Financial news

• Microsoft president and Nvidia chief scientist testify in Senate AI hearings

  12-09-2023 22:40
  
  Senator Richard Blumenthal urges risk-based approach to regulation as panel hears from companies at forefront of AI boomMicrosoft and the chipmaker Nvidia are the latest companies to take the hot seat in a series of Senate judiciary hearings on artificial intelligence as the federal government continues to grapple with how to regulate the technology.Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, and Nvidia’s chief scientist, William Dally, are testifying on Tuesday alongside Woodrow Hartzog, a p
  
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• BP boss Bernard Looney resigns after failing to reveal relationships with colleagues

  12-09-2023 21:49
  
  Company says he only disclosed ‘a small number of historical relationships prior to becoming CEO’The chief executive of BP has resigned less than four years into his tenure after admitting that he failed to fully detail relationships with colleagues.Bernard Looney, who has spent his entire career with BP, has departed the £88bn company immediately in a surprise move. On Tuesday night, the company informed investors that Looney “did not provide details of all relationships
  
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• iPhone 15 launch: Apple adopts USB-C and boasts better cameras

  12-09-2023 20:53
  
  Company dumps Lightning port, and has titanium sides and new 5x zoom for top models, plus new Apple Watch Series 9Apple has announced that the iPhone 15 makes its long awaited switch to USB-C, while gaining much extended camera zoom for its most expensive Pro model.The new line of smartphones for 2023 was unveiled on Tuesday by the chief executive, Tim Cook, alongside several new Apple Watches and AirPods Pro 2 earbuds with USB-C charging, all of which the firm hopes will tempt customers to swit
  
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• The pensions triple lock has been halted before – just not this close to an election

  12-09-2023 19:35
  
  The formula was temporarily stopped after the Covid lockdown but doing so again may upset pensioners at the ballot boxTreasury officials mull one-off break from pensions triple lockIt may simply be an attempt to test the political water but the government is making it known serious consideration is being given to tinkering with the triple lock formula used to increase the state pension in April this year.Introduced after the 2010 election by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, the tripl
  
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• Treasury officials mull one-off break from pensions triple lock

  12-09-2023 19:32
  
  Government insiders believe they can justify ‘tweaking’ formula that decides pension increase in order to save £1bnTreasury officials are discussing a one-off break from the pensions triple lock that could save £1bn by preventing a bumper 8.5% increase in the state pension next year.The government is considering stripping out public sector bonuses that were awarded to workers to prevent strikes over the summer from the calculation that determines the annual rise in pensio
  
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• ‘We’re here to stay’: the stack-em-high wooden workspace fighting the luxury flats plague

  12-09-2023 17:29
  
  Huge numbers of vital workshops have been lost to more lucrative housing. But one architect is creating budget spaces by building upwards – with wood. We meet the busy tenants of his £5m WorkstackA stack of blocks teeters on the side of a busy road in Charlton, London, like a pile of shipping containers freshly offloaded from the nearby Thames. It is an arresting sight in this area of builders’ merchants and big box retail stores, each block thrusting out above the one below as
  
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• UK ‘mortgage meltdown’ looms amid ‘terrifying’ growth in arrears

  12-09-2023 16:45
  
  Jump in borrowers unable to make payments with landlords particularly hit and ‘worse to come’ Analysis: will the Bank listen to business and halt rate rises?Mortgage arrears jumped by 13% in the second quarter of the year to the highest level since 2016, according to Bank of England figures that underscore the stress in the UK mortgage market.Rising interest rates and unemployment over recent months have put pressure on household disposable incomes, forcing some families to cut or su
  
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• Elon Musk is a lesson in the dangers of unchecked corporate leaders | Siva Vaidhyanathan

  12-09-2023 15:24
  
  When rich people convince themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart – instead of lucky and ruthless – they misapply their talents to areas beyond their expertiseElon Musk is not the most reckless, destructive or dangerous corporate leader in world history. But he just might be the most reckless, destructive and dangerous corporate leader at this moment.For the past year, as Musk destroyed Twitter from the inside and expanded the influence of his rocket-and-satell
  
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• ‘We’ve learned lessons’: the banker clearing up the £1.1bn fallout from the UK’s Covid loan scheme

  12-09-2023 15:00
  
  British Business Bank chief Louis Taylor says he values roles that are ‘beyond the pure profit motive’Louis Taylor is making a habit of being parachuted in at troubled state lenders. For seven years before he took over as chief executive of the British Business Bank (BBB) last year, Taylor led UK Export Finance (UKEF), the state-owned credit agency that had been dragged into the high-profile Airbus bribery scandal.The pan-European aircraft maker, which had been issued export credits
  
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• ‘Unacceptable’: how raw sewage has affected rivers in England and Wales – in maps

  12-09-2023 15:00
  
  Hundreds of thousands of raw sewage discharges were recorded last year. These maps show where these were and what the impact isMore than 384,000 discharges of raw sewage were reported by water companies across England and Wales in 2022, official figures show, in what the Rivers Trust has described as “extremely bad news for environmental and human health”.However, the true scale may be even greater, as a new legal challenge has claimed. Meanwhile, another set of water firms are under
  
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• Rail fares in England set to rise by almost 8% if tied to wage growth

  12-09-2023 13:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners say using same formula as this year for 2024 will push many season tickets over £5,000 markBusiness live – latest updatesRail fares in England will rise by almost 8% if the government uses the same formula as last year to calculate the 2024 increase, campaigners have said, pushing up the cost of many season tickets to more than £5,000 a year.Fares rose in March this year based on wage growth figures of 5.9% in July 2022. The equivalent figure published on Tuesday wa
  
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• UK’s biggest pub group to charge 20p more a pint at busy times under surge pricing

  12-09-2023 12:53
  
  Owner of Slug & Lettuce and Yates’s to raise prices at times such as weekends to help cover costsA pint of beer during the busiest periods will cost drinkers 20p more under a “dynamic pricing” system introduced by Britain’s largest pub group.Stonegate Group, which owns chains including the Slug & Lettuce and Yates’s, said it was raising prices at 800 of its venues during peak times, such as weekends, to help cover soaring costs. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘You have to look for the good things or you will fall apart’: how families face childhood cancer together

  12-09-2023 12:35
  
  When a young person is diagnosed with cancer, the impact is felt by all who love them. Five families share the realities of loving and, tragically, sometimes losing a child with cancerThere are around 4,200 new cases of cancer in children and young people each year in the UK. That’s 12 families a day whose lives are changed for ever. When a young person is diagnosed with cancer, their loved ones’ lives are upended too, from the emotional turmoil to the practicalities of work. However
  
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• UK grocery price inflation slows but shoppers worried by soaring bills

  12-09-2023 11:11
  
  Aldi and Lidl enjoy sales increase and own-label ranges thrive as consumers seek out bargainsBusiness live: latest updatesGrocery price inflation in the UK has slowed to its lowest level in more than a year, but it remains in double digits and most consumers still worry about rising supermarket bills.Annual supermarket inflation dropped for the sixth month in a row, to 12.2% in the four weeks to 3 September, according to the latest data from the analysts Kantar. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘What the hell have we done?’ The people buying homes sight unseen

  12-09-2023 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Virtual property purchases took off during the pandemic and are still happening today. Some buyers find their dream home – but not everyone is so luckyJez and Julie, both 62, had a beautiful life in Brittany. The couple had moved there from York in 2000, after retiring from teaching, and had begun to buy, renovate and sell houses to make a living. They lived in a 300-year-old stone farmhouse by a lake.“My mum died in 1995 when she was only 63,” says Jez, who has asked for his s
  
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• UK interest rates: will the Bank listen to business and halt the rises?

  12-09-2023 10:43
  
  Soaring pay growth puts pressure on the Bank to act again, but a slowing economy could tip into recessionUK pay rises at record rate despite growth in unemploymentBusiness live: latest updates
  The time to stop raising interest rates is now, say business lobby groups who fear the negative impact of another rise in the cost of borrowing on their members after the latest jobs figures showed pay rises including bonuses, rocketing to 8.5% a year.Salaries have soared this year in response to rising in
  
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• Qatar Airways: all the reasons the Australian government rejected request for more flights – video

  12-09-2023 08:06
  
  Why did the Australian government reject Qatar Airways' request to run more flights into the country? Transport minister Catherine King has given a few answers but seems to keep dodging fronting up with a clear reason. With a Senate inquiry on the horizon, Guardian Australia's transport and urban affairs reporter Elias Visontay examines the question everyone's been askingQatar Airways has flown into a political storm. Here’s everything you need to knowQatar Airways, Qantas and Catherine Ki
  
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• Why do I keep failing Metro Bank’s security checks?

  12-09-2023 08:00
  
  I moved house a few years ago and have been passed from pillar to post as I try to update my detailsI have an Isa with Metro Bank that I have had for 15 years or more. I moved house a few years ago and have recently been trying to update my address with the bank.My problem is, I keep failing its security checks. During my frequent calls, I am asked numerous questions and passed from pillar to post. I had to complete a validation process, which I failed, but Metro refused to tell me why. Continue
  
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• Ban ticket resellers from making profit in UK, say musicians’ managers

  12-09-2023 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Music industry figures want ministers to follow Ireland and France’s lead and stop touts from making huge mark-upsResale of event tickets for profit should be outlawed, the managers of artists have said, as they called on ministers to reconsider a crackdown on touts and “rip-offs” on websites such as Viagogo and StubHub.Music industry figures, including those who work with Radiohead and Ed Sheeran, threw their weight behind proposals to curb “secondary ticketing” we
  
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