Category Archives: Business

‘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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Rouhani says US ‘warmongering’ against Iran will fail

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President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviser

Iran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran after the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser. Bolton had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges.

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Hong Kong Stock Exchange makes £32bn move for London counterpart

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Proposal to LSE board will only proceed if deal for Refinitiv is terminated or voted down

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has made a surprise £32bn bid approach to take over the London Stock Exchange Group.

It comes weeks after LSE agreed a $27bn (£22bn) all-share deal to take control of Refinitiv, a move the company said would transform it into a UK-headquartered, global rival to Michael Bloomberg’s financial news and data business.

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Australia’s secretive billionaire David Teoh steps into media spotlight

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Teoh, who despite running one of Australia’s largest telcos has managed to maintain anonymity, runs gauntlet of media

Finally, the reclusive billionaire emerged. David Teoh, estimated to be worth $3bn, made his debut before the cameras on a fine spring day outside the federal court in Melbourne on Wednesday.

As he stepped into the witness stand shortly after 3pm, Teoh gave away the extraordinary level of anonymity he’d been able to maintain even while running one of Australia’s biggest telecommunications companies, TPG.

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California passes landmark gig economy workers’ rights bill

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Law would make it more difficult for firms such as Uber to deny workers are employees

Lawmakers in California have passed a landmark bill that would make it much more difficult for companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

The bill, which paves the way for workers in the so-called gig economy to get holiday and sick pay, has garnered attention across the US and beyond, largely owing to the size of California’s workforce. Several Democratic presidential candidates have supported the measure, including the US senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California.

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John Bolton fired as Trump’s national security adviser – live news

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President tweeted about the firing after reports emerged Bolton opposed Trump plan to hold peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David

Trump has taken the stage at the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference and appears to (so far) be sticking to the teleprompter.

He has touted the importance of HBCUs and celebrated his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, as a champion for the institutions.

Trump is expected to soon start speaking at the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference. The president was scheduled to take the podium at 2:15 p.m. E.T. but is apparently running behind.

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Diesel cars emit more air pollution on hot days, study says

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Emissions rose 20-30% in Paris when temperatures topped 30C, raising urgent questions as the climate gets hotter

Emissions from diesel cars – even newer and supposedly cleaner models – increase on hot days, a new study has found, raising questions over how cities suffering from air pollution can deal with urban heat islands and the climate crisis.

Research in Paris by The Real Urban Emissions (True) initiative found that diesel car emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) rose by 20% to 30% when temperatures topped 30C – a common event this summer.

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