Financial news

• On climate change and the economy, we're trapped in an idiotic netherworld | Greg Jericho

  10-12-2016 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The shrieks of horror that follow mentions of pricing carbon show politics remains wedded to the belief that economic growth trumps concerns of climate changeThis week was a prime example of how economics and, by extension, politics doesn’t cope very well with the issue of climate change. The news that Australia economy went backwards in the September quarter was greeted with alarm by politicians and then used as a reason to push their policy barrow. And most of the barrows were piled high
  
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• Ex-BBC chief calls on Theresa May to resist Rupert Murdoch’s Sky bid

  10-12-2016 20:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Sir Michael Lyons says she should stand up to ‘growth in the Murdochs’ grip on news’Theresa May has been challenged by a former chairman of the BBC to stand apart from her predecessors by resisting Rupert Murdoch’s £11.2bn takeover of satellite broadcaster Sky.Sir Michael Lyons said that the government should apply the “fit and proper person” test to the proposed deal, which would see Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox film and television group take full c
  
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• Non-Opec countries agree to cut oil output to ease glut

  10-12-2016 18:01 via theguardian.com
  
  First agreement between Opec and non-members since 2001 to jointly limit output is likely to raise pricesOil-producing nations that do not belong to the Opec cartel have agreed to cut output by 562,000 barrels a day, Opec sources have said.The agreement would be the first between the two groups since 2001 to jointly limit oil output. It aims to ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices that have overstretched many governments’ budgets and spurred unrest in some countries.
  
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• The future of shopping: drones, digital mannequins and leaving without paying

  10-12-2016 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Amazon’s new stores track what you pick off the shelves and bill your account for it later – and that’s just part of what’s coming in retailAmazon may be set to bring its hi-tech till-free stores to the UK after registering the Amazon Go brand name in the UK last week. At the test store near Amazon’s HQ in Seattle, an app tracks customers as they walk about, recording the items they pick up and take away. The store is currently only available to company staff, but w
  
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• We must find new ways to protect human rights defenders

  10-12-2016 11:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Almost 20 years ago the UN adopted the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, but they face more danger than ever In 2018 we will mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which recognises the role and guarantees the rights of those who promote and protect human rights. But despite the declaration, the settings in which defenders work are becoming more contested and volatile – not less. Around the globe, a tectonic shift towards autocratic and semi-authorit
  
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• Buying a Christmas gift card today? Don't be victim to RIP OFF vouchers costing YOU £300M

  10-12-2016 11:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  CHRISTMAS gift shoppers are being warned to check the terms of gift cards to avoid falling victim to a £300million rip-off.
  
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• Could Trump's chest-thumping over China trigger a trade war?

  10-12-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Between the US president-elect’s campaign promises of tariffs to his phone call with Taiwan, Trump has frequently rattled Beijing. But is it bluster, or a sign of a seismic global economic shake-up?Donald Trump has sent some mixed signals on China. One minute they are “raping” America, the next they are his best clients. Even the way he says the word – and he says it a lot – seeds confusion. Sometimes the president-elect spits it out like poison, sometimes he exclai
  
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• RAC’s breakdown in trust as charity gets a £6,000 bill

  10-12-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  James Hewson’s Land Rover was damaged as it was towed away – but he was the one left out of pocketWhen James Hewson’s Land Rover Defender broke down in north Wales, he was thankful that he had cover with the RAC, knowing that it would most likely do a professional job. But Hewson says the breakdown service managed to lose the keys, temporarily lose the car, and cause more than £6,000-worth of damage.The first blow to Hewson was finding out he did not have full RAC recover
  
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• Oh for the 1960s! People earned less but could afford more

  10-12-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  My 90-year-old father was, in today’s terms, earning £25,000 at the time. But he had a house, a TV and a Ford PopularThe Bank of England governor told us this week there has been a “lost decade” of wage growth. But is the truth really a lot worse than that?By chance it was the same week my 90-year-old father decided to show me his carefully filed tax returns from the 1960s (yes, that’s what counts for fun in the Collinson household). In 1963-64 his pay as an account
  
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• Is it a false economy to turn off radiators in rooms we don’t use?

  10-12-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A friend says this risks damp and makes our whole Victorian house coldEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.This week’s question: Continue reading...
  
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• How a healthy buy-to-let profit could soon become a painful loss

  10-12-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Major changes to the way income from property rentals is taxed could see some people paying up to three times more. We do the maths
  The amount of tax owed by many buy-to-let landlords will double or even triple as a result of changes being phased in from April, it was claimed this week. Some landlords enjoying four-figure net annual profits could end up nursing losses – and if interest rates rise this will make the situation even tighter.It was in July 2015 that George Osborne mounted a su
  
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• Buy to let: ‘We landlords are being vilified’

  10-12-2016 07:59 via theguardian.com
  
  With a lending crackdown and a massive tax hike due, many landlords could soon find themselves moving from profit to lossRob Hill is angry that his tax bill will go up £3,000 from April. Chris Cooper is furious that his personal tax bill will nearly double. Other landlords say that their effective tax bill will rise to 100%. As the buy-to-let market reels from last April’s stamp duty hike, and awaits the tightening of lending criteria starting in January and the steep increase in tax
  
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• Homes for Christmas shoppers – in pictures

  10-12-2016 00:45 via theguardian.com
  
  You can shop till you drop if you live in one of these properties, located in Essex, Wiltshire and LeedsContinue reading...
  
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