Category Archives: Business

Thomas Piketty’s new War and Peace-sized book published on Thursday

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French economist’s Capital and Ideology expands on themes in Capital in the 21st Century, which sold 2m copies

Six years after being catapulted to fame with a blockbuster about the concentration of wealth, the French economist Thomas Piketty has returned with an epic new book on capitalism.

Abiding by the rule that every bestseller demands a follow-up, Capital and Ideology expands on the themes sketched out in Capital in the 21st Century, which sold 2m copies worldwide after its publication in 2013.

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BA pilots to strike from midnight in dispute about pay

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Balpa union calls 48-hour walkout with further action planned for 27 September

The first-ever strike by British Airways pilots is set to start at midnight on Sunday night, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and travel disruption for thousands of passengers.

Members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) have said they will walk out for 48 hours in a long-running dispute over pay, with a further strike set for 27 September if the row remains unresolved.

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Boeing 777X test halted after reports of cargo door failure

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Door of new model reportedly exploded outwards during ground-based stress testing

Boeing has suspended load testing of its new widebody 777X aircraft as media reports said a cargo door failed in a ground stress test.

“During final load testing on the 777X static test airplane, the team encountered an issue that required suspension of the test,” Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said in a statement on Saturday.

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Trump’s trade war with China creates unexpected winner: Canada’s lobster industry

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Prices are at record levels and demand is growing for fishermen north of the border after China imposed tariffs on live lobsters

Long hours, rolling ocean swells, and the occasional spring snowstorm are all part of the job for Francis Morrissey.

“It’s bred into you from the time you’re a child: you either like the ocean or you don’t,” said the fisherman and business owner from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. “Even when I’m in the office, I wish I was out there.”

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Saudi king names son Abdulaziz to key post of energy minister

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Abdulaziz bin Salman becomes first Saudi royal to head energy ministry, one of the country’s most vital roles

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has replaced the country’s energy minister with one of his sons, naming Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to one of the most important positions in the kingdom.

The new energy minister is an older half-brother to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and an experienced oil industry figure in Saudi Arabia. He has been minister of state for energy affairs since 2017. The two brothers are not known to be close.

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German recession fears rise as industrial output tumbles – business live

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Rolling coverage of business, economics and markets as factories in Europe’s largest economy stutter

Eurozone growth came in unchanged on its third estimate: 0.2% growth in the second quarter of the year.

A minor beat on the headline year-on-year growth rate, remaining at 1.2% against 1.1% expectations, but otherwise no shocks.

Labour has confirmed that it will not vote for an election on Monday even if a bill intended to stop a no-deal Brexit passes before then.

If we vote to have a general election, then no matter what it is that Boris Johnson promises, it is up to him to advise the Queen when the general election should be. And given that he has shown himself to be a manifest liar, and someone who has said that he will die in a ditch rather than stop no deal, and indeed his adviser, [Dominic] Cummings, has been swearing and shouting at MPs saying they are leaving on 31 [October] no matter what, our first priority has to be that we must stop no deal and we must make sure that that is going to happen.

Related: Brexit: Labour confirms it will not vote on Monday for early election - live news

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British bankers on trial in Germany charged with €447m fraud

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UK pair accused of defrauding German state through ‘cum-ex’ share trading scheme

Two British investment bankers have gone on trial in Bonn in what German media have called “the biggest financial fraud trial” in the country’s postwar history.

The two British citizens, Martin Shields, 41, and Nicholas Diable, 38, are accused of having defrauded the German state of €447.5m (£405m) from London’s banking district with so-called cum-ex trading schemes, a complex shell game of share transactions.

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YouTube fined $170m for collecting children’s personal data

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FTC has fined Google $136m and company will pay an additional $34m to New York state to resolve similar allegations

Google’s video site YouTube has been fined $170m to settle allegations it collected children’s personal data without their parents’ consent.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Google $136m and the company will pay an additional $34m to New York state to resolve similar allegations.

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US and China begin imposing new tariffs as trade war escalates

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Chinese exports worth $125bn will face new taxes from 1 September, while China places levy on oil as agreement becomes more distant

China and the United States have begun imposing additional tariffs on each other’s goods in the latest escalation of their bruising trade war that has sent shockwaves through the global economy.

A new round of tariffs took effect from 0401 GMT on Sunday, with Beijing’s levy of 5% on US crude oil marking the first time the fuel has been targeted since the world’s two largest economies started their trade war more than a year ago.

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Saudi Arabia shakeup brings in new oil minister and royal court chief

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As the Aramco listing is revived, crown prince appoints a businessman to lead the oil sector and gets a new gatekeeper

Saudi Arabia has announced the creation of a new natural resources ministry, separating it from the energy ministry, while replacing the head of the royal court in a wide-ranging shakeup of the government.

As plans for the massive $2 trillion stock market listing of the state-owned oil company Aramco are stepped up, the kingdom’s de facto ruler and crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has brought in a prominent businessman to head the new ministry of industry and mineral resources.

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Corporations pile pressure on Brazil over Amazon fires

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Asset managers, pension funds and companies halt deals and stop buying bonds

Financial pressure is growing on Brazil over fires in the Amazon and the far-right president’s belligerent response to them.

Asset managers, pension funds and companies have issued warnings, halted deals and stopped purchases of government bonds.

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Political uncertainty puts London listing for Saudi Aramco in doubt

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Decision to rule out UK and Hong Kong would be major blow to both financial centres

Saudi Arabia’s revived plans for a $2tn mega-listing of its state oil company may rule out the London Stock Exchange amid Britain’s rising political uncertainty, according to reports.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s most profitable company, may instead look to Japan’s Tokyo stock exchange to host the second phase of what would be the biggest public offering in history.

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Crown Resorts: inquiry to examine whether James Packer’s casino group fit to hold licence

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Former judge also asked to report on whether NSW gambling laws need to be overhauled

A public inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing at casinos run by Crown Resorts will decide whether the James Packer-dominated group is fit to hold a licence in New South Wales and whether the state’s gambling laws need to be overhauled.

Terms of reference, released by the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority on Thursday, show the inquiry, to be headed by former judge Patricia Bergin, will also investigate whether Packer’s decision to sell almost 20% of Crown to Hong Kong billionaire Lawrence Ho breached the gambling group’s licence to build a high-roller casino at Barangaroo in Sydney.

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The IMF is hurting countries it claims to help | Mark Weisbrot

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The fund browbeats poor countries into accepting neoliberal measures that exacerbate inequality and economic distress

When people think of the damage that wealthy countries – typically led by the US and its allies – cause to people in the rest of the world, they probably think of warfare. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died from the 2003 invasion, and then many more as the region became inflamed.

Related: Brexit: EU ‘would block trade deal if Britain reneged on bill’

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Johnson & Johnson responsible for fueling opioid crisis in Oklahoma, judge rules

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In landmark case, Oklahoma is first state to sue an opioid manufacturer all the way to trial as judge orders orders company to pay $572m

An Oklahoma judge has found Johnson & Johnson liable in a lawsuit claiming the giant drug maker helped fuel the deadly opioid epidemic in the state.

Oklahoma is the first state to sue an opioid manufacturer in court all the way to trial.

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Shares across Asia fall sharply amid US-Chinese trade tensions

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Investors seek safe havens such as US treasuries and gold as the superpower standoff shows no sign of being resolved

Shares in Australia and across Asia Pacific have fallen sharply amid a new flare-up of US-Chinese trade tensions.

Despite a senior Chinese leader saying Beijing wanted to resolve the dispute with “calm negotiations”, indices were deep in the red on Monday.

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US companies tell Apple and Amazon to put planet before profits

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Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Danone and others take out full-page ad in New York Times addressed to business leaders

The bosses of some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple and Amazon, have been told to put the planet before profits – not by environmental campaigners but by other multinationals, including Danone’s US arm, and a unit of Unilever.

A group of more than 30 American business leaders, including the heads of outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, The Body Shop owner Natura, Ben & Jerry’s (part of Unilever) and Danone’s US business, have taken the extraordinary step of taking out a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the New York Times to champion a more ethical way of doing business. The advert is aimed at members of the influential Business Roundtable (BRT) lobby group, which represents 181 of the US’s biggest companies.

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The west takes its eyes off Africa at its peril | Larry Elliott

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The G7 thought it had solved Africa’s problems, but rising child poverty is a ticking time bomb

Time was when Africa dominated gatherings of the G7. In the period between two summits held in the UK – Birmingham in 1998 and Gleneagles in 2005 – the talk was of little else. There was public activism and it led to political action.

In part, that was because the big developed countries were enjoying a spell of low-inflationary growth and could look beyond their own problems to see a bigger picture. There was the occasional financial panic, but the G7 thought the problems of economic management had largely been solved and all that was needed was a bit of tinkering by technocratic central bankers.

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Macron hopes to convince G7 leaders to halt trade war and heal divisions

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French president Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes to convince world leaders to pull back from trade war and heal growing divisions at the G7 summit in Biarritz, despite signs that will be a daunting task.

Related: Boris Johnson prepares for Biarritz balancing act with Donald Trump

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Trump escalates attacks on China and threatens to raise tariffs

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President ‘hereby orders’ US firms to seek alternative locations and suggests Fed Chair is an ‘enemy’

Donald Trump escalated his attacks on China on Friday, bumping up tariffs on Chinese imports and ordering US companies to leave China.

Trump’s announcements on Friday – all on Twitter – came after the president launched another blistering criticism of the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, asking: “Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or [China’s] Chairman Xi?”

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