Financial news

• Separating wheat from chaff in the farm tax debate | Letters

  22-11-2024 18:46
  
  Readers respond to an editorial about farmers having to pay inheritance tax when selling agricultural property priced at more than £1mWhile largely in agreement with the sentiments expressed in your editorial (The Guardian view on taxing farmers: big landowners must pay their share, 19 November), I believe there are some issues that need to be understood and addressed. I run a small-scale dairy farm in partnership with my son. We own just over 80 acres and rent another 40 acres annually. T
  
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• Hundreds of travellers stranded as Gatwick airport is evacuated – video

  22-11-2024 17:52
  
  Bomb disposal experts were deployed after a suspected prohibited item was found in the luggage area at the south terminal. Passengers have been warned to expect significant disruption and the public have been urged to avoid the areaGatwick airport evacuates terminal after suspected prohibited item found Continue reading...
  
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• Rachel Reeves standing firm against U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers

  22-11-2024 17:51
  
  Chancellor understood to be determined to keep policy despite Treasury analysing ways to soften impactRachel Reeves is holding firm against a U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, despite the Treasury analysing ways of softening the impact.The chancellor is understood to be determined not to drop the policy even though some Labour MPs – and even ministers – are worrying about the political fallout that has led to farmers protesting in Westminster this week. Continue reading...
  
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• Electric shock: carmakers battle strict UK electric car rules as big fines loom

  22-11-2024 17:35
  
  As Ford announced cutting 800 UK jobs it said rules forcing companies to sell more EVs each year are ‘unworkable’ When Ford announced this week that it was cutting 800 jobs in the UK, the US carmaker also had stern words for the government. It has joined in a chorus of criticism of rules that force car companies to sell more electric vehicles each year. The rules, known as the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, are simply “unworkable”, Ford said.Someone should have told
  
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• Amazon doubles down on AI startup Anthropic with $4bn investment

  22-11-2024 16:47
  
  Amazon’s total investment in the AI company now totals $8bn, with its AWS unit as Anthropic’s cloud providerThe artificial intelligence startup Anthropic said on Friday it had raised an additional $4bn investment from its longtime backer Amazon.com, bringing the e-commerce giant’s total investment to $8bn, underscoring big tech’s growing generative AI investments.Amazon will maintain its position as a minority investor, the company said. Its AWS unit will also be Anthropi
  
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• Hats off to Jaguar’s ‘inclusive’ new branding: now people of all backgrounds won’t buy its cars | Marina Hyde

  22-11-2024 13:59
  
  In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, the ad already looks like a period piece. But aside from that – I mean, seriously?There are many eve-of-the-offensive conversations I would love to have been a fly on the wall for. Inside the Trojan horse, say, with that Ancient Greek SAS unit bantering the day away, before busting out for their daring small-hours raid. Or inside the Jaguar marketing department, on the night before their new rebrand, as these crack experiential troops prepared to
  
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• Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone becomes world’s most expensive shopping street

  22-11-2024 13:22
  
  Rental growth and euro’s strength against dollar help a European street to top of list for first time in 34 yearsIf the names Fendi, Dior and Valentino were rubbed from the shop fronts, Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone could pass for a slightly fancier than average street in the northern Italian style capital, with the typical jostle of vans and Vespas alongside Porsches, tourists and residents.But the 350 metre-long street has just been named the world’s most expensive shopping str
  
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• Owner of Scotsman and Yorkshire Post receives buyout bid

  22-11-2024 13:14
  
  Media Concierge submits £56.2m cash offer for National World, underbidder in auction for Telegraph titlesBusiness live – latest updatesNational World, the owner of the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post and underbidder in the auction for the Telegraph titles, has received a buyout proposal from its largest shareholder.Media Concierge, the biggest player in the Irish newspaper market with 22 local titles including the Derry News, Limerick Leader and Kilkenny People, has submitted a nonbindin
  
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• Spain fines budget airlines including Ryanair total of €179m

  22-11-2024 12:45
  
  Operators say they will appeal against what Ryanair calls ‘illegal and baseless fines’ by consumer ministryBusiness live – latest updatesSpain has fined five budget airlines, including Ryanair, a total of €179m (£150m) for charging passengers for hand luggage and seat reservations, prompting the Irish carrier to say banning the practices would “destroy” the ability to offer cheap tickets.Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry announced the sanctions on Fr
  
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• Budget blamed for first contraction in private sector for a year

  22-11-2024 11:42
  
  Fall in activity in November pinned on chancellor’s tax rises as official figures also show drop in October retail salesBusiness live- latest updatesLabour’s first budget in 14 years has been given the “thumbs down” by private sector businesses as it was blamed for the end to a 12-month run of expansion and a fall in retail sales.Many businesses said the first fall in business activity in November since the same month last year was a result of tax rises announced by the c
  
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• Bitcoin rises after SEC chair says he is to step down when Trump is inaugurated

  22-11-2024 11:20
  
  Gary Gensler, a critic of the crypto industry, will leave the US financial regulator on 20 JanuaryCryptocurrencies have risen sharply after one of the industry’s biggest critics, Gary Gensler, said he would stand down as the head of the US financial regulator when president-elect Donald Trump was inaugurated in January.In a post on X, Gensler confirmed he would resign from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 20 January. Continue reading...
  
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• Look at the farmers’ protest, and then ask yourself: how will we ever make tax fairer amid such grumbling? | Polly Toynbee

  22-11-2024 09:00
  
  Labour inherited a dire situation that needed desperate change – but powerful lobbies make any tax reform near-impossibleThat was a state-of-the-nation image, those thousands of farmers in Whitehall protesting about inheritance tax (IHT). Their little inheritors on toy tractors could hardly have offered a better portrait of a Britain where even modest reforms of wildly irrational tax reliefs are near-impossible. The country loves Old MacDonald and detests IHT.This is a symbol of the great
  
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• UAE urges countries to honour fossil fuels vow amid Cop29 impasse

  22-11-2024 08:34
  
  Petrostate’s rebuke comes as Saudi Arabia and allies try to derail transition promise made at climate talks last yearCop29 climate summit – live updatesThe world must stand behind a historic resolution made last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”, the United Arab Emirates has said, in a powerful intervention into a damaging row over climate action.The petrostate’s stance will be seen as as a sharp rebuke to its neighbour and close ally Saudi Arabia, which h
  
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• Average annual energy bill to rise to £1,738 in Great Britain from January

  22-11-2024 08:33
  
  Increase in energy price cap by Ofgem follows 10% rise for current quarter, heaping more pressure on householdsWhat is the energy price cap and can I cut my bill?The average annual energy bill in England, Scotland and Wales will increase to £1,738 from January, heaping further pressure on household finances, as the price cap rises by 1.2%.The energy regulator Ofgem said its quarterly cap would go up by £21 a year, or about £1.75 a month, for a typical household’s gas and
  
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• Homes for sale with electric car chargers in England and Scotland – in pictures

  22-11-2024 08:00
  
  From zinc-clad modernity in Edinburgh to a Georgian pile in Wiltshire, homes to get you charged up Continue reading...
  
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• Brighton council threw man’s belongings in skip after he died, says brother

  22-11-2024 07:00
  Case shows gap in protections for deceased tenants’ families, with authorities’ property access policies varyingThe brother of a 29-year-old man found dead in temporary council accommodation says he has been left bereft after his sibling’s belongings were disposed of by council contractors.Simon Byrne had made an appointment with Brighton and Hove officials to collect the possessions of his brother Chris, who had died from a drug overdose. However, when he arrived, he discovere
  
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