Standard Chartered boss apologises for ‘lower-value human capital’ comments amid job cuts

Bill Winters faced backlash over remarks about some of near 8,000 staff set to lose roles to AI

The chief executive of Standard Chartered has apologised for referring to some of the almost 8,000 staff that are set to lose their jobs to artificial intelligence as “lower-value human capital”.

Bill Winters offered the apology after a backlash over comments he made earlier this week as the London-headquartered lender became one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut about 7,800 back-office roles, primarily in response to AI.

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Local US newspaper workers allege Hearst is trying to ‘destroy unions’

Media company says it is ‘committed to good faith bargaining’ amid claims including contract violation

Workers at local newspapers owned by Hearst allege the company is trying to “destroy unions” amid claims of widespread anti-union tactics, including violating union contracts and bad-faith bargaining.

The Albany Newspaper Guild, which represents the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York, said it had been more than 17 years since the union had a contract and there had been little progress toward reaching a new one.

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Estée Lauder ends merger talks with Gaultier owner Puig

Sticking points to build beauty powerhouse included which family would hold balance of power

The US cosmetics company Estée Lauder has ended merger talks with its Spanish rival Puig over plans to create a fashion and beauty group worth almost $40bn (£30bn/€34.5bn) after the two sides failed to agree on the balance of power in the combined company.

Estée Lauder, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of skincare, makeup and fragrances, owns brands including Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Tom Ford Beauty.

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Air France and Airbus guilty of corporate manslaughter for 2009 plane crash

Firms given maximum fine of €225,000 each and are expected to appeal after lower court had cleared them

A Paris appeals court has found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 Rio-Paris plane crash that killed 228 passengers and crew.

The verdict is the latest milestone in a legal marathon involving two of France’s most emblematic companies and families of the mainly French, Brazilian and German victims of France’s worst air disaster.

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James Murdoch to acquire half of Vox Media in deal reportedly worth $300m

Deal is the biggest acquisition for Murdoch since family resolved dispute over future control of media holdings

James Murdoch, second son of publishing giant Rupert Murdoch, has agreed to acquire some of Vox Media’s assets, including New York magazine, in a deal believed to be worth around $300m.

The 53-year-old publishing scion is acquiring the assets through his company, Lupa Systems, which has built up holdings in Art Basel, the traveling art fair business, and Tribeca Enterprises, the media and entertainment company co-founded by Robert De Niro, and the Indian streaming service Bodhi Tree Systems.

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Spending watchdog warns £38bn cost of Sizewell C nuclear plant is ‘risky’

National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

The cost of the government’s £38bn nuclear plant in Suffolk is subject to “significant uncertainty” and may outweigh the benefits for UK households until at least 2064, according to the government’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that although the potential benefits of the Sizewell C nuclear plant are considerable, they remain uncertain. The risks, however, are “immediate, substantial and borne by the public”.

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Son of Mango fashion chain founder arrested in Spain over father’s death

Jonathan Andic released on €1m bail after being questioned in connection with death of Isak Andic in 2024

The son of Isak Andic, the founder of the fashion chain Mango, has been released on bail of €1m (£866,000) after being arrested and questioned in connection with his father’s death in Catalonia almost 18 months ago.

Andic died in December 2024 after apparently falling 100 metres down a ravine while hiking in Montserrat, near Barcelona, with his son, Jonathan. His death aged 71 prompted tributes to him from politicians, journalists and the fashion world.

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Standard Chartered to cut more than 7,000 jobs as it steps up AI use

London-headquartered bank will reduce back-office jobs and aims to move some workers to new roles

Standard Chartered plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as it increasingly uses artificial intelligence.

The London-headquartered lender is one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut thousands of jobs, citing AI as a driver to make its operations slimmer as it seeks to increase its profitability and tackle competition.

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Belfast harbour operator to invest £1.3bn as NI economy grows

Port has upgraded offshore wind facilities and is to expand quays, ferry terminals and cruise ship services

The operator of Belfast harbour plans to spend £1.3bn over the next 25 years to take advantage of strong economic growth in Northern Ireland, in what would be one of the largest non-governmental investments in the region’s history.

The Belfast Harbour Commissioners said the money would be spent on upgrading the port, with the possibility of residential property developments that could add another £750m in investment on top.

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Starbucks Korea CEO resigns over ad evoking massacre of pro-democracy protesters

‘Tank Day’ event causes outrage with ‘malicious mockery’ of deadly crackdown during dictatorship era

The chief executive of Starbucks in South Korea has been fired after the company ran a promotional event using slogans that evoked a massacre of pro-democracy protesters during the country’s dictatorship era, sparking outrage and boycott calls.

The coffee chain launched a “Tank Day” campaign on 18 May for its “Tank” tumbler series. The date coincides with one of the most politically sensitive days in South Korea’s calendar, when citizens commemorate the 1980 democratisation movement in Gwangju, 167 miles (270km) south-west of Seoul.

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Workers racing to turn reflecting pool blue for Trump may be at risk, union warns

Union representative concerned about safety as workers rush to finish repainting DC pool before 250th celebrations

Workers renovating one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic sites in a project ordered by Donald Trump may be risking their safety as they race to finish on time for the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a union monitoring the site has warned.

Trade union scrutiny has focused on the reflecting pool on the US capital’s National Mall – scene of Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream speech” – after it was drained of water and fenced off from the public to allow contractors the chance to upgrade it by 4 July.

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Tech founders use AI-generated images to poke fun at Anthony Albanese in protest against tax changes

‘He’s having a great time with his new 47% equity,’ one entrepreneur jokes, warning that some startups may leave Australia behind

Tech entrepreneurs have mocked the government’s capital gains tax changes by posting AI-generated photos of Anthony Albanese as their “new founder” and warning that increased taxes could push people away from working for new businesses or send startups overseas.

Startups and entrepreneurs may yet receive a carve-out in the federal government’s planned changes to the CGT discount, with the prime minister saying he wanted to support innovation and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, revealing that consultation was continuing with the sector.

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JLR and General Motors eye £900m contract to build new range of military trucks

Carmakers aim to expand into UK defence sector, exploiting spending boom by Nato countries

Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors are considering an expansion into UK defence via a £900m military contract, as carmakers seek to exploit a spending boom by Nato countries racing to rearm.

The manufacturers are among a group of automotive firms vying to make thousands of 4x4s for the armed forces to replace an ageing fleet of Land Rovers that have been out of production since 2016.

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Australia news live: Albanese congratulates Delta Goodrem on Eurovision fourth-place finish; Queensland Labor set to win Stafford byelection

Follow the day’s news live

Jim Chalmers says the opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost the budget a quarter of a trillion dollars over ten years, while claiming that the government is returning bracket creep to taxpayers.

It’s a slightly tricky position, as Angus Taylor argues that Labor is “betraying” itself because the high figure is actually how much the government is keeping and spending through bracket creep ever year.

This is a Government that returns bracket creep when it is responsible to do that.

That [policy] would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he [Taylor] made in his Budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.”

What Angus Taylor is proposing to do is to pump the most money into the economy when inflation is already at its highest.

“This betrays the fact that the government plans to raise income tax rates to the tune of $35 billion This says more about their plan than our plan ...

If Labor’s saying that they plan to raise income taxes to the tune of $250 billion in the next 10 years ... [if] that is their tax hike, that’s their planned income tax increases.”

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Oman caught between US and Iran after Tehran’s claims of joint strait of Hormuz plan

Muscat silent about plans – opposed by US – to charge fee and demand details on nationality of all transiting ships

Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping.

The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.

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Pound heads for worst week in 18 months as Burnham lines up Labour bid

UK government borrowing costs jump amid political uncertainty and oil price rise that fuelled inflation worries

The pound was heading for its worst week in 18 months on Friday as City traders anticipated that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, could face a challenge from the Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, later this year.

After days of uncertainty over Starmer’s future, sterling dropped by almost three cents, or 2%, during the week to $1.336 on Friday, a five-week low. That would be the largest weekly drop against the US dollar since Donald Trump’s election win in early November 2024.

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British Gas faces record £112m settlement over prepayment meter scandal

Redress to customers for force-fitting devices in homes includes £20m penalty and £70m of debt write-offs

Thousands of British Gas customers who had prepayment meters force-fitted in their homes will between them receive compensation and energy bill debt write-offs worth up to £112m in the biggest energy supplier settlement on record.

Great Britain’s energy regulator found that British Gas forced PPMs on homes that were not keeping up with their bills at the height of the Russian gas crisis, in one of the most complex investigations in Ofgem’s history.

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UAE to complete second oil pipeline bypassing strait of Hormuz by 2027

State oil company fast-tracks previously undisclosed project, which is expected to double export capacity

The United Arab Emirates has announced it will complete a new oil pipeline bypassing the strait of Hormuz by next year to secure its future crude exports against the threat of disruption.

The current blockade of the vital waterway, through which 20% of oil and seaborne gas flowed before the Iran war, is approaching the 11-week mark, sending energy prices soaring around the world and throttling Gulf economies.

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Heathrow could be forced to allow other firms to build third runway to cut costs

Under aviation regulator proposals rival companies would bid to design and build parts of airport expansion

Heathrow could be forced to allow other companies to design and build its third runway and new terminal after the UK aviation regulator argued that rival bids could keep construction costs down.

A long-awaited review by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) proposes changes to the regulatory model that governs how Heathrow runs and covers its costs.

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Australia news live: Delta Goodrem hits the stage in Eurovision semi; Angus Taylor accused of ‘dog whistle’ budget reply

Australian pop star performs song Eclipse in second semi-final before Sunday’s final. Follow today’s news live

Advocates for migrants last night accused Angus Taylor of using his budget reply speech to “chase votes with dog whistles, fear and division”.

Taylor claimed that migrants were coming to Australia and claiming benefits before they were becoming citizens, a situation which he said Australians did not accept.

The Coalition’s dangerous decision to return to its harmful, failed refugee policies of the past shows what a mess they are in. They have no new policy ideas. Temporary protection visas have harmed countless people and kept many families apart for over a decade. So many are still trying to recover.

Taylor’s comments tonight are inflammatory and desperate. The fact that he feels the need to dog-whistle about mass deportations of so-called ‘overstayers’, many of whom are actually trapped in a massively blown-out court and tribunal system created through years of Coalition underfunding, shows they are far more interested in stoking fear than delivering serious policy solutions.

The language in tonight’s address misleads the nation by claiming that migrants are arriving and immediately accessing welfare payments, which is a blatant lie. In reality most of the restrictions he’s talking about already exist and there are lengthy wait periods for welfare payments.

The Coalition knows all this and is deliberately misleading Australians about how the welfare system already operates in order to whip up fear and division.

If I may answer - it will be below 200,000. There’s no doubt about that.

And then the right mix will depend on the circumstances of the time. What is clear, what is clear, is that the number of students in this country has been at record levels.

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