Financial news

• UK pensions shake-up proposes traffic-light scheme

  07-08-2024 23:30
  
  ‘Green’ pensions would indicate value for money, with the plan requiring employers to help 16m workers with pensions get best dealsWorkplace pension schemes could be rated with a traffic-light system under plans designed to help savers get the most out of their retirement savings.About 16 million workers save for their retirement through defined contribution pension schemes where the income they ultimately receive depends on a range of factors, including the performance of the funds
  
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• Elon Musk is being ridiculous. Companies are free to choose where to advertise

  07-08-2024 19:08
  
  There really isn’t a mystery about why X’s revenues may be fallingIt is less than a year since Elon Musk told advertisers who were shunning his social media site, X, that they could take their business elsewhere permanently. In fact, he encouraged them to do so. “Don’t advertise,” he said, amid a backlash over his endorsement of an antisemitic tweet. “If someone’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.&r
  
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• Why does Rachel Reeves want to copy Canada’s pensions model?

  07-08-2024 18:27
  There is a push to consolidate the UK local government pension scheme into a larger fund to drive investmentThe chancellor, Rachel Reeves, met the bosses of Canada’s big retirement schemes in Toronto on Wednesday, prompting speculation that Labour is planning to bring the country’s public pension model to the UK. But what would that entail and could such a change actually work?• This article was amended on 8 August 2024. An earlier version said that the LGPS offered “final
  
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• Disney returns to profit as streaming service and Inside Out 2 boost income

  07-08-2024 15:59
  
  Operating income for entertainment segment triples to $1.2bn in profitable third quarterDisney returned to a profitable third quarter as its combined streaming business started making money for the first time and the movie Inside Out 2 did well in theaters.Operating income for the entertainment segment nearly tripled to $1.2bn thanks to better performances from its direct-to-consumer and content sales/licensing and Other segments. Continue reading...
  
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• The rise of ‘ento-veganism’: how eating crickets could help save the world

  07-08-2024 11:00
  
  They are a great source of protein and taste like beef or lamb when cooked. So are our kitchens and restaurants finally ready for the insect revolution?It is a warm summer afternoon in Finsbury Park, north London, and I am sitting in a restaurant preparing to eat a cricket ball. Fortunately for me, the object on the end of my fork is not five and a half ounces of cork, string and red leather; it’s only a meatball made out of crickets. Either way, it sounds like I just lost a bet.But the cr
  
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• UK house prices ‘to rise through rest of year’ after jump in July

  07-08-2024 09:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Halifax says average property price in July was £291,268 as lower mortgage rates expected to lead growthBusiness live – latest updatesUK house prices increased by 0.8% in July, and lower mortgage rates are expected to lead to continued growth throughout the rest of the year, according to the mortgage lender Halifax.The average house price in the UK across July was £291,268, a 0.8% rise on the £289,042 recorded in June. It marks a significant uptick after three subdued mon
  
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• Why Telegram is the go-to app for those wanting to spread toxic information

  07-08-2024 08:00
  
  With 550m users, the social network has been accused of providing a platform for organising riots in the UKUK riots live: latest updatesWith 550 million users, Telegram is the biggest underground app in the world. A hybrid messaging service and social network, the company seems to make controversy a core part of its business.From its early days as a rebellion against growing censorship in its founders’ home nation of Russia, through controversies around its lack of encryption and adoption
  
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• Stay cool and spot clean: how to make clothes last by washing them correctly

  07-08-2024 08:00
  
  Laundry cycles wear out fabrics – so try steaming, airing and slower cycles on the washing machineLaundry cycles are stressful for clothes due to the agitation, heat and general chaos they must endure each time. A jaunt in the drum can lead to excessive fibre loss; dyes can fade and garments can lose their shape. Continue reading...
  
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• Has Booking.com sold me a £3,000 flight to Nepal or not?

  07-08-2024 08:00
  
  I was promised a confirmation, but it hasn’t arrived – and without the reference number, I can’t cancelLast week I used Booking.com to book return business class flights from the UK to Kathmandu in October. I was going out with Qatar Airways and back with Vistara, at a total cost of £3,679.Once the payment had gone through, the website told me I would receive an email with the booking reference and details within a few hours. However, no booking reference arrived. Continu
  
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• ‘I turned into a solar nerd’: money and fun were the unexpected benefits of installing panels

  07-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our former environment correspondent had solar panels installed in 2010 and later added a heat pump. He’s totted up the energy generated and cash saved over the yearsAn abiding memory of a day in August 2010, the first time my solar panels were connected to the grid, was of the builders downing tools and watching the electricity meter whiz round backwards.It was a sunny day and they were supposed to be finishing the plastering and insulation, but the novel sight of the old-style electricit
  
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• Big tech firms profit from disorder. Don’t let them use these riots to push for more surveillance | Shami Chakrabarti

  07-08-2024 07:00
  
  Live facial recognition can seem like a solution to criminality. But it magnifies injustice, and violates our civil liberties Far-right riots may not be the calmest moment for a reasoned debate about the regulation of big tech, but the eruption of racist violence in England and Northern Ireland raises urgent questions about the responsibilities of social media companies, and how the police use facial recognition technology. While social media isn’t the root of these riots, it has allowed i
  
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• Hardship on the streets of Liverpool: ‘The benefit cap put millions of children in poverty overnight’

  07-08-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With parents going without meals to feed their children, and bills rising, residents and councillors talk of the problems they see every dayAt a baby bank in Liverpool, Louise cradles her infant in her arms, while volunteers pull donations from the shelves and into a bag; nappies, formula milk, vests and baby-grows.The 38-year-old is a mother of five, her children aged five months to 13 years; two are visually impaired and one also has epilepsy, another of her children is deaf. Continue reading.
  
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• How office buildings, factories and shopping centres can cause legionnaires' outbreaks – video

  07-08-2024 04:04
  
  As authorities in Melbourne investigate a deadly legionnaires' disease outbreak, Matilda Boseley explains how legionella bacteria spreads and what it has to do with commercial-scale refrigeration and air conditioningLikely source of legionnaires’ disease outbreak identified after 78 cases and two deaths recorded in MelbourneLegionnaires outbreak: Australians are contracting the lung disease, what is it and do I need to worry? Continue reading...
  
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