Financial news

• Tech firms sign ‘reasonable precautions’ to stop AI-generated election chaos

  16-02-2024 23:08
  
  Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok outline methods they will use to try to detect and label deceptive AI contentMajor technology companies signed a pact Friday to voluntarily adopt “reasonable precautions” to prevent artificial intelligence tools from being used to disrupt democratic elections around the world.Executives from Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok gathered at the Munich Security Conference to announce a new framework for how they respo
  
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• Donald Trump ordered to pay over $350m in New York financial fraud case

  16-02-2024 23:03
  
  Trump also banned from running any New York corporation or entity for three years in devastating blow for ex-presidentDonald Trump fraud trial ruling – live updatesHow will Trump pay the penalties?Donald Trump, his eldest sons and associates have been ordered to pay over $350m by a New York judge who found them guilty of intentionally committing financial fraud over the course of a decade.“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” Judge Arthur Engoron w
  
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• How will Donald Trump pay the $438m he owes in penalties from civil trials?

  16-02-2024 21:57
  
  Two giant penalties handed down in a matter of weeks will cost him millions – and that’s only part of what he could oweFull report: Trump ordered to pay over $350m in New York fraud caseTrump fraud trial ruling – live updatesIn a matter of weeks, Donald Trump was hit with two giant penalties from two civil trials in New York – $83m for defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll and $354.9m for inflating the value of his assets on government financial statements.The verd
  
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• Keir Starmer paid £99,400 in UK tax on £404,000 of earnings, Labour reveals

  16-02-2024 20:03
  
  Details about leader’s finances for 2022-23 come after Rishi Sunak revealed he paid more than £508,000 of tax on £2.2m plusKeir Starmer paid £99,431 in UK tax on earnings of £404,030 last year, according to a summary released by the Labour party.The Labour leader’s tax summary for 2022-23 was published a week after Rishi Sunak’s, which revealed the prime minister paid more than £508,208 in UK tax last year on earnings of just over £2.2m. Cont
  
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• Air Canada ordered to pay customer who was misled by airline’s chatbot

  16-02-2024 19:27
  
  Company claimed its chatbot ‘was responsible for its own actions’ when giving wrong information about bereavement fareCanada’s largest airline has been ordered to pay compensation after its chatbot gave a customer inaccurate information, misleading him into buying a full-price ticket.Air Canada came under further criticism for later attempting to distance itself from the error by claiming that the bot was “responsible for its own actions”. Continue reading...
  
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• Telegraph suitor to buy Traitors and Fleabag maker All3Media for £1.15bn

  16-02-2024 18:54
  
  RedBird IMI, which is majority-owned by the UAE vice-president, has invested in five media firms since its launch a year agoThe Abu Dhabi-backed company that is trying to take over the Telegraph newspapers has announced a £1.15bn deal to buy the production company behind Fleabag and the Traitors.Under the deal, RedBird IMI, which is headed by the former CNN president Jeff Zucker, will take over London-based All3Media with the agreement of its owners Warner Bros, Discovery and Liberty Globa
  
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• Anas Sarwar stands by oil tax plans after Aberdeen executives call him ‘traitor’

  16-02-2024 18:26
  
  Scottish Labour leader defends windfall tax proposal as business leaders say levy could cost up to 100,000 jobsAnas Sarwar has shrugged off an attack on Labour’s oil tax plans after being called a “traitor” by Aberdeen business leaders.The Scottish Labour leader said the party would press on with its plans for a multibillion-pound windfall tax on oil profits, despite claims from more than 800 oil, engineering and business executives that the levy could cost up to 100,000 North
  
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• The Body Shop’s German arm falls into administration

  16-02-2024 17:57
  
  Belgian arm will be put into insolvency, with more than 460 jobs at risk across two countries The Body Shop’s mainland European businesses have begun shutting down, with the German stores put into administration and its Belgian staff told they will be next, placing more than 460 jobs at risk across the two countries.The closures come after Aurelius, the German restructuring specialist that bought The Body Shop last year, put the ethical beauty chain’s main UK business into administra
  
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• ‘I’m still proud of what we created’: Metro Bank’s 14-year rollercoaster ride

  16-02-2024 17:00
  
  From its lavish launch parties to a 2019 accounting scandal, the UK challenger bank has been beset by controversyIn early 2008, inside the Seashell fish and chip shop in Marylebone, west London, Anthony Thomson was about to make a deal.Sitting with the American billionaire Vernon Hill over cod and chips, he revealed plans to import the tycoon’s template for a US-style, consumer-focused bank to the UK. Hill gave Thomson his blessing, and ultimately, a chunk of his money, joining him as co-f
  
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• DWP faces fury as pensions minister confirms expats won't get frozen payments uprated

  16-02-2024 16:55 via express.co.uk
  
  The pensions minister says the Government has no plans to look at uprating payments in a blow to half a million expats.
  
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• Spring Budget 2024 predictions: What tax cuts could Jeremy Hunt announce?

  16-02-2024 16:49 via express.co.uk
  
  As Jeremy Hunt prepares for the Spring Budget, there has been much speculation on whether he will move on income tax, inheritance tax or stamp duty.
  
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• Abu Dhabi firm trying to buy Telegraph in £1.15bn deal for Fleabag production company

  16-02-2024 16:44 via express.co.uk
  
  RedBird IMI, which is backed by the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, has announced a £1.15 billion deal to buy the production company behind Fleabag and Call The Midwife
  
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• HMRC to make £299 payment to 700,000 households from today

  16-02-2024 16:01 via express.co.uk
  
  The payment is the third of three in 2023/24
  
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• LNER simpler fares trial adds more than £100 to some train journeys

  16-02-2024 15:13
  
  Campaigners urge rail firm to rethink ‘beyond tolerable’ prices on many trains running from London to EdinburghJourneys on many intercity trains running from London to Edinburgh are more than twice as expensive since the launch of a “simpler fares” initiative designed to make rail ticketing less complex, it has emerged.The train operator LNER started the pilot scheme this month after pledging to make ticketing easier and better value for money with more advance fares for
  
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• Widowed grandad, 80, loses £17k to scam just days before moving 300 miles to new home

  16-02-2024 15:01 via express.co.uk
  
  John Fillingham, 80, was preparing for a major 300 mile move from Essex to North Yorkshire to be closer to his children when he received a call from someone who claimed to be from his bank
  
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• Pensions expert explains £299 DWP benefit going unclaimed - check if you are eligible

  16-02-2024 14:48 via express.co.uk
  
  These payments can provide significant financial support, helping to alleviate the impact of rising living costs.
  
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• ISA millionaires soar to 'record high' - and three key factors that ensure success

  16-02-2024 13:30 via express.co.uk
  
  The number of ISA millionaires are rising by hundreds year on year despite sustained high living costs.
  
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• Egypt’s economic woes lure digital nomads – but cast others out to sea

  16-02-2024 13:00
  
  While the Red Sea resort of Dahab draws those who earn dollars and can work anywhere, a third of Egyptians live in poverty and see a perilous voyage to Europe as their only hopeBordered by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, Egypt is a country blessed with many miles of coastline, and its resorts have long been tourist favourites. But in a country in which the divide between rich and poor has always been stark, Egypt’s recent economic woes have had a seismic effect on society – and no
  
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• Retirees flock to buy annuities as sales hit highest level since 2014

  16-02-2024 12:47 via express.co.uk
  
  The pension freedoms, which came into force from 2015, gave over-55s a range of options over how to use their defined contribution pension pot.
  
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• NatWest appoints new CEO as bank reveals highest profit since 2007

  16-02-2024 12:34 via express.co.uk
  
  The bank has also revealed its highest yearly profit since before the 2008 financial crisis
  
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• Energy bills tipped to plunge by £293 to cheapest rate in two years

  16-02-2024 12:31 via express.co.uk
  
  Energy bills are predicted to fall by 15 percent a year from April.
  
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• If the government really cared about keeping Britain safe, it would care about Port Talbot and steel | Sharon Graham

  16-02-2024 12:00
  
  In a precarious world, security is not just a matter of arms and diplomacy. We can safeguard supplies – and meet net zero tooAfter months of rumour, the giant Indian conglomerate Tata has announced a plan for 2,800 job cuts at the UK’s largest remaining steelworks in Port Talbot, the closure of its blast furnaces and, with it, a large chunk of the UK’s capacity to produce its own crude steel. The country risks making the same economic mistakes as it did in the 1980s, when Marga
  
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• Retail sales in Great Britain rebound strongly after Christmas slump

  16-02-2024 09:23
  
  Rise of 3.4% in January is biggest monthly increase since April 2021 as shoppers return to storesBusiness live – latest updatesRetailers in Great Britain enjoyed the strongest rebound in monthly sales in almost three years in January as people returned to the shops after a slump in Christmas shopping.Sales rose by 3.4% last month, the biggest monthly increase since April 2021, as all retail sectors except clothing stores experienced gains, providing welcome relief after dire Christmas trad
  
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• A place of tension, lies and the dark side of the human soul. I can’t resist the theatre of Facebook Marketplace | Emma Brockes

  16-02-2024 09:00
  
  All life is there. The nourishing community utilising and sharing, and the conniving set with their rivalries and stratagemsThere was a snowstorm in New York this week, triggering the shutdown of schools, the excitement of children and, in my case, a flurry of activity on what has become a small but central drama in my life, Facebook Marketplace. There are better forums for buying and selling, and worthier ways to donate your old stuff. But for sheer theatre, it is hard to beat the personalised
  
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• Homes for sale near great pubs – in pictures

  16-02-2024 08:00
  
  From an old shop close to a Cambridge students’ real ale haunt to a farmhouse in an ancient hamlet with its own family-run pub Continue reading...
  
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• Farmers are in revolt and Europe’s climate policies are crumbling. Welcome to the age of ‘greenlash’ | Paul Taylor

  16-02-2024 08:00
  
  Brussels is ditching green measures as EU leaders panic over rural protests, upcoming elections and the threat of the far rightUrsula von der Leyen surrendered to angry farmers last week faster than you could shake a pitchfork or dump a tractor-load of manure outside the European parliament. The European Commission president, expected to announce her candidacy for a second term heading the EU executive next week, told lawmakers that the commission was withdrawing a bill to halve the use of chemi
  
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• Ditch the car and saddle up: readers’ best slow travel breaks

  16-02-2024 08:00
  
  From Hydra to the Hebrides, our tipsters embrace life in the slow lane, getting off the beaten track on foot, by bike and even a donkeyI’ve enjoyed a lovely four- to five-day circular trip using ferries and bikes. We took the Brittany Ferries overnight sailing from Portsmouth-St Malo, then cycled along La Véloscénie [signposted cycle route] passing Mont Saint-Michel. At Domfront we took La Vélo Francette to Ouistreham and then the ferry back to Portsmouth. At least thr
  
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• Jobcentres told to stop referring benefit claimants to food banks

  16-02-2024 07:00
  
  DWP briefing says jobcentres should no longer issue ‘signposting slips’ over concerns about data privacyJobcentre officials have been ordered to stop referring penniless benefit claimants to food banks because it breaches data privacy law, in a move charities have warned will cause delays in crisis help for thousands of hungry households.For years the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has allowed jobcentres to issue DWP-designed “signposting slips”, which allow claim
  
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• Construction of affordable homes in London is grinding to a halt, Gove told

  16-02-2024 07:00
  
  City’s largest housing associations call for £15bn a year to be invested after 76% fall in homes being builtHousebuilding in London is “grinding to a halt”, housing associations have warned the government, with the number of affordable homes being built plummeting by three-quarters in the last 12 months.In a letter to the housing secretary, Michael Gove, the G15, which represents the capital’s 11 largest housing associations, said his policies did not go far enough
  
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• ‘They were dying, and they’d not had their money’: Britain’s multibillion-pound equal pay scandal – podcast

  16-02-2024 06:00
  
  In 2005, Glasgow council offered to compensate women for historic pay inequality. But it sold them short again – and soon workers all over the UK started fighting for what they were owed. By Samira ShackleArchive: ITV Continue reading...
  
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• Why is it becoming so hard to retire in the UK? – podcast

  16-02-2024 04:00
  
  Everyone agrees the state pension system needs reforming – so why is changing it so hard?The age at which people in the UK can access the state pension keeps rising. Economists say it is inevitable that young people entering the workforce now will need to keep working into their 70s to start tapping the social safety net.Every time the pension age inches upwards, more people find themselves stranded if they are unable to work because of sickness or disability but too young to receive gover
  
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