The Guardian
1 day ago
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Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez defends ‘endless’ benefits of her oil deal with Trump
Deal that will reportedly see US take control of 65bn barrels of Venezuelan oil has provoked outrage in her countryVenezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has defended her government’s highly controversial energy deal with Donald Trump, insisting the South American country will maintain ownership and sovereignty over its massive oil reserves.Rodríguez, who assumed power in January after Trump ordered the abduction of the president, Nicolás Maduro, took to the airwaves on Saturday to push back against criticism of what the US president has called “the biggest oil deal in world history”. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Nurture not nature? How young women can learn to better wield economic power | Heather Stewart
Project in Zambia shows how teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospectsWomen making their way in patriarchal societies down the ages have always had to wield their meagre economic power deftly. New evidence from a fascinating research project in Zambia suggests that’s a skill that can be learned.A team of female US academics have been gathering data for more than a decade, which shows that teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
What new tariff walls in U.S.-Canada trade war mean for the economy's critical metals
When the U.S.-Canada trade war erupted, the market repriced metals and materials stocks and ETFs, but longer-term investors should be wary.
CNBC
1 day ago
‘Without us, no wheel would turn’: the unsung heroes keeping England’s transport moving
On shift, but out of sight – from ‘that person with the table tennis bats’ on the airport tarmac to remote signallers managing rail trafficNot many people get to park their car here – bang in the middle of Heathrow airport, on the taxiway just a stretch of grass away from where a line of passenger planes is coming in to land.It’s close enough to see the shimmering air and smoke as nose tyres hit the tarmac. “An A380 will put down as much rubber as a car’s entire tyre,” Jack Quantick-Thorne says. He knows – part of his job is to ensure the runway team scrapes it off and patches things up overnight. And it is all recycled, he adds. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Hospitality boom and $100 chicken nuggets: how the US Open became obscenely expensive
Record crowds, premium seats and an unchecked resale market are transforming the self-styled people’s slam – and leaving ordinary fans fighting to get through the gatesIt takes a truly exceptional affordability crisis to put Bill Ackman and Zohran Mamdani on the same side of the barricade. Yet this month the billionaire hedge fund manager and New York’s democratic socialist mayor found common cause over an unlikely grievance: the cost of getting into the US Open.Ackman took objection to the cost of a grounds pass listed for $363. Mamdani responded to the broader uproar by securing 1,000 tickets for New York residents at $100 apiece, prompting more than 336,000 people to apply for them. Somewhere between the two sits the uneasy economics of the modern US Open, where a $65 ticket with no guaranteed seat on any court can fetch more than five times that amount on the tournament’s resale marketplace. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Cities are the big winners in Burnham’s devolution drive. But what happens to the rest of England? | John Harris
Labour has promised a ‘fundamental rewiring’ of power. But some areas are years into their devolution journey while others scramble to get startedApart from the joyous hyperactivity that comes with suddenly making it to No 10, there are good reasons why Andy Burnham seems to be a prime minister in a hurry. If he decides that his first term is going to run to its maximum length, he has three years, which is a maddening time-frame: too long for him to just tinker here and there, set out his long-term vision and then ask the electorate for permission to do more, but probably too short to start and finish many of his key projects. His chosen solution, it seems, is a mixture of the strategies he would use for each approach, which includes running at some issues at breakneck pace.So it is with his specialist subject: devolution for England. The huge changes now afoot actually began under Keir Starmer, with the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act passed earlier this year. Areas that previously had two tiers of local government will see them replaced with new unitary councils. But the most historic move centres on regional mayors – what the government calls “strategic authorities” – and a shift that the Whitehall PR machine is hyping up as a “fundamental rewiring of the way our country works, surrendering power that for too long has been held in Westminster and Whitehall”. In principle, this is unquestionably worth celebrating. But it also gives rise to a whole range of increasingly urgent and awkward questions.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Could this policy fix the care system and slash student debt at the same time?
Andy Burnham is in need of radical proposals. A ‘care first’ year in exchange for 50% off fees could be just what he needsThe UK’s social care sector is in crisis. Costs are spiralling, with many local councils forced to dedicate the vast majority of their budgets to it. At the same time, more and more families are seeing their savings disappear into the black hole of nursing home fees. With an ageing population, the problem is set to get worse.In only his second week as prime minister, Andy Burnham pledged to succeed where so many of his predecessors have failed: by fixing Britain’s social care system. And yet, as parliament returns from recess, the new-ish administration is still worryingly unclear about how it will do this. Despite Burnham declaring that care workers should enjoy better compensation, we don’t know how he plans to pay for any of it – not least because he has kept Starmer’s campaign pledge to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance. At the moment, it looks as though it will be impossible to square the circle. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Train drivers secure 3.6% pay rise after threat of strikes on busy UK routes
Deal agreed between Avanti West Coast and Aslef is first to be approved by Burnham governmentTrain drivers have secured a significant pay rise after the threat of strike action was floated on busy routes across the UK, including on the busy London-Manchester line.The deal, which was agreed on Saturday between Avanti West Coast and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) union, is the first to be approved by Andy Burnham in his premiership. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
AA could face £5bn takeover move by German insurer Allianz, reports claim
Breakdown recovery group’s private equity owners reportedly in talks with various suitors to sell companyThe German-based financial services company Allianz is considering a £5bn takeover swoop for AA, the breakdown recovery group, Sky News has reported.Allianz was one of a small number of parties holding talks with advisers to AA about a deal, Sky News said, adding that the private equity outfit EQT was another bidder. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Women in UK arts feel they do not have equal opportunities for roles, says report
Exclusive: Research says sector is fixated with young talent, with most women experiencing unconscious bias or sexismWomen working in the arts believe they do not have equal opportunities for roles, especially as they get older, according to a report saying that the industry is fixated with “young and emerging” talent.Nearly all (95%) women working in the arts thought gender inequality persisted, while three-quarters (75%) reported experiencing unconscious bias or sexism, according to a survey of 76 arts professionals. More than two-thirds (69%) felt that age negatively affected their career success – a figure that rose to 100% among those working in artistic rather than managerial roles. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Pet owners at risk of being ripped off by private equity firms as vet ownership rules change
Critics say changes by CMA will allow multinationals to obscure their ownership of vet practicesPet owners have been warned that they could be unknowingly ripped off by private equity firms who have bought local vet clinics, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) removed requirements for multinational companies to disclose which practices they own.The CMA recently ran an investigation into the monopolisation of vet practices, and found that the lack of competition and transparency of ownership had led to high prices and a lack of information for customers. Pet owners were often unaware their local vet practice could be owned by an international private equity company. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Trump’s ‘economic D-day’ against Iran risks driving the stakes even higher | Sina Toossi
As with its approach to Hormuz, the US has mistaken applying pressure for an actual strategy. But Tehran has chips of its own to playDonald Trump has found a new way to promise victory over Iran. After months of war have failed to force Iran’s capitulation or collapse, his administration has unveiled what the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, calls Operation Economic Outcast: an effort to cut it off from what remains of the global economy and threaten foreign governments, banks and companies with sanctions if they continue doing business with Tehran.There is no question that Iran is vulnerable. Its economy has been battered by years of sanctions, war and a months-long US naval blockade. Iranian officials acknowledge that oil exports and access to foreign currency have been severely constrained. Ordinary Iranians are already enduring high inflation, currency depreciation and worsening living standards. Further economic strangulation will inflict significant additional hardship.Sina Toossi is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, where his work focuses on US-Iran relations, US policy toward the Middle East and nuclear issues Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
South West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows
Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollutionSouth West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents or warnings at bathing sites, severity of sewage pollution at bathing sites, the percentage of rivers rated below the standard for good ecological health, and the affordability of bills. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollution
Checking for sewage spills has become as normal as checking the weather forecast, say swimmers on East Sussex beachesSouth West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows“I’m furious,” says Jo Armstrong, 75, sitting on Brighton beach with her daughter and granddaughter.Armstrong lives in Lewes, a town 8 miles from Brighton, and usually goes swimming in nearby Seaford in East Sussex every day. But over the past week the water there has been too polluted to swim. “Brighton beach was the only place that stayed clean,” she says. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
On long road back from Brexit, north-east’s recovery rides on survival of Nissan’s ‘shining star’ plant
Operating at only half its capacity, Japanese carmaker’s Sunderland factory seeks deal with China’s Chery as it battles Brexit threatsIn a factory in Gateshead, engineers carefully wind metal wires around iron cores to go in electric motors. Here, workers produce a smaller “pancake motor”, which generates higher torque than conventional versions for supercars or construction equipment.These workers form part of north-east England’s automotive industry, which has experienced a long line of political disruptions, from Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to attract international investment, through Brexit and now Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation strategy. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
‘You’re at war when you get attacked’: Mark Carney shows combative nature in face-off with Trump
The Canadian PM is one of the few world leaders to stand up to the US president. Former colleagues say they are not surprisedMark Carney stood before a walnut-veneered lectern, his face drawn tight, as he announced that talks with Canada’s biggest trading partner had collapsed. “Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us,” he said. “And I promised: that will never, ever happen. We are keeping that promise.”For years, the former central bank governor had worked hard to calm markets. Now, he was asking Canadians to accept uncertainty and confrontation. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Trump hails 'historic' deal to control 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil
Venezuelan interim president says the unusual agreement will help revive her country's economy.
Bbc.co.uk
1 day ago
OpenAI to end model access to Cursor after acquisition by Elon Musk's SpaceX
OpenAI plans to end model access through Cursor on Nov. 12, citing concerns after SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition of the coding startup.
CNBC
2 days ago
Fundraiser launched to secure crafting shop future
"We don't want to give up, we want to keep making this work," say the owners.
Bbc.co.uk
2 days ago
Goodyear burning rubber and cash as turnaround plan continues
The tire maker has an ongoing turnaround plan as the company tries to restructure its business, refinance and pay down years of debt.
CNBC
2 days ago
‘If it’s made in the US, I don’t buy it’: Canadians on boycotting Trump’s America
Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of livingFor William McDonald, 38, a diesel mechanic from Thunder Bay, Ontario, “Canadian is always the first choice,” even if it means his weekly bills are higher.“As soon as Trump started putting those tariffs on in February [last year], I started boycotting US goods,” he said. “Avoiding American products has driven my costs up, and I’m still happy to do it. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
‘I’ve £80k in the account, here’s my pin’: turning the tables on the scammers
Plagued by bank impersonation scams, one Guardian Money reader got even by stringing the fraudsters along … for hoursNew payment set up? The bank scam where your ‘bank’ is the scammer“A couple of Sundays ago at just past 11am my mobile rang. An automated message purported to be from Barclays Bank, querying a payment to Argos for more than £1,000. Not only had I not made a payment to Argos recently, nor do I bank with Barclays.I am plagued with these kinds of calls. Usually, when possible, I make it clear to the scammers that I know their game. Usually, that call ends there and then. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
Barber offers free back-to-school haircuts
Guildford barber Sid Gumbrell says he wants to give back and help parents with the cost of living.
Bbc.co.uk
2 days ago
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