continue reading...

    Primark announces wage fund for garment workers

    Posted on by

    Pledge comes in response to claims that order cancellations to minimise Covid-19 losses have hurt millions of workers in the developing world

    Primark, one of the UK’s most popular retailers, has announced it will create a fund to help pay the wages of the millions of garment workers affected by its decision to cancel tens of millions of pounds worth of clothing orders from factories in developing countries across the world.

    The pledge followed sustained criticism of the fashion retailer after data from the Bangladeshi and Garment Exporters Association (BGMEA) revealed it had cancelled all orders already placed with suppliers.

    Continue reading...

    Global leaders urge G20 to tackle twin health and economic crises

    Posted on by

    Letter calls for $8bn emergency fund to bolster health systems in world’s poorer countries

    A group of 165 global leaders has called for immediate and coordinated international action to tackle the twin health and economic emergencies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Past and present politicians – including three former UK prime ministers – joined academics and civil society representatives to warn the G20 that the virus will return unless urgent action is taken to bolster health systems in poor countries of Africa and Latin America.

    Continue reading...

    Car plant shutdowns may cost auto industry more than $100bn

    Posted on by

    Figure based on Covid-19 closures in Europe and North America lasting to end of April

    The continued closure of car plants across Europe and North America will cost the auto industry more than $100bn (£82bn) in lost revenues if the shutdown lasts until the end of April.

    All major European carmakers have suspended production because of disruption caused by the spread of the coronavirus and if this continues as expected until the end of April, this will account for $66bn (£54bn) in lost sales in Europe, or 2.6m cars. In North America this will account for 2m cars, and lost sales of about $52bn (£42bn).

    Continue reading...